2011 Greater Lowell Trap League Rules
(MODIFIED: APRIL 2008)
Download the 2011 GLTL Rules || Download the Current ATA Rules
| 1. | All shoots will total 250 target per team | ||||||||
| I) | Home team will shoot first round | ||||||||
| II) | Visiting team will shoot second round | ||||||||
| III) | Home team will shoot third round | ||||||||
| IV) | Visiting team will shoot fourth round | ||||||||
| V) | In the event of a tie score, each team will shoot an additional round as a tie-breaker, starting with the home team. | ||||||||
| VI) | Once started, the tie-breaker must be completed and the results will stand. Before starting any tie-breaker round, if either team captain decides that it will be too dark to complete the round fairly, the tie-breaker round (ONLY) will be rescheduled in accordance with rule 9 part 2. Only the shooters that participated in the original match may participate in the rescheduled tie-breaker. | ||||||||
| 2. | All shoots are scheduled to begin by 6:30 PM. It is recommended that for the month of April, all shoots start by 6:15 PM. Forfeiture time remains at 6:30 PM. As a discretionary clause, at clubs where visibility or other circumstances are a factor, shoots may start at a time decided by both captains. If the captains cannot agree, the shoot start-time will be determined by a flip of a coin. | ||||||||
| 3. | The standard charge for target shall be $3.00 per round, payable to the host club upon the completion of each shoot. | ||||||||
| 4. | Each team will pay to the League Treasurer an entrance fee of $150.00 to be set aside for trophies and banquet privileges. | ||||||||
| I) | The entrance fee must be paid by April 1st preceding the League season. | ||||||||
| II) | The annual organizational meeting for the League will be the last Sunday of February. | ||||||||
| 5. | Teams will be divided into divisions as determined by the league Secretary with the consent of the member clubs, AA, A, B, C, D, etc. A club may sponsor a team in each division. A club sponsoring two or more teams must have eight shooters on each team before it will be allowed to field an additional team. | ||||||||
| I) | A club may also be allowed to field additional "AA", "A", "B", "C", "D", etc. team(s) if approved by League members. | ||||||||
| II) | Teams will be assigned to Divisions (AA, A, B, C, D, etc.) based upon the team's previous year's averages, field availability, and the current team average based on rostered individual shooters previous year's average, pending review by the League officers. | ||||||||
| III) | If a shooter's average varies greatly on a team, that team will shoot penalty class. Example - 4 shooters have AA-A-B averages and 4 shooters have C & D averages and their team average would make then a "B" team, they will instead be penalized and put in "A" division. | ||||||||
| 6. | Each team must submit a roster of not less than 5 (five) nor more than 8 (eight) shooters, along with their previous average or known ability, to the League secretary by April 1st. More than 8 but not more than 10 shooters will be allowed on a team if the club has no other team available and they are rostered before the half-way point. On teams with more than 8 shooters, the team average will be determined by the highest eight averages. | ||||||||
| I) | Clubs not having 8 (eight) shooters on their roster will be allowed to add shooters during the first half of the schedule. | ||||||||
| II) | Other changes in team rosters may be allowed during the first half of the schedule if the League secretary is notified in writing of the reason for the change. | ||||||||
| III) | Any club may petition the League officers to place a new shooter on a team during the first half of the season. Any displaced shooter(s) must concur. The League officers shall have the authority to approve or deny such petition(s). | ||||||||
| IV) | All rosters will be frozen on completion of the first half of the schedule. Anyone not rostered by this time will not be allowed to compete. | ||||||||
| V) | All shooters must be members of the club they represent. A shooter may be rostered for only one club in any given year. If a shooter shot for another club the previous year, he or she must be a member of the new club by the annual League meeting of the year in which he or she will shoot for the new club. | ||||||||
| VI) | Each club is responsible to have their highest average shooters on their highest average team, their next highest shooters on their next highest team, etc.. Clubs should move the highest average shooters to their highest average team when a vacancy occurs during the first half. | ||||||||
