Local Profile: The Winnipeg Trap & Skeet Club

Have you ever driven down Highway 3 and noticed a tall, red and white tower-like structure? It belongs to the Winnipeg Trap and Skeet Club (WTSC), which, for the last 53 years, has been a staple in Manitoba for gun and shooting enthusiasts.

The tower is a modified air force ejector seat tester, which can move large bundles of clay targets to its tip and then fire them off for shooters on the ground. Sitting next to it is a smaller one-story building that houses the club, equipment, and additional clay target launchers.

Since 1965, the WTSC has been firing targets into the air over its 25 acre plot of land, allowing for lots of space for shooters to safely conduct themselves and practice. Two years after opening they hosted shooting events for the 1967 Pan Am Games, and again for the 1999 games. 

With three different shooting disciplines available, shooters as young as 12 years old can come out and legally fire at targets, without a license, and those who do have one can bring their own long guns to the range. Younger, as well as first-time, shooters are paired with mentors who run them through safety training in addition to giving them pointers on how to be handle themselves accordingly.

WTSC boasts roughly 150 members and is always welcoming new people to join. They have a very welcoming atmosphere towards new members as well as first-time shooters, offering corporate groups of up to 65 people, parties, birthdays and other events. Also, for new faces, the first three visits are at a reduced rate! 

The clay targets are quite fragile, and are designed to shatter even with a strong tap of the finger–therefore, all shells fired at the range contain small bb pellets which travel hard and fast enough to break the targets. With over ¼ million targets fired each year, that’s a lot of pellets.

Trap and skeet used to be seen as a retired man’s sport, but the club has grown a more diverse membership base than ever before with lots of young professionals are getting into it for sport or entertainment. 

The Winnipeg Trap and Skeet Club is open mid-March to mid-November, with numerous events going on during the season. With their mandate being to promote safe and responsible clay shooting, there’s no better reason to go see what they’re all about, and give clay shooting a try, yourself!

You can find them located at Boundary Commission Trail, Oak Bluff, MB