See top-quality fields and facilities open to the public for shooting sports

Tucson Trap & Skeet Club will host more than 250 elite shooters from 43 countries this month who are attempting to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.

The club was chosen for the International Shooting Sports Federation’s 2012 World Cup after leasing 300 acres from Pima County in 2011 allowed it to expand its facilities and become the second-largest sport shooting facility in the nation.

The public is invited to watch accomplished marksmen and markswomen, including four-time Olympic medal winner Kim Rhode of California, at the March 24-31 event at the club’s nearly 400 acres at 7800 Old Ajo Highway, less than 10 minutes west of West Ajo Way and South Kinney Road.  Admission and parking is free for spectators.

Although the Tucson Trap & Skeet Club holds several nationally and internationally attended shoots each year, this is the first time the club is hosting one of the four World Cup Shotgun Olympic qualification competitions.

Rhode is attempting to become the first U.S. woman to win five individual medals in five Olympic Games.  Gold medalists Vincent Hancock of Georgia and Glen Eller of Texas as well as bronze medalist Corey Cogdell of Alaska will be part of the USA Shooting Team represented in Tucson.

Trap shooting involves shooting at clay discs thrown into the air by a machine below ground in a trap house.  Skeet shooting involves shooting at clay targets thrown by two traps – a “high house” and a “low house.”

Since last year, Tucson Trap & Skeet has more than doubled the number of its trap fields – to 50 – and skeet fields – to 15.  It is the only facility in the nation equipped to host Olympic Trap and Olympic Skeet at the same time.

Tucson Trap & Skeet also has two full-size sporting clay courses of varying terrain with 12 stations each, providing a variety of target sizes, angles, speeds, elevations and distances.

Tucson Trap & Skeet is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days a week during the winter season.  Hours vary with the time of year.  Shotguns are available to rent and ammunition is available for purchase.  Instruction is available for an hourly fee arranged through the office, and the free safety training is required for beginning shooters.

The club’s 9,000 square-foot clubhouse is open to the public and includes a restaurant and bar with free Wi-Fi.  The club also has 200 full-service RV hookups available for members and registered guests.  All facilities are handicap accessible.

The club is a USA Shooting Certified Training Center.  It hosts the Scholastic Clay Target Program to introduce boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 18 to firearm safety and clay target shooting.  It is the host club for Boy Scout and 4-H shotgun training and for the University of Arizona shotgun team.

Tucson Trap & Skeet has hosted more than 90 corporate events since 2005, introducing most of the 2,600  participants from 12 countries and nearly every state in the nation to the sports of skeet and trapshooting.

Tucson Trap & Skeet is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and has served Southern Arizona sport shooters since 1948.  For more information, please call 520-883-6426 or visit us on the web at www.tucsontrapandskeet.com.

Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation Department has three shooting ranges:

Southeast Regional Park Shooting Range
11296 S. Harrison Road.
Phone: 877-6036
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday year-round (closed on all Pima County holidays)
$8 per shooter per day; youth under 16 years of age may shoot free (must be accompanied and supervised by an adult)

Tucson Mountain Park Rifle and Pistol Range
About 2.5 miles north of Ajo Way on Kinney Road, .3 miles from the south Tucson Mountain Park entrance
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday (closed on all Pima County holidays)
$6 per shooter per day; youth under 16 years of age may shoot free (must be accompanied and supervised by an adult)

Virgil Ellis Rifle and Pistol Range
Ajo Regional Park
Sunrise to dusk daily
No charge

For more information, please visit http://www.pima.gov/nrpr/shooting/index.htm.