There are three main types of American shooting disciplines; these include trap, skeet, and sporting clays. These disciplines are different, yet similar, from each other in almost every way. The difficulty of each is usually ranked trap, skeet, and then sporting as the hardest due to speed and trajectory of the targets. Each discipline has an associated organization that sets up different tournaments by the state, regional, and national level. Also, each one requires a great mental capacity in order to be truly great. The three American disciplines of trap, skeet, and sporting clays mainly differ in the way they are presented, the number of targets shot, and how they are shot. American trap is probably the most common discipline shot by clay …show more content…
Unlike trap and skeet, sporting clays is different at every single shooting range. It can differ by number of targets, angles, elevations, distances, and sizes. In this sense sporting clays is the hardest of the American disciplines because of the unpredictability of each range. The unpredictability of the targets somewhat models the feeling of hunting game, which is why it is popular among many hunters and those who have always wanted to try, but do not have the ability or means. There are no set number of targets shot in one round of sporting clays, but the usual numbers are either fifty or one hundred. Unlike skeet and trap, there is not a set field either. A sporting clays course can go anywhere and be any length, but a shooter can only shoot in a shooters box that is usually put on top of a platform. These platforms can also differ in elevation by ground level, above ground, or below ground. In order to be very proficient in this sport, the shooter needs to be able to analyze the target and then make an appropriate decision within a very short period of time. This is a talent that not many clay target shooters have, and it is not developed