Are you tired of feeling frustrated with your game and wonder why you don’t get better? Tired of seeing other people win the option money and trophies? Of course you are. Nobody wants to lose, and worse yet…lose most all of the time! Well, the good news is you can learn to shoot with higher levels of precision and take home your share of the winnings!

How?

Through knowledge! Everybody believes they can simply pick up a shotgun and learn how to shoot targets through trial and error. You can do this, but you’re only going to be a mediocre shooter relying on a few lucky days to pull you to a win. To shoot this way, everything has to be “right” — meaning; your mood, feel of the gun and game somehow just feels perfect and you win a shooting event. Problem is, those moods and feels just don’t gel together all of the time. The end result is terrible scores until you just happen to have another lucky day.

Shoot With Knowledge

Professional ATA, DTL or Olympic shooters do not shoot high scores on luck alone. They have the inner knowledge of the game which gives them a complete understanding of how to hit each target. There is no guesswork or chasing targets hoping they will hit one…they know how to kill it. It’s like having the engine in your car break and you keep trying to find the problem but it eludes you. You take the car to an experienced mechanic and he finds the problem in seconds. Knowledge is the answer.

Learn, To Learn

Most shooters want to get better…NOW, but don’t. The truth is they finish the season no better than they started. The same shooters who won last year, win this year and the losers just keep on losing year after year. Think about this! If all the technological advances in shotguns were so great why is it the average shooter’s score going down? If all it took was a great gun to raise your score, you’d be getting better. But you aren’t, so something’s wrong. I’ll tell you what is wrong, it’s missing knowledge. You must have the knowledge to win in trap shooting. Call them tricks of the trade if you wish. I call them secrets because they are! There are more secrets in trap shooting than you know! Once you learn the technical tactics, your scores naturally rise. Why? Because targets become easier to annihilate! If you want to learn these tricks you may discover them over a period of ten or fifteen years of trial and error, or you can take in a few lessons and start shooting the high scores now! This year, not many years from now!

You have a passion for trap shooting; it’s fun, challenging, exciting and it gives you a sense of power and authority no other sport can give you. You already know how to play the game, but you keep on missing targets. It’s not fair! Way too many shooters are suffering needlessly missing targets and losing competitive events. Why? Missing knowledge.

Getting That Knowledge

You’ve tried reading books, magazine articles, videotapes and NOTHING seems to work. Why? Because the information given is too basic, teaching the same old simplistic stale techniques over and over again. Many shooter’s have taken lessons from pro shooters and have walked away disappointed. Why? Because the inner knowledge of the game cannot be instilled in just one or two lessons, and, some pros are simply not going to give away their secrets. But what if there were a book that did give you the inside knowledge? What if you read this book and then took a shooting lesson? Amazing things would happen!

Well, the good news is there are now trap shooting “technical books” available to help you shoot ATA trap, DTL and Olympic trap! Trapshooting Secrets and Precision Shooting — The Trapshooter’s Bible. Read these books and take a lesson from a pro and you’ll be screaming on fast-forward!

Now you are “communicating” on a higher level with your instructor/coach. The key here is to read the books first! Get that inside knowledge, put it practice and start winning the shoots…then go see a pro to get your final tune-up! That’s the plan. Click right here for dedicated pros who can help you. Remember, the key is to have the inside knowledge BEFORE you take shooting lessons to get more bang for your buck!

Pros love to work with technically experienced shooters!

Example: Consider your occupation. Who do you think you could give better and faster instructions; the novice or the professional who already knows the inside rules?

Trap shooting is no different. The more you know the faster you will learn!

Straight To The Target

There are many techniques you can learn to help you shoot with precision and deliver the shot straight to the target for dead-centered hits. Dustball hits. They are not cosmetic hits, but the sign of a the precision shooter who knows what he/she is doing. Watch the pros and you’ll see how they center the targets. Their precision is so tight that if they do make a mistake and miss…they still hit the target with a choppy break and get the score!

If you are not dustballing each target you are, in fact, missing the target and hitting them on luck. The frustration in trap shooting is slicing targets…and suddenly, you miss clean and miss again, and again…driving your score down each time until you are out of the money and out of the game. This does not need to happen! You can reverse this insidious bad habit once and for all and shoot the scores you desire and deserve. All the money you have spent on guns, ammo and entry fees over the years no longer need be wasted money. Get the knowledge and you’ll start winning! And that’s a fact!

Without the inner knowledge you will miss targets and not even know why. And if you don’t know why you missed you can’t correct the problem. This is precisely why you will have a “bad trap” shooting a terrible score. Each missed target pulls your score down like gravity destroying your chances of ever recovering…even if you ran all the other traps straight! That bad trap ruined you. If you had the inner knowledge you would have discovered the trap or stations were misaligned or the target’s were exiting unbalanced due to a trap set too high or too low upsetting your timing, swing angle and sight picture. You bet there are secrets to the game!

Once you understand how to recognize a problem and how to correct it, your frustration is gone! Knowledge takes over your shooting game and you have that great jump on all the other shooter’s who simply do not have the knowledge. Once you understand EXACTLY WHY you miss shots you’ll get that instant mental feedback But most of all, you’ll learn EXACTLY HOW to hit the targets so you’ll be missing way less than you do now…that’s for certain!

All Hope Is Gone

I’ve heard so many professional shooters comment on other shooters and they all tend to gravitate to this one line of thought, “He’s a basket case. He’ll never make it shooting like that.” For that poor shooter out there putting all his heart and soul into his game he’s doomed from the start to continue to fail. All hope is gone for this shooter, regardless of how much he loves the game and loves to shoot…he’s shooting without the knowledge, and there is no hope for a shooter who has no knowledge of the game.

It’s over long before he even packed his bags to attend the shoot!

Example: In your career you have met incompetent people. But you knew, if the person would only listen to you and take some instructional advice you could cure this person’s inefficiency.

The same is true with trap shooting. He who has the knowledge, wins!

Face The Facts

The truth is, you are not a professional trapshooter. If you were, you would be winning a grand majority of every shoot you attend month-after-month. You may have classified yourself as a “recreational shooter” who just shoots for fun. That’s okay…but it’s no fun losing! Try winning…and you’ll know what real fun is all about.

All you need is knowledge to apply to the game you are now playing and you’ll see instant improvement.

Learn the tricks of the trade and you’ll be dustballing the targets. Believe me, that is fun! You won’t be chasing down targets trying to hit them…you’ll be SETUP properly so when the target exits, the target COMES TO YOU. It’s like having the target emerge from the traphouse and your gun’s sight bead is already on the target for you! That’s how the pros shoot. They don’t chase targets and hope to hit them. They have a plan of attack that works.