| VII) | The league officers shall police the League to ensure that shooters are shooting on the proper team. The League officers shall have the authority to require any shooter to shoot on the proper team and to oust from the League any shooter who refuses to shoot on the proper team. Penalty for nonconformance is forfeiture of affected matches. | ||||||||
| VIII) | For team / division assignments, team averages will be determined by the highest eight shooters averages. | ||||||||
| 7. | Each team member present at a shoot must shoot at least one complete round. The only exception to this rule is where a shooter is obviously sick or injured. | ||||||||
| 8. | Any team not represented by at least 4 (four) shooters by 6:30 PM will lose by forfeit. | ||||||||
| I) | A team with only 4 (four) shooters will be allowed to compete. The four shooter team will use the lowest score of the opposing team, minus two points as their fifth score for each round. | ||||||||
| II) | Any round(s) shot after a forfeit will not be included in the League averages. | ||||||||
| 9. | Teams must show up for every shoot regardless of weather conditions. | ||||||||
| I) | Upon agreement of team captains, a shoot may be postponed to a mutually agreeable date. If the captains cannot agree, the decision will be made by the flip of a coin. | ||||||||
| II) | Rescheduled shoots must be completed prior to the next scheduled shoot or both teams will take a loss. If the team captains cannot agree on a mutually agreeable date, the shoot should be scheduled for the following Sunday at the field of the home team. If one team captain refuses to reschedule the shoot for any date prior to the next scheduled shoot, the other team captain may contact the League officers to resolve the situation. If the League officers determine that only one team is responsible for the rescheduling difficulties, only that team will take a loss. | ||||||||
| 10. | All shooters will obey the Trap Field and Club rules of the host club. | ||||||||
| I) | As a common courtesy, extraneous noise should be minimized when teams are shooting. | ||||||||
| II) | A shooter shall not close his or her gun's action before it is his or her turn to shoot. | ||||||||
| III) | All shooters are required to wear eye (glasses) and ear protection. | ||||||||
| 11. | Opposing captains may check the operation of trap machines BEFORE a shoot is regards to height or angle adjustments. Target flight must conform to A.T.A. specifications. Clubs should use out-of-bounds markers whenever possible. Once a shoot starts, target flight adjustments can only be made upon agreement of both team captains. If a trap breaks down during a match and cannot be repaired to allow shooters to continue, the shoot must be rescheduled, unless the targets remaining will not affect the outcome of the match, all remaining targets will be recorded as "dead". No rounds scored prior to the breakdown will be carried over to a rescheduled shoot. All rescheduled shoots will total at least 250 targets per team. Beginning with the 2000 season, traps are to be set at the "2 hole" position. TRAP MACHINES MUST BE LOADED WITH TARGETS EVERY TWO ROUNDS, REGARDLESS OF MACHINE CAPACITY. NO ONE IS ALLOWED INSIDE A TRAP HOUSE DURING SHOOTING OF A MATCH UNLESS A SITUATION ARISES REQUIRING A LOADER AND BOTH TEAM CAPTAINS AGREE. | ||||||||
| 12. | The Home team captain is responsible for mailing all score sheets to the League secretary as promptly as possible in order to have the results compiled on a weekly basis. Both team captains must sign the score sheet near the final tabulated score. Score sheets must contain all shooters full names as rostered in a legible manner. | ||||||||
| 13. | The determination of League Champions for each division will be determined at the Annual Organizational Meeting, where the club representatives will decide upon the League format for the upcoming season. | ||||||||
| 2011 SHOOTING FORMAT | |||||||||
| The League shooting format for 2011 will consist of 20 weeks for AA, A, B Divisions, starting on April 13th, and 19 weeks for C, D, E Divisions, starting on April 19th. Shoots will be scheduled during the week of July 4th. There are 39 teams, with 6 teams in each of the AA, A, B, Divisions,and 7 teams in each of the C,D, E, Divisions. In the event of a tie in the final standings for either first, second or third place, the teams involved will conduct a 250 target shoot-off. Shoot off locations and dates will be coordinated by the League secretary. | |||||||||
