| Since I seem to be gathering photos, videos and experiences centered around sporting clays I felt it was time to build a page on some of these activities. The photos below will be shown full size if you click on them. |
| Last update 07/25/09 |
| This is the place where I spend a lot of time. If the music business is my main number one activity in my life this may be number two. If you click on the photo above it will take you directly to the Moore N Moore website. Both of my two sons have gotten totally involved in the sport as well. Sporting clays is a great family activity. If you are a golfer (which I am not) you may also find sporting clays a sport worth pursuing. |
| Before I go too far forward I would like to take a moment to present a bit of info on what sporting clays is all about. Many folks may think of skeet or trap and sporting clays is quite different. |
| Skeet In 1920 in the town of Andover, Massachusetts, a small group of upland game hunters took to shooting clay targets as a means of practicing their wing shooting. As friendly rivalries started to develop amongst the group, a uniform series of shots were developed to keep the competition fair and even for all. It was from this crude beginning that the modern day version of skeet shooting developed into what is now an international sport practiced by hunters and non-hunters alike. Charles E. Davies, an Andover, Massachusetts businessman and avid grouse hunter, is recognized as the inventor of the skeet game as we know it. The word "skeet" is derived from the Scandanavian word for "shoot."Credit for naming the game goes to Gertrude Hurlbutt, a Dayton, Montana housewife, who in 1926 won a contest for naming the new game. Among the thousands of entries in the contest were "Bang" and "Bye Bye Blackbird." Skeet Shooting today involves 10's of 1000's of people across North America and the world. There is American Skeet, International Skeet and English Skeet. Each form of Skeet Shooting varies slightly from the other. The National Skeet Shooting Association is the governing body for American Skeet. More than 20,000 skeet shooters shoot "registered targets" that are sanctioned by The National Skeet Shooting Association each year. If you want to shoot better in the field, enjoy a day at the gun club, or compete with the top skeet shooters in the world for honor and glory (notice that I left out money), then skeet shooting is a great sport. The basic difference between skeet shooting and trapshooting is that in skeet, most of the targets are crossing targets and in trapshooting, all of the targets are outgoing targets. |
| Trap Trapshooting was developed in England late in the 18th century. The first targets were live pigeons, which were released from cages known as traps. The sport was first practiced in the United States early in the 19th century and was popular by midcentury in a number of areas, notably Cincinnati, Ohio, and the New York City area. In subsequent decades the scarcity of live pigeons prompted trapshooting enthusiasts in the United States to create ingenious artificial targets. The substitute targets first tried included glass balls filled with feathers and solid iron pigeons mounted on long metal rods. Platter-shaped clay pigeons were developed about 1870. The subsequent introduction of standard-ized traps facilitated nationwide competition. The first U.S. national championship match took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1885. The Amateur Trapshooting Association, with headquarters in Vandalia, Ohio, is the governing body of U.S. and Canadian trapshooting. Under its auspices numerous trapshooting competitions, notably the Grand American Handicap, take place each year. Trapshooting competition takes three forms: singles, handicap, and double-target shooting. In all three the targets are hurled from one trap, and 12-gauge shotguns are used. In singles shooting, contestants fire from a series of five stations located 16 yd (14.63 m) behind the trap. At a signal from the contestant, the clay target is hurled forward into the air, away from the firing line. In order to simulate the unpredictable flight patterns of birds taking wing, the targets are sprung out of the trap at various angles and in various directions. The clay pigeons rise to a minimum height of about 10 ft (about 3 m) and, unless hit, fall to the ground about 150 ft (about 45 m) from the trap. Champions often hit 100 out of 100 targets. In handicap trapshooting, contestants possessing superior records must shoot from stations located 17 to 27 yd (15.54 to 24.68 m) behind the trap. The added distance, or handicap, enables trapshooters of only average ability to compete on equal terms with experts. In double-target shooting, the trap springs two clay pigeons into the air simultaneously in different directions. In Standard American Trap a single target is thrown from a trap house 16 yards forward of where shooters stand for “Singles Trap”. All targets are thrown at the same elevation and speed – approximately 40 mph. The targets do however vary in horizontal position and are thrown randomly anywhere from 22 ½ degrees left to 22 ½ degrees right of the field centerline. “Handicap Trap” is a