CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING: A HISTORY

CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING: A HISTORY Yardley has created a remarkable piece of work on the history of clay pigeon shooting. His history starts with the very first competitive shoots using live pigeons, & then it tracks the development of the glass ball target, the rise of the great trick shooters such as Annie Oakley, the birth of the Olympics, the history of the royal family & clay pigeons, & the use of clay pigeons by Second World War fighter pilots to hone their skills in knocking down moving targets. It's more than just a history of a sport from its very beginning to right up to the modern day. It's a tale of a civilization & how society has treated its best shooters. We see that in the late nineteenth century clay pigeon shooters were the most highly regarded sportsmen of all; then there were decades when the sport was ignored; & now, today, shooting stands on the cusp of a staggering new popularity. It's not just a good history: It's a great read. Includes profiles of Bogardus, Carver, Annie Oakley, & many of the early luminaries of live pigeon & target shooting. ISBN: 0-9549597-0-1 publish date: 11/15/2007