Trapshooting 101

Today I went trapshooting with a couple of friends of mine. I shot a 17 and a 15, and had a good time. It's been almost two years since I've done it, and Im proud of my scores. However no one seems to know what it is or how its done. So here you go.

First of all, you need a shotgun. any one will do it really doesnt matter. Second, you need a place to go to do it. Now in my case theres a gun club nearby that does it, however, you are allowed to do it on your own. Now the idea is to hit the birdie (also known as a clay, a pigeon, a clay pigeon, or a bird) my shooting the shotgun at it. This isn't as easy as they make it seem on the videogames, which makes it alot more fun. In most sporting rounds, five people will participate. now at each traps, or bird houses, there are five stations. Each shooter starts at one and takes five shots from each station, or 25 shots. It's very simple from this point on. The thrower, or person responsible for throwing the birds will begin by throwing one for everyone as an example. The first shooter will then say "pull", signalling that the bird should be thrown. If he hits it, he gets a mark. If he misses, the thrower calls out "loss", and no mark is given. This process is repeated with the next shooter, and so on and so forth until each shooter has fired five shots. The thrower will then call out "change", and each shooter moves one station to the right. The process repeats itself again after each shooter has taken his five shots. The score is based out of twenty-five, and the more birds, the better your score (kind of a given if you ask me). There are numerous different types of trap, from different distances or with teammates, and also a similar sport called "skeet", where a smaller pigeon is thrown perpendicular to the shooter, instead of away from him.

Well there you have it. Now you're all trapshooting experts. At least you know how to do it right?