The death of trap in BC

Kisiskaciwani said:
Shooting sports in general. I’m one of the youngest women shooting skeet and my club, we need to attract more young people to these sports
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One of the clubs that I belong to has an active youth program, in the last 12 or 13 years we've literally taught hundreds of boys and girls to shoot and do it safely. Some of our kids have gone to the provincial trap championships and have done very well and we have a group going this year that are sponsored by our club. The thing we find is that once they're too old for the program (18) they leave high school and either go to work or college/university and we rarely see them again. It's not that they don't like to shoot but they don't have the money or time, life gets in the way! The best that we can hope for is that they come back a few years later after they get their lives in order and some do.
We do have some older women that shoot regularly but sadly not enough and I don't really know why because there are several "ladies learn to shoot" programs at various clubs that I know of and every time I'm around one of these programs the ladies seem to have a lot of fun. My wife shoots but golf is her first love so it always comes before shooting.
 
I shoot a lot of registered ATA targets every year, average about 6,000 give or take, I missed the Canadians in Brandon this year as my grandson graduated on that Thursday and I just couldn't see myself driving 10 hr Friday and again Monday just to shoot 400 championship targets on the weekend. No doubt the cost is prohibitive to many people, in 2022 I shot all 4 days at the Canadians in Calgary 1,000 targets total, target fees $500, fees for games and handicap pots $100, 4 flats ammo $480 Hotel $600 fuel $250 and I never figure food into it as I have to eat no matter where I am so I was at about $2,000 which all in is $2 per target so no not cheap at all.

Luckily I come from a large family I have 4 brothers and 4 sisters spread out over most of Sask and AB so I can pick the shoots I go to where I have a place to stay so save a lot on hotels otherwise I would spend upwards of $12K per year shooting, given I am going on 70 years and have been fighting leukemia for 9 years I figure to heck with it I'm just burning up the kids inheritance.

I know more than a few juniors that are shooting great scores and shoot a lot of targets every year but I also see many of them stop shooting once the parents are not footing the bill anymore and I get it, young people working for a living don't have the time or disposable income to spend that much shooting, I never shot my 1st registered target until I was 60 years old. Back in the 80's I shot IHMSA and I shot a pile of it when the kids were young, once they got involved in sports that was it I chased them for 18 years and like young people now I didn't have the money for both them and me.

Sorry I'm rambling on here but yes I see trap shooting declining every year, we loose older shooters a lot faster than we gain young ones, nobody's fault it's just the way it is, I am the president of a small trap and skeet club here in Lloydminster we have 28 members in 2023, our spring registered shoot in May we have 17 shooters and I was pleased with the turnout, when I look back to 2002 which was the last time we hosted the Sask provincials our spring shoot had 104 registered shooter and the provincials that year was 177 shooters, 2023 Sask provincials had around 40 shooters, so yes a huge decline.

By the way folks, Happy New Year
And burn a bunch of powder in 2024
 
After over 10 years, of charging $5 per round of trap or skeet, we increased the cost to $7 per round in November. So with the low end factory 12 gauge shotshells at around $12 per box, up from $7 two years ago, shooting 100 targets has gone from about $48, to $76, which is making a difference in how many people are coming out these days. We have one 18 year old, but the next youngest regular shooter, is over 50, with the oldest 92. So given that we are sadly lacking younger shooters, our club is going to fade away from old age, if the liberals don't take away our shotguns first. The sporting clays field that I belong to has a much better age spread, and membership is still growing, so the future looks better for sporting clays.
 
Kisiskaciwani said:
Shooting sports in general. I’m one of the youngest women shooting skeet and my club, we need to attract more young people to these sports
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I'm not an 'old guy' but I'm also not a 'young whippersnapper' either, I can say however that many clubs need a presence online and do better with communication. One range near me does trap, but I haven't made it yet. The website hasn't been updated in probably 7 years and the last time I tried to show up no one was there. I asked around at work and was told "oh ya, the times/days on the website is from years ago, we don't shoot then anymore". I sent an email asking about whether I needed to be a member or if I could do drop in and whether I needed cash or if I could send the club an EMT, and I never got a reply. It's not just trap though, it's clubs in general as I am an active volunteer at our local range and we are lucky to get 10 people to events and we always hear "I didn't know XYZ was happening"
 
I think the decline of trap might be compared a little to the decline of movie theatres.
One of the main reasons movie theatres are in decline is that people can set up a better experience themselves at home for less money.
At home i can set the volume to whatever i please, i can pause for a bathroom or snack break whenever i want, i can eat or drink what i please, and i can make-out like a teenager with the mrs without people around us throwing up! I get none of those benefits at the theatre, despite paying a lot more. So why would i ever go to the theatre?

