The sport is in some ways a replacement for a game where the targets were live pigeons. Indeed, one of the names for the clay targets used in shooting games is clay pigeons. The layout of modern trap shooting  includes one house that releases targets and the five shooters move through five different positions.

Trap shooting has been a sport since at least 1793 when it used real birds, usually the Passenger Pigeon, which was extremely abundant at the time. Fake birds were introduced around the time of the American Civil War as the Passenger Pigeon was nearing extinction and sufficient numbers were not reliably available.  Clay targets were introduced in the 1880s.

No matter what your age, male or female, you will find trap shooting to be a wonderful and "very different" sport that you have never experienced before.  Even if you are not sports inclined, you will enjoy trap shooting!  Unlike golf, bowling, tennis, basketball, etc., there are no physical limitations or requirements to lift, bend, twist, run, jump and get all out of breath.   Don't forget to bring your shotgun (some clubs have loaners for you to try, some don't).  We are a friendly bunch who just love to help new shooters join the sport for fun and games.

  Don't be bashful, we realize that we were all new shooters at one time.  You're welcome and we want to see you have a good time.  But hitting all those targets are not so easy... and that's what makes trap shooting so addictively fun and challenging.  Many club members just shoot for the fun of it, for the sheer joy of seeing those little clay targets explode into balls of black smoke.  And that's fine.  But trap shooting has always been a "money game" in many of the competition shoots.  There are many fine shooters who take these events very seriously.  You can compete for the money or just the prizes or both.  The choice is yours.

Check out this video The Beginner's Guide to Trapshooting to learn more!  (Note: at 13:50 in the video is where you can see an actual team shooting)  Below is the short trailer to the video.