Everything is lined up, and when they call for the target…it’s right where they wanted it to be!

Most all trapshooters have no inkling of an idea of what is really going on out there in the target zone. Many don’t even have a zone or know what a zone is. And those who shoot a zone are doing is all wrong! Watch shooters’ shoot and you’ll see what I mean…there is no real precision in their shooting. Most are shooting on pure luck. Yes, they are doing the best they can and trying very hard to win, but they will lose out to those who have the deep inner knowledge.

They will simply make too many mistakes like a bad habit!

It’s Crazy!

There is absolutely no reason why any trap shooter cannot be breaking high scores, even on a bad day.

How many handicap shooters are dumping badly in the 70’s? With the inside knowledge a bad day could give you a 90! On a good day? Use your imagination!

Don’t settle for low scores when advice and shooting instruction can give you the wining scores you really want. It’s a decision thing here. You decide if you are happy with your scores. If you don’t like your scores you can do something about it, today!

Do nothing and you’ll get the score you deserve. Trap shooting is an unforgiving sport! What’s your decision?

Pick one:

Those questions may sound silly, but in all reality it’s a choice you have to make today…right NOW! Procrastination is an instant, “No. I like losing and shooting bad scores.” You have to make your decision today, not tomorrow or next week…right now!

Yes, I Want To Shoot Better And Win!

That is the answer! Knowledge is the vehicle and you are the driver. It all begins with a psychological change. You are now willing to permit yourself to be educated in trap shooting. You want to learn how to shoot targets with extreme precision. You are no longer satisfied with chipping targets and letting them slip by unburned ruining your fun and being the object of ridicule and embarrassment by other shooters who love to taunt your misfortune.

The time is right for change and opportunity knocks on your door. Your ship has come in…and you are now ready to jump onboard and begin the adventure to higher scores. It’s high time you outshoot those guys who think they can’t be beaten!

And you will be the one to do it!

Two Easy Steps

This is the plan:

• You purchase the trap shooting technical books to give you that inside knowledge; Trapshooting Secrets and Precision Shooting — The Trapshooter’s Bible. These books will bridge the gap so you can perform Step #2 with a high levels of instruction you could never otherwise achieve. These books will put you into a high caliber shooting range so you will be ready to take personalized lessons.
• You schedule a trap shooting lesson from one of these professionals. Even if you don’t have the money to spend for lessons now, simply make your reservation, say, six-months from now, even a year. The important thing is to make your commitment. Once you do, you will then obtain the funds. It will happen!

What Will Happen?

You will see instant improvement in your shooting! You will be mentally elevated into the mind-set of the professional shooter. You will be shooting with a powerful sense of authority…just like the pros! You will know what you are doing and you will do it well…breaking targets like you’ve never broken them before!

You’ll be excited that your game is more consistent, predictable and dependable. You’ll enjoy the satisfaction of hitting your shots exactly where you commanded the gun to go and this precision and power will be totally under your control.

You will finally be the master of your mind and body, knowing you can do what others cannot. You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment you only dreamed of before…but it will be real. And it’s going to be fun. After all, isn’t that what trap shooting should be? You’ll look forward to shooting your first trap knowing you are going to score well and actually have fun the entire event!

You will enjoy the game more than you ever had in the past! That’s what a shooting coach is going to do for you!

“Everybody knows everything except for those who know nothing.”

• Shooters tend to believe the pros are geniuses with special privileged talents, and it’s true, but so have you the inner genius within. It only needs coaxing and development to bring it forth but you must mentally be open to it.
• Genius is not just knowing more than everyone else nor is it a matter of privileged natural high intelligence. It is purely the ability to break out of the rut of closed-cycle thinking and generating ideas. This breaks the old bad habits and allow you to begin to learn through experimentation. Example: To find a better way to break the target for there is more than one way to do so.
• Genius thinking is not rigid, it is flexible and will readily leap from one idea to another. In this way you begin to make connections other shooter’s cannot see. Experimentation of trying new techniques expands the thought process which allows you a deeper insight to the game. Suddenly, you begin to see valid solutions where you saw no way out of the problem before. Practice sessions now become technically oriented and experimental. You begin to see what you are doing right and wrong.
• Geniuses do not think small, but go beyond the tried and true to develop a new way of doing things. They even question “conventional wisdom” and find much of it myth and in error fundamentally. Begin to question what you have been told for many years and look at the flip side of the coin, “Is it possible I have been mislead?” This will open a new dimension of thinking for you and from this point you learn the inside truths.
• Practice tip: Go to post #3 and break the target a different way than you always have. You will be convinced there is a better way! Try shooting it faster, slower, put more or less distance between you and the target before pulling the trigger, see if you can put the sight bead on different locations and still break it. Can you still break the target using the sight beads? Try eye pre-focus techniques before calling for the target. Try different eye and gun hold points. Which of these experimental techniques make it the easiest to kill the target? Try various combinations to discover the formula for that post! Write it down on paper as “Plan Post #3″ and reflect on it before shooting that post again.
• You can’t add ideas to a mind that already knows it all! A closed mind knows nothing but what it sees. It has no ability to see within or beyond that which is hidden from view. Genius is simply opening up oneself to “new ideas” and “new concepts” and be willing to explore them to see what develops. Thinking without action is useless.
• Thinking like a pro is simply becoming an expert novice. Read that again. Be willing to learn the basics all over again. Have the courage to question all that you see and all that you do. Be willing to allow the myths you have learned over the years to pass away in order to discover what you don’t know. Learn a new way to do things. Break out of the slump with new knowledge!
• Since you have read this article everyday you have had small ideas pass into your mind. These are moments of insight and they must be captured before they vaporize. Carry a pen and paper with you or tape recorder and record these jewels of wisdom. Every genius who ever lived and modern day inventor carries a pencil and paper! Inspirations are wispy thought-energies floating about in the Universe. It’s why two inventors will invent the same product in opposite parts of the world simultaneously. The patent office is full of such coincidences. The knowledge is there to those who listen to those small insightful thoughts. Most people simply let these thoughts pass them by. Harvest your flashes of brilliance! When an idea surfaces, jot it down and put it to practice and see how you can apply it.
• Be prepared to work. Your ideas will require hard work and may likely take years to master the final form.
• Be stubborn and single-minded and unswaying in your belief of your idea. If the idea makes sense you can make it work. Example: Canting a shotgun is frowned upon in trap shooting but you an make it work! Be willing to challenge conventional wisdom and prove it wrong. Example: Using the shotgun’s sight beads to shoot targets is also frowned upon, but ask yourself, “How can precision be developed if nothing is being aimed?” “Certainly, something is being aimed for if there were no aim shot/target alignment could never intersect.” “What is secret to aim the shot so I can break the target with mechanical efficiency?” “Is eye/hand coordination truly the secret or the demise of many?” “What are the secrets the pros use?”
• When something does not work do not simply discard it. Explore further to find the reason why. Perhaps the theory is correct but the application is wrong. Try a new technique to see if it can be incorporated into another idea. Keep working on the problem until the solution is found to make it work!
• Ask for advice from knowledgeable sources. Geniuses always ask for advice. They explore the ideas of many and formulate new ideas from this pool of knowledge. Example: If you are experiencing problems in your shooting ask professional shooter’s questions. Don’t be shy and reserved. Ask you you will receive.
• Give your knowledge freely and more shall come to you. Hoard it and it will consume you with frustration. What goes around comes around so be helpful to other people, and people will come to your aid. The pros share there knowledge between each other and among close friends and some give formal shooting lessons. The law of give and take is a real law with real power that can produce real results…good or bad! Giving gives more. Taking takes all then leaves you with nothing in the end for there is no one left to give.
• Stop being a pessimist in your thinking and guard your words. Doubt creates more doubt and it will show up in your shooting performance and scores. Be realistic, yet positive. If you keep saying, “I am ill” or “I am going to miss targets as usual in this big event” it will happen as you have decreed! The pro understands the power of his/her thoughts and takes great caution to correct negative thoughts with positive affirmations.
• The solutions to your shooting problems are already within you. The answers are there and only need be explored with an open mind. The more ideas you shut out the less genius you will experience. The saying, “It doesn’t take a genius to shoot trap targets” will have to be revised. It does require genius thinking.