In the same way, i love shooting clays. When i joined the local club this year, i was excited to see that they had organised trap shoots. I thought for sure i'd be all over that, but then i found out the details. There's lots of rules, first of all. You have to do it their way, in their order. You can only load so many shells, for example. It only happens at certain times, and at a certain rate. And when you're shooting trap, that's all that's happening.

In contrast, i bought a fancy clay launcher last year. My friends and i will go out to crown land with a $19 case of clays from cabelas. We'll have the radio playing, set up the bbq, some cold drinks, and generally have a fantastic shooting party! So much of a better time, and all done on our own terms and for a lot less money. So why on earth would i go to the club for their strict straight-laced baptist church version?
 
the spank said:
Again I'd beg to differ on the "more fun" statement. Personally I don't find Sporting Clays more fun. It kind of reminds me of golfing with a gun and I sure don't like golfing. That is not to say I do not enjoy an occasional round of Sporting and next days off I'm headed out with a friend who is a very accomplished SC shooter for a day of Sporting. Shooting Sporting Clays is a very casual experience for me, I am not as driven when shooting it as I am skeet or trap, especially trap. We each get something different from each shooting discipline so to say one is more boring than the other as a blanket statement is not so. That is a matter of each person's opinion.
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Clays also reminds me of golf, just as trap reminds me of the driving range but in slow motion, and 5 stands just like a session on practice green. I do enjoy the more dynamic disciplines quite a bit more.
 
Callee said:
I think the decline of trap might be compared a little to the decline of movie theatres.
One of the main reasons movie theatres are in decline is that people can set up a better experience themselves at home for less money.
At home i can set the volume to whatever i please, i can pause for a bathroom or snack break whenever i want, i can eat or drink what i please, and i can make-out like a teenager with the mrs without people around us throwing up! I get none of those benefits at the theatre, despite paying a lot more. So why would i ever go to the theatre?

In the same way, i love shooting clays. When i joined the local club this year, i was excited to see that they had organised trap shoots. I thought for sure i'd be all over that, but then i found out the details. There's lots of rules, first of all. You have to do it their way, in their order. You can only load so many shells, for example. It only happens at certain times, and at a certain rate. And when you're shooting trap, that's all that's happening.

In contrast, i bought a fancy clay launcher last year. My friends and i will go out to crown land with a $19 case of clays from cabelas. We'll have the radio playing, set up the bbq, some cold drinks, and generally have a fantastic shooting party! So much of a better time, and all done on our own terms and for a lot less money. So why on earth would i go to the club for their strict straight-laced baptist church version?
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I find it hard to keep a straight face when someone new comes out to skeet, tells us that they shoot 90% with their portable thrower, and then shoots 50% at actual skeet. And it happens quite often.
 
Callee said:
I think the decline of trap might be compared a little to the decline of movie theatres.
One of the main reasons movie theatres are in decline is that people can set up a better experience themselves at home for less money.
At home i can set the volume to whatever i please, i can pause for a bathroom or snack break whenever i want, i can eat or drink what i please, and i can make-out like a teenager with the mrs without people around us throwing up! I get none of those benefits at the theatre, despite paying a lot more. So why would i ever go to the theatre?

In the same way, i love shooting clays. When i joined the local club this year, i was excited to see that they had organised trap shoots. I thought for sure i'd be all over that, but then i found out the details. There's lots of rules, first of all. You have to do it their way, in their order. You can only load so many shells, for example. It only happens at certain times, and at a certain rate. And when you're shooting trap, that's all that's happening.

In contrast, i bought a fancy clay launcher last year. My friends and i will go out to crown land with a $19 case of clays from cabelas. We'll have the radio playing, set up the bbq, some cold drinks, and generally have a fantastic shooting party! So much of a better time, and all done on our own terms and for a lot less money. So why on earth would i go to the club for their strict straight-laced baptist church version?
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I think that’s a major part of it, it’s the easiest discipline to replicate yourself without the extra costs and formalities. I get more trigger time, it’s more relaxed, more engaging for younger and new shooters. I really can only think of one downside and for me that is missing out on spending time around much more experienced shooters than myself. A lot of good knowledgeable people around to offer advice and tips, spot flaws, all that stuff.

