As I give a nod, the competitor raises the barrel and yells, "PULL!" just then I push the button on the controller and tense up just as the explosion ignites from the shotgun. I watch two skeet birds fly through the air and burst one right after the other. I yell, "Dead Pair!" as the group congratulates competitor number 70.
It was my first time being a trapper for the Arizona Game and Fish State Competition and I was extremely nervous and excited. Although, I was not new to the Ben Avery range or competitions, I was new at being a trapper and I knew these men and women competing payed top dollar to be in this competition. 
Friday the first morning of the competition, as I was pulling for a competitor, one of his teammates tapped me lightly on the shoulder to gain my attention just as the shooter yelled, "Pull!" I was so distracted by the four-foot Western Diamondback slithering into my station that I lost concentration and did not push the button in time resulting in "a look that could kill" from the shooter. He began to get angry at me until he saw what caught my attention and freaked out. For what seemed like hours we all stood still not able to move and quietly discussing the laws of killing a rattler meanwhile trying to get the attention of the facility director. We finally got his attention and without hesitation grabbed the beautiful Beretta and shot the snake twice severing it's head.
With a sigh of relief and a nervous laugh, we were all back on track and ready for the next competitor. Throughout the entire weekend, I was known as the snake girl and the news of my rattle snake reached all 150 competitors. By the end of the weekend, I learned that my station was the only one visited by a slithering creature.
Wow!!!
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