You are well aware trap shooting requires 10% ability and 90% psychology. It’s a mind game! But just how do you get this sports psychology anyway? You don’t get it…you already have it within…all you need do is discover it and put it to use.

Example. When you want something you usually get it. It could be a simple mental command for any consumable product…from a bag of Kettle Chips to a new pick-up truck or whatever. Thought creates desire which creates results. That thought/desire created a momentum within, a goal to complete and it gets achieved one way or another. Let’s take the next step…

If you feel blue down in the dumps, have you noticed nothing seems to turn out right? Trouble begets trouble. But if you lift your spirits the present and future appears brighter…and it is. People greet you with a smile, bills get paid and it’s a fabulous life. Just another example of how “thought” generates an invisible power to manifest a physical reality. Your thought makes things happen in the real world. You do not need to understand how it works…just that it does produces results. That’s all we’ll probably ever know about how the mysteries of mind power works. Spiritual things are invisble things and thoughts are intangibles in themseves…we can’t put our finger on it.

There are many unseen powers around us we do not fully understand yet we see and feel the result; the wind, the life force within plants, gravity holding the planets and galaxies in their courses, atomic energy within the stars and the invisible atom, the list is eternal. All are mysteries and all are very powerful forces. And all that you see was created by the unseen. Like the laws of physics, you can’t see them but you can sure feel them and you can’t change these controlling laws regardless to your disposition.

What if, just what if you could take a chance and believe their is a power within you that can turn your life around? What if, just what if all of the bad things happening in your life are actually manifestations of wrong thinking? Caused not by thinking negative in itself but rather a deep-seated “belief” in what you think. So if you entertain thoughts of a failing or negative nature…they materialize! That’s an awesome responsibility isn’t it? Do you think you can believe this? Does it make sense to you thoughts can produce a tangibnle reality? Do you believe trapshooters who attend a shoot expecting to lose are going to win?

Wether you believe in God, a creator or not doesn’t matter because your belief in God or disbelief will not change one law in the universe. So what if there were a law of an invisible nature that essentially said, “For what you believe you shall be.” Hmmm, your religion or lack of such would not change that law. The bible indicates that God gave man free will. What could that possibly mean? How did this emense universe come to be? Something, someone created it? A higher intelligence? I believe it to be so. Nothing comes from nothing so there must be something/someone who made all things. So getting back to the law…

Free will. The power to create one’s own Heaven or Hell on Earth. Scary thought, neverthless all roads of reason point to this reality. So, if there is a law in place that gives us free will to create, we should be mindful of what we think for it may just come to be! However, thinking in itself is not the sole power…it is the “belief” in the thought which gives it that magical quality to create…to change circumstances and change lives. Faith…that’s the key! Believing you have what you do not already have. Could it be purely coinciental that many top-gun shooters pray for help and get it? Could a prayer simply be a belief in a yet unseen result? Is there power in prayer? I believe there is power in prayer as long as you believe your prayer will come into being…believe it will materialze with simple faith and it happens. That’s all the proof you’ll need…results.. just pure results.

In trap shooting we hear often to be confident and maintain a positive attitude quite a bit and many try to become confident and fail. Why? It’s not that they did not try hard, it’s because they tried too hard. The harder you try, the less faith you have! Drop your pen to the floor and it falls. The law of gravity will not be denied. The law of thought, law of mind, law of faith requires no sweat or strain from you. Once you believe your invisible thoughts can create and manifest into the physical world results…you simply believe in your thought and it shall be. Can you bring yourself to believe this? Will you put it to the test to see if it will work for you?

I am not an authority on the subject of the power of mind, a student only. When I first read about these things I was skeptical, though much of it made sense to a degree, I gave it a try. My life turned around in incredible and fascinating ways. Then I finally started to see what the Bible and Philosophers of the ages were trying to tell us…we have a greater power within us which can create wonderful things in our life if we will only believe with simple faith, for there are laws in place we can invoke at will to create the desired result we seek, good or bad. I will say this. I never really knew what Jesus meant when he said, “The truth shall set you free.” Through his examples of performing miracles he was simply demonstrating the power we have within us already, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” What I thought was complicated religion was really a set of simple laws already in place and the Prophets’ all tried to tell us, but we keep missing the boat…it’s so simple it eludes us. It’s too easy so it won’t work. How little faith and how blind we are to the truth. The truth is a law. A power that is already in existance which is always at work. If you don’t believe, you’ll live with the resultes of your thoughts anyway, so it’s not a religion as it is a reality as real as the air your breathe. It’s a matter of choice.

