All about trapshooting

Chances are, you've probably never seen the object in this picture...at first glance, it looks kind of like a miniature frisbee. But to a certain group of fanatics, among whom I proudly count myself, this little orange thing is unmistakeable. It's the White Flyer AA, better known the world over as a clay target or "clay pigeon". These guys got their bird-related name because originally, they replaced live animals on the shooting range. In the old days, hunters and sport shooters would hone their skills practicing on real pigeons released from boxes. Someone would pull a string to open the box, the pigeon would fly out, and if the shooter was accurate, he would fire and bring the pigeon down with one shot. The problem with live bird shooting was, as one might expect, that it didn't go over too well with the general public. Outside of the English aristocracy, people saw the use of pigeons as inhumane and cruel, which prompted a nationwide search for a new target around the turn of the century. It was a rather daunting task: whatever they came up with would need to be unpredictable in its flight to simulate a flying pigeon, strong enough to stay together and yet frangible enough to break when shot with shotgun pellets. Innovative shooters first tried glass, then wax, before settling on a flat, frisbee-like clay projectile which has remained relatively unchanged since its inception.

Out of all the clay target disciples today (and all the goofy variations on them that people continue inventing!), American Trap most closely resembles the pigeon shooting competitions of the 1800s. It's quite simple in its setup: enclosed in a cinderblock "house" is a machine that throws clay targets at the shooter's command (usually the word "Pull!", another holdover from the live-bird days); the competitor uses a 12-gauge shotgun to try and break the thrown target. The catch is that the machine inside the house is constantly oscillating, moving back and forth and stopping at odd intervals on a 35-degree arc. In other words, when you call for a target, you know it is going somewhere away from you, but it is impossibly to know exactly where.

This is a standard trap field. The house is in the middle of the picture in the distance, and there are five "posts" in a semicircle 16 yards in back of the house. A typical round consists of 25 shots, with 5 at each post. At this particular field, the targets will always be traveling toward the trees, but since the target throwing machine (called a "trap") is hidden from view, shooters never know the exact direction.

See the sidewalk-looking things stretching into the foreground of the picture? Those aren't modern art, they're handicap markers. A typical trap tournament consists of 300 targets: 100 targes shot from the 16-yard line, 50 pair of "doubles" targets (where two clay targets are thrown simultaneously) also shot at 16 yards, and 100 targets that are "handicapped". The idea is to provide an equalizer in competition--better shooters stand further away from the traphouse to make their targets more difficult, while the less-accomplished shooters get to stand a bit close. No matter how much you stink, though, you can't get any closer than 20 yards in a handicap event, and the maximum distance is 27 yards. But even from the minimum distance, those 12 extra feet can make all the difference in the world. A specialized shotgun called an "undersingle" (which we'll get into later) can help take some of the sting out of handicap targets, but even with top-notch equipment, 100 targets from the back fence are anything but easy.

The Amateur Trapshooting Association, or ATA, governs and sanctions the discipline of trap in the United States. Their website, www.shootata.com, has much more information than I can give you here; you can even use their search engine function to find a club near you if you want to get started yourself. In conclusion, let me address one concern that always comes up with shooting sports: safety. Firearms tend to get a bad reputation because of idiotic people who misuse them, but in truth, you're much more likely to get injured in a car crash than you are from using a target shotgun. However, if you get involved in shooting sports, you must remember that while a shotgun is a tool when used properly (a bit like a golf club), it is also capable, unlike other tools, of causing lethal damage when misused. We'll cover safety in more detail later, but for now, I'll just say that shooters of all ages and abilities must always have respect for what they are using. Be safe and smart, and there won't be any problems; get careless, and you ruin everyone's day.