Shooting Sports
A shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency (accuracy and speed) using various types of guns such as firearms and air-guns (see archery for more information on shooting sports that make use of bows and arrows).
Trapshooting
Trapshooting is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting (shotgun shooting at clay targets). The other disciplines are skeet shooting and sporting clays. They are distinguished roughly as follows:
- In trap shooting, the targets are launched from a single "house" or machine, generally away from the shooter.
Skeet
Skeet shooting is a recreational and competitive activity where participants, using shotguns, attempt to break clay disks mechanically flung into the air from two fixed stations at high speed from a variety of angles.
Skeet is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting. The others are trap shooting and sporting clays. There are several types of skeet, including one with Olympic status (often called Olympic skeet or international skeet) and many with only national recognition.
- In skeet shooting, targets are launched from two "houses" in somewhat "sideways" paths that intersect in front of the shooter.
Sporting Clay
Sporting clays is a form of clay pigeon shooting, often described as "golf with a shotgun" because a typical course includes from 10 to 15 different shooting stations laid out over natural terrain. For safety, the course size is often no smaller than 35 acres.
- Unlike trap and skeet, which are games of repeatable target presentations, sporting clays simulates the unpredictability of live-quarry shooting, offering a great variety of trajectories, angles, speeds, elevations, distances, and target sizes.
- Sporting clays includes a more complex course, with many launch points.
Five Stand
Five Stand is a type of shotgun sport shooting similar to sporting clays, trap and skeet. There are five stations, or stands and six to eight strategically placed clay target throwers(called traps). Shooters shoot in turn at various combinations of clay birds. Each station will have a menu card that lets the shooter know the sequence of clay birds he or she will be shooting at (i.e. which trap the clay bird will be coming from).
- Typical five stand targets are a rabbit, chandelle, overhead, standard skeet high house and low house shots, teal (launched straight up into the air)
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat, while in modern times, its main use is that of a competitive sport and recreational activity. A person who participates in archery is typically known as an "archer" or a "bowman", and one who is fond of or an expert at archery can be referred to as a toxophilite.