Learn To Shoot Trap

Friday, 22 July 2016

CRGC will begin a series of semi-formal training sessions on how to shoot trap starting Thursday, 8/4/16, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm and which will continue each Thursday in August, and possibly into early September.  CRGC member Chuck McClaugherty will be heading the effort, and helping with the teaching and coaching.  Chuck is a competitive trap shooter and was CRGC's trap chairman in 2003 and again from late 2011 through 2014, club vice president in 2010, president in 2011, and also member of the board of directors from 2012 through 2014.

Chuck will have help from some of the best trap shooters around, such as our very own CRGC trap chairman Jim Warn, who just set a new record for PITA, and White Flyer Targets.  Jim shot 512 doubles targets straight without missing a single target.  Jim has shot over 5,000 doubles targets this year with an average of 98.4.  Jim also has made the WRITA All Star Teams, and PITA All Star Teams, along with many other trapshooting events over the years.  We all hope to learn a few pointers from Jim and all the rest of our Canby Trapshooting Team.

The training has two objectives:  (1) to teach shooters how to be good trap shooters, and (2) to teach shooters the frequently overlooked fun parts of trap shooting – the shotgun games (aka "the money games").  The training assumes you know how to safely operate and shoot a shotgun, and clean it when necessary.  (If you don't know basic shotgun skills, we can make arrangements for you to learn that as well.)

The Thursday night sessions each will begin with classroom instruction to explain that night's trap shooting topic, and then students will move to reserved trap pads to practice what they were told in class, and receive individual coaching to improve their skills.

The class topics will include::

• Overview of trap shooting, safety, procedures, and courtesies.
• Learn and practice how to shoot singles (16 yard line), and Handicap targets at various yardages (18 – 27 yard lines).
• Learn how shotgun games work – Annie’s, backers, doo-dahs, sliders – and practice how to shoot them.
• Learn and practice how to shoot doubles and continental trap.
• Learn about choosing and fitting a trap shotgun – what should you know, and what do you need.
• Learn about choosing the correct shells for each type of shooting – Singles, Handicap, Doubles, and Games.
• Learn about choosing the correct choke tube for the yardage you're shooting.
• Learn how to use the shotgun patterning board.
• Learn how to breathe and calm your mind, and to focus before each shot.

Students will be responsible for the cost of their own shot shells, but there will be no charge for the targets used.  If students do not have their own shotguns, there will be some available to be loaned to students during the training sessions.  The sessions are open to CRGC members, and their families and friends.

If there is enough interest as a result of these classes, CRGC will open a novice money trap on Tuesday nights, and a games trap on Thursday nights.