Hone Skills Shooting Skeet, Trap and Sporting Clays

A shooter is ready for another target at a station on a sporting clay course.

Clay target shooting is fun. Even if you are not a hunter, shooting clay targets out of the sky with a shotgun is exciting and challenging. If you are a hunter, then ethical hunters must hone their shooting skills before entering the field in pursuit of game. Summer is a perfect time to do this, and nothing is better practice for wing shooting than skeet, trap and sporting clays.

I recently took part in the Conservation Federation’s Pull for Conservation in St. Joseph, Missouri. The sporting clays event drew about 75 shooters from Northwest Missouri. The presenting sponsor was the Northwest Electric Power Cooperative. Many of the event shooters were employees of the associated electric co-ops and their guests. Most of these guys and gals were hunters shooting for fun, but there were a couple of ringers in the bunch.

We shot sporting clays, which in my opinion is the most fun form of clay shooting. Skeet and trap are the other main clay shooting options.

“I shoot a lot of trap, but also enjoy a good round of sporting clays,” said Mike Torres, CEO of Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative. “Trap is a lot of fun, but sporting clays are a lot more like hunting.”

Sporting Clays is often compared to golf, in the sense that you follow a course and shoot from multiple stations, like holes. No two sporting clay courses are the same, so you have to adjust your shooting to each individual station on the course. Targets come from all directions. They come from the sides, over the top of your head, right underneath you or straight at you.

Having to adjust to the differing shots is what makes shooting sporting clays so much fun. It’s also what makes it so much like hunting. You never know where a quail may flush from or from what direction a duck may approach. Learning how to make quick adjustments on the sporting clays course will prepare you for the same sort of experiences in the field.

Trap is pretty easy, so it is a great place for new shooters to cut their teeth on flying targets. The clays are always moving away from you at predictable angles. Once you get the hang of it, the targets are fairly easy to hit. This helps build confidence that will carry over into the field. A round of trap includes 25 targets. A shooter moves through five shooting positions. Five targets are thrown from each position. You can shoot trap with as few as one person or as many as five, so it’s a great way to practice shooting while having fun with friends.

Skeet is similar to trap but with added difficulty. There are eight shooting stations and two trap houses. Seven of the stations are arranged in a half moon shape between the two trap houses and one station is directly between them. There is a high trap house and a low trap house.

The high house is on the left side of the field. It throws targets 10 feet above the ground that rise to a height of 15 feet in the center of the field. The low house target is on the right side of the field. It throws targets 3-1/2 feet above the ground. These also rise to 15 feet in the center of the field. A round of skeet consists of 25 targets. A shooter takes 17 shot as singles and 8 as doubles.

Sporting clays, trap and skeet shooting are all great ways to hone your wing shooting skills while having a great time with family and friends. A simple online search should direct you a shooting location near you.

See you down the trail…

Brandon Butler