Try Something Different

Posted On: 05-29-2025

The other day I was at the range and had the opportunity to shoot doubles trap.  This is not something I have done before so I figured whatever.  I was of course hesitant to try, but one very simple up-front comment I overheard was simply, “shoot the straight away first”.  That is exactly what I did, and I found the entire round a ton of fun.

There is always a take-away from trying new things.  I know in the past I have seen youth shooters try skeet and they come away frustrated.  That is really a good thing as it encourages them to push harder and try again.  But back to take-aways.  For me something I have always said is straight-aways are sometimes harder to hit than hard rights and hard lefts depending on the station. 

My first take away was beginning to understand exactly where that first straight target was going to be and this changed my hold point completely.  I believe if anyone preparing to shoot a round simply watches they too will begin to see consistencies like how high the targets fly, how wide, how fast.  Using the background as a measure I was able to raise my gun way above my hold normal hold point and was ready for my first shot very quickly.  Bottom line was I knew what to expect. 

In trap, we know target angles are 45 degrees so to that point we have an idea how far a target can go once released from the house.  I also had a good idea how far away the second target would be and the swing to pick it up was not that difficult.  My point here though is this training can make formal trap training and shooting better. 

Now on that same day I also had the opportunity to shoot MIT or Modified International Trap also know as wobble or Olympic trap.  Again, I had never done it but knew I would learn something, so I jumped in.  For this I had the opportunity to shoot twice at the same bird if missed, traveling 68 MPH instead of what now seems a snail’s path 45 mph and oscillating up to 35 degrees upward but maintaining the normal 45-degree width. 

In MIT the learning comes quickly as failure to hit the first shot does not allow you to stop and re-think a second shot, one must pull the trigger quickly or the target gets away.  I learned my level of concentration needed to be heightened for the first shot to avoid shooting a second time.  Once I dialed that in, I was deadly hitting 20 straight.  Again, I took a couple learning experiences away that I think will make me a better ATA trap shooter. 

First, I learned I needed a full visual field to see what was coming out of the house.  Once my gun was settled into position, just like in trap I could let BOTH EYES OPEN seeing the target quickly.  I emphasis both eyes open as this is a must for any shooter.  My eyes do all the work and moving to the lead seemed to get easily as each target was thrown.  At the same time, I found my focus expected the bird to break and I soon was not even aware a second shoot might be necessary.  Finally, I did not ever think about how fast the birds were flying, but I know once they slow down to normal ATA they will seem easier. 

David R. Vaught, Ph.D.

Executive Director