Next weekend the Capital City Gun Club will host North Dakota's 112th State Trap Shoot, an event expected to draw 150 to 175 shooters from the Midwest and parts of Canada to Bismarck.

The shooters will be competing Thursday to July 27 for the chance to bring home one of 143 trophies and $8,500 in prizes.

The competition will feature 9 events for participants to choose from. Each event will have 100 targets, except for the North Dakota Singles Championship which will throw out 200 targets.

The state trap shoot has a long history, said Chet Nelson of the Capital City Gun Club. A history that predates the state of North Dakota itself.

The first trap shoot took place at the Bismarck Gun Club in 1888 with shooters from around territories that would become North Dakota and South Dakota, Nelson said.

Fast forward 120 years, and the event is part of a national sport sanctioned by the Amateur Trapshooting Association, which regulates similar tournaments around the nation.

For North Dakotans, the event is a chance to prove they're able to compete at the highest levels of trap shooting. Winners will go on to a national competition in Sparta, Ill.

Nelson said shooters from North Dakota have won at the national level in previous years, and hopes to see similar success this year.

"We've got some tremendous shooters," he said.

One of those to watch is Cody Tangsrud, a 14-year-old shooter from McGregor, Nelson said. Tangsrud has been competing for two years, and has competed in nine states this year. He is gunning to be captain of the All American sub-junior team, and he's in second for points.

"I don't think there is another athlete in the state who has competed in as many states as he has," Nelson said.

Tangsrud follows a long line of great young shooters from North Dakota, said Jeff Zwarych, a long time member of the Capital City Gun Club.

"It seems like in North Dakota, since I've been shooting, there has always been a junior who comes out and gains national attention."