Certainly, this short article cannot explore the deeper aspects of the laws of the universe and the nature of these powers. I am only explaining, how I understand the power of thought works in relation to an unseen law. At this point you should take a peek at the Science of Mind. It is not a cult or a religion and they won’t hound you for money. They will teach you how to change your life by using these laws. You simply try them and if they work then you know what to do next. You apply the same priciples to your trap shooting and you’ll get results. They will open your mind to see things as they are and to see the unseen materialize. And regardless of your religious beliefs, I have yet to read where they interfere with it. If anything, they enhance your faith with understanding. And this teaching goes way beyond the shallowness of positive thinking. You learn positive belief!

What Will You Learn and Experience?

• Cure yourself from physical illness and pain.
• Increase your income.
• Get bills paid.
• Resolve family discourses.
• Dissolve insecurity and fear.
• Live life to the fullest.
• Remove yourself from poverty and despair.
• Build true confidence.
• Replace depression with happiness.
• People no longer have power over you.
• The cold cruel hand of failure releases its grip.
• And much more!

All with the power of thought. Testimonials from other people revealing the horrible lilves some of these people lived and how it all changed on a dime. In an instant. No long waiting or constant begging for God to help…he’s already put the laws in place! All you have to do is use them. Amazing, but it’s real. It works. I’ve seen the results first hand in my own life…so I’m convinced.

How Will This Help My Trap Shooting?

• Now, what if you could begin to tap into these laws to help you reach higher scores in trap shooting? Wouldn’t that at least be worth a try?
• What if it works and your scores skyrocket?
• What if it opened your mind so wide you could absorb all the knowledge there is to know about trap shooting without confusion?
• What if you began to see trap shooting income filling your bank account?
• Winning more shoots than you thought you could ever win in your wildest dreams?
• What if you hated your current job and suddenly all of the nuisances and gripes that tore at your heart and mind vanished?
• That fears dissolved faster than ice on a warm day?
• Imagine waking up and knowing good things are going to happen to you today…and they do!
• Imagine what you imagine becoming reality.

I don’t just believe it will…I know it will! It will happen because there is no one, nobody, that can stop it from happening except yourself. That’s the power of free will. And the choice is yours to make to whom you will serve…freedom or slavery. Your choice is your “thought.”

So, if you want to begin this journey to a new life of freedom and understanding invest $12 and buy this book, “The Millionaire Joshua.” It’s not a get-rich-quick book as the title would suggest. It’s the story of Joshua leading the Israelites from Egypt with with Moses. Say what? That’s what I thought too until I read the first chapter and couldn’t put the book down! This book teaches you the principles of these laws and how they work. It just so happened that Joshua became a multi-millionaire as a side-benefit of using the laws. A reward you could say. You can order the book from DeVorss & Co. listed above. Then at the same time get a subscription to the Science of Mind magazine and tell me what happens to your life. I’d like to know.

It took me about 30-days to begin to see some results in the way I was thinking as so much had to be reversed, and a year to really see big results as I learned more about it and started to believe it. I had a tough time at first with the magazine as it gets quite deep quickly so that’s why I say read the book first along with the magazine.

Frankly, I don’t see where a person could go wrong here reading this material. It’s not a religion and it will not upset your beliefs, but only help you to understand ever more what you’ve always wanted to know.

Trap Shooting Terms Applied to the Power of Mind

• Visualization — A common trap shooting term, a technique we know works when it is applied. This is an example of the power of mind to create, to manifest a reality from the unseen by invoking a belief, a thought, a vision into a tangible result. There is no sweat or strain to use it. You do it and the results materialize. It’s so simple. Faith in action.
• Concentration — A frame of mind to focus on a job at hand. It is a thought focused to accomplish a goal which concentrates the energy of mind to perform a specific task. There is no sweat or strain. If there is you’re doing it wrong.
• Confidence — An overwhelming belief in one’s ability to get the job done. It’s having simple faith in yourself. You know you can do because you believe you can. Faith invoking the power of thought to produce a tangible rise in performance and achievement.
• Focus — The professional trapshooter begins this process of getting focused the night before the shoot and maintains a slow state of mind to channel the power of thought upon arrival at the shoot. Negative thinking is hereby allowed to be flushed from the mind and positive conviction replaces it. This focus, a thought process, then triggers visualization, concentration, confidence and increases even more focus. Again, the power of the mind is used to enhance the physical outcome where the invisible becomes reality.

Visualization, Concentration, Confidence, Focus. All are unseen yet we know of their power to manifest that which can be seen, and it’s all part and parcel to the power of mind. The Science of Mind is simply the study of the mind and how it can create, transform, reverse situations. A source of power.

If you shoot enough targets over many years you will learn of these techniques of faith or you can learn them right now without having to expend tens of thousands of dollars to learn it the hard way. But sooner or later you will have to learn how to manage the inner process of trap shooting…the mind, if you wish to shoot well consistently.

You must have knowledge to excel. Knowledge of the inner secrets of the game of trap shooting to begin the physical process of shooting targets with precision. Then you learn the mental processes required to bring yourself up to a higher level of performance. Both are required. The trouble is both are not learned by many trapshooters simply pounding away at targets on Sunday shoots getting ready for the the next competitive event. What are they really learning? Sadly, for most, they are only re-learning what they already know, rehearsing that which does not work. Repeating the same old mistakes over-and-over-again. But you can escape from all this.

Trap Shooting Secrets book begins the process of learning the inside tricks of the trade and then opens your mind to see things differently, to break out of that slump holding your scores back. Precision Shooting — The Trapshooter’s Bible takes you to that higher level of shooting performance learning the finer aspects of trap shooting. The Science of Mind takes you into the final phase where all you have learned is applied with conviction. The end result is a powerful trapshooter with a powerful mind with a good life to enjoy it all!

