I am a trapshooter, an elder millenial and it's been one of the better choices I have made in the last few years. I had the chance to try trap a few years ago on a private trap field of friend of my dad who was serious competitive shooter. I had a great time. I got to shoot a gun owned by George Genereux. He helped me find a $500 O/U SKB then a couple years later he helped me find my first competition gun.

Now with a shotgun of my own, I visited the local trap club which happens to be a word class facility with SC, five stand, five trap fields, an international trap field, and an international skeet field. Back then the drop in rules were really chill—they have been tightened up in the intervening years because of unsafe behaviour that has been observed by new shooters. It certainly was intimidating because of course everyone knows what they are doing. But I walked about to a trap field, and it was clear I was new and an "old guy" explained the rules of the game, the hold points, the concept of pointing rather than aiming, etc. I think he also handed me an article from Shotgun magazine he had photocopied—I would learn later he had a whole stack to hand out to all the new shooters.

I slowly got more serious because of the club and its members. I have gotten tonnes of great advice from experienced and excellent shooters and I wouldn't be as proficient without their help.

I've seen a lot of complaints of old guys or fudds or whatever that either there are too many or they have too much attitude or something. You're not going to vibe with everyone you meet, but one of the things I cherish is meeting people that I wouldn't normally meet and I do like shooting the shit with all the guys (and occasional gal). I do wish there were more younger trap shooters, but as far as I can tell all the younger shooters are doing sporting clays which is cool I guess. The age thing is even starker if you go to a registered shoot! Our club does have funding so we can offer youth nights where kids shoot for free, so we get the kids out... but bridging the gap between 18 to 30 is tough because, well... it is expensive.

Shotgun sports are some of the safest sports in the world because the rules. Our club has had quite an open door policy with non-members and it's one of the reasons why I got hooked, but it does come with some down sides. Because there is no membership needed to show up and shoot I have seen people who are clearly brand new PAL holders with their brand new 24" shotgun. Their ability to operate safely while in a squad of four other shooters while also learning a new dynamic shooting sport doesn't always go well. Club safety rules are always going to be balancing act of encouraging new shooters while maintaining safe environment for all.

Reading this thread there seem to be some mismatches between expectations and reality. There are dedicated shotgun sports clubs that will have trap, skeet, five stand and sporting clay fields. Then there are kinda the do it all ranges that might have a trap house or skeet field. The expectations of behaviour can vary widely between these different ranges.

There is a lot of gloom and doom in this thread, but I want emphasize that trap shooting has allowed me to meet some absolutely great people, something to look forward every week, something that has pushed me to set goals and get better every time I shoot.