Trap shooting "cadence" and clay prediction?

[bigbearbear]

My wife and I are not expert trap shooters, we both score around 20 to 23 with me getting an occasional 25 at the 16 yards line.

We joined a Wed night league here in California's Bay Area (Metcalf Field Sports Park) and is placed in the squad that also has the organizer in there. The organizer is a pretty old fella, in his 70s, and he kept complaining that wife and I are shooting too slow and that we're disturbing the "cadence" of the squad (I didn't know you're supposed to sing while shooting trap?!?). He even told me tonight that if we both kept shooting like this there won't be anyone who would shoot in the league with us.

Now I do agree wife and I are slower in mounting our guns and it takes us a bit longer to focus before calling for the bird. We are fairly new to trap shooting after all (me 3 years and she 2 years). I estimate that we take perhaps 3 seconds longer than others in the squad.

My question is, is it really necessary to shoot fast in trap shooting? I tried it after our league round tonight for practice and it didn't work very well, I switched back to slow focus and got a 25. I'm not sure if I want to give up good scores just to shoot faster.

That old guy also mentioned something I have no idea about. He told me that because wife and I are shooting so slow, he can no longer predict which angle the clay will be launched at (he's been shooting badly....). Is that true? Can you predict the angle of the clay? I thought it is supposed to be random?

We've decided to stop shooting the league for now, there's no point shooting if it'll end up with some old guy, who happens to be the organizer, mad with us and we're all carrying shotguns. There are other places to shoot and we'll gladly go shoot elsewhere. I'm just curious if we should try to speed things up?

[ysr_racer]

And that's one of the reasons trap is dying as a sport. The other is, it's just plain boring

[bigbearbear]

And that's one of the reasons trap is dying as a sport. The other is, it's just plain boring

Despite how much I love trap shooting, I find myself agreeing now that I've experience trap shooting with more strangers involved.

I think we'll switch over to sporting clay once my wife hits her first 25.

And I sometimes wonder why I haven't done it already, I live close to one of the nicest sporting clay course in CA, Coyote Valley Sporting Clay!

[bigbossman]

Grumpy, whiny old men are exactly why I walked away from trap about 15-20 years ago and went to the skeet fields. A lot more fun, and a lot friendlier folks that don't seem to have perpetually sandy vaginas.

[09cs]

Grumpy, whiny old men are exactly why I walked away from trap about 15-20 years ago and went to the skeet fields. A lot more fun, and a lot friendlier folks that don't seem to have perpetually sandy vaginas.

Ditto, I've found that skeet shooters are a lot more friendly than trap shooters, but still occasionally shoot trap with my dad

[Meety Peety]

I shoot a good amount of trap and can attest to some small degree of distraction when you have shooters who disrupt the flow, but I would not go as far as to say a 3 second delay is anywhere near that. I'm talking about a guy who constantly has trouble dropping a shell in or is always having issues with his gun etc. Even then, it's not that big of a deal to me.. then again I dont shoot in a league or anything.

I think you made the right choice in dropping out of the league for now, not because you are upsetting anyone, but because you should enjoy shooting and who you are shooting with. Sounds like the old man was frustrated and looking for someone to blame for his low scores.. who knows.

[RandyD]

I have encountered old grumpy shooters on both trap and skeet fields. I said shooters instead of men, because I have experienced women who think the world of trap and skeet revolves around them.

[NapalmCheese]

I will on occasion purposefully screw up the cadence if I find someone that is taking the game (in a non competition setting) way to seriously. It's not my fault if they miss a clay because they have to rely on me for some sort of juju.

That being said, it is nice when all of you are working together at the same pace, it seems more relaxing; and being relaxed helps with the shooting.

[Scratch705]

i don't care if i am disrupting their juju.

not my fault they don't have skills to shoot a random clay bird without having to resort to "gaming" the system by predicting where the clays will be going.

take solace in the fact that the salty old man will die in the near future and you will continue to enjoy shooting trap.

[JagerDog]

Grumpy, whiny old men are exactly why I walked away from trap about 15-20 years ago and went to the skeet fields. A lot more fun, and a lot friendlier folks that don't seem to have perpetually sandy vaginas.

haha.

Skeet certainly is more social. 1 shooter, while the squad waits on.

"Predicting" angle? That's prolly why he's shooting poor. Sitting on the fastball and gets a change up. Poor phucker.

I've shot with the OP. They're slower, but nothing egregious. I shoot low gun, so I'm a little slower too.

Yes a "tuned" squad does have a cadence. Some expect that rhythym, but not for predicting the clay angle. This a "fun" league. Sandy vajayjay's can go shoot for $$$'s somewhere else. A good shotgunner has his head in HIS game, not yours.

Hey OP...if you can make Monday nights, my team has 2 openings on skeet.We're a few weeks into a season now, but except for eligibilityof individual awards, that's not a issue.

[JagerDog]

i don't care if i am disrupting their juju.

not my fault they don't have skills to shoot a random clay bird without having to resort to "gaming" the system by predicting where the clays will be going.

take solance in the fact that the salty old man will die in the near future and you will continue to enjoy shooting trap.

^^^^^this.

though if the guy is making it some kind of contentious environemnt, the fun goes out. If t ain't fun there's no point. I'd prolly making screwing with the old guy my fun.

[ysr_racer]

The first time my buddy shot trap with me, he was using the only shotgun he had, a Remington 1100.

I was in the first position, he was in the second, geezers were in three, four, and five.

Out of the blue the geezer in three asks my buddy, and I quote, "how would you like it if hit you with a rock"?

It went downhill from there

[bigbearbear]

Grumpy, whiny old men are exactly why I walked away from trap about 15-20 years ago and went to the skeet fields. A lot more fun, and a lot friendlier folks that don't seem to have perpetually sandy vaginas.

i don't care if i am disrupting their juju.
take solace in the fact that the salty old man will die in the near future and you will continue to enjoy shooting trap.

I'd prolly making screwing with the old guy my fun.

Hah hah....

I can always count on calguns.net to give me a good laugh.

[bigbearbear]

Hey OP...if you can make Monday nights, my team has 2 openings on skeet.We're a few weeks into a season now, but except for eligibilityof individual awards, that's not a issue.

Thanks JD, appreciate it. Wife is still working on her first 25 in trap, she's really close now, we'll switch range and let her achieve that first. Kind of lifetime achievement thing.

We've never shot skeet before, once she has her first 25 we'll look into taking a skeet clinic with TheFeeder and join you in the Mon night league.

I guess this means we'll put a hold on the purchase of Browning BT-99 for both of us, we'll look into getting O/Us or another automatic instead.

[Thefeeder]

><

You rang....just kidding.

I wanted to chime in on the "which way the clay is going to go". Traps on a Trap range don't oscillate right and left at an even pace, they are set to stop then start the oscillation, and change direction without a full cycle for the sole purpose of not giving away where the next clay will go.