Skeet Shooting: A Station-by-Station Guide

Of the two traditional shotgun games (trap and skeet), skeet shooting has the steepest learning curve. Although skeet is a short-range game (actually invented as a practice game for and by grouse hunters in the 1920s), the leads are long, and many people struggle through their first rounds. Or their entire first summer of skeet. Or more than that first summer. I know I did until I got used to the leads and learned how to shoot the game.

Skeet was originally called “Shooting Round the Clock,” a game invented by Field & Stream contributor William Harnden Foster and friends as off-season grouse hunting practice. They used one trap and shot around a circular layout until the neighbors complained about shot raining down on their chicken coop roof, so they added another trap and cut the circle in half. The game was formalized with two traps at either end of a half circle, one in a low shed (house) and the other in an elevated or high house.  

The clays are set to fly consistently over a target crossing stake. You shoot from eight stations, seven set around the half circle and one last station, 8, in the middle, between the houses. You shoot singles at all stations and singles and doubles at stations 1, 2, 6, and 7, which adds up to 24 shells expended. You repeat your first miss—it’s called the “option,” although it’s not optional—and if you don’t miss at all, you shoot Low House 8, the last target, twice. That makes for 25 shots—a full round of skeet.

A pre-mounted gun is allowed, although many hunters shoot low-gun skeet for better practice. The International version of skeet requires a low-gun start. Now that you know all the rules, let’s take a look at some skeet shooting techniques before breaking down the skeet field station by station.

Skeet Shooting Techniques

Most of us self-taught shooters grow up looking down the gun barrel, which serves us fine for a lot of upland hunting, ducks hanging over decoys, and even our first attempts at trap shooting. However, the leads in skeet are long enough that you’ll have to learn to get your eyes off the gun barrel and onto the target. Your focus should be on the bird; the barrel becomes a blur in your peripheral vision. Practice that at home with an unloaded gun. Pretend you’re leading an object in the room. Your eyes are on the target, and your gun is somewhere in front of it.

When skeet shooting, you can use any of three methods. You can swing through targets from behind, which is how most self-taught shooters and hunters shoot. You can go to the front edge of the target and pull away from it, or you can use what’s called sustained lead and keep the muzzle in front of the target throughout the shot. My advice for any target except the straightaways at 1, 7, and both birds at station 8 is to never let the bird pass the muzzle, although I still wind up swinging through the second bird of some of the doubles.

Good scores at skeet are the result of mental discipline and consistent hold, pick-up, and break points. Learning how to set up for each station, where to hold your gun, where to look for the bird, and where to break it makes skeet less intimidating. The targets don’t vary. They all fly over the center stake no matter where you shoot the game. Have a plan for each station.

Stance

With two exceptions (we’ll get to those), a right-handed shooter should set up with feet about shoulder width apart, knees neither locked nor bent, and their belly button facing the low house. This will put them in the best body position to make each shot.

Hold Points and Look Points

At each station, hold your gun so the muzzle points about a third of the way between the house and the center stake (some fields don’t have visible center stakes, and you may have to visualize the point where the high and low birds cross). Be sure to hold the gun even with or slightly below the bottom of the window. Holding the gun too high risks blocking your view of the target, which almost always results in a miss.

Set up pointing the gun where you plan to break the target. Everyone has to find the break point they are most comfortable with. From there, you will wind your body back to bring your gun about 2/3 of the way back to the house. While keeping your head on the stock, assuming you are shooting pre-mounted, cut your eyes back toward the house. As soon as you see the blur of the bird emerging from the house, you can start moving your gun slowly toward the break point. Keep your eyes on the target to help you synch your swing and the bird’s flight to the break point, where the clay will become a shower of scattering shards.

Skeet Shooting: Station by Station

High House 1

The first target comes out directly over your head. Hold your gun on the target’s line of flight or just below it. Look half a foot above your barrel. This is a pure reaction shot. When you see it over the gun barrel, pull the trigger. If you try to aim at this bird, as many do, it will get below your gun, and you’ll miss high.

Low House 1

Hold at least ten feet out from the window or more. Look at the window or just in front of it. Let this bird come to your gun, stay in front of it, and break it. It doesn’t take much lead.

Station 1 Double

You always shoot the outgoing target first on skeet doubles. Shoot High 1 as you ordinarily would, then pick up the low house bird and break it. For newer shooters who can’t break High 1 quickly, just be sure it breaks, then swing back to your left almost 90 degrees to find the second bird.

