It doesn’t seem possible that a group of people who practice their skills with rifles could hide very well in an increasingly developed town like Scarborough. But at the fields owned by Scarborough Fish and Game just off of Holmes Road, trap shooting enthusiasts do just that, whether they mean to or not.

“We’re unintentionally one of the best kept secrets,” said Joe Hall, president of the Maine Trapshooting Association.

Hall has been busy these last few weeks, quietly preparing to host a few hundred other trap shooters looking to see who has the best eye in not only Maine, but the country as well. At the annual three-day Maine State Trap Shoot, starting on Friday morning, contestants will compete to see who can hit the most clay targets in a variety of events for every skill level.

The problem, he said, is not that the event, now in its 116th year, isn’t well known, it is – but only among those already involved.

Nationally, Hall estimates there are about 50,000 members in the Amateur Trap Shooting Association, a number he said doesn’t come close to the actual amount of people informally involved in the sport that’s existed for centuries.

“Really, registered shooters are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Hall. “There are probably hundreds of thousands of them out there.”

Most, said Hall, probably don’t even know there are contests, associations and clubs like the one in Scarborough available to them. He believes that while the sport is well known, places like the one in Scarborough, where people can compete and practice, are not.

Trap shooting has a long tradition, popularized in 1700s England as a way to train wealthy bird hunters. Originally live pigeons were released from traps, but over the years the target evolved from metal birds to glass balls filled with feathers to finally become the modern clay disc.

The discs used today are fluorescent orange and are as small as any pigeon. Just over 4 inches in diameter and about an inch high, they are launched from traps at any of a number of predetermined angles. The shooter never knows which way the disc will go when he or she yells “pull.”

According to Hall, the Maine State Trap Shoot will test about 80 of the registered 100 Maine shooters, with another 200 coming from out of state, some as far away as Alabama and Tennessee. Many of the shooters coming will bring their families and overnight gear, turning the dirt parking lots and unused fields into an impromptu campground.

Over the three days there will be events for singles, doubles, juniors, veterans and handicaps where a shooter’s abilities determines how far back he or she must stand. In handicap events shooters from all of the classes compete at the same time. There are five classes, ranging from the most inexperienced in Class D to the most accurate in Class AA.

The Fish and Game Association where all of this will take place is as isolated as it is nearby.

Once you drive around the first turn it’s all dense brush, dirt roads and open fields surrounded by trees. No sounds other than frequent gunshots and cars interrupt this wilderness amid a town. Most people drive hours to find solitude and open space for sports that require a more rural setting when all they need to do is turn off Payne Road.

This is the place shooters come to twice a week to challenge each other, for fun and in preparation for the upcoming contest.

Part of the allure, said Hall, is the sense of camaraderie with a small group of people who share a passion, not just for shooting, but for personal excellence.

Trap shooting, like golf or bowling, is often about competing with yourself. Trap shooters, said Hall, do enjoy comparing their skills, but at the end improving your accuracy, even if it means not winning the competition, can be just as satisfying.

Hall has been involved for about 35 years and is excited to compete this weekend. He doesn’t want to guess about his chances, saying only that “after 35 years I should be better.”

Suzan Hamilton is more of a newcomer to trap shooting. Four years ago, a somewhat nervous Hamilton took her very first shot and watched as the clay target burst into dust.

“That was all it took,” said Hamilton who is also eager to compete. “It must have been a fluke, but I was definitely hooked. It’s like a video game you can play outside. It’s so addictive.”

Though both Hamilton and Hall agree that it’s an addictive game, it’s getting people to try it for the first time that’s the hard part. At first, said Hamilton, she was intimidated by the more experienced shooters. As time went on and no one laughed or criticized, she improved and grew to love the sport.

Intimidation, said Hall, both of handling a gun and looking foolish at the beginning, is a big reason for the small number of registered shooters.

“If you can get people by that, then you can usually get the hooks into a person,” said Hall.

Fred Wiegleb also started competing in trap shooting four years ago. He used to be a skeet shooter, a sport that is similar but differs in how targets are released. In skeet, the discs are launched at fixed angles. The shooter stays in one location as well, while in trap the shooter moves from station to station.

Wiegleb strives for the perfect score of hitting all 200 targets, something that’s been done only three times in the singles competition.

He is not alone in dedication to trap shooting. He remembers shooters who were so involved in their games they ignored thunderstorms and other extreme weather and kept right on shooting.

Like Hall, he won’t guess at how he’ll do over the weekend’s competition.

“I’ll do the best I can,” he said. “That’s all I can say.”

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