Australian trap shooting Olympic gold medallist Catherine Skinner says she hopes her win in Rio will help people understand sports shooters do not go out "killing things" as part of the sport.

After an inconsistent start, Skinner hit 12 of 15 targets in the shoot-off to defeat New Zealand rival Natalie Rooney by one.

The win made her Australia's fifth gold medallist in trap shooting and the third gold of the Rio Olympics.

The 26-year-old said she wanted coverage of her win to demystify the sport and separate it in the public imagination from the use of guns in killing.

"[There are] plenty of awkward questions where people assume I was out killing things, which isn't the truth," she said.

"We do use it for a genuine sport. It is a skilled sport. You don't understand how difficult it is and how mental this sport is.

"I suppose the best way to describe the mental thing is, we have got to hold the state of zen because you have got to be awake enough that you are ready for a target and able to react to it because we've only got a third of a second from when we call to really be on the target before it gets out."

The Victorian's focus was on display at her first Olympics in Rio, with the gold-medal-winning shots coming after an audio glitch that saw a delay in the targets being released.

"My final hadn't been the easiest, particularly with the shoot-off and constantly having to climb back up after I missed targets earlier," she told 774 ABC Melbourne.

"So it was quite difficult, and throw in some microphone mishaps, if anything, I was so frustrated with how it was going that I was so focused and ready for them, I just wanted to see the target smash and it paid off."

Catherine Skinner's dad said she is "thrilled with the win". ( ABC: Kathryn Ward )

Skinner began shooting at the age of 12 with her father and brother at the Mansfield Clay Target Club.

The president Anthony Kirley said it was a great result for the club, and the sport more broadly.

"The shooting sports always get a bad wrap with all the stuff that goes on in the world, so it's great to see something positive has come out of the shooting discipline," he said.

"We don't get much coverage on shooting sports. We were actually trying to watch it last night but we searched and searched and couldn't find anything.

"They had the results coming up in numbers but you couldn't actually see any of it."

Quiet achiever's win 'well deserved'

Skinner trained at the Frankston Clay Target Club in the lead-up to the Olympics and club secretary Jane Vella said the gold medallist had worked hard for the result.

"Catherine is a quiet achiever," she said.

"She comes to the club, has her two, three, four, five rounds of practice with or without her coach, she smiles, she chats, then she packs up and goes home. The win's fantastic. It's very, very well deserved."

Catherine Skinner hit 12 of her 15 targets in the gold medal shoot-off. ( AP Photo: Hassan Ammar )

Ken Skinner, who watched his daughter secure the gold medal from their home town of Mansfield in north-east Victoria, said he was proud of how Catherine kept her nerve under pressure.

"When she was seven targets behind the leader, I thought that was a bit far to expect to get her there but a bit of a wind storm went through at about the time, she shot and the wind came up, so that probably affected the rest of the field as well," he said.

"She's really thrilled with the win. She can enjoy herself now."