Shotgun Sports Disciplines
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Here's a brief overview of the four most popular events. The links below will take you to sites with more information than you ever wanted to know!
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Trap
Trap shooting is fairly straightforward. To overly simplify, you are basically shooting at a target that is moving away from you. While the angle of the target, and your shot, varies, all targets have the same upward flight path angle. ATA Trap is shot by squads of 5 maximum, as there are 5 shooting stations. Each competitor shoots one after the other at 5 different targets, then everyone shifts to the next station. This continues until each competitor has shot at 5 targets from each of the five stations, so 25 targets, and 25 shots, comprise a "round."
The most common trapthree disciplines of ATA Trapshooting. Rather than fill this page with all the details, just click here to find out more. Interested in the history of trapshooting? It's a surprisingly old sport, click here to find out more. Now, if you're still interested, check out the full details on the ATA website. |
Skeet
 Skeet shooting is somewhat different than trap shooting. Instead or targets mostly moving away from you, targets can cross, come straight at you, move away from you, or come straight over your head. As in Trap shooting, there is still a field, but the skeet field has 8 stations instead of 5, and the shooters move as a group from one station to the next. Also, in skeet shooting, there are two machines that throw targets - a "high house" that launches a target from a point high off the ground, and a "low house" that launches targets from somewhere around waist level.
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Sporting Clays
Sporting Clays is the closest thing to actual field shooting of all shotgun sports. The sport dates back to England in the early 1900s when trap shooting used live pigeons. With the introduction of clay targets, the sport began to take on the popular form known today. But rather than using standardized distances, target angles and target sizes, sporting clays courses are designed to simulate the hunting of ducks, pheasants and even rabbits. Six different sizes of clay targets give the participant the experience of actual hunting conditions, so you can see why the sport is so popular with hunters. Sporting clays has numerous variations. Sporting clays courses are a little bit like golf courses with shotguns. Shooters walk from station to station and shoot different target presentations at each station. Usually courses are set up in wooded areas to simulate hunting conditions.
5 Stand
 5 Stand sporting clays has shooters try for a variety of targets including inbound, outbound, crossing, rabbits (rolling on the ground), straight up, and more. Shooters move from station to station shooting different target combinations much like trap. | |
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