In 2017, the University of Idaho trap shooting club only had five members. Most clubs might have withered away due to such numbers, but the club is still going strong today, currently having 27 members.
Trap shooting is a competitive shooting event, popular with many people in the Midwest, where a person shoots at clay pigeons launched in the air from different positions with a shotgun. Their objective is to shoot the clay pigeon in the air before it reaches a certain point.
Trap shooting requires skill, a fast trigger finger, keen eyesight and a steady mind to be successful.
Logan Lee, president of the Idaho Trap Shooting Club, said he has been trap shooting for 12 years and was excited to discover UI had a trap shooting club.
“I really wanted to be involved and grow the club and build up our membership,” Lee said.
When Lee first joined in 2017, he said he thought the members of the club weren’t really outgoing when it came to recruiting, which is why they only had five members. Lee said he wanted to keep the club alive and get to where they weren’t in danger of slowly getting snuffed out as members graduated.
“I’m a very outgoing, outspoken person,” Lee explained. “When we’re tabling at UIdaho Bound, I love to connect with as many people as possible and anybody who kind of walks by.”
His outgoing personality helped attract recruits to the club. People who joined ranged from having lots of experience with the sport to just being someone wanting to try something new when they got to college. Lee’s friendliness was how the club was able to bolster their numbers to over 20. It has had a positive effect on the members because there are more of them to compete and mingle with.
“The leadership we have now has really turned it around,” Rachel Stefani, a member of the club, said. “We’ve grown from probably 10 people to 30 or 40 in the last two years.”
There are dues for the club, which cover shotgun shells and clay pigeons when they practice. Recruits also need to bring their own shotgun as well, and with Idaho being a gun-friendly state it’s not too hard to find the right 12 gauge for trap shooting.
Stefani said they are discussing getting a shotgun for the club so those who don’t have a shotgun can start practicing, but most of the time they just lend their extra shotguns to other members.
The club practices at the Troy-Deary Gun Club, located about 20 miles from Moscow. It has an open hillside where the landscape lends itself to the sport of shooting clay pigeons. Lee said it’s a great place to give new members a taste of what trap shooting is.
The club isn’t just for people who are fans of trap shooting. Lee said they participate in the Association of College Unions International Collegiate Clay Target Championships against other colleges like Boise State University. From January to March, they shoot every Sunday for 10 weeks straight to get prepared for the event. Nationals are held in Texas and the club is aiming toward the large competition as their target this year.
Ryan Hill can be reached at [email protected]