Here’s some inside tricks you should know about:

• Do not be conscious of the scores of other shooters on your squad. This is a great way to divert your full attention to the job you have to do and often will cause you emotional grief when you miss a target and the other shooter(s) did not miss on that trap. Don’t worry, they will likely miss on the other traps!
• Stay away from the scoreboard before you shoot. You don’t want to know the score you have to beat as it will divert your attention in a bad way. The moment you drop a target you’ll begin the countdown in your head and you know your score will only drop further. Check scores only after you shoot.
• Stop thinking about what you are doing wrong or may do wrong. Instead, think of what you are doing right…even when things go wrong! This will enable you to remain focused.
• Dropping out of the game. Once you perform badly on a trap you lose hope and then use the shoot as a practice session. This is a bad habit. No matter how many targets you drop you need to learn to mitigate the damage. If you don’t put your all into it, all of the time, you’ll always fall apart when targets drop. Do not let emotions control your game. Get serious in competitive shooting and it will reward you. Be a fighter. The first thing that goes before a disappointing score is the relentless desire to break the target.
• Never count the targets you have left to shoot. You must learn to not devote any special attention to these last few targets. They are no different than any other. It’s tough to learn, but you’ll need to learn it or you’ll drop the targets and ruin a perfect score.
• Failing to play the options is a mistake. Play at least one option to ‘up the ante’ so you can get deeper into the competitive groove and set a powerful internal drive to win back you shooting fees.
• Never think of option money when shooting. Think of winning if you will, but not of losing or winning money. Money has nothing to do with the act of shooting the target so it is detrimental to contemplate money. The mind is as fragile as it is strong. Control your thoughts when shooting.
• Shoot your own game. Do not get swept away in a fast-pace or slow-cautious squad rhythm. These timing factors are very powerful influences on the subconscious mind and the squad’s timing will control your shooting (in a bad way) if you are not aware of your own perfected timing.
• Wear blinders and a long-billed hat to give you that tunnel vision effect, reduce side-motion distractions and prevent image reflections from hazing your sight on the target. If you don’t you’ll miss allot due to distorting optical illusions affecting the eye’s retina.
• Take a deep breath before you call for the target (breathe in as you shoulder the gun). This charges the eyes with oxygen and you’ll see the target a lot better than if you don’t. It also triggers enhanced concentration. Control your breathing rate.
• If you get nervous? Yawn! You can’t be nervous and yawn at the same time. Try it, it works! It slows and resets your breathing pace. You control nervousness by how you breathe. Believe it or not, it’s true.
• Be very ready when you line up to shoot your first trap. Get everything in order. If one thing is out of place in the routine it will show up in your shooting. So don’t rush to the trap bank. Also, make sure you are truly ready for the target when you call for it. How many times did you call just because you felt it was ready due to squad rhythm influence knowing it was wrong? Be ready for the target.
• Do not anticipate which angle of target you may receive. You prepare for the worst angle and setup for that shot, but you are not surprised when that angle does not appear. Anticipation will hurt you.
• Failing to visualize the three basic target angles you will receive on each post prior to shouldering the gun is devastating to scores. You’ll always remain unsure of how to hit the target if you neglect visualization. It also trains the subconscious mind to get it right!
• If you shoot a high gun, drop you gun hold an inch or two. You’ll see the target faster and you’ll not be so tempted to cross-shoot the target by moving the gun left or right only. You must ride the track to the target.
• Do upset the squads timing when you see those repetitious losses…when one shooter misses and everyone else then misses their target too. You’ve seen this happen before. The subconscious mind has taken over these shooters and has just been told to repeat what it saw and that’s why they all missed. You simply let that lost target hit the ground and tell yourself it is dead. That breaks the cycle.
• Do not shoot a slow or fast pull. You may be strongly tempted to shoot at it and you may hit some of them but you will also miss a tad too many to keep you out of the money. That’s how it works against you.
• Remind yourself not to listen to any negative comments you hear from other shooters; “Boy, that trap sure was a tough one.” “Did you see the background on that trap?” “That puller was horrible.” These comments if not immediately flushed out of your mind will remain and remarkably fulfills itself into reality.
• Shoot to win. Start now, no matter how bad you are shooting, to begin to learn how to develop a winning attitude. Believe you are a professional shooter! That’s right, believe it now! There is no future point in time where you become professional and begin shooting like a pro. It all has to start in the mind today! Be a pro on the yardage you shoot and you will see better results in your performance and scores.
• Do not arrive to the shoot expecting to lose or expecting to shoot poorly as usual. Mentally you must pull yourself up from the bootstraps and expect the best for you today. Too many shooters believe themselves to be in slumps and guess what? Their own thoughts manifest the outcome!
• Do not flood your mind with positive statements, “I’m going to break them all today” or “I’m going to win this shoot!” This only sets you up for a fall as it is an impossible goal and the mind will rebel receiving such overwhelming demanding tasks. Say, “I’m going to break one target at a time. Just one at a time.” This will get the job done. Anyway, you paid good money to break the targets so break them, one at a time.
• Do remind yourself to use proper eye and gun holds on each post and on each trap. Know where to put those holds and you won’t let a un-squared or improperly set trap or diverse background ruin your score.
• Keep emotions out of your game. Anger, disgust, sense of failure, disappointment are just a few emotions that will creep into your game. When you miss a target forget about it. It did not exist. The moment you reflect emotions the subconciou will pick up on it and duplicate the same errors and you’ll suddenly find yourself struggling with any target that appears to have the same angle as that lost target. Now you can’t hit any of them it seems.
• Be aggressive mentally to kill the target, but stay under physical control. This aggressiveness must not be allowed to flow into your body moves to the target. Your swing to the target is still smooth but has a feel of authority in the move, smooth authority!
• Failing to use trigger words will keep your scores down. There is an internal battle taking place between your will (conscious mind’s desire to break the target) verses the unconscious mind (to do the exact opposite to miss the target). It ’s true this battle exists and it’s gets hot and furious the more of a fine-tuned shooter you become! Learn the trigger words and you learn the inner power within you…that same inner presence of mind the professional shooters have to master the psychological aspects of the game to remain focused.
• Failing to watch target breaks. Watch the small chips fly, focus on one and follow it to the earth. This helps the eye(s) to flow smoothly and focus on smaller objects so your target appears larger and easier to acquire and hit.
• Becoming too cock-sure the target you see is easy. Usually the straight-trending targets. Take a second look to determine its true flight angle. Do not rush these targets. Do not chase any target. Setup properly and the target will come to you. Remember, all targets are difficult and require you utmost attention. Don’t become brain-dead with laziness.
• Thinking too much will get you into trouble. If you use trigger words you will not be thinking errant thoughts and it keeps the mind focused. Think of putting that sight bead where it belongs! Do not shoot on timing alone (target distance from traphouse). It’s okay to have a zone but the trigger can only be pulled when the sight picture is correct.
• Do not shoot behind or over the targets. You have to remind yourself of this otherwise you will resort to doing actually it. Try this trigger word, “Low bead forward.” This way you’ll put the sight bead on the bottom of the target or under, and ahead of the target. Say it the moment you insert the shell into the chamber. Keep saying it on each target if you must.
• Failing to dismount gun when stacked-beads do not look right or gun does not feel proper. You’ll end up with a mismounted gun. You may as well count your lost targets now by deducting 5% from your final score. You’ll easily loose 5-target out of 100 or more.
• There is much, much more. These tips should get you on the right track. Print out this page and bring it with you on your next shoot. Read it 1-hour prior to shooting. Some of these tips will be burned into your subconscious mind and you’ll begin to see better results and faster identification and recovery from errors.

