When Stanley Mikolajek retired, he needed a new hobby to fill his time. The former Pittsburgh police officer and Army rifle and grenades medalist found an activity that played to his strengths: trap shooting.

And at the Allegheny Country Rifle Club in Ross, he found just the group of guys to get him hooked.

"It's an ideal activity for retirement," said Jim Thompson, executive director of the Amateur Trapshooting Association. "You can do it at your leisure, do it as much or as little as you want, in any state and even worldwide."

The rules are simple. Trap shooting starts with three disciplines: singles, doubles and handicap. Five shooting stations are lined up horizontally and normally occupied by five shooters. In singles and doubles, shooters stand 16 feet from the trap box, which holds the orange clay targets that are about 4 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick (in handicap, shooters move as far as 27 yards back based on shooting ability).

When the shooter yells "Pull!" one clay target is released from the side-to-side sweeping trap at a variety of angles and travels 48-52 yards at about 50 to 60 mph. (In doubles, two targets are released in opposite directions simultaneously.) Each station shoots five targets per round, and shooters get only one shot to hit each target.

According to Thompson, the average age of an ATA member is around 55. There are youth programs -- 1,800 young shooters joined the ATA in the past year -- but many shooters take a break from trap.

"What we see in our sport is, people start out young when grandpa or mom and dad take them," said Terry Heeg, editor-in-chief of Trap & Field magazine. "They go through their routine of finding boys and girls and dating. They start their own families, and don't have the money then, but once they retire, they come back to trap."

Both Thompson and Heeg compared trap to another popular Western Pennsylvania sport: golf. Despite the obvious differences, Heeg says the two sports are comparable.

"Trap is very similar to golf, even physically," she said. "We say clay target shooting is like golf with a shotgun. There is the same hand-eye coordination, but instead of a ball, people have a clay target to focus on."

Both trap and golf are relaxing activities, considered life sports and frequently enjoyed by retirees. Some would argue that trap shooting does all the above better.

"I used to golf," said Paul Szoszorek of the North Side Sportsmen's Club, who took up trap shooting after he retired. "I gave it up. I didn't find it relaxing compared to trap."

Szoszorek's friends "pulled" him into shooting, but he got himself into trap by accident. His friends shot skeet, a similar form of clay shooting, but Szoszorek mistakenly bought himself a shotgun designed for trap instead of skeet and field hunting. He ended up enjoying trap and finding it more relaxing and continues to shoot it more often than skeet.

As incidental as Szoszorek's start was, Mikolajek's was planned. As a member of Allegheny Country Rifle Club with a shooting background, shotgun shooting seemed like a natural progression since he had already mastered pistols and rifles. It did not take him long to find his shot; he hit 20 of the 25 orange clay targets in his first round and found the relaxation others rave about.

"I really enjoyed it, I loved it," Mikolajek said of his first trap-shooting afternoon. "Shooting is relaxing, especially trap. Pistol shooting is more intense."

Intense is not how you might describe the trap shooting Wednesday afternoons at Allegheny Country Rifle Club. Mostly retired men and a few men who still use a four-letter word -- "work" -- to fill their days shoot trap from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and enjoy each other's company over a home-cooked lunch. They shoot year-round through rain, wind and snow.

"Many men join the club when they are younger," Dan Moniot said. "It takes 20 years to become a lifetime member, so once you retire, here you are," he said with a laugh.

One common misconception is that all target shooters are hunters as well. Not true, according to Moniot, who says there are more golfers than hunters shooting trap at Allegheny Country Rifle Club. And unlike golf, starting the sport once you retire won't necessarily breed teasing from your more experienced friends.

"A lot of people have tried golfing, and some don't like it," Thompson said. "Trap shooting is something most people haven't done, so there is a more level playing field."

"Trap is very similar to golf, even physically. We say clay target shooting is like golf with a shotgun. There is the same hand-eye coordination, but instead of a ball, people have a clay target to focus on."

-- Terry Heeg

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Backyard smorgasbord

Sarah Troetschel

16, Munhall

This summer my family and I are studying botany and I have been acquiring some useful knowledge from my studies.

I have been learning all about edible wild plants. There is a surprising amount of plants you can eat in your back yard, most of them considered weeds. There are some commonly known ones like dandelions and violets and some more uncommon ones like Marsh Mallow (cool name!) and Prickly Lettuce.

On a recent weekend I decided to pick some wild plants. My local garden club was having a show and I wanted to take a plate of edibles to display. I thought it would be cool to win a blue ribbon, even though I didn't think I would. So, I got out my books and went outside to see what I could find.

Always follow the basic rules of picking before eating anything you find outside. Always positively identify your find in a couple different sources including books, the Internet, etc., before eating. Also, don't pick near roads, the pollution can make you sick.

I had many to choose from but, in the end I decided on seedum, dandelion, Red Clover, Prickly Lettuce, English plantain and Broad-Leaf Plantain, Marsh Mallow buds and milkweed pods.

I took my entry to the show and anxiously waited for the judging to be over. When we came back a couple hours later I could not believe my eyes. I had won a "special award" and a trophy!

See, plants are useful not only for eating, cosmetic and medical purposes -- they can also win trophies.

Young people living in the Greater Pittsburgh area are invited to contribute to GEToutKIDS. Include name, age and town (and phone number, not for publication). Age 13 through college, write about 230 words describing a recent outdoors adventure. Any age through college, draw an outdoors scene. E-mail it to outdoors@post-gazette.com.