Giving it a shot at Winnipeg Trap & Skeet Club

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This article was published 03/10/2016 (3632 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Volunteers at the Winnipeg Trap & Skeet Club are ready to help even the greenest marksman take aim at, and possibly shatter, flying plastic targets called clays.

Club president David Mosscrop, who has competed internationally in trap shooting, said corporate groups of up to 65 have booked the club that’s located on 25 acres a few kilometres west of Oak Bluff on Highway 3.

“We can give them a good team-building experience,” he said.

The club members have also hosted birthday parties and stags. People as young as 11 years are able to learn to safely handle, load and shoot a gun on the range.

“We want to give people a good gun story,” Mosscrop said. “It’s not as terrifying as people think.”

The club sells ammunition and some rental guns are available. If you have a firearms licence, you are able to bring your own long gun to the club.

Novice training begins with a safety talk that includes instruction on how to hold an unloaded gun, how to load a shell filled with BB pellets, and the safety equipment needed such as eye and ear protection. A mentor is assigned to a novice and accompanies them on the range.

The club recently added two more machines used to launch the targets for trap shooting, which Mosscrop said is the most popular discipline.

“Trap takes less time and the success rate is higher.”

He estimates that about 250,000 clays are launched in a year for trap shooting at the club.
The club’s skeet director Tom Hancock helps novices watch for the clays that fly out from launching towers on two sides of the skeet range. He directs the shooters to take note of the aerial trajectory and try to aim at a point in mid-path.

For more seasoned shooters and those who want to practise for waterfowl hunting, the club offers sporting clays with targets thrown at various angles and distances. Another discipline, called 5-stand also replicates the flight paths of ducks and geese as well as the appearance of game animals.

Mosscrop said target shooting is a gender-neutral sport and as you gain experience on the range, shooting becomes instinctive as over-thinking is detrimental.

The club, which now has about 150 members, celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Hancock is proud to say there have never been any serious accidents in its history.

“We’re working hard to promote this club as a friendly place to come. We’re extremely welcoming to new members,” Mosscrop said.

The club is usually open from mid-March to mid-November with public hours and prices advertised on the website at www.winnipegtrapandskeet.com

Mosscrop recommends that novices send an email to info@winnipegtrapandskeet.com before coming out to ensure that a club member is available to help them.

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