Down-The-Line

Down-the-line (DTL) clay pigeon shooting is a variation of trap shooting which is very popular in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The traditional DTL shooting includes a layout which is set up with 5 stands in a crescent shape 16 yards from a traphouse which throws a target between 0 and 22.5 degrees to either side of a center post set 50–55 yards from the traphouse. The average speed for a clay target leaving the traphouse is usually between 60 and 100 mph.

A normal competition would have the competitor shooting at 100 targets in total in a day. This would be built up of 25 targets at 4 different layouts with 5 targets shot on each stand rotating on a 1 > 2 >>> 5 basis. On the scorecard points will be given as, 3 points for first shot kill, 2 points for a second shot kill and 0 points for a lost target.

Other variations are double rise, single barrel, ball trap, and handicap by distance.

The Governing Bodies in the UK and Ire are the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA; England), Irish Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (IPSCA), Ulster Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (UCPSA; Northern Ireland), Scottish Clay Target Association (SCTA) and Welsh Clay Target Shooting Association (WCTSA).

Events
In the UK, the events for down-the-line shooting is held in July every year, the Home Internationals and British Open events. These are held every year on rotation between England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and, the newest inclusion, Northern Ireland.

The Home International consists of all host countries competing with teams of 25 seniors, 5 ladies, 5 veterans and 5 juniors to become the winning nation. The main competition is between the seniors with their greatest involvement in the event, although there is great pride shown when the other teams win their specific competition. On the night after the international there is a hosted banquet in which the prizes for the day are handed out.

The British Open has an element of the previous days activities with the teams competing but greater emphasis is put on the competition of the overall British senior, ladies, veteran and junior champions.

Northern Ireland hosted their first ever DTL Home International and British Open in 2006 at Culbann C.P.C, Ballynease, County Londonderry. This event was the culmination of a lot of preparation from Culbann C.P.C, by upgrading from a 4-layout facility to an 8-layout facility. Through the upgrading of the ground, the 4 layouts originally used were deemed redundant and they have been demolished to make space for the 8 new layouts.

It was a great time for Northern Ireland as not only hosting the event for the first time they managed to walk away the overall winners of the Home International 2006.