STEADY AIM
Hitting any target using a shotgun might not sound difficult because shotguns fire shells containing hundreds of tiny pellets.
Hitting a 4-inch clay target traveling 42 mph anywhere within a 45-degree angle from the oscillating automatic target throwing machine takes concentration, good vision and quick reflexes.
Attempting to hit round clay “bird” targets in that way is a sport called trap shooting.Typical trap shoots consist of up to five people taking turns shooting at five birds from five shooting stations positioned in a semicircle behind the trap house, which contains the thrower.“The goal is to hit all 25 targets. Sometimes it's tough to do,” said Barry Ewing before a trap shoot at the Summit Township Sportsman's Club on a recent Tuesday.Trap shooting competitions usually feature 400 targets.“One target can mean a lot. It takes intense concentration,” said Ewing, one of 600 club members.A 75-year-old retiree, Ewing said he started trap shooting at age 62, but wishes he had started sooner because of the physical demands of the sport.Quick reflexes are needed because the remotely operated target thrower scatters the targets.“All the angles change. When the wind blows, it causes the target to do all kinds of things. It can go up. It can go down,” Ewing said. “It takes good eyes and reflexes.”The oscillating thrower combined with the different shooting stations change the angles to the targets and force shooters to adjust. The thrower can also throw two targets at a time.
Station 5, located farthest to the right, is typically the most difficult for right-handed shooters because it is difficult for them to keep their guns in the proper shooting position while swinging the gun to the right, he said.Station 1, located farthest to the left, tends to be the difficult shot for left-handed shooters.The key, he said, is for shooters to keep their cheeks of their faces planted to the comb of the gun stock.“If that cheek comes off the stock, you're going to miss,” Ewing said. “There's an old saying: 'Keep your head on the stock, break the rock.' It's true. You really have to stay on that stock.”Ewing and a few others were trap shooting at the club on a recent Tuesday, the day the other outdoor gun ranges at the 53-acre facility are closed, so the weekly trap shoot can be held safely, said Chuck Montag, club president.The shoot opens at 4 p.m. It is open to the public and is held all year long. The club charges $4 to shoot at 25 targets.Some club members trap shoot two or three times a week by taking part in shoots at other clubs, Montag said.
The Butler County Trap League conducts competitive shoots. Four clubs — the Butler City Hunting and Fishing Club, Mars Rod and Gun Club, RC Men's Club and Evans City Sportsman's Club — are involved in the league and take turns hosting shoots every Wednesday.“There are some very good shooters in Butler County,” Ewing said.One of them, in addition to Ewing, is 24-year-old Bryson Fox of Saxonburg.He is getting started as a competitive skeet shooter, but also enjoys trap shooting.He recently hit 100 consecutive targets with a .410-gauge shoot gun and 395 of 400 total targets at a competition in Maryland.“It's fun to do. It keeps you concentrated,” Fox said about skeet shooting.More technical and advanced than trap shooting, skeet shooting involves eight shooting stations and targets crossing each other. Shooters have to use 12, 20, 28 and .410 gauge shotguns in separate rounds..
Unlike in trap shooting, skeet shooters know the direction each target will travel.Shotguns used in trap and skeet are typically heavier and more expensive than field grade guns, but field grade guns can be used.Most, like the Krieghoff that Ewing shoots, are over and under double barrel guns.The most expensive trap guns have adjustable combs, ribs and recoil pads, and release triggers that fire the gun when the trigger is released — not pulled.Adjusting a shotgun's rib, on which the sights are mounted, allows the shooter to move the gun's point of impact up or down.Most trap shooters, including Ewing, set their rib so they can see the target above the gun sights.“I like target above. My point of impact is high,” he said.The rib setting also determines the percentage of pellets that strike above the target and how many hit below. Most people seem to prefer having 70 percent of the pellets hit high, he said
