Today, the word skeet has made its way into the vocabulary of pop-culture as a euphemism for the excretion of reproductive fluid by the male sex organ. But before being bastardized by mavens of urban culture like Crunk rapper Lil’ John and comedian Dave Chapelle, skeet had its origins in Scandanavia and literally meant, ‘to shoot.’ And in 1920 Skeet Shooting was invented by grouse hunters as a competitive way to keep their skills sharp in the off-season.
88 years later skeet shooting is a legitimate competitive sport with tournaments, trophies and its very own ESPN channel (ESPN 125 - you probably don’t get it unless you live in the Yukon territory or you have a black box to tap into Russian satellites). And the best part about it - you don’t even have to be in shape! So put down that dumb bell, light a menthol and grab a twinky ’cause Crazy Jim is going to show you a few of the skeet shooting basics!
One time I borrowed Crazy Jim’s fishing waders and returned them a little bit wet on the inside (Shocker - I got his waders wet). Jim tore me a new one for not properly caring for his gear and told me that if I would take time to care for stuff then it would last a lifetime … Needless to say, I told him to go f*#K himself, but he made his point.
Back to this week’s episode - anytime you fire your rifle a highly corrosive film of residue is left in the barrel of your gun. If not properly cleaned , this can lead to rust and you’ll notice a pretty significant loss of accuracy. Thus, even more so than waders, it is very important to clean your gun after each day that you’ve fired it. In this video Crazy Jim shows you the proper way to clean your gun, both inside and out, and how to prep it for storage …and no - Bore Butter did not pay us to use their product (but we would be cool with that).
So you watch a few shows on the Outdoor Life Network and you’ve got a stack of Fish & Game magazines above the toilet in the half-bath. I suppose that makes you an expert and you’re ready to hit the back country? Not quite. First you’ve got to choose the right weapon for the hunt. Although there are many variables to consider when choosing a weapon the environment in which you plan to hunt is a good way to narrow down your choices. In this episode, Crazy Jim introduces you to his two favorite guns and, in between yelling profanities at the camera man, explains the differences between a weapon built for brush hunting and and one for the open country.
Of course, Crazy Jim is rarely right about anything, so if you don’t agree with his recommendation of the 35 Remington for brush hunting, or the Browning A-Bolt 270 Winchester for the open country…well then you can go to hell! Just kidding. We’d love to hear what you would recommend in our comments section.
The very first time I went hunting with Jim he woke me up at 4:30 in the morning, wrapped me in hand-me-down camouflage and orange and drove me down the north shore of Lake Tahoe to Blackwood Canyon for the last day of deer season. I was expecting to watch Jim fire off several rounds of ammo into an unsuspecting 11-point buck, but instead we sat quietly until noon and then left with the same number of bullets that we came with. I was disappointed and questioned why anyone would spend so much time and obsess over something so much for such little return. Jim just called me a douche bag and taught me a few things about the zen of hunting. Watch this video to see what he had to say.