As you can see there are many tricks to this game of trap shooting, inside secrets to lift your shooting performance to high levels of achievement. Those who do not use the tactics are doomed to fail. Trap shooting is much more than just mounting a gun and chasing the targets hoping for the best. The time to learn is now.

Here’s a few rules to abide by when shooting registered shoots. Very handy to know when attending your first shoot and a refresher for those who know better but forget the rules.

When Not Shooting

• When walking with your shotgun always make sure the action is open. The rules are generally well observed here but a good reminder anyway.
• When in Vendor’s Row shouldering those new guns do not point the gun at people. Yes, we know the gun is unloaded but it’s also rude and uncaring for those who see the muzzle bore staring at them. Find a place alongside the Vendor’s stand and point with courtesy. We all have made this mistake as our mind in on the new gun and it’s easy to forget this rule.
• When watching shooters shoot keep conversational volume down, especially for the back fence shooters.
• Do not speak to shooters who are walking from trap to trap during the event. Many are in deep concentration and they need to remain focused. Talk after the event ends.
• Keep your dogs on a leash and under control. Not everyone loves your pet and it is a nuisance if your dog is running around leaping on peoples legs, chasing other dogs, etc. If your dog barks at night do something about it. A veterinarian can prescribe a sleeping pill for the pet or other anxiety medication. People need to get some sleep!
• Be careful when walking near gun racks or you may bump the rack and knock over the guns. When pick up your gun from the rack do so slowly as you turn to walk away with the muzzle facing down or up. There is always someone behind you who you can hit with the muzzle if you are not aware of this fact.
• Do not let your children run around bumping into people. Assign them to a play area to play games, not in the clubhouse.
• Keep the restrooms clean. Do your part to make the experience enjoyable for the next person. If you drop papers on the floor please do pick them up. If the trash can is full and overflowing simply tell management about it and they will remedy the problem.
• If you enjoyed the shoot tell management. Send them a little letter or note. These people work very hard to conduct a registered shoot and a compliment often is all that is needed to reciprocate the joy you had to them. If there are problems? Tell management not other shooters. They can’t solve a problem if they are not aware one exists.
• Leave your camping space the way you found it.
• When having late night gatherings keep the music down or off. Don’t yell and laugh loud after 10 p.m. Respect the other shooters who want to sleep. Sure, you won’t hear complaints about it from trapshooters but still keep your fellow campers needs in mind.

When Shooting On The Line

• Never turn around on post facing the puller or audience with the gun facing in their direction. The gun must always be facing up or down. Keep the gun pointed into the trap field when changing posts.
• If you shoot a semi-auto use a shell catcher. It annoys shooters to have shells flipping at them.
• Do not fumble around with excessive body movements when waiting your turn to shoot so as not to disrupt other shooters on the squad.
• Keep a reasonable squad rhythm going, not too fast, not too slow. Sometimes you can’t if the squad is in error machine-gunning at rapid pace. Ultimately you have to play your own game, but keep the rhythm in your mind as best you can.
• Check your reloads and your gun before shooting. Constant dud loads and gun jams will certainly destroy your scores…and the squad will silently thank you for being professional.
• Don’t be afraid to turn down a target if you must. It upsets the squad rhythm but that’s expected in the game.
• Do not be rude to the puller if you receive slow or fast pulls. Simply check the switch button first to make sure it’s working okay. If it is, then kindly instruct the puller to stand up or stand closer to hear your call. If this does not solve the problem the puller may be tired. Ask for a replacement puller, politely.
• Do not talk to other shooters on the squad during the event unless they are open to conversation. Do not make comments like; “Those targets are hard to see today.” This sets up other shooters for a fall in scores and it will do the same for you! Watch out for what you think, for as you think it will be.
• Do not load your gun until you are on station and the muzzle is facing into the trapfield.
• Watch the warning flag on the traphouse! Do not load if the flag is showing. Unload your gun when the flag rises. And don’t forget…some trap setters have poked their heads out of the traphouse not raising the flag. If this happens stop the squad and have management instruct the setter never to do it again.
• If you are squad leader then be the leader. Make the decisions as best you can and be fair, but don’t be a boss. If you see a safety violation you must speak up about it. If you see a target being scored as dead when it is not you must not allow the score to be registered. Don’t start any emotional arguments on the line. Call for the Field Captain to resolve the problem. When in doubt ask the scorekeeper to place a question mark by the score box. If you see a squad member abusing staff tell the shooter you’ll handle the situation, then do correct the problem with flair.
• If two broken targets emerge from the house in succession ask to see one more. If the target is faulty stop the squad and have the trap machine checked out by the maintenance crew.
• Do not start shooting until the puller and the scorekeeper is ready. Ask first. You’ll receive better targets.
• Make sure the scorekeeper calls out the scores at the end of each 5-rounds and correct any discrepancies before resuming shooting.
• If you win or lose in a shootoff, shake hands with your competitor before the shooter leaves. It’s tough losing so be a good sport and make the loser feel like a winner.
• Do not rush other shooters when changing stations or changing traps. Allow some time for the squad leader as they have a bit more to do than you do and they need a tad more time to get ready for the next trap.
• If you drop targets do not become emotional and fling hulls or exhibit other angry outbursts. It only makes you look amateur and is very disruptive to other shooters. Control thy emotions less they ruin your game.

The lessons herein are for competition trap shooters. Apply each lesson per weekend of practice shooting or apply these tips whenever you attend a registered shoot.