High House 2

High 2 is a quartering target that doesn’t take much lead. It terrifies new shooters though (and I still dislike it), because it’s fast and it takes a little lead. Shooters get themselves in trouble by holding their gun too close to the High House and the target beats them, that is, it gets out in front of their gun barrel before they can act and then they have to scramble and chase it. Top competitors hold three feet from the house, but that might be too close for you. Put your eyes just to the left of the barrel, move with the first flash of the target, stay a little bit in front and shoot.

Low House 2

Set up for Low 2 as you did for Low 1, ten feet out of the window and level with the bottom. Give it just a bit more lead than you gave Low 1, and resist the temptation to ride the target forever. Let it pass the center stake and break it.

Station 2 Doubles 

Station 2 doubles are a wicked blur for new shooters. Tell yourself that breaking a double is impossible if you don’t get the first one. Set up for it as you would for the High 2 single and don’t rush the shot. See it break, then pick up the second bird, which, like doubles at 1, means swinging back 90 degrees to your left and finding the target. When you do, take an extra instant to get the muzzle a foot or two in front of it. Many shooters panic, break the first one, then rush to shoot the second when they still have time.

Stations 3, 4, and 5

You shoot single targets only at 3, 4, and 5, which require the longest leads on the field. You also set up and look at the same place for all three stations. Ideally, you break them all right around the center stake or just past it, but as a new shooter, you may end up shooting the birds well after they pass the stake. Keep the gun level with the bottom of the window and about 20 feet out from the house to give yourself room to stay in front of it.

Where you look to pick the target up can vary. Start by looking halfway between your hold point and the house and adjust from there. For all these birds, start moving with the first streak of the target and give it plenty of lead. I don’t like to specify feet because everyone sees lead differently. Whatever you used to break Low 2, double it for these targets.

High House 6 

High 6 is an incomer that won’t take a lot of lead. Start the gun level with the bottom of the window and 10 or so feet out. Look for the target halfway between the house and your gun. Let this one come to you, give it a bit of lead, and break it after it passes the center stake.

Low House 6 

Low 6 is a rising, quartering away shot and perhaps the most grouse-like shot in the game invented by grouse hunters. Pros hold their gun close to the house, three feet or so, and level with the bottom of the window.  The rest of us might need to hold a few feet farther out. Look to the side of your gun, move with the flash, and while some people say you lead this one by a foot or two, I look at the left side of the target and pull the trigger.

Station 6 Doubles

Doubles at 6 present a mental obstacle for a lot of people because if you haven’t missed yet, 6 doubles are all that stand between you and the “easy” targets at 7 and 8 that will complete your 25 straight. So, people get nervous here. As always, with doubles, you set up and hold the same as you would for the first bird, the outgoing Low 6. Be sure to break it, swing back, and catch the high house bird. Again, resist the urge to panic, rush, and shoot at it. There will be times you get on that bird so late it seems to disappear behind the low house as you’re shooting, but it will break anyway.

High House 7 

This one is the reverse of low 2, except you have to adjust your feet. Instead of facing the high house, turn 90 degrees to your right so your left shoulder points at it. Wind back slightly to hold ten feet off the house, and put your eyes halfway between the gun and house. Let this pass the stake and come to you. Lead it a little and break it.

Low House 7

This one comes out by your right elbow and flies straight over the crossing stake. Hold the gun a foot or so below the path of the target. When it pops up over the barrel, react and shoot. There’s no lead at all with Low 7.

Station 7 Doubles

Everybody’s favorite double because it’s the easiest for a new shooter, Station 7 doubles starts with shooting the low house bird just as you do the single. You should then be able to pick up 7 before it reaches your gun and make a controlled move in front of it, giving it just a little lead.

High House 8 

Station 8, in the middle of the field, seems impossible to new shooters until they learn the trick. The right hold points help make these shots easier. As with Station 7, you’ll stand with your left shoulder facing the house. Hold the gun even with the bottom of the window and about four feet to the right of the house. Look intently into the window. The sooner you see the flash of this bird, the more time you have to break it. When you see that flash, bring the muzzle up to cover the target and pull the trigger.

Low House 8 

Point your belly button at the house. Hold the gun even with the window and four feet to the left of the house. Look into the window. Move as soon as you glimpse the target. Cover the bird and shoot. If you haven’t missed yet (and if you have followed these directions and kept your eye on the target, you won’t have), you’ll have another shell loaded in the gun. Come right back to your hold point, look into the window, call for the bird, and shoot Low 8 again. Congratulations! That’s 25 straight. Or it will be, after a lot of practice.