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As hunting season approaches, sharpen your shooting skills

 
ht_340801_vrag_skeet_01 of 2 (07/06/11 Weeki Wachee) Dennis Clark, 68, of Lecanto, takes aim at a clay pigeon while shooting skeet at the Hernando Sportsman's Club in the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area in Weeki Wachee Wednesday morning. The skeet range at the club is open Tuesday to Friday from 9 a.m. till 2 p.m. and weekends from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. For more information about the club, visit http://www.hernandosportsmansclub.com.  [WILL VRAGOVIC, Times]
ht_340801_vrag_skeet_01 of 2 (07/06/11 Weeki Wachee) Dennis Clark, 68, of Lecanto, takes aim at a clay pigeon while shooting skeet at the Hernando Sportsman's Club in the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area in Weeki Wachee Wednesday morning. The skeet range at the club is open Tuesday to Friday from 9 a.m. till 2 p.m. and weekends from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. For more information about the club, visit http://www.hernandosportsmansclub.com. [WILL VRAGOVIC, Times]
Published Oct. 20, 2015

Hunting season opens up in much of the state next month, but before you hit the woods, head to the range. Unless you enjoy a regular shooting regimen, your trigger finger can get a little rusty. One way to keep your reflexes sharp is to test your skill with one of the shooting sports featured in the Olympic Games.

Most hunters have shot trap, the granddaddy of all shotgun sports. The name comes from the device, commonly called a "trap," that throws the familiar clay targets up into the air. To excel at trap, you need good hand-eye coordination.

Trap also forces you to react quickly because you never know where the target is going. Sometimes the "bird" flies off to the right, sometimes to the left and sometimes straight and away. Just like hunting, you always have to be ready for anything.

Trap is a great activity for young hunters because the sport will not only sharpen their shooting skills, but also reinforce gun safety and etiquette, which go a long way in the woods on opening day of deer season. To learn more, contact the Amateur Trapshooting Association and the Scholastic Clay Target Program .

Skeet, another shooting sport featured in the Olympic Games, uses the same clay targets used in trap but instead of one trap house there are two — a "high house" on the left and a "low house" on the right. The skeet field has eight stations, or positions, placed in a semi circle. You'll shoot 25 targets a round, sometimes two at a time.

Like trap, skeet will keep you on your toes. A couple of weeks aiming at clays and you'll be ready for deer, turkey and wild hog. To find out more, contact the National Skeet Shooting Association.

For a more realistic target sport, check out sporting clays, which offer the most realistic scenarios for hunters. On a sporting clay course, the shooter will encounter a variety of targets designed to mimic game birds in flight. The courses are usually laid out in the woods with situations a shooter will encounter on an actual hunt.

As the shooters move from station to station, the targets will sometimes be thrown singly, in pairs or even one after another. If that is not difficult enough, the targets also vary in size and shape. Sporting clays take a bit longer, and you might shoot at 50 targets or more, but when finished, you'll feel as tired as after a long day in a tree stand.

Sporting clays, like trap and skeet, have a strong scholastic shooting sports program. All three disciplines are a great way to introduce youngsters to hunting. Florida law also requires that people born after June 1, 1975 must take a hunter safety course if they want to hunt with a firearm, muzzleloader, bow or crossbow. There are exemptions to the law, but the course is a great idea for any youngsters who want to shoot, even if they never plan to hunt.