Life Lessons from Trap Shooting.
What I said was: “Trap shooting doesn’t teach you a lot about shooting shotguns, but it teaches you a lot about other important stuff.” Trap teaches two very important shooting lessons.
It teaches you to keep your eye on the target and your head on the stock.
Trap can also reinforce some negative behaviors.
What’s worse is that because the angles in trap are shallow, you can be very successful aiming right down the gun barrel and shooting a trap gun like a rifle.
And that’s fine for trap, and for a lot of upland shooting, but not when it comes time to shoot any kind of bird that requires some lead.
Then you have to learn to get your eyes off the gun barrel, because if you’re aiming your gun at a crossing duck or dove, you’re going to shoot behind it.
Skeet and sporting clays are much better games for learning how to wingshoot, in my opinion.
Earlier this week, for instance, one of the kids on our trap team shot 196x200 at the state shoot.
All they can control is they how they react to the next target.
Trap shooting teaches you to keep your eye on the target and your head on the stock. But, it can also teach you some important lessons about life.
The other day I made a remark to Gil Ash of the OSP school and he immediately said “I’m going to quote you on that.” Since Gil talks (a lot) to a lot of people, I need to get out in front of that remark, as the D.C. spin doctors say, before it gets me in trouble.
What I said was: “Trap shooting doesn’t teach you a lot about shooting shotguns, but it teaches you a lot about other important stuff.”
Trap teaches two very important shooting lessons. It teaches you to keep your eye on the target and your head on the stock.
Trap can also reinforce some negative behaviors.
The problem with trap as shotgun practice (and it is way better than no practice at all) is that you can shoot wrong and still do very well. Watch a trap shoot sometime. You will see people grinding targets despite odd stances and bizarre gun mounts. What’s worse is that because the angles…
