When I explain trap shooting to others, people sometimes get confused about shooting “pigeons”. I then clarify that they are clay pigeons and not the actual bird, but it brings to my attention how much people really don’t know about the sport. Breaking it down, trap shooting is a simple sport, but since it was so recently added to Cannon Falls many don’t know how it works. There are five stations that each shooter will be at during the duration of the shooting. The squad leader is the person that starts in the first station. They will call “pull” and shoot at the clay pigeon flying through the air. After the squad leader is finished, the shooter in the second position will go next. This repeats down the line until every person has shot fives times at one station. Next, everyone will rotate one station to the right. After everyone has shot five times at all five stations, the round is complete.  

Now after the basics, people should understand the mental strength that is needed to be a good trap shooter. Some may jump to the conclusion that all trap shooters need to know is how to shoot a gun, but Gregg Twedt, head coach, explains that “Trap shooting is so much more than having fun breaking targets. Trap shooters need the right mindset and total concentration. They need to be able to accept a missed target, move on, and have the mindset that they will get the next one.” This mental strength was evident when members of the team took on a shooting challenge last fall season.

On October 27th, the Cannon Falls trap shooting team competed against the area teams for the Wanamingo Sportsmen’s Club High School Fall Trap Team Challenge. For the past few years Kenyon-Wanamingo and Goodhue teams have owned this plaque, so it was a huge honor for Cannon Falls to take home this award. It has been displayed all over Cannon Falls at the trap shooting team’s sponsor businesses like the VFW and Banks Outdoors. Anna Bentson, a member of the team, said, “After getting that award, I’m really excited to see how this season goes. It should be really fun and hopefully we can do even better than the last.”

This will be the 6th year that trap shooting has been available to the students of Cannon Falls, but this year it has become a club. Becoming a club rather than a sport through the school doesn’t really change anything for the shooters. It only affects some spending issues and the name. All of the coaches and board members of the Cannon Falls Youth Sporting Club are unpaid volunteers. However, Twedt said “I could not think of a better way to spend a weekend than to help provide a safe, lifelong shooting opportunity to the most well behaved, safe, and dedicated students of Cannon Falls.” With this new season upon Cannon Falls, coaches and shooters are excited to start busting pigeons- clay pigeons of course.