The range was off of Hwy. 64, just north of Edom, and the parking lot was filling up pretty quickly. Forty-nine teams from 17 schools from East and Northeast Texas were on hand to compete for honors at the Buffalo Creek Trap Club two weeks past.  

It was clear when the clock struck 8 a.m. as teams opened up from five fields. The steady stream of traffic heading east into Tyler, a stones’ throw behind the shooters, might as well have been a world away, as the young men and women became singularly focused on knocking down clay pigeons.   

Each trapshooter expends 100 shells downrange, in four 25-shot rounds.

Singular focus is just one of the skills required. Others include stamina, strength, breathing control, hand/eye coordination and mental discipline.

There was no mistaking the Alba-Golden Shooting Team. They were the only team wearing team shirts – embroidered red and black pull-overs.

And there was no mistaking that they were a team. The group marched through their pre-event routines with confidence and ease. 

On this morning a handful of family members and supporters were also there. This included Alba-Golden superintendent Shelby Davidson.

“I am so happy that the district decided to affiliate with the trapshooting team,” he offered. “They nurture so many of the traits we try to build into our students.”  

For the marksmen – high schoolers Karson Beverly, Lawton Cooper, Conner Seton, Hayden Smith, Cody Wells and Zayden Womack – trapshooting is a great competition, but the group also shared that it “really helps during birding season.”

That connection, between a competitive shooting contest and the annual dove, duck and quail seasons, illustrates the close connection between the sport and conservation.

The Alba-Golden team spoke with one voice, “We all grew up shooting,” was affirmed by the whole team. Also noted was the sense of adrenalin-laden tension when a shooter steps up to the line. 

Maintaining that level of expectation throughout each round is a challenge. Alba-Golden shoots in two squads of three shooters each. 

The shooters rotate through five stations. There is a certain rhythm which the squad works hard to maintain. Any disruption to that rhythm may derail an excellent round. 

While one shooter is engaging a target, the previous shooter is reloading and the next shooter is readying himself. It is a bit of a dance. 

A hiccup by one squad member disrupts all three shooters. Trust, therefore, is at a primacy. 

For Hayden Smith one of the most challenging aspects of trapshooting is maintaining sightline focus.

“You have to concentrate to keep your eyes focused downrange,” he said. “It takes your eyes time to refocus should you become distracted. That is critical.” 

For the uninitiated, observing a trapshooting competition highlights the relentless tempo of shooting, the unpredictability of the target presentations and the mechanical repetition of the shooters.

All of this is executed while maintaining a balanced stance, under tension. 

The shooters are stationed no less than 16 yards from the traphouse – a low structure which houses the mechanical thrower of the clay disks.

An oscillating arm hurls the disks at a random angle and elevation away from the shooter.  The target is propelled at about 44 mph. The end result is that a shooter must make his decision to fire in about .5 seconds when the target is approximately 30 yards distant. 

Each shot is scored as a ‘loss’ or a ‘hit.’ The target must not be totally destroyed, any part of the target which is fractured off of the disk is a hit. 

Taken as a whole, trap shooting is above all else a disciplined event. 

Requirements to join the team reflect this. 

As coach Kurt Beverly explained, students must meet a number of prerequisites.

In addition to passing grades, potential trapshooters must complete a hunter’s safety course as well as a shooter’s safety course. Additionally, they must complete an individual conservation project. Any time spent in the Alba-Golden Schools disciplinary system is an automatic disqualification from the team.   

To maintain a level of maturity, the Alba-Golden team is limited to students in the 9th through 12th grade. 

The team usually practices three times a month at either Buffalo Creek or at the Winnsboro Gun Club. 

Trapshooting is a subset of competitive shooting which has a long and yet active culture throughout the country. The Amateur Trapshooting Association is the primary national organization which administers the sport. 

It comes as no surprise that East Texas is home to renowned personalities on the national trapshooting scene. The owner and operator of Buffalo Creek, George Hanna, is one such man.

Hanna is a shooter of international regard and was inducted into the Texas Trapshooting Hall of Fame in 2013.

He admits that the sport has changed a bit over the years, but that its most powerful message is that young people will not grow up ‘anti-gun,’ if they participate in trapshooting. 

Trapshooting is often a sport passed down through generations within a family. One such example is Steve Roach, grandfather to team member Karson Beverly. Roach has participated, as had Hanna, as a shooter at the Grand American World Trapshooting Championships conducted annually at Sparta, Ill. – the largest such event in the world.

Two weeks ago at Buffalo Creek, the team had an excellent showing. The squad of Beverly, Cooper and Smith finished sixth out of 49 teams, and the squad of Seton, Wells and Womack placed 11th. 

Individually, Beverly and Cooper tied for eighth overall with scores of 91/100.  

It is clear to anyone observing the team at Buffalo Creek that not only has Alba-Golden a collection of competent trapshoooters, but the structure, leadership and guidance provided the team by coaches, parents and supporters makes this initiative a model to emulate.