A different focus...

Tonight was the first refresher session for the USGS's "Defense Against Wild Animals" course. The recertification is just one day, so we're expected to go practice shooting before the class. I went to an indoor range in Santa Clara -- two of us and a teacher were working with 12-gauge shotguns. Having not touched a firearm since leaving Devon Island last July, I was a bit tentative at first. My short arms, together with long stocks, led me to keep reaching forward and upset my stance. And I had to practice reloading/unloading shells left-handedly... once I actually managed to load one backwards and had to call the instructor over to show me how to work it back out. Sigh.

The range itself went well... my accuracy was at least as good as last spring, which surprised me. No safety procedure foul-ups, and I followed the range instructions with no problems. My shoulder isn't sore :-). Next week there'll be another evening catch-up session, then the class on 7 April.