Today, I shot maybe my fourth and fifth round of skeet in my life. At Station 1, I broke both singles and then got both birds on the double. Out of a squad of seven, nobody knew exactly what is done in such a situation (nobody broke 25 birds, either). As it turns out, we did the right thing, because I just shot the double over again.

I only missed five birds on my fourth round ever, and that would have been an auspicious point to retire, because my fifth round score was very much in line with the average score of my first three rounds.

The range is pretty cool. It's at Sportsman's Gun Club, up Poplar Fork road, which is off State Rte. 34 about a third of the way between Scott Depot and Winfield. The ranges are lighted and are open until 9:00 at night on Wednesdays. It's $4.25 a round for skeet or trap for non-members or $3.00 for members, and it includes your targets. The skeet targets are machine thrown, and somebody activates the thrower with a button. The trap targets are machine thrown and the throwers are voice activated. I think they have 5-stand Sporting Clays also.

I had to stop the truck and shoo a baby (or crippled adult) woodcock out of the road on my way out. I had never seen a real live one before. This one was the size of a full-grown mourning dove and its bill was about a third the length of its body. I don't know if that makes it a baby or an adult.

H. C.

From:
www.a6ctc.co.uk/50.html
"If the shooter breaks both targets with the same shot, the double will be declared "no bird" and repeated. The shooter is allowed two (2) attempts on one (1) station. On the third attempt if the same situation occurs, the double will be scored "Dead and Lost"."

Henry, I'm not too sure what your question is (concerning station 1). If you got both singles, then broke both of the doubles target, then you did good and there is no need to shoot anything else. Move on the station 2.

If you break all 24 targets during the course of stations 1-8, your 25th target is the "option" target. Most people shoot station 8 low house again. It's my understanding it's the shooters option to shoot it anywhere they want, but nearly all I've ever seen do the repeat of station 8 low house.

Or, the option is used to repeat your first miss during the course. For example, if station 2 high house single is your first miss, you then shoot it again.

What happened was, on Station 1, on the double, my first shot broke both birds. I didn't fire a second shot, because there was nothing to shoot at.

H. C.

Okay, now I understand. Yes, you are suppose to shoot the pair again. I believe the term is a "prove double" , or "proof double". You did the right thing.

I also think that in 5-stand or Sporting Clays, should you get break both doubles targets with one shot it counts.

And yes, if you are shooting in the high teens or low 20's in skeet after only a couple rounds of it, you know how to run a shotgun better than most newcomers and grasp the concept of how to shoot moving targets.

Furthermore...you shoot the pair again and since you broke the first target with the first shot (and the second taget too), the first target is established as broken. When you shoot the pair over, if you miss the first and break the second (with the second shot), then the pair is dead and you still haven't missed on the scorecard.

redleg

redleg is correct. This is NOT a no bird situation but one where the low bird is "established". You still shoot the double again. You still shoot at the low bird, but it is already established as 'dead". However, a miss at the high house double is a lost bird and you must take your option.
peter.

In registered skeet the option is always low 8 for the 25th target.

Peter,
At stations 1 and 2 the first bird shot at in doubles is the high house. At 6 and 7 the low house is shot first. If both are broken with one shot then the proof doubles are shot to establish the low house shot.