Mark Roberts #16 Slide 15 Learning to shoot. Circa 1970

Before she got sick Ida taught me how to shoot
with an old 22 that had belonged to her mother.
It was a rabbit gun mainly, though years before
she had gone kangaroo shooting  during a drought
to preserve feed for the sheep. She showed me
how to clean and oil it on the back steps facing
the sheep yard before handing it to me
and going inside for the bullets. - Always
carry the bullets separately to the rifle.
Only ever load immediately before you shoot.

We walked out to the paddock behind the shed
and set up a row of jam tins on an old plow.
With an unloaded rifle she showed me how
to hold it against my shoulder, how to stand
with my feet apart, balanced,
moving the weight from the front foot
to the back as I squeezed the trigger.
She stood behind me as I learnt how to aim
squinting down the long metal barrel.

The she took a single bullet from a packet
in her bag and handed it to me, talking me
through the process. The sound of click,
slide, slide, click. Then taking stance, lining
up the jam tin and slowly pulling the trigger
and the sudden kick against my shoulder
making me take a sudden step back.
By the third shot I hit the tin and then it was easy.
I fired off 10 bullets in all and destroyed 5 jam tins.

On the way back across the paddock Ida
motioned for me to stop and to be quiet.
She took a bullet from the pack, loaded
and aimed at something near the paddock gate.
As she fired a large brown snake leaped
into the air, twisting and coiling, headless.
It was still twitching when we got to it, she
picked it up by the tail and draped it
over the wire fence without saying a word.