During the early days of shooting in England, live pigeons were used as targets. They were released from cages, called traps. Today, the modern clay targets are still called "pigeons" and the contraption that launches them is still called a "trap". This sport came to the American continent in the 1800's with one of the first contests being held in 1831 at the Sportsmen's Club in Cincinnati, OH, They used passenger pigeons & sparrows as targets as these birds were quite abundant. During the Civil War, the practice of using live birds was replaced by the use of man made targets. These early targets varied from metal ones with rotating wings to the more popular glass ball filled with feathers. They were usually launched by catapult type traps.
