Prince georges trap and skeet question

ShooterMcGee · Aug 31, 2014

Does anyone know if the sporting clays are voice activated there?

Augie · Aug 31, 2014

The sporting clays are button operated with an electronic card, you put the card on the reader and use a button on a cord to release the birds. You can set the reader for a 5 second delay so you can shoot sporting clays by yourself if you like.

ShooterMcGee · Aug 31, 2014

Thanks. I was wondering if it was possible to shoot sporting clays there by my self.

fabsroman · Sep 1, 2014

Augie covered the question. I'll just say that PG is a great place to shoot and has been my main clays place for 20 years now. Wish I could go more often, but I always wish there was 48 hours in a day because there is so much to do.

Pinecone · Sep 1, 2014

I miss having human trappers. They could vary the difficulty of the course, based on the shooter.

fabsroman · Sep 1, 2014

Pinecone said:
I miss having human trappers. They could vary the difficulty of the course, based on the shooter.

Not only that, but they were nice to shoot the BS with. Had a lot of fun with a couple trappers down there. I also agree that it was good to be able to have them vary the difficulty. When I brought my sisters out there, they took it easy on them and threw all the hard stuff for me. They did that some times when I brought my brothers out too just to give my brothers some handicap.

Like so much in life, a lot of things are now automated. Surprised they don't have a vending machine for the little cards used by the electronic target system. Just go up to a machine and refill it just like a copy card at the library.

circleshooter · Sep 1, 2014

Pinecone said:
I miss having human trappers. They could vary the difficulty of the course, based on the shooter.

One of the most fun sporting clays experiences I've had was at Delmarva. We had a trapper AND they have mechanical, spring loaded traps. He would secretly send out a pair (standard & mini) or send an orange and black bird and call which one to shoot first. Incredible fun and my favorite station was a row boat suspended by chains. You stood in the boat and shot while it rocked.

fabsroman · Sep 1, 2014

circleshooter said:
One of the most fun sporting clays experiences I've had was at Delmarva. We had a trapper AND they have mechanical, spring loaded traps. He would secretly send out a pair (standard & mini) or send an orange and black bird and call which one to shoot first. Incredible fun and my favorite station was a row boat suspended by chains. You stood in the boat and shot while it rocked.

Yep. The trappers could vary up the targets as they saw fit. The unpredictability of human trappers was great. Positive of the automated systems is that you really do not have to wait to get on a squad or wait for a trapper before you can head out and shoot.

Pinecone · Sep 2, 2014

I never minded the wait, as I would BS with the other people waiting, or the staff.

And yes, overall, the trappers were great fun. And if they knew you, would do some outrageous things.

Mack C-85 · Sep 2, 2014

One of the most fun sporting clays experiences I've had was at Delmarva..... Incredible fun and my favorite station was a row boat suspended by chains. You stood in the boat and shot while it rocked.

This is why the National Sporting Clays Association doesn't allow quail walks, poison birds, blinds, etc. anymore. Places like DELMARVA took it to the extreme and made a station where your firing from a STANDING position in a ROCKING BOAT. Tommy Dodds had a station with a rowboat sitting on old tires that you shot from a sitting position. It was a lot of fun and you weren't going to kill anyone with your second shot if you lost your balance!!

I am not a range nazi, and I really miss the hunting style stations that Sporting Clays originated with, but as I said some places took it to the extreme and caused those stations to be taken away.

I have shot clays at Delmarva (once) and had to refuse to shoot stations where there was a trapper directly in my line of fire and my trapper could have cared less.

fabsroman · Sep 2, 2014

Mack C-85 said:
This is why the National Sporting Clays Association doesn't allow quail walks, poison birds, blinds, etc. anymore. Places like DELMARVA took it to the extreme and made a station where your firing from a STANDING position in a ROCKING BOAT. Tommy Dodds had a station with a rowboat sitting on old tires that you shot from a sitting position. It was a lot of fun and you weren't going to kill anyone with your second shot if you lost your balance!!

I am not a range nazi, and I really miss the hunting style stations that Sporting Clays originated with, but as I said some places took it to the extreme and caused those stations to be taken away.

I have shot clays at Delmarva (once) and had to refuse to shoot stations where there was a trapper directly in my line of fire and my trapper could have cared less.

Did Delmarva have a station where the trapper threw from behind a plexiglass shield? Shot at a place back in 1998 on the eastern shore that had a station like this. Essentially, it was an incoming bird. Found it to be completely insane that the trapper was alright with us pointing a shotgun at him, even if he was behind plexiglass.

