Safety Procedure for Servicing Downrange Traps

Revision 6-12-17

In order to insure safe operating conditions when servicing downrange traps the following procedure must be followed:

  1. Effective communications between all responsible persons is key to insuring safe operations. It is left to the discretion of those persons in charge to determine the most effective method of communication.
  2. Before servicing any downrange (north of the skeet houses) traps, all persons responsible for the skeet activities shall be informed as to the need for servicing and skeet shooting shall cease.
  3. An orange cone shall be placed on top of the trap house and in prominent view in the 5-stand or other sporting game field while servicing the traps.
  4. Upon completion of the downrange servicing, the orange cone shall be removed and the skeet activities shall be informed that the servicing is complete so shooting may resume.
  5. Under no circumstance will skeet shooting be allowed to occur while an orange cone is visible downrange.
  6. It is imperative that those persons servicing downrange traps remain vigilant with their eyes and ears to insure that shooting has truly ceased.
  7. If using air horns as the means of communicating, the following will be the standard: One blast — skeet shooting shall cease fire; Two blasts — all clear; Three blasts — all venues shall cease fire.
  8. It is allowable for trap shooting to continue when servicing other trap houses and when the 5-Stand venue is servicing traps downrange. Likewise, 5-Stand shooting is allowable when servicing trap houses.
  9. If a trap house is being serviced for an extended period of time it is imperative that effective communication is maintained between the persons servicing the trap house and the persons responsible for the skeet activities. In this scenario, skeet shooting shall cease until the trap persons have entered the trap house. Before emerging from the trap house, the skeet venue must be informed that the emergence is about to happen so that skeet shooting is ceased. The persons servicing the trap house should take an orange cone into the trap house with them so that when they emerge the orange cone will
    be visible.
  10. It is expected that professionalism and courtesy are demonstrated between all persons responsible for the various venues to insure an effective safety culture is maintained.

These procedures are available as a PDF at http://mesillavalleyshotgunsports.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/safety-2017-06-12.pdf