slight variation from Singles, wherein shooters are handicapped – based upon their ability – and shoot from a position further away from the trap house. As with other American Trap games, you only get one shot at each target – so load only one shell in the gun at a time for singles or handicap. American Doubles Trap has many similarities to Singles Trap. All the targets are the same elevation, they are thrown at about the same speed, and the field width is still 22 ½ degrees left and right. In Doubles Trap, two targets are thrown simultaneously – but they are always thrown in the same horizontal position with respect to the trap house. Since there are two targets, you are allowed to load two shells at a time. Continental Trap increases the difficulty of the game. Targets vary not only in horizontal position, but also in vertical position. The field width can be as wide as 45 degrees left and right of centerline, and targets are thrown faster at about 51 mph. Because continental targets represent more of a challenge, two shots are allowed for each target – therefore two shells may be loaded for each target. |
| Sporting Clays Sporting Clays is a challenging clay target game designed to simulate field shooting. On a Sporting Clays course, shooters are presented with a wide variety of targets that duplicate the flight path of gamebirds, such as flushing, crossing, incoming and other angling shots. Courses are laid out in natural surroundings and typically include five or 10 shooting "stations" with shooters moving from one station to the next to complete the course. Each "station" presents shooters with a different type of shot. At a "grouse station," for example, shooters might face flushing "birds" that zip in and out of the trees. At a "decoying duck" station, incoming targets may float in toward the shooter. Most courses make use of natural features such as woods and ponds to create a realistic setting for each type of shot. At any "station," targets may be thrown as singles, simultaneous pairs, following pairs (one target right after the other), or report pairs (the second target launched at the sound of the gun being fired at the first). To further challenge shooters, target size may vary from the standard trap/skeet clay bird to the smaller "midi" and "mini" targets, or a flat disc shaped "battue" target. There are even special "rabbit" targets that are thrown on end and skitter across the ground. |
| Before I continue on even further I would like to thank Pat Moore. He has been my instructor and the instructor for my two boys. He has taught me 95% of what I know when it comes to this sport. The other 5% or so has come from Guy St. Louis and the other many helpful folks that call this place their own place to have a great time. Pat was a full time exhibition shooter and champion trap competition shooter. He and his wife and son now own Moore-N-Moore. |
| Being a great teacher and mentor is 25% ability and proficiency in your craft and 75% personality with a lack of ego and the skills to pass on your knowledge. Pat Moore seems to have in excess of these percentage that add up to more than 100% |
| Cory Moore on the left and Guy St. Louis on the right. Both have helped me more than I can say. I am sure Cory will kick my butt for posting the photo of him after he spilled the BBQ beans all over himself. Maybe he will pity and forgive and old guy like me. Below is a video from June 14th. It has not been edited. Below the video below I will have links directly to youtube for videos from July 12th and later. I will also post some still shots. |
| Below are some unedited video links from July 12 2009 at Moore-N-Moore Club Lead. These are high def but may take a while to process on youtube in high def. You can watch in full screen format if desired directly off youtube by double clicking on the video. There are only a few videos posted here but there are many more and will be many more posted via links below. Check back from time to time as I have a lot of videos and stills to upload. |
| video 1 video 2 video 3 video4 video5 video6 video7 video8 video9 video10 video11 video12 video13 video14 video15 |
| To return to the Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting website CLICK HERE |
| This is one of the videos from the links above but I thought I would like to post it here as well. This is Guy St. Louis. He is a great shot and has given me a lot of great advice and many pointers. The first time I met Guy was when I was getting a lesson from Pat Moore. Guy was out shooting and Pat asked if he would take a few minutes to step in so I could watch Guy and learn a few things from somebody else. After Guy hit everything he shot at and after Guy waited until the clays were launched and in the air to load his gun ... and then shot a pair from his hip ... my first thought was ... I never want to shoot against this "Guy". A few weeks later I was in a group of five folks competing against each other and he was one of the five. Needless to say, I came in last but leaned a lot from Guy and Mike Zozaya who was also a lot of help to me (and also cleaned my clock on that day as a side note). |
| Below are shots from the July 25th 2009 Mulligan shoot |
