WEST VALLEY CITY - Hitting 90 of 100 clay pigeons likely won't win you a trophy in a major trapshooting event such as the recent Western Zone meet at the Great Salt Lake Gun Club.

Competition is so strong at these shoots, there are times when as many as 400 targets will be broken before someone finally misses.

But hitting the 90 to 100 targets felt like quite an accomplishment to DeAnn Arnold, a Salt Lake City woman who not only participated in her first zone tournament but is recovering from surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments for breast cancer.

"I'm rather enjoying myself," said Arnold last week as she watched other shooters at the meet. "There are friends, people and new faces everywhere. I joined the ATA [Amateur Trapshooting Association] in September and I wanted to participate. [After the cancer] I just kept going. It's a very friendly sport."

The theme of the friendliness of shooters competing for trophies and belt buckles emerged again and again from participants in the zone meet and will likely be heard again Labor Day weekend when the Great Salt Lake Gun Club, adjacent to the Lee Kay Hunter Education Center, plays host to the Western Grand shoot Aug. 30 through Sept. 3.

Brent Epperson, one of the top trapshooters in the country and co-owner of the facility, said there are only about five or six designated "grand" shoots a year. Shooters nationwide, including All-American teams, will be competing. He expects 300 to 400 shooters and their families to participate in the big Labor Day weekend shoot, which moves to different places each year.

Anyone can shoot in an ATA event by joining the organization for a $20 annual fee. The sport is handicapped much like bowling or golf so less experienced shooters can compete with a chance to win.

The Great Salt Lake Gun Club has 16 trap fields and four skeet fields. It charges $5 for a 25-round shoot, with shooters providing their own shotguns and ammunition. The site is automated. When a shooter shouts "pull," a speaker picks up the command and automatically fires a clay disc, known as a pigeon, from

a partially underground house.

According to the Web site Pelhamfishandgame.com, trapshooting is done from five adjacent positions in a crescent-shaped formation, 16 or more yards behind the trap. After each shooter fires five shots from a position, all move one station. The Web site says that skeet fields are laid out on a semicircle with eight stations for shooting. Targets are thrown from stations or towers, called trap houses, that can throw both high- and low-flying clay pigeons. Shot angles vary from each position.

Epperson and co-owner Craig Necaise have improved the skeet and trap ranges over the past three years, turning the facility into the state's largest.

"We get a lot of families, including husband, wife and kids, who enjoy the shooting sports," said Epperson.

Serious competitors can spend more than $10,000 for a single-barrel competition trap gun.

Some of the shooters have impressive records. Darren New, of West Valley City, for example, said he once hit 572 clay pigeons in a row before missing.

"It is as much mental as physical," said Jill Lasater, one of the managers of the club and an avid competitor.

There is a partylike atmosphere at a big shoot, with some shooters staying in motor homes. Many are prepared with large canopies, coolers and shade umbrellas so they can chat, watch the action and listen to the "pop, pop, pop" sounds of shotguns being fired at the clay targets.

Safety is emphasized, and shooters are required to wear eye and ear protection.

Scott Syme, of Fountain Green, enjoys the competitive nature of trapshooting.

"Last year was my first shooting," he said. "You show up at a place where you have never been in your life and you don't know anybody. By the time you leave, you have [shaken] hands with everybody and you are friends for life."

Some use trap and skeet shooting to prepare for upland game bird-hunting season. Others, like Syme, no longer hunt.

"There are no pheasants to shoot anymore," he said. "Instead of hunting all day and not seeing anything, here you say 'pull' and a 'bird' shows up."

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* TOM WHARTON can be contacted at wharton@sltrib.com. His phone number is 801-257-8909. Send comments about this story to livingeditor@sltrib.com.