Helice
The targets are made up of two pieces of plastic, the white part is the “witness cap” and is affixed to the orange “propeller”. When properly hit by pellets, the witness cap will separate from the propeller, scoring you a “hit”.
Inside of the Helice ring there are five launchers arranged in a semi circle in front of the shooter platform. When “pulled” an oscillating motor will spin the target at five thousand rpms or more.
The computer will randomly select which launcher to pull the target and then it will automatically reload.
To score, the goal is to knock the witness cap from the propeller before it exits the ring or before it hits the ground. If the witness cap separates from the propeller but falls outside the ring, it does not count as a scored bird.
Please Contact us with 48 hours of notice if you want to shoot our ring, since it requires a trapper/scorekeeper to be present.
The game of Helice is usually played as a 30 bird "race" in which each shooter will shoot a total of 30 targets. Each participant will shoot 5 targets when it is their turn, firing two rounds at each target.
It is customary for there to be a pot or multiple purses at a Helice competition, this can range from a simple winner take all to multiple places paying out. Competitions can take place over multiple days.
Examples of the different pots and purses:
Compulsory- 1st, 2nd, 3rd place
Consolation- 4th, 5th place
10s- payouts for each 10 shot in a row
15s- payouts for each 15 shot in a row
Long run- payout for the longest perfect run
Perfect straight- payout for 30 targets
For more information on Helice and competitions please visit the US Helice Associations website.
The History of Helice
The history of Helice starts the banning of live bird trap shooting in Europe in the 1950s, a suitable inanimate substitute had to found. It was Belgian live pigeon trap champion Chevalier David de Lossy and expert mechanic Fernand Moinil who made the first Helice machines powered by an electric motor. De Lossy called the targets "zinc zuritos", a zurito is Spanish breed of pigeon and the early targets were made of zinc, this is where we get the name ZZ bird from.
There have been many improvements in helice machines and the targets since then. The modern helice machines are made by the Spanish company Elicio.es and the targets produced by Italian company Cominel and American company Helice Shooting Sports. The state of the art Elimatic 45 helice machine is the standard for any venue offering Helice.
