Saturday, I accompanied two friends to our local sporting clays field for their first exposure to shooting clays. Both are experienced trap shooters and hunters, but neither has shot sporting clays or skeet. Since we were on the winter course there were no rabbit targets, and we didn't shoot off of the suspended platform at targets way below us in the valley. The first thing that became apparent is that shooting gun mounted was an issue for one shooter as he never saw three targets in a row because the gun was obstructing his vision. Once he started shooting low gun he had no issues seeing the targets that appeared from throwers behind us or to the side. The targets that caused the most issues, for both shooters, were the targets that came from the towers behind us and dropped into the valley. The targets that appeared from throwers that were out of sight caused some issues especially the doubles but both shooters started to adapt to the new presentations quite quickly. We all fired about 100 shots each and had a great time and both friends took out memberships and have committed to both the club league and the DU shoot coming up in the spring.
New Shooters To Sporting Clays Observations
- Thread starter stubblejumper
- Start date
- Location
- Planet Earth Wearing My Tinfoil Hat
Each new game is a learning experience. Obviously they enjoyed it enough to purchase a membership and commit to attending a leagues and fundraising shoot. Thats good news and good for the sport.
Yes, new blood is good for the sport, the biggest issue is soon going to be finding a club to shoot at. Silver Willow , and Beaverhill are now capping memberships.
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Most trap shooters are really out of they're element on their first sporting clay's shoot, good on your friends for giving it a try. I know several really good trap shooters that just wont go near sporting clay's for fear that they won't shoot 99/100 first time out!
I haven't been shooting Sporting clays long(about a year), but i've noticed that Trap shooters seem to struggle with the game more so then skeet shooters do, at least in the beginning, don't know why, just my observation.
Great bit of fun, it's hard going back to skeet after shooting sporting clays, Could only imagine how boring trap would be after the joy experienced out in the bush.(I'm not old enough to shoot trap, my hips still work
)
Great bit of fun, it's hard going back to skeet after shooting sporting clays, Could only imagine how boring trap would be after the joy experienced out in the bush.(I'm not old enough to shoot trap, my hips still work
)
Maritime Storm
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Riverview, NB
This is an issue I see alot around my club and the other local one. The nearest Sporting Clays layout is a 2hr drive from here, the Miramichi Sportsmans club. The next closest is Fredericton Trap and Skeet club which is a first class operation. I'm primarily a competitive Skeet shooter, however my goal is to improve my shooting for upland hunting, so I shoot Trap, Skrap, and whenever the opportunity arises Sporting Clays. I hear the same arguments every week, the skeet shooters who don't shoot trap because they feel they are not very good at it and vice-versa. Some have never shot a round of Sporting Clays. I'm a D-class shooter in Skeet & Trap, I, on occasion, win my class, so not a great shot but okay. My best shoot on a sporting clays layout was 72/100, not great but who cares. I make a point of taking in a sporting clays shoot when I can for the simple reasons of improving my shooting, trying target presentations I'm not use to, to support the other clubs in the Maritimes, and to have some fun. It's also, from my perspective, a great opportunity to chat with the other clubs executive, and see what works and doesn't for them in their operations to improve on our own facility. Getting out of your comfort zone and trying the other sports will hone your skills, I try to do so as much as I can for that simple reason.
beretta boy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Orillia, Ontario
While not "Sporting Clays" per se, why not try and convince your local or nearby club to consider developing a 5-Stand layout. The variety of target presentations can be numerous and
changed frequently. My take on 5-Stand " Sporting Clays without the walk " I know it's not the same, but it is a pretty good alternative. A pretty good layout can be put right on top
of an existing Skeet field (or Trap Field) without having to "give up" the original field's function. It may well surprise you just how much a 5-Stand will enliven a Club and get some additional
activity for shooters.
A great part of shooting Sporting well is developing a repetoir of target presentations you are familiar with. Rabbits, battues, springing Teal, dropping targets.... all are good practice and are considerably different from the routine of Skeet and Trap presentations. 5-Stand can be a pretty good substitute for Sporting, particularly if there is not a large enough land base for a Sporting
layout i.e. several of the Sporting layouts around here are on 100+ acres. About the smallest I have shot on is about 40 acres.
Londonshooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- SW Ontario
I'm going to preface this by saying that the beauty of sporting clays is that every course is different. And the challenge of each course is that it may play to your strengths or not.
I've shot 4 courses in the past 3 years which is pretty feeble but intend to focus more on SC than other disciplines going forward.
My first time out was according to others a very challenging course and the first station had trap presentations that were gimmes for a trap shooter. I went 1 for 5. The remainder were very fast targets that needed to be shot within 40 yds and only a narrow window between the trees. A mix of crossers, bouncing rabbits, incoming, droppers, and risers. I had a hard focus on all these targets and ended the round up with a score of 86 out of 100. Completely p'ed off the experienced guys on my squad.
Subsequently at other venues I have shot progressively poorer with each time out. Like lower score each time I tried. Those 60 yard loopers. The rabbits that almost stop. Any presentation that is unlike a shot I would take in a hunting scenario resulted in a miss. To make things worse I was switching guns between outings. Bad idea.
I've shot 4 courses in the past 3 years which is pretty feeble but intend to focus more on SC than other disciplines going forward.
My first time out was according to others a very challenging course and the first station had trap presentations that were gimmes for a trap shooter. I went 1 for 5. The remainder were very fast targets that needed to be shot within 40 yds and only a narrow window between the trees. A mix of crossers, bouncing rabbits, incoming, droppers, and risers. I had a hard focus on all these targets and ended the round up with a score of 86 out of 100. Completely p'ed off the experienced guys on my squad.
Subsequently at other venues I have shot progressively poorer with each time out. Like lower score each time I tried. Those 60 yard loopers. The rabbits that almost stop. Any presentation that is unlike a shot I would take in a hunting scenario resulted in a miss. To make things worse I was switching guns between outings. Bad idea.
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
That's the beauty of sporting clay's, it's a constantly evolving and changing game, I shot 6 different courses in 2019 and the two of them that I shot the most were constantly changing! I don't mean to knock trap and skeet but it really is boring after you've shot sporting for a while, the repetitiveness of those two sports is what makes me want to fall asleep half way through a round of 25! Don't get me wrong, I've shot thousands of rounds at trap and skeet and the two disciplines are great for building fundamentals of shotgunning but they really do become a game of repeatability and lack the variety that sporting offers.
Maritime Storm
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Riverview, NB
Beretta Boy; We have a 5-stand, it does get used when the Club Administrator spends the 45 minutes to set it up, however members have this habit of not using for more than a couple of rounds each time I set it up. If I don't set it up, nobody else will. Last year, I got to shoot 3 rounds on it, 2 were during a fun shoot, once because another member offered to operate the controls. It's fun, I just can't people motivated to use it, they see the layout as work to do. Volunteer labour at clubs is a topic for another discussion.
I had a ten station sporting clays field planned at my former club and a grant of $110k was approved to build it, but when I retired and left the city nobody took over the project so the grant expired and it was never built;
Exactly! I planned the sporting clays course so it would work with a swipe card like the commercial fields, so that it wouldn't need to be manned, all that would have been required was to fill machines, and change out the odd battery, people could buy cards at the regular trap and skeet days.
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
beretta boy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Orillia, Ontario
Not to mention when the truck rolls in with 1000 cases of targets to unload !
And don't bother mentioning spending 3 hours to mow grass. lol The same few people do the work, while the same people do nothing, except complain if there is an issue with a machine. But that is the way it seems to be with every club. Surprisingly my local club which is the smallest club, has the most people willing to work and the fewest complainers.
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I find that with my home club it's the same small group that does most of the work and has been for the last few decades, however our membership has grown dramatically since we started the evening sporting clay's shoot in the summer about 8 years ago as well as the junior program about 10 years ago and even though most new members don't want anything to do with management, agm's or directorship, we do get a pretty good turn out for most work bee's. It's still the same old group that has to organize everything though and it never ceases to amaze me how so many of the guys who have been shooting there for years sit and bs with their friends and watch the rest of us work. It's kinda like they got a life time membership so it's their god given right not to work.... must have been a different life time membership than I got I guess...
