The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1914-05-25
MANY INTEREST,"
in TRAP SHOOTING
Gun Club Membership Sought BY
Many-New Trap to Replace One /
Burned TO Change Location.
SPORT IS REAL RECREATION
Gives Hunter Opportunity to Keep in
Practice During Closed Season
Appeals to Real Sportsmen.


Never before has trap shooting
caused as much interest among Be-
midi sportsmen as during the past
several weeks and while the traps
were burned last week by tramps,
the postponement of the first shoot
which was to have been held yes
terday did not in the least damper
the enthusiasm. The traps will be
rebuilt, but not in the same place,
the old Douglas lumber yard being
the new location. Just what has
caused the revival in trap shooting
this year is hard to say, but the in
terest is much keener than 1t has
been in years.
A Fascinating Recreation.
A skilled trap shooter is fellow
with steel nerves, quick and uner-
ring judgment and unfaltering ac-
ton. In the majority Of cases these
positive, manly qualities were as lat
ent in the trap shooter as they are
in the average man until the de-
votee of the. trap and gun took up
this most Fascinating of recreations.
Few sports are as scientific as
trap shooting. The rapid calculation
of lead, elevation, angle, ETC., the
nice decision and instant action,
quickens the eye and hand, and de-
velop qualities which make for sue
cess in the affairs of life. Work at
the traps drives away brain fag, for
the reason that it requires intense
concecration on a pleasurable pur-
suit. Thus, the brain worker finds
real relaxation in trap shooting,
without the physical exhaustion
which in many games more than off,
sets the good effects of the mental
DIVERSION. ~ ..s =. ...,--
Premier of American Sports.
With a full understanding and ap-
probation of trap shooting by the
public at large, it must, solely on its
merits, eventually become one Of the
premier Of American sports. :"
"Pull! Bang! Puff! Dead!" e
"This is the death song of the
clay pigeon, sung by the trap shooter
whose alert, tense figure firmly
grasps his shotgun as he bites off the
word that sends an involuntary thrill
of expectancy through the crowd in
front of gun clubhouse. The trap
is tripped, a small saucer shaped clay
pigeon streaks through the air at a
pace that makes Teal ducks flight
resemble the Lazy flapping of a crow.
The Moment for Action.
Like parts of an automatic ma
chine the gun jumps into action. 1t
stiffens against the shooters shout
der for a second like the index finger
of an accusing hand, a flash and a
report follow one another faster than
the human mind can transmit the
message, but in that brief interval
the pride of some clay pigeon factory
has been shattered to atoms. The
judges call and the scorers entry are
made before the smoking shell hits
the ground and the next gunner of
this human battery of the times of
peace calls for the second bird and
the shoot is on. Sounds kind of ma
tural, doesn't it? We all have seen
them start that way" 49,. z.E@f.s
Trap Shooting Good Practice.
Where there is game still to be
had, trap shooting will keep hunters
in trim for field work. To many
young men the sport affords the only
means of their becoming skilled with
the gun, for the lack of game in the
thickly populated districts removes
the opportunity for the necessary
practice.
With the increasing stringency of
game laws, shooting with shotguns
would in many sections virtually be
come 'slost art'' were it not fol-
trap shooting; this, however, is not
true of Minnesota.
Appeals to Real Sportsman.
True, the sport does not appeal tc
the "game hog''-he who is RESPONSE
BILE for the almost complete depopu-
lation of our fields and forests, hut