Question regarding shooting Trap versus Skeet

bluelynx

bluelynx

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Why do some forum members prefer skeet over trap or vise versa?

The reason I ask this question is that this forum has some extremely high quality "talent" in the two shooting disciplines.

I believe a lot of information can be obtained from the answers.

Also, if you want to, please comment on the "mental" aspect of why you enjoy your type of shooting sport.

I look forward to your answers.

Thank you gentlemen.
 
I think it is just whatever you prefer. I shot a lot of trap, 4 days a week, for many years. I tried shooting skeet, it was more challenging for me, and I never got the hang of it. Some people pick it up more quickly.
I think someone once said, trap is easy to get reasonably good at and very difficult to become very good. Skeet is harder to get reasonably good at, but once you are, becoming very good is easier.

I can only speak for trap, but the more you think, the worse you perform. It can be a real mental challenge to do well. Once you learn and practice (ALOT) the fundamentals, the only thing left is mental. Once in a while it's good to take a lesson from a professional teacher/trainer to re-confirm the fundamentals, but it's all mental after that.
 
Away from the major urban areas in BC skeet ranges are few and far between, it isn't very well known or popular here. On the other hand, every club all over the province, even the smallest, has a trap range, many going back 50-60-70 years and more, originally some manual traps and still a few old Western White Flyers at least in a backup role. More clubs shoot sporting clays or five stand, at least occasionally than skeet. A skeet field is a major investment for small clubs and because of lack of demand most clubs stick to trap. Also trap is easier and more fun for beginners and occasional shooters.
 
First of all

cost of clay shooting has rocketed over the last 20 or so years. It not like what it use to be

There are certain countries that has a very strong and checkered history of clay shooting.

italy
spain
portugal
england
india

canada has never been strong in this aspect. I am saying that as an observation and not being negative or being sarcastic.

Peer influence and government funding plays a huge part.

Years ago it’s common to see father and son shooting together on weekends

you just do not see that anymore. It’s all down to cost.

To fund this sport on a regular basis is expensive enough and to multiply that by 2 or 3 .... see where I am going

that’s why if you go around clubs nowadays - it is attracting audience of a certain age and social economic group

new blood crops up of course but the majority gets frustrated because of lack of progress and drops the sport after a few months

then there is government funding - totally inadequate in Canada.

if you want to progress then it’s self funded.

or chicken or the egg syndrome . Go and get a result and then apply for funding

then there is the gene pool

everybody is peddling the same old technique or mistakes and every one is a part time coach.

There are virtually no role models to look up to.

those who had some success have not adapted to the change or regulations in the last 15 years in terms of Powder reduction , schemes changes and target velocity

probably comparable to covid , same RNA Being replicated but with slight mutation at each generation resulting in degradation of gene pool.

Bottom line - nobody is getting anywhere

Result - people tend to gravitate to discipline where you can get higher hit rate for gratification because it cost so much.

answer - sporting clays

skeet is slightly more difficult to be in the 70-80 percentile ON A REGULAR BASIS

trap even more so

just look at the MQS minimum qualification score for these discipline then you will understand.

countries like Australia , Middle Eastern countries , India, Italy are investing into shooting , Canada is not

it’s actually one of the cheapest sport to fund in order to have success

small countries like Croatia , Korea and Thailand, they get funded and they are get medals.

all these countries can whack Canada in any discipline any day. I have seen it.

serious go to ISSF and check the scores

you need new blood.

no point sending OAP to a world championship just to fill a place - because that’s exactly what’s been happening here

sorry to rant , can go on for hours

many shooters go south for advice and inspiration advice and coaching

I am going to put my foot and say something from my heart.

‘the yanks are not going to help Canada”

that’s just about sum up what I see as a bystander
 
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I don't know that I can really answer that? I shoot both and enjoy both and was pretty much on equal footing in terms of ability and scores until the past few years where vision issues changed both games for me though skeet to a lesser degree I believe due to target distance. In the early days trap came a bit easier to me, more natural I guess I could say? There was definitely more trap shooters after moving to a new city in my late teens. The club I started at when I was 15 was predominantly skeet but when we moved at age 18 the local club was predominantly trap and as skeet shooters at the new club started falling off or were not always available to shoot with I started making the switch towards more trap shooting. I have always liked both equally and still enjoy both though trap is a more consuming game to me from a competitive standpoint whereas skeet is purely for fun and wingshooting practice. I no longer shoot skeet with anything but a 20ga having sold all my 12, 28 and 410 skeet guns and the only 12's I own now are my 2 trap guns. I've often thought it would be a novel idea to have a 20 ga sub-gauge tube made for my single bbl trap gun! I think that would be fun!
 
Trap and skeet are the older, established clay sports, and have been declining.
Sporting Clays is the new and upcoming sport which is drawing new members.
Ammunition for clay sports is the cheapest it has ever been in the last few years, If you calculate the inflated value of shotshells going back to the 1960s. It has always been really expensive to get in the top tier of performance.
I think it is easier to get to an OK performance level in Trap, when compared to Skeet.
The varied target presentation of Sporting Clays, particularly when the course is in a nice setting of trees and hills, makes it very attractive. I think that Sporting Clays at a recreational level is the most fun that I have had with a shotgun over 60 years of shooting. I say this having experienced some of Canada's best Upland hunting in the same time period.
 
