About Skeet
What is Skeet?
In American Skeet, squads of up to five people shoot 25 targets from eight shooting stations arranged in a semi circle between two skeet houses. The skeet house to the left of the field is referred to as the high house and the other to the right is the low house.
The high house targets are thrown at approximately 10 feet above the ground with the low house targets at approximately 3 foot.
The 25th target, completing the round, is taken immediately after the first miss or with 24 consecutive targets broken as a second single target at low house 8.
Skeet may be shot with any gauge gun as long as it is capable of firing two shells. Number 9 shot is usually preferred.
SKEET SHOOTING ETIQUETTE
- Skeet Shooting is a sport. Remember, this is supposed to be fun, and that the organizers are volunteers, not paid employees.
- Always try to make new shooters/members feel welcome. Give them the most valuable thing you have – your time.
- Don’t handle anyone else’s gun without asking. They may not be discreet if they object!
- Use only factory ammo in any borrowed gun. Self explanatory, isn’t it?
- Never be late arriving at the field. Always consider 15 minutes before your allocated shooting time to be the minimum time to arrive at the field. 30 minutes before is considered ideal, and most of the experts recommend an hour before to get yourself ready to shoot, physically and mentally.
- Don’t put hold point markers on a field. It’s against the rules and bad form to place anything on the field that you can reference. Standard markings are reference enough.
- Always introduce yourself when shooting on a new squad. Seems simple enough, but don’t forget.
- Extend professional courtesy to the referee. He is there to do a job and so are you. He is trying as hard as you to do that job correctly.
- Never fire unannounced test shots.
- Don’t subject others to your bad reloads. Save them for practice if you must shoot them.
- Don’t waste time and targets on Station #1. One high, one low, one double to start a flight, and a single high before each box should suffice.
- Don’t call too loudly or softly. Too loud and you’ll have targets flying on adjacent fields, and too soft and you’ll not get your birds when you should.
- Don’t waste time unnecessarily while shooting. This applies equally to “during” and “between” rounds. Develop a style that allows a smooth continuity of the round. Load two when you have two singles to shoot, be ready to step on the station when the shooter in front of you is done, use only the time you really need between rounds (usually one minute or less) to get ready and begin. Do the math, 5 shooters, 100 targets each is 500 targets in a 90 minute time frame!
- Never shoot twice at the same target. Duh!
- Never throw a tantrum on the field. It’s not a measure of class to see reactions to success, but rather to adversity. Don’t disturb others because you’re having a bad day.
- Don’t mess around after you miss.
- Watch where you eject your empties – they are still your responsibility!
- Do not pick up hulls during a round. Wait until it’s over!
- Coach only if asked.
- Always stand out of sight of the person shooting.
- No talking while someone is shooting.
- Try not to distract shooters on adjacent fields.
- Be on time for your shoot off.
- Be careful carrying your gun on your shoulder. Always carry barrels forward to avoid striking another as you move.
- Be reasonably quiet when behind the shooting fields.
- No spectators on a shooting field. Your visit is a distraction whether you think so or not!
- Never run anywhere at a gun club.