Mack C-85 · Sep 2, 2014

Did Delmarva have a station where the trapper threw from behind a plexiglass shield? Shot at a place back in 1998 on the eastern shore that had a station like this. Essentially, it was an incoming bird. Found it to be completely insane that the trapper was alright with us pointing a shotgun at him, even if he was behind plexiglass.

Don't remember that one explictly, but would not surprise me at all. The station I refused to shoot was on a hedgerow corner, with the birds coming from your left. There was a trapper about 80 yards in front of you throwing a bird over the hedge row to the right. He was in the direct line of fire with no protection what so ever.

Gunsmoke had a incoming bird that went about two feet over your head (if the wind was right), but the trapper was behind a railroad tie wall, fronted with hay bales. About the only time I can remember shooting a clay in self-defense. If the wind was coming from the trapper, the bird came in the cage with you!! :shocked2:

sxs · Sep 2, 2014

circleshooter said:
One of the most fun sporting clays experiences I've had was at Delmarva. We had a trapper AND they have mechanical, spring loaded traps. He would secretly send out a pair (standard & mini) or send an orange and black bird and call which one to shoot first. Incredible fun and my favorite station was a row boat suspended by chains. You stood in the boat and shot while it rocked.

You STOOD in the boat? The guys I shoot with either sit or kneel in the boat. Hell we even use a 'buddy' to had the gun over to the shooter when he gets settled in. Then again, 1/2 our guys are, or have been, Hunter Safety Instructors.

I don't remember any plexiglass shields...but there were some 'privacy fence type' barriers. On 2 stations, I thought the throwers weren't especially protected, but they were quite a ways away. One of those the thrower was pretty open. I would have guessed closer to 100 yds away...but still disconcerting.

sxs · Sep 2, 2014

Mack C-85 said:
Don't remember that one explictly, but would not surprise me at all. The station I refused to shoot was on a hedgerow corner, with the birds coming from your left. There was a trapper about 80 yards in front of you throwing a bird over the hedge row to the right. He was in the direct line of fire with no protection what so ever.

Gunsmoke had a incoming bird that went about two feet over your head (if the wind was right), but the trapper was behind a railroad tie wall, fronted with hay bales. About the only time I can remember shooting a clay in self-defense. If the wind was coming from the trapper, the bird came in the cage with you!!

That would be kind of a surprise if you didn't expect it!

A bunch of guys from my Hunting Camp usually shoot at DelMarVa on the Sunday after opening day since we can't hunt that day and our camp is probably no more than 10-12 miles away.

Pinecone · Sep 2, 2014

Mack C-85 said:
The station I refused to shoot was on a hedgerow corner, with the birds coming from your left. There was a trapper about 80 yards in front of you throwing a bird over the hedge row to the right. He was in the direct line of fire with no protection what so ever.

80 yards is a awful long way for #7 1/2 or smaller shot to carry.

At PG the first several stations (far right of the line) are downrange of the trap and skeet fields.

Mack C-85 · Sep 2, 2014

sxs said:
That would be kind of a surprise if you didn't expect it!

Imagine a hard curve ball coming at your face. It's amazing how good you get at that point. :rolleyes:

Mack C-85 · Sep 2, 2014

Pinecone said:
80 yards is a awful long way for #7 1/2 or smaller shot to carry.

Might be, but all I know is when I can see the look of terror on his face over the end of my barrel, there's no way I'm pulling the trigger.

BigDaddy · Sep 2, 2014

Mack C-85 said:
The station I refused to shoot was on a hedgerow corner, with the birds coming from your left. There was a trapper about 80 yards in front of you throwing a bird over the hedge row to the right. He was in the direct line of fire with no protection what so ever.

Sounds like a place near Price MD where I used to dove hunt. Just because I didn't shoot at a low bird, did not mean the guy across from me would hold his fire. :mad54:

Mack C-85 · Sep 2, 2014

BigDaddy said:
Sounds like a place near Price MD where I used to dove hunt. Just because I didn't shoot at a low bird, did not mean the guy across from me would hold his fire.

Used to belong to deer/goose lease on Rabbit Hill @ the railroad tracks.

sxs · Sep 2, 2014

Pinecone said:
80 yards is a awful long way for #7 1/2 or smaller shot to carry.

At PG the first several stations (far right of the line) are downrange of the trap and skeet fields.

7-1/2s or even 8's will definitely carry 80 yds. We use to stand on opposite sides of some dove fields a bit over 100 yds apart and you could hear the shot raining down and it would fairly often fall in front of us nearby or occasionally on us. But it didn't do any damage at that range (although I guess it could hurt your eyes if you didn't have shooting glasses on) and we used to joke about it. Then again, if you shot about straight up, you could rain on yourself or your nearby buddies!

Prince georges trap and skeet question

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