I shoot trap because it's much more common in BC. I can travel around to PITA shoots in BC and ATA in Alberta. There's a skeet range in Vernon, Kelowna, Ft St John and Richmond as far as I know. Maybe a few more but not many. I have wanted to install a skeet range at my club for a few years now but the trap shooters aren't interested. They are afraid everyone will stop shooting trap. Same argument against sporting clays.
 
I started shooting skeet, primarily as practise for hunting birds. I shot the odd round of trap , but I much prefer skeet, because it has targets coming and going, more like hunting birds. I started shooting sporting clays six years ago, and prefer it over trap or skeet, because of so many more shot presentations, but I shoot much more skeet, because of the cost difference.
 
Trap is for old farts who no longer have the reflexes for skeet, skeet is for people who dont have the ability to "acquire, asses and execute" required for sporting clays.
 
At my club trap runs from Apr/May to Oct. Skeet runs all year round. Trap just seems too serious for me, all business, no one talks to each, etc. Skeet is more social. My club has 2 trap fields with skeet fields overlayed in each and also have 5 stand overlayed on one field.
 
Bluelynx, did these responses help at all? I'm asking because I've played all four disciplines mentioned and don't feel the fundamental differences in how to approach these games has been articulated yet. And this is surprising to me as a mid level clays shooter that the more experienced and successful shooters cannot really say how they differ.
 
Londonshooter said:
Bluelynx, did these responses help at all? I'm asking because I've played all four disciplines mentioned and don't feel the fundamental differences in how to approach these games has been articulated yet. And this is surprising to me as a mid level clays shooter that the more experienced and successful shooters cannot really say how they differ.
Click to expand...

He asked which you prefer and why you enjoy it. Those questions were answered in the replies.

I did not see fundamental differences in how to approach them in the question.
 
I used to shoot a lot of skeet, so much so that I got tired of it and just never went back. I still shoot trap on a regular basis, league in the summer months and several times a month through the winter. Mostly I shoot sporting clays and have been for over 20 years. I shot registered targets for the first few years but haven't done that for quite a long time now, I just got tired of the politics and cheating as well as the cost. The entry fee's are ridiculous and often it's the same shooters winning most of the time. I don't criticize the clubs for the high entry fee's but the reality is that they don't make as much money holding a tournament as they can make on a regular day of members shooting and they have to make a living or we won't have a place to shoot. I've won lots of ammo and have a stack of medals from my registered target days but shooting sporting on a casual basis is the most fun I have with a shotgun besides upland game bird hunting over dogs. I can go with my friends as a social outing or go by myself, either way it has variety and is always interesting.

I've been involved with setting sporting courses for many years also and I find that very gratifying. There's something special about seeing a bunch of people having fun on a course that I've set or helped set and getting compliments on a presentation that people haven't seen before. There's a very technical side to setting targets that most people don't understand, trying to keep the targets out of the sun is one of the biggest challenges because the sun is always moving. Safety is another challenge, the course has to be safe! Anyone who has done it a while knows what I'm talking about and I find the biggest critics of target presentations are the guys who have never done it. That said, if the targets are good then you'll get very few complaints!

I guess the bottom line is this, sporting is my passion and all the other shogun disciplines fill in the gaps between sporting shoots.
 
Do you set up “bummer” targets ?

my coach owns a shooting club

for those interested it was the original Boss and company proving ground in London. So I shoot there 6 days a weeks.

the club is closed Monday and Tuesday so we train together without interference when closed.

and we set targets up very Tuesday before club re opens on Wednesday.

every week we set up a bummer target and we know only the 10% of shooters will work out how to shoot it.

my goodness , we have shooters coming from everywhere just because it is challenging.

again coming back to my original point posted somewhere up this thread.

it is designed to attract certain type of shooter

If the owner wants business and everybody goes home happy , all you have to do is to make thing a little easier ....

literally nobody knows

he is laughing all the way to the bank

members goes home smiling and brings more friends next week bragging how good that club and how wonderful the targets are

on the other hand my coach wanted to draw the best. Hence we set up bummer targets

I can tell you digweed comes regularly

Every year just before Christmas we have a inter-gunmakers competition

Holland and Holland
boss and company
westley Richards
Purdey and co.

they all form a team and they come and compete for a little Shield

lovely banter
loverly people
lovely hunting tales

Wonderful source of information as well

got to pick their brains on everything shotgun related ........
 
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I've never heard the term "bummer" target before but the difficulty level of the range all depends on what the objective is. If we're drawing high level shooters then it will be difficult but if it's just ordinary folks out to have fun them the targets will be generally easy however, no one goes home from the range with a perfect score, no matter how good you are there will be a presentation designed to fool even the most seasoned shooters.
 
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