TRAP RANGE RULES
- Guns are to remain open at all times except on firing line or in the gun rack.
- Only one shell at a time in the gun except where two shells will be allowed.
- Do not close the action until it is your turn to shoot.
- No ammunition; larger than 12 gauge 3 1/4 dram or shot larger than 7 1/2.
- When changing from one position to another, shooters must not walk in front of the other shooters.
- When someone is downrange or the red light on trap house is illuminated, there is somebody in the house; all guns are to be open and unloaded, and the release button for the trap machine must not be handled.
- Ear and eye protection are mandatory.
SHOTGUNS ONLY USE THIS RANGE
TRAP
Sunday morning’s 10:00 a.m. start
Thursday evenings (summer only, check events calendar) 6:00 p.m. start
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Trapshooting is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting (shotgun shooting at clay targets). The other disciplines are skeet shooting and sporting clays. Within each discipline, there are variations.
Trapshooting is shot throughout the world’s countries. Trapshooting variants include but are not limited to international varieties Olympic trap, also known as “International Trap”; Double trap (also an Olympic event), Down-The-Line, also known as “DTL” and Nordic Trap. American Trap is the predominant version in the United States and Canada.
American Trap has two independent governing bodies. The Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA) sanctions events throughout the United States and Canada, as well as the Pacific International Trapshooting Association (PITA) which sanctions events on the West Coast of North America.
Trapshooting was originally developed, in part, to augment bird hunting and to provide a method of practice for bird hunters. Use of targets was introduced as a replacement for live pigeons. Indeed, one of the names for the targets used in shooting games is clay pigeons. The layout of a modern trapshooting field differs from that of a skeet field and/or a sporting clays course.
Trapshooting has been a sport since the late 18th century when real birds were used; usually the Passenger Pigeon, which was extremely abundant at the time. Birds were placed under hats or in traps which were then released. Artificial birds were introduced around the time of the American Civil War. Glass balls (Bogardus) and subsequently “clay” targets were introduced in the later 1800s, gaining wide acceptance, but shooting of live birds is still practiced in some parts of the United States.
How Trap Works and its’ Etiquette and Practices
Trap etiquette is expected and practiced more fully during official and competitive events, but, to a lesser extent, also during informal shooting. American Trapshooting, more so than other shooting disciplines, including Olympic “international” trap, develops a certain rhythm to a squad timing between shots. The manners of any other squad member(s) can affect the performance of individuals within a squad. Most persons using a semi-automatic employ a shell catcher – an ejected hull hitting an adjacent shooter in the head or arm can certainly disrupt your concentration. Most shooters carry a few extra shells in case they drop one. Shooters usually avoid picking up any dropped shell, or other item, until after the 5th shooter in the squad has fired his 5th shot of the station and the squad is about to rotate to the next position. Idle chatting between shots, vulgar calls, and unnecessary movement can be generally disruptive.
Commands from the scorer and other shooters are as important to squad timing as the behaviors of the shooters on the squad. To start a squad the shooter will ask if the squad and puller are ready (usually by calling “Squad ready?” then “Puller ready?”), followed by asking to see one free target, traditionally saying, “Let’s see one.” Especially during official and competitive events the scorer will call missed targets with a command of: loss, lost, etc. When the first shooter has fired their final shot of the position the scorer will sometimes call “end” and will command “all change” after fifth shooter has fired his last shot. The shooter on position five then moves behind the rest of the shooters on his way to the first station and will signal when he is ready to the first shooter who is now on station two. The standard call for a target is “pull,” but many shooters like to use their own variations of “pull,” or words that will help them concentrate on the target.
This diagrams shows the layout of a trap field and its’ stations along with all the distances.