Shooting Broken Birds - Is It Safe?

[October]

I've been looking into joining a gun club in my area. At one club, I saw the members competing in ansport they called "Bushwacking." It involves two shooters standing on the trap house. The first shooter breaks the bird and the second shooter attempts to break a piece of the broken bird.

A different gun club has a rule against this type of competition. Specifically, "Broken birds are not to be shot at."

I plan to ask why this rule is in place (it may have something to do with circumstances at that particular gun club), but wanted to know if this is a common safety rule and what possible reasons there might be for it.

 

[Starter52]

The danger, I think, is while an unbroken bird will fly in a set pattern, pieces of a broken bird can go anywhere, thus making it more dangerous for the surrounding area. "Field of fire", etc.

 

[kudu]

In most all the clubs I know of Bushwackers and Piece Protections are not regular games that are played, but are played occasionally. I would say it is just the individual club that has a problem with it. Maybe they had a problem in the past, shouldn't hurt to ask.

 

[gezzer]

Called FUDD rules.

 

[mswestfall]

We play "Annie Oakley". Shooters line up at the 27 yard line on the trap field. Three people mount their guns. The first calls for a bird and shoots. If they miss the second shoots and then the third.

A version of this game is "Annie Oakley with chips" where even if the first shooter hits the bird the second and then the third shooter can shoot at the chips.

As I see it, the biggest danger is shooting the trap house. In three years no one has shot the trap house.

 

[The Deer Hunter]

theres no danger in it, simply put

 

[Crosshair]

Remember the saying, "Anything worth shooting once is worth shooting twice."

 

[toivo]

It involves two shooters standing on the trap house.

That's your danger right there: Somebody might fall off of the trap house.

 

[Steve C]

No danger in shooting Bushwackers. When I lived in Washington State the club I belonged to had regular "meat or meet" shoots every week. We'd usually stand along the fence behind the shooting apron and shoot 3guns, all guns, buddy shoots, occasionally a bushwacker, and sometimes a 3 gun with bushwacker. It was great fun and the winner of the previous shoot took the number 1 position and got to call the type of shoot. When I moved to AZ the club I found here only shot 3 gun with bushwacker all the time. That got boreing so I pretty much gave up trap shooting.

 

[PJR]

Our club has a "no pieces/no broken bird" rule although it's not strictly enforced.

The reason for the rule isn't for trap games like Bushwhackers but for skeet and sporting clays where birds are often crossing or incoming. A chip or bird that leaves the house broken means a target that is off the flight path and shooting at it could potentially present a threat to other shooters or spectators.

I have seen a shooter lean way out of a five stand shooting cage to pick up a chip from a bird he'd already hit and his muzzle came way to close to another shooter.

 

[October]

I asked why shooting broken targets was prohibited and was told it is because that particular club is situated on relatively small acreage. Because of that, some of the ranges are pretty close to the property line. Since a broken bird may have an erratic flight path, it could result in shot landing on adjacent property, which the club wants to avoid.

What are FUDD rules?

 

[ndh87]

sounds like fun to me