Expanding your Shooting Skills

Posted On: 10-29-2025

For some, trap shooting is the only shooting sport going.  Many cut their teeth in the sport and never explore the other opportunities that are out there that very well might improve one’s trap shooting.  First consider how difficult it is to master trap shooting.  There is always an argument that one should not move to another sport until they master the current sport.  In the shooting sports it is common for trap to be the starting point, but along the way one realizes how difficult it is to master trap shooting. 

Think in these terms – hitting targets requires in most cases understanding lead.  How far does the gun barrel need to be ahead of, above or below a target.  I have simplified the process of shooting I know, but other shooting sports also require a lead to the target.  Given that argument then one can indeed move around some and use that learning to improve their trap. 

First off try a round or two of skeet.  The rules on what to shoot and the sequence might take a few minutes to understand, but once you do you begin to appreciate the need for lead.  Each shot requires a different lead and soon one realizes how the eyes see the lead because all the skeet targets have some relationship to trap.  Station 1 has straight aways, 3 has crossing target and 7 has straight aways also.  Try a few stations to better understand lead. 

Sporting clays and five-stand offer an opportunity to hone your understanding of leads.  Where sporting clays and five stand differ from trap and skeet is the inconsistency of the targets.  They are always changing and to hit them one must change too.  Not so easy as in some cases a target can be confusing as to the lead and no matter how many times, we try to hit it we fail until we finally realize we need more lead to hit the target.  The brain eventually coordinates the X/Y axis so we know when to pull the trigger and how the shot will intercept the target.

It makes no difference if the target is crossing, in-coming, out-going, a Chandel, a rabbit our minds must figure out where the barrel needs to be in relation to the target.  Challenging the mind to figure this all out in milli-seconds.  That is what makes a great shooter.  The ability to allow the mind to first figure out what it needs to do, but also to remember that the scenario has been there before and the brain only must repeat the process. 

The mental game is much more than the emotional part of the sport, but then the more the brain must be prepared to understand what it needs to do for each shot.  I can assure you that stepping out from the trap line to expose your brain to more different types of shooting will indeed improve your shooting success.  The brain is powerful and will indeed begin to learn and help you set leads with very little thought needed – it can become autonomous, automatic and perfect shot after shot.

David R. Vaught, Ph.D.

Executive Director