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HUNTING SHOTGUN CHALLENGE
COURSE
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-Participants will walk through a Hunter's Clays course. This course is not patterned after conventional skeet or trap shooting, but is designed to simulate common hunting conditions and situations. The layout will vary depending on the available topography. The shooting stations will make use of available cover to best depict running animals, bird flight and shooting obstacles.
-Targets will be the Hunter/Sporting Clays clay type targets. Sizes of the clay targets may vary depending on different situations. Sub-juniors will have a combination of moving targets and stationary targets, some may be steel.
-The ready position for calling for the target requires the gun to be off the shoulder with the gun butt plate below the shoulder level. The gun may not be shouldered until after the target is visible. In other words, in case of a delayed pull, the participant cannot call for the target and immediately shoulder the gun. The participant must wait for the target to appear.
-A legal target is a whole clay target that is thrown from the trap in a prescribed flight pattern within the five-second time limit after the participant calls for the target. Targets broken by the trap or another obstruction will not be scored. These are illegal targets and will be re-thrown for the participant, regardless of whether or not the participant fires at the target.
Shooting Shotgun Rules:
-Safety and courtesy are first in gun handling; therefore, all guns will be carried unloaded and with the actions open.
-Shotguns with choke tubes will not be allowed to be changed during the shotgun activity. Shotgun barrels will not be changed during the activity. The same holds true with changing of shotguns. Participants may use only one shotgun throughout the activity, with the exception of a shotgun malfunction.
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-Any gun in good, safe working condition of 12 or 20 gauge will be allowed. Lenses, optics, illuminated type-sighting fixtures or release triggers are not allowed. Double targets will be thrown in some instances; therefore the shotgun should be capable of holding two shells. An exception will be made for the sub-juniors as some are unable to safely handle firearms that will shoot 2 shots.
-12 and 20-gauge ammunition in low brass target loads will be furnished to every participant. Participants may use their own ammo if desired. Any participant desiring to use a gauge other than the above will have to furnish his or her own shotguns and shells. Only factory loaded target shells with shot size between 7-1/2 to 9 (inclusive) will be allowed. It will be the responsibility of the participant or coach to have these shells in the hands of the officials before the activity is fired.
Shooting Shotgun Procedures:
-Each team or squad of individuals with their instructor may or may not be allowed (as a group) to see one legal target from each trap prior to shooting the activity at the station. The participant only will be allowed on the station or firing line while shooting each station. The scorer or range officer will hand shells to the shooter as required. The shooter shoots his/her quota of targets and then returns their gun to the gun rack; the next participant steps forward and repeat the sequence until all individuals and team members have had their turn.
-YHEC Volunteers will do the scoring. Only legal targets will be scored and the scorer will be the sole judge of whether or not a target is broken. Officials may ask for assistance from the trap operator or the range official if they feel their assistance is required.
-The scorers will call lost for any target they feel is missed. The participant must make any challenge to the call immediately. The scorer will then make the final decision with assistance from the trap operator and/or the range official.
-Rule violations and procedure violations can be referred to the staff and officials for settlement but legality of targets and whether or not the target is broken is the responsibility of the scorer. Only targets with a visual piece broken off will be scored dead. Duster and even targets deflected in flight (but with no visible breakage) will be scored lost.
-Based on the scorer's judgment, if a target hits an obstruction such as a tree or limb of a tree before the participant has had ample time to fire at the target, a new target will be thrown. However, if the participant has had ample time to fire in the scorer's judgment, and failed to do so before the target hits and object near the end of its flight and breaks, the target will be scored lost.
Malfunctions: Only the following malfunctions will be allowed and resulting in a new target or targets be thrown: Ammunition, Trap failure, or Trap operator failure
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The following malfunctions will not be allowed and targets will be scored lost: Participant error, failure to load gun, failure of gun to fire (other than defective ammunition), or failure of gun to reload.
If a gun breaks through no fault of the participant, another gun may be borrowed and the activity continued. However, if the breakage occurs during the firing at a target, and the target is missed, it will be scored as lost.