• Inspect your gun and clothing. Make sure no gun settings have changed, point of impact, comb, buttplate, etc. The shoulder padding on your shooting vest can imperceptibly alter the length of pull over time creating shoulder-crouching and a misalign swing. Wear the same shoes you use in competition as you do in practice. Wearing different shoes can alter your stance by adding or detracting height that will alter your gun hold point and defeat learned muscle memory. Inspect your shooting glasses. Prescription lenses should be updated yearly for corrections.
• Before you shoot, take a ten second visualization of calling for the target swinging smoothly and seeing a perfect sight picture and the target exploding with authority. Visualization is a powerful technique professionals in all sports disciplines use to reach perfection. It is instructing the mind what the desired result is to be; a command to perform to maximum ability. If you miss a target? Replay the shot by visualizing a perfect shot, so you won’t miss the next target.
• Watch the prior squad’s targets, tracking them smoothly with your eyes before you shoot. This will stimulate your eye muscles to focus your vision and prevent lazy eye syndrome on the first trap you shoot. It will successfully import target behavior patterns to your subconscious mind increasing performance.
• Observe the concentricity of the trap house in relation to the station posts. The trap house should be centered as observed from post #3. This is one of the trap shooting secrets professional shooters are fully aware of and many shooters are not. It results in shooting traps perfect and then blunder on the misalign traps into a losing score. To the discerning eye and with experience you’ll discover the trap house and the stations are slightly out of alignment. The trap house may be shifted to the left or right of the stations. Adjust your stance position otherwise the target will exit at a strange angle and you will miss the target. If the house is shifted left, adjust your foot placement a bit left so you are standing square to the trap house. Do not shift your gun or upper body left or right to compensate, shift your stance so your swing will remain in perfect alignment. This one tip alone will serve to gain you many high scores!
• Before shooting a competition beware of the practice trap! Amazingly, these traps are not always set to competition settings and may throw soft slow targets and targets with a solid face. The traps can be out of alignment too. It is good to warm up at a practice trap, but only if you are aware that the event traps you shoot may throw faster targets and targets with shallow razorblade angles.
• Look at your targets before you shoot them! In competition shooting events walk to your assigned traps to detect targets traveling in variations from trap to trap. Trap one could be perfect, but trap two the targets may be flying lower or higher, left or right of normal. This is caused by improper trap alignment or settings. Setting can be changed to throw a legal target, but alignment cannot be changed at this time. Compensate by adjusting your gun and eye hold positioning on the trap house. Reading these two books Trap Shooting Secrets and Precision Shooting — The Trap Shooter’s Bible will give you detailed instructions to compensate and resolve many trap shooting problems.
• Have a sense of inner authority within when you step on post. Be confident and assured that your visualization exercise will come to pass. If in doubt, visualize again right now the target exploding. Stand firmly with confidence and control holding the gun with absolute authority. When it is your turn to shoot, shoulder the gun with intimate authority so you and the gun feel as one unit. It is important to feel the gun as being a part of you, not just an object in hand. You and the gun are now one and the gun can not do anything without your command.
• To solidify this one on one connection with the gun, control cheek pressure to the comb. This pressure must be felt to obtain shot consistency. If you apply too little or too much cheek pressure the eye/rib alignment will be altered resulting is hit and miss shooting; shooting above or below the target. Cheek placement must also be consistent. If your cheek is placed a tad to the left or right will allow the gun to shoot away from the target you see; shooting to the left or right. You now have learned that seeing the target and eye/bead alignment can be dead on, yet you can still miss the target all due to improper cheek pressure and placement. Feeling cheek / comb pressure is extremely important to maintain proper eye/rib alignment and for repeatable accurate shots!
• Pay attention to the squad rhythm. Is it fast, slow, smooth or choppy? Mentally you must make adjustments to your own setup pacing, not alter your set up timing, but to be “aware” that an irregular squad’s timing can sneak into your setup forcing you to hurry up. A fast shooting squad should be avoided. If you can’t avoid it, then make sure you maintain your own internal and external timing. forget about everyone else and just start your timing factor when the prior shooter calls for the target. This will reset your setup timing to remain consistent. A slow and sloppy squad’s timing can be managed only when you are aware of the problem. Those who feel there is no problem will drop targets! Watching a shoot off you will see good shooters miss targets due to unfamiliar squad timing altering the shooter’s normal set up and timing. Awareness is concentration.
• Do not focus or mentally respond negatively to distractions. Gun jams, misfires, background noise is all part and parcel to the game. The moment you allow yourself to be distracted your score will suffer. Learn to block out distractions by listening and observing them, then they will no longer be distractions, just normal sounds and events.
• Pay attention of where the shooters on your squad are breaking the targets. If the shooters are breaking them quickly, be careful. If they are breaking them at strange or irregular distances from the trap, be careful. What’s the point here? Know that the squad can have a powerful influence on a shooter that is not totally focused on natural timing factors. Maintaining control of your set up and where you normally break the target must be maintained. If you slip here you’ll be influenced by the squad and start breaking targets sooner or later than you usually do. Lost targets will result.
• Control your breathing. Take a relaxed deep breath prior to calling for the target. Incorporate this into your set up routine. Oxygen supplies a burst of energy to the eyes which will allow you to see the target sooner and with increased clarity. It also helps to calm the mind and body. Controlled breathing will help you whenever you become tense.
• Raise your eyebrows just before or when you call for the target. If you look in the mirror you may see your eyelid covering the iris of your eye. This happens to a severe degree when under stress when the forehead tenses and compresses downward like when you are shooting your last trap or in a stressful shoot off. Twenty percent of light gathering vision can be lost. Vision reduction will make the targets appear dim and fast flying with trailing comet tails and will create a surprising number of missed targets. Eyes wide, than call. You will see an improvement in your shooting performance and whenever you are under tension if you incorporate the technique in your practice sessions now.
• Control emotions. The target you are shooting is only a target you have obliterated many times before. Place no association on the target assuming it has more value than all the other targets you have shot today. This means no counting targets. No mental imaginations of winning or losing if you can only hit this target. If you miss a target, learn to reset your mind that the miss never happened. This will help you avoid making corrections in a registered shoot. Flush the mind of emotion and shoot like a machine using the same precision techniques you learned in practice. Everyone misses targets. It just happens. Accept it. Overcorrecting leads to experimentation and more targets unnecessarily lost.

This concludes the 14 Trap Shooting Lessons article. There’s a lot more to building precision shooting techniques and you will find them in our professional trap shooting books.

It’s really easy to try out this great sport. There is a gun club near you. You may not even be aware of this fact (it’s a secret sport…no kidding) and trap shooting is a bigger sport than you may realize. Hundreds of thousands of Americans, Canadians and Europeans are competing in the big shoots every year worldwide. People just like you; engineers, mechanics, secretaries, businesspersons, doctors, film industry people, you name it!

How come you are not joining the fun? Likely because you never heard of trap shooting events taking place nearby. You don’t see these events advertised in the newspapers, radio or television announcements because the sport is exclusive in nature. This doesn’t mean you can’t come to watch or participate, on the contrary…everyone is welcome!

Now once you attend just one of these shoots you will say to yourself, “Where have I been all my life? This is a great sport!” Unlike golf, bowling, tennis, basketball, etc., there are no physical requirements to lift, bend, twist, run, jump, and get all out of breath. It’s a sport the rich and famous have kept all to themselves for many years, and the doors are now opening for everyone. You just can’t keep a good thing down! And that’s good news for us all.

