NRA/ATA Trap Shooting Camp Summary
July 14 - 15, 2008

On Monday and Tuesday, July 14-15, Venture Crew 111 hosted its first annual NRA/ATA Trap Shooting camp at the Durham County Wildlife Club (DCWC) in Research Triangle Park, NC.    The camp was open to anyone (youth and adults alike).   Four Troop 216 scouts participated and earned the Shotgun Shooting merit badge along the way – Alex B., Austin C., Sean L. and Gary M.     The instructors were from Crew 111, Troop 216, and the DCWC.  All of them are either Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA) certified Trap coaches, National Rifle Association (NRA) certified shotgun instructors, and/or experienced competitive Trap shooters.
 
The camp started promptly at 9AM in the clubhouse with classroom time to introduce the instructors, review the class agenda, and to go over the basics of shotgun safety, handling and operation.  We also broke the class into four different squads of 4-5 shooters.   After a short break, the discussion shifted to the game of Trap, including the course of fire and concepts like gun mount, hold point, and lead.   Then it was time to head out to the range!  Before the students got a chance to shoot, 5 instructors shot one full round of Trap (25 shots) so the class could see the rules, etiquette and concepts in action.  Next it was time for the students to take their first their shots!   Unfortunately, a chilly, soaking rain was settling in for the rest of the morning, so after each student had a chance to shoot about 5 shots, we returned to the clubhouse for a freshly grilled lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs (lunch was included both days).

Once lunch was over, the rain was still going strong, so the instructors decided to cover some more classroom material in hopes that the rain would let up.  After learning about the rules, etiquette and history of the sport, everyone was pleased to see that the rearranged schedule had paid off – the rain was gone for the day and, as it turned out, for the rest of the camp!    The class headed back out to the Trap fields to shoot 2 regulation rounds of Trap each (25 shots per round, so 50 shots total) from 16 yards behind the Trap house.   For those who hadn’t ever shot a shotgun before (there were a lot of people in this category – both youth and adults), the time was spent getting comfortable with the stance and the gun mount, learning to keep their heads down through the shot, and to FOLLOW THROUGH!!   There were 4 instructors on each field, so there were plenty of experienced eyes and extra hands to make sure that everyone was observing all of the safety rules.    Everyone broke some clay pigeons (“birds,” as they are called) – some more than others, but everyone seemed excited about their success and were ready to come back on Tuesday!   Class finished up at about 4:30 on Monday.

Tuesday morning was another 9AM start, beginning with some more classroom time.   One of the highlights of the day was when Mr. Robert King, one of the DCWC members and veteran of many years of Trap shooting competition, presented a segment on reloading -- a process through which you take empty shotgun shells and reload them with fresh components so they’re ready to shoot again.  During that discussion, Mr. King explained how different types of gunpowders burn at different rates.   He then demonstrated this outside of the clubhouse by burning a 4-foot long by 2 inch wide line of four different types of gunpowder – each of which burned increasingly faster.   The entire class – students and instructors alike – were fascinated to watch the flame start slowly through the shotgun powder, burn more quickly through two types of rifle and pistol powder and finally flash through the final foot of black powder!  

Most of day 2 was spent on the Trap fields.  First a couple of rounds (50 shots) from the 16 yard line.   Again, there were plenty of instructors available to work one-on-one with the students as they practiced their fundamentals.  It was clear that everyone was becoming more comfortable with the whole process and with handling the shotguns.   We got to watch lots of birds break this time around!  

Around noon we took our lunch break – pizza today – and reviewed for the NRA Basic Shotgun Safety qualification.    After lunch we went back out to the trap fields where there was one more demonstration shoot by the instructors, and then it was back to student shooting.    This time the students got a taste of handicap shooting, where you shoot from farther behind the trap house – the higher your average, the farther you shoot from.    A few of the students actually matched or even beat their best 16 yard scores!  Just goes to show that concentration counts for everything in the shooting sports.    Finally, for the brave souls that wanted to try it, we set one of the fields up for doubles – where two birds are thrown each time!   After a few of the instructors explained the approach (shoot the straightaway bird first and then go for the other one), they demonstrated the technique.   It quickly became clear that doubles is a tough game -- it took several tries before any one of the instructors were able to break both birds!    Once they were able to claim victory, the instructors turned it back over to the students.   Again, everyone hit some birds, and a few actually managed to hit both on one or more turns!

Finally, with the shooting done, everyone returned to the clubhouse to take their test (everyone passed), clean a shotgun, and then receive their certificates, patches and, for the Boy Scouts in the group, their completed blue cards for the Shotgun merit badge.

It was a fun-filled two days with lots of smiles from young and old, from students and instructors.    Many thanks to the scouts and leaders of Crew 111 for putting this camp together and to the ten adult instructors for taking time out of their busy schedules to teach the sport of Trap shooting to a very enthusiastic group of students:

Bill Fairhurst (Crew 111) - ATA level 1 coach, NRA shotgun instructor and NRA Training Counselor
Robbie Spivey (Crew 111) - ATA level 1 coach, NRA shotgun instructor
Edie Fleeman – ATA training executive, ATA level 1 coach, nationally-renown rifle shooter
Ted Bigelow – DCWC Trap Committee Chairman, veteran competitive trap shooter
Robert King – DCWC Buildings, Grounds and Safety director, veteran competitive trap shooter
Clay Clifton – DCWC member, ATA level 1 coach, competitive trap shooter
Phil Merritt – DCWC member, competitive trap shooter
Chris Meyer (T216) – ATA level 1 coach, NRA shotgun instructor, occasionally competitive trap shooter 
 
Chris Meyer
T216 Committee Chair