| 14. | The League president, treasurer and secretaries shall be nominated and approved by a show of hands at the annual banquet. Term of office to be 1 (one) year. The president and treasurer shall be co-signers of the League savings and/or checking account. | ||||||||
| 15. | Any 3 (three) clubs may petition the League president to call a special meeting. The petition must state the reason for calling said meeting. A simple majority vote is necessary to change any League rule. Each club is entitled to one vote. | ||||||||
| I) | Protests must be presented in writing to a League officer before the next scheduled shoot. The League officers will resolve the dispute and notify both captains of their decision within 10 (ten) days. | ||||||||
| 16. | To become eligible for any League award, shooters must meet the minimum matches and rounds for each half of the season, which are: two thirds (2/3) of matches and rounds (example: 6 of 9 matches and 12 of 18 rounds each half season). Shooters with averages that are two targets or higher than the division average in which they compete are not eligible for high average awards, as they shall be considered to be shooting out of class. | ||||||||
| 17. | League scoring procedures are to be followed. All matters not specifically covered shall be resolved by A.T.A. rules. | ||||||||
| LEAGUE SCORING PROCEDURES | |||||||||
| A member of the opposing team will act as scorer and will call all lost target loud enough for the firing line to hear. If a target is called lost and three members of the squad disagree, it will be scored as dead. A target is considered dead only if completely reduced to dust, or when a visible piece falls. A slightly dusted target or one that hops is not a dead target. Scorers will also call out the score tallied by each shooter upon the completion of shooting from each station. | |||||||||
| Beginning with the 2001 season, all targets are to be a single, solid color. Targets with a dome a different color from the body will not be allowed. Clubs are encouraged, but not required, to use environmentally friendly targets. | |||||||||
| A target will be considered "lost" if: | |||||||||
| A shooter fires and misses. | |||||||||
| A shooter fires at and misses an illegal target. | |||||||||
| If a target is thrown broken, the shooter must call for another target regardless of whether or not it was fired at. After two successive broken targets, a shooter may request that the trap be cleared. | |||||||||
| "No Target" will be called when: | |||||||||
| • | A target whose color is markedly different from that of the others is thrown and the contestant does not shoot. If the contestant shoots, the result must be scored. | ||||||||
| • | More than one target is thrown. The contestant must call for another target whether or not the contestant shoots at it. | ||||||||
| • | A shooter fires out of turn. | ||||||||
| • | A target is thrown broken. | ||||||||
| • | The trap is sprung at any material interval or time before or after the call of "PULL". If the contestant shoots, the result must be scored. | ||||||||
| If, for one reason or another, the home team has insufficient personnel to run a match, then the visiting team will be required to assist in pulling and/ or loading. | |||||||||
| All previous rules regarding flinches, defective or dud shells, safety on, unloaded gun, wrong chamber loaded, defective gun, broken gun, misfires when the wad remains in the barrel, malfunction of a gun or otherwise, which previously entitled a contestant to re-shoot the target or to change guns or shells and continue the round without al subsequent misfires being called "lost" are rescinded. The following procedure shall be followed: | |||||||||
| • | A contestant shall be allowed two (2) failures to fire, for any reason, during each round. The contestant shall be allowed to call for and fire at another target and the result will be scored. | ||||||||
| • | Whenever a failure to fire occurs, the scorekeeper shall mark an "F" on the score sheet in the space where the target is scored along with the score for that target. Any subsequent failure to fire (after the second failure) in the same round, for any reason, except an early or late pull shall be scored as a lost target. | ||||||||
| • | A gun which for any reason fails to fire as intended must be promptly opened without any determination by the scorer of the cause of the failure to fire. | ||||||||