There are small gun clubs and large gun clubs. I recommend for your first visit, so you can get a feel for the grandeur aspect of the sport, to contact one of these organizations and ask when the next large-scale registered shoot will occur in your geographic location. ATA or the California Golden State Trapshooting Association and State Shooting Associations and Clay Pigeon Shooting Association for the United Kingdom. All of these associations will help you get into this fine sport of trap shooting (visit our links page for the Web site addresses). You want a large gun club in action. Some of these clubs are as large as golf courses and located in beautiful country settings with RV parking facilities with water & power, tent sites, showers, cozy fireplaces, full restaurant facilities, etc.

Spring, Summer and in the Fall the clubs are booming with activity. In Winter, clubs tend to slow down and focus more on Sunday practice sessions league and prize shoots. So, it’s a year-round sport.

And don’t forget to visit Shotgun Sports Magazine and Trap & Field Magazine and ask for a complimentary magazine issue. Tell them James Russell Publishing sent you.

Why not mark your calendar and attend this weekend? Ask a friend to come with you to try something new and different. No matter what your age, male or female, you will find trap shooting to be a “very different” sport you have never experienced before.

You Mean Me? Shooting A Shotgun?

You don’t need a gun to get started. Many clubs will furnish you with a loaner gun, and if there is no loaner available many shooters will let you shoot their gun just to give the sport a try. You should tell the club “manager” you are new to the sport and would like to give it a try and need a basic lesson on how to shoot these trap shotguns. It’s so easy! But hitting all those targets are not so easy…and that’s what makes trap shooting so addictively fun and challenging. You’ll be up and shooting in fifteen-minutes.

Now, trap shotguns do recoil a tiny bit, but if you try it and the gun gives you a wallop that gun is not fitting you properly. Some shooters use hunting guns on weekends and they will buck like a baby mule, so to make your first experience totally enjoyable ask if you can shoot a real dedicated trap shooting gun with a stock recoil device installed. The gun will not kick hard!

I hope you will give trap shooting a try. I know you will be thanking me one day for introducing you to this great sport. The friends you will meet and the vacations you will take will be…well, life-changing experiences you’ll treasure you’re entire life. If you are feeling blue, down in the dumps, bored, feel left out, lonely and just need that “something” in your life to turn your life around…trap shooting can do it, believe me. One thing I guarantee, you will never find a sport like trap shooting that fulfills the inner experience. You will never meet a nicer bunch of people.

So, isn’t it neat that there is some undiscovered life activities on this planet after all!

Can I Make Money Trap Shooting?

You most certainly can! Trap shooting has always been a “money game” in the big competition shoots. You can compete for the money or just the prizes or both. The choice is yours. Thousands of dollars can be won! Many shooters just shoot for the sheer joy of seeing those little clay targets explode into balls of orange and black smoke.

I’m A Beginner. I Don’t Want To Embarrass Myself At These Big Shoots

WRONG ATTITUDE! There are all classes of shooters, from novice to professional. Certainly, a registered shoot is not a good place to learn how to fire your first round of trap. But they do have practice traps and after just a few sessions you should be ready to begin shooting the tournaments. Best bet? Go to a gun club before the registered shoot, get your initial lesson so you can learn the procedure and etiquette, then go to the big shoots.

There is absolutely no reason to delay going to these big tournament shoots…it’s the ideal place to learn how to compete and to learn how to shoot with precision. You don’t want to get stuck in a “practice rut” at the local gun club thinking you must be a better shooter before competing in tournaments. You start right away shooting in competition…it’s the best way to learn and to meet hundreds of people who enjoy the sport. Don’t wait to have fun, have fun now!

If I Like The Sport, Will I Have to Buy A Shotgun?

Yes. Every gun club has members selling shotguns. You don’t want to spend a fortune on your first gun because you don’t know what you need. My book, “Trap Shooting Secrets” will steer you in the right direction so you won’t be disappointed later, and it will teach you how to shoot…fast!

You can spend a few hundred dollars for a good used gun, as low as a couple hundred or less for a starter trap gun, or a few thousand for the elite guns. The good news? You don’t need an expensive gun to win the shoots! It’s not the gun, it’s the shooter who wins. Many shooters shoot old outdated guns and win shoot after shoot after shoot leaving many with the expensive guns behind in the dust. The investment is low.

How Much Does It Cost To Shoot?

At the local gun club it will cost about $3 to shoot a round of trap which is 25 targets. A box of 25 new shells will cost about $5. So, total cost is $8. But soon you will reload your own shells for practice and and cut your cost for shells in half. So, it will only cost $4.50 per trap round.

A tournament event, 100 targets, will cost about $22 to shoot 100 targets (4-rounds of trap). Your shells will cost about $20 if you shoot new shells. $10 if you shoot reloads. There are usually three events; singles, handicap and doubles. Singles event shoots 100 targets, handicap shoots 100 targets and double-trap shoot 50 targets. Total cost to shoot all events for the day? About $45 for 250 targets and $50 for new shells or $25 or less for reloaded shells.

So, if you shoot the entire event for the day your cost will range from $95 to as low as $70. If you can’t afford this, no problem nobody says you have to shoot all the events. Many shooters only shoot the handicap events which pay the big money. In this event your total cost for targets and shells will only be $42 if you shoot new shells and $30 for reloaded shells. Now, that’s an economical sport when you can control the costs.

How Do I Control Costs Or Make Money?

You will be surprised to discover that your costs will come down dramatically, even in your first year of shooting. You can play “options” and you don’t even have to win the shoot to win! If you score well on just one trap (get four chances to do so) the options can return enough money to pay for your entire day of shooting!!! And if you score well on two or three traps? A few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars will pay your way and you didn’t even win the shoot! It’s a neat system where the shooter can make money. Play the 25 and 50 options and maybe the Lewis class too and when you get good, play the “perfect 50’s.”

I know many shooters who have made money in their first year of shooting playing these options. It’s not impossible by no means, in fact it is highly probable you will win some money to pay for your shooting…at least cut your costs in half. Any prizes you win you can keep or sell and that could put some extra money in your pocket. You may at first believe tournament shooting is gambling, but it’s gambling on yourself, not on some slot machine that is rigged to beat you. If you shoot well you will be compensated. If you shoot poorly you may still win money. It’s true. Just shoot well on one trap, blow all the rest and you have some money coming to you and it most always pays for your entry fees and cost of shells! It’s like an insurance policy. The odds are good you will score well at least once out of four times at one of the four traps.