Olympic Shotgun Shooting

By Russ Chastain, About.com Guide

For skeet, seven shooting stations are arranged in a semi-circle. Stations one and seven are located at the two ends of the curve with stations two through six spaced equidistant along the curve, and an eighth station is located on a line between stations one and seven. There are two trap houses, called "high" and "low." These contain trap throwing machines set in fixed positions. Naturally, one machine throws the targets higher than the other. The high house is on the left, when standing on the arc of the curve looking towards its radius point.

The first shooter occupies station one, loads his gun with one shell, and calls for a bird. A single target emerges from the high house, and he tries to break it. Then he remains on the station and loads with two shells. Upon his call, a bird is thrown from each of the houses (known as a double), and he shoots at them.

All shooters in the group then do likewise, until they have all completed station one. The group moves on to each successive station, completing the required number of shots at each station (which varies) for all shooters, until everyone has completed each station. All shooters must complete each station, in shooting order, before anyone can advance to the next station.