CORVALLIS – The routine begins. Keiver Haldorson tells himself to keep his head on the gun while the rolling notes of Enya stream through his ears. His concentration is set. The bird is launched and muscle memory takes over.

“I don’t even mean to pull the trigger, but I do,” Haldorson said.

The 17-year-old from Corvallis is Montana’s current state champion trap shooter. The clay pigeon sport requires competitors to shoot their target from five spots in a semi-circle around the “trap.” The pigeon is launched from the trap and climbs in height, moving away from the shooter until it reaches its apex and drops.

“It could fly to the right. You can get a hard left. You can get straight-aways. It’s just a random thing,” Haldorson said. “You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Trap has three rounds, singles, doubles and handicapped. Singles involve five shots from each spot. Doubles is 10. Handicapped is like singles, but further away based on previous scores. There are two separate traps competitors shoot from. Haldorson said the trick to hitting the target is practice.