The Height of Skeet and Sporting Clays Targets

Skeet and sporting clays are similar in many ways, but there is one basic difference: the height at which the targets are broken.

In skeet, the targets are hooped and set so they have a common crossing point over the center stake. If you could take a picture frame and center it up over the stake (with the center being the hoop) and make it extend to 15 feet either side, all the targets would be broken within the frame in the center of the field – except maybe the incomers on 1 and 2 and 6 and 7.

But in sporting, not so much. While we have trap and skeet shots in sporting, we have a variety of other shots, both higher overhead and below our feet. And today’s sporting targets rarely have a straight line like all the skeet and trap targets.

In sporting, being able to read what the target is really doing in the breakpoint is as much a part of the game as hitting it. And being able to hit the target consistently in the same breakpoint is what the game is really about.

In the pairs on a station, if the breakpoint on the first target is the same, then the second target pickup point and breakpoint will be the same. But if the breakpoint on the first target is different every time, then the second target will be different each time.

So, the question becomes, “Do you want to shoot the same pair four times by breaking the first target in the same place each time? Or do you want to shoot four different pairs on each station?”