Clay pigeon shooting - using a shotgun to shoot a clay disk released from a machine called a trap - are popular shooting games. The three main forms are trap shooting, Skeet shooting, and sporting clays.
There are a number of variations of trap shooting, but it basically involves clay disks being released from a trap about 50 feet in front of the shooter. The traps are released away from the shooter; the angle, height, and speed can vary with each projectile.
Olympic trap and Double trap are Olympic sports. For over 100 years Olympic trap has been practiced at the famed competition. The targets are thrown at high speed and greater distances than at other trap competitions. Men fire at 125 targets and women at 75.
Skeet shooting, an American invention, involves eight stations along a semi-circular field with two trap houses facing each other at the ends of the semi-circle. The shooter moves from station to station, shooting at the targets released from each house and then calls for doubles, two targets released simultaneously which cross in the center.
Sporting clays, sometimes thought of as golf with a shotgun, takes place in the countryside. At each field or station, targets emerge from bushes and trees, as real birds would in nature. Some courses also have bouncing "rabbit" targets. Usually two to five people will play together and each will have a chance at each station to shoot eight to ten targets. The clay targets can be released singly or in doubles, which is two targets released simultaneously.
