Trap Shooting League:

Each year the Unaka Rod & Gun Club holds an evening trap shooting league on our three lighted trap fields. Competition starts immediately after completion of the Club’s skeet shooting league, usually in late June, July or August, and runs until September to early November, depending on the number of teams participating. Matches are generally held on Monday evenings with shooting starting at about sunset. If more than six teams participate, an additional set of matches is scheduled following the first set each Monday evening. An organizational meeting is held immediately prior to the first scheduled match of the season to identify teams, assign extra shooters and promulgate the season’s schedule. Watch the Club’s Activity Calendar for the scheduled dates of the organizational meeting and subsequent match dates.

Each team consists of five shooters and each evening’s competition is made up of one 25-shot round of standard American trap per shooter, shot at a distance of 16 yards from the trap house, followed by a 25-shot round of handicap trap, which is shot at a greater distance, up to 27 yards, determined by the scores achieved in the 16 yard competition. At the beginning of each round of trap, the five team members will each be on one of the trap field’s firing points and, starting with the shooter on point number 1 (on the far left), will each call for and engage one target sequentially until each shooter has been presented with five targets. At that time the command, “change”, will be announced by the scorekeeper and each shooter will advance to his or her right to the next firing point, with the shooter on point number 5 moving back to point 1. This procedure is followed for five repetitions, allowing each shooter to engage five targets at each of the five stations, for a total of 25 targets for each shooter per round. After completion of both rounds by both competing teams, the shooter’s scores are tallied and the best four shooters’ scores for each team are used to determine each team’s score for that evening’s competition. The team with the highest total score wins that evening’s match. Opposing teams provide pullers and scorekeepers for each other during each round.

Shooters provide their own guns and ammunition, and pay a standard club fee of $7.00 per shooter for two rounds of trap on each evening of competition. Most shooters use a 12 gauge single barrel, over-and-under or semi-automatic shotgun with a modified, improved modified or full choke and 50 rounds of appropriate ammunition with either number 7½ or 8 lead shot.

Questions or suggestions concerning our trap shooting league should be directed to Carl Taylor or Mark McInturff, the Shotgun Committee Chairman.