Another thing is the younger generations have grown up watching the GWOT, playing call of duty type games, seeing modern firearms in movies and gravitate towards that, look at the explosive growth of prs, 3 gun compared to what the shotgun world has seen. Day and night
 
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stubblejumper said:
I find it hard to keep a straight face when someone new comes out to skeet, tells us that they shoot 90% with their portable thrower, and then shoots 50% at actual skeet. And it happens quite often.
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I tell a similar story at the bar…scores, fish, antlers or peckers, guys are gonna lie about the size. It’s not a crown land shotgunned thing
 
RRH.01 said:
They probably tell a similar story at the bar…
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Many of those people can't comprehend how much more challenging it is shooting broadside and incoming targets, going 10-15mph faster, compared to shooting the same, slow, going away target, over and over again. And they are so slow shooting the first target, that the second target of a pair is gone before they see it.
 
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I'll have to defer to you on that, since i've never experienced a professional launcher.

I wouldn't be surprised if the pro launcher worked better, as you say.

At the same time, not all portable launchers are created equal.

Mine's a foot actuated one, so you can stomp it yourself if you need, or have someone else do it.

The clay sits on a paddle, and depending where you put it on the paddle - front, back or middle - changes whether the throw arcs to the left or right or goes straight.

There's a spring loaded knob that let's you vary the angle really easily, and there's a tensioning knob that can be tightened or loosened to make the throw stronger or weaker.

All told, i think it does a pretty good job, and it's easy to get a wide variety of throws in quick succession.

Again, i wouldn't be surprised at all if a professional machine worked better, but the key question is whether it works better enough to justify the increased expense and the loss of all the other enjoyable elements of doing it yourself, such as the freedom, snacks, music, etc.

Frankly, doing it ourselves is such a fun time, i think that pro machine would probably have to spit gold bars or something to make it worth it to me.
 
stubblejumper said:
Many of those people can't comprehend how much more challenging it is shooting broadside and incoming targets, going 10-15mph faster, compared to shooting the same, slow, going away target, over and over again. And they are so slow shooting the first target, that the second target of a pair is gone before they see it.
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My first few times were like that, same feeling I had when I tried to hit some pitches off a minor league pitcher once, left in the same kinda of ####,wait,what,how moment the first few.
 
Callee said:
I'll have to defer to you on that, since i've never experienced a professional launcher.

I wouldn't be surprised if the pro launcher worked better, as you say.

At the same time, not all portable launchers are created equal.

Mine's a foot actuated one, so you can stomp it yourself if you need, or have someone else do it.

The clay sits on a paddle, and depending where you put it on the paddle - front, back or middle - changes whether the throw arcs to the left or right or goes straight.

There's a spring loaded knob that let's you vary the angle really easily, and there's a tensioning knob that can be tightened or loosened to make the throw stronger or weaker.

All told, i think it does a pretty good job, and it's easy to get a wide variety of throws in quick succession.

Again, i wouldn't be surprised at all if a professional machine worked better, but the key question is whether it works better enough to justify the increased expense and the loss of all the other enjoyable elements of doing it yourself, such as the freedom, snacks, music, etc.

Frankly, doing it ourselves is such a fun time, i think that pro machine would probably have to spit gold bars or something to make it worth it to me.
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Find one that spits out primers maybe, they are better but I don’t care if I have to load one at a time, pull a string, step on something, get a wonky throw once in a while. Vary your setup, throw doubles, it’s not hard to get a good setup going on your own. I’ll take the added freedom and friends over the performance of a machine any day.
 
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Callee said:
I'll have to defer to you on that, since i've never experienced a professional launcher.

I wouldn't be surprised if the pro launcher worked better, as you say.

At the same time, not all portable launchers are created equal.

Mine's a foot actuated one, so you can stomp it yourself if you need, or have someone else do it.

The clay sits on a paddle, and depending where you put it on the paddle - front, back or middle - changes whether the throw arcs to the left or right or goes straight.

There's a spring loaded knob that let's you vary the angle really easily, and there's a tensioning knob that can be tightened or loosened to make the throw stronger or weaker.

All told, i think it does a pretty good job, and it's easy to get a wide variety of throws in quick succession.

Again, i wouldn't be surprised at all if a professional machine worked better, but the key question is whether it works better enough to justify the increased expense and the loss of all the other enjoyable elements of doing it yourself, such as the freedom, snacks, music, etc.

Frankly, doing it ourselves is such a fun time, i think that pro machine would probably have to spit gold bars or something to make it worth it to me.
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The regulation machines throw targets faster, and because you can move over 40 yards from each thrower, you can shoot targets that are thrown from above and behind you, incoming targets, or targets that pass broadside at angles of up to 90 degrees, as well as two targets going in opposite directions , on different trajectories. With sporting clays, the variety is even greater, as some targets bounce on edge on the ground, and some are thrown straight up, and some are launched from up to 100 yards away. It comes down to whether you want a real challenge, or if you are content to shoot targets that would be extremely boring for a competent shooter.
 
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