Local residents have the area's only trap and skeet facility in their own backyard.
"There are some trap throwing machines in northwest Arkansas but, as far as a facility that offers formal trap and skeet shooting, this is pretty much it," said POA's John Urquhart, who oversees the Highlands Sporting Range, home to the trap and skeet range, along with the rifle and pistol range.
In fact, the next closest trap and skeet range is a state-run facility in Jacksonville, just northeast of Little Rock, Urquhart said.
The Bella Vista trap and skeet range has been around since the late 1980s and is available for POA members and their guests and is currently open on Wednesdays and Saturdays through March. There are three trap fields and two skeet fields and the range is staffed by a range master.
"The trap and skeet range is all shotguns and you're shooting a clay target that is launched from a machine," Urquhart said. "The target is meant to mimic the path of a bird.
"It's a very popular sport and a number of high schools have teams."
According to Shooting Sports 101, trap was developed during the late 1700s in England and the first trap shooters used live pigeons as targets. Once the shooters were in position, the pigeons were released from cages or "traps."
The sport started in the United States during the early 19th century and quickly grew in popularity. Over time, the lack of available live pigeons prompted the invention of artificial targets for trap shooting in the U.S. The first "platter-shaped" clay pigeons were produced around 1870.
Trapshooting involves trying to shoot and hit a 4 1/4-inch clay disc traveling through the air at around 40 mph. Shooters begin by standing in a specified spot approximately 16 to 25 feet behind the trap house. When a shooter calls "pull," the trap house throws a clay target away from the shooter at a height of approximately 10 feet off the ground.
Skeet originated in the United States in the 1920s and is played in a semi-circle formation consisting of eight total shooting positions and two trap houses. Each shooter shoots from each of the positions starting at one trap house, working their way around the semi-circle to the other trap house, and finishing with a shot between the two trap houses.
At the Bella Vista range, members can rent shotguns to use to shoot the blaze orange clay "birds."
"Under normal circumstances, we would sell ammunition but, with the demand so high these days, we are running low," Urquhart said.
