Clay Target Games

The clay-target games at the Fairfax Rod & Gun Club are skeet, trap and a form of sporting clays called Five Stand. Historically, the oldest is trap that dates back to the days of flint-lock shotguns when pigeons were caught, then placed under old top hats that were then pulled over releasing the pigeon. In fact, the original name of trapshooting was “Old Hats.” Skeet is younger, dating to the 1930s. William Harnden Foster was a dedicated grouse hunter who wanted to practice shooting grouse, and if you’ve ever hunted grouse, you know the difficulty of the shots offered by the Drummer in the Woods. Foster initially laid out a 21-yard circle with a trap on a high platform at 12 o’clock and on one a low platform at 6 o’clock. On his farm it worked fine, but in less spacious places, the circle was cut in half with the low and high traps at 9 and 3 o’clock.

Sporting clays originated in England as a means to practice shooting in preparation for both driven pheasant, partridge, grouse, and “rough shooting” as they call walking up birds and rabbits (hare) behind dogs. The shots are varied from bouncing rabbits to crossing targets, teal that rocket up like a flushing puddle duck and anything and everything in between. Where space does not allow for a full-fledged multi-station sporting-clay course, five stand takes its place, frequently using an existing skeet/trap field, with additional traps placed to providing a rich variety of challenging targets, from easy for beginners to tough for competition. Here at the Fairfax Rod & Gun Club we offer eight combination skeet and trap fields plus a five-stand field overlaying Field One.

– John Taylor

The results of Club Matches (Rifle, Pistol & Shotgun) are regularly updated by the several Match Directors. The match & league results may be found on their respective pages using the drop-down menus above. The results of older matches can likely be found in one of the Club Bulletins in the Members Only Area.

The Club hosts several leagues (Shotgun & Rifle) throughout the year.

There are normally three Doerflein Skeet Leagues (DSL) annually. They vary in length, number of teams and format; each is followed by an Awards Banquet.

The Sunday Afternoon Winter Skeet League (SAWS) is tailored toward beginners, but with sufficient experienced shooters to provide continuity and safety.  It’s usually a short league starting in January.

The Wednesday Night Trap League (WNT) is held periodically.  It is a team league where teams are awarded yardage handicaps based on wins/places throughout the league.