Evidence does not appear to be available to disclose the date of origin of the New Zealand Gun Clubs Association, but old records do show that the association was functioning in the year 1899. Since that date the association had administered the trapshooting sport in the Dominion and, like most shooting bodies, has experienced its ups and downs. During the early years of the century the sport was mainly confined to the shooting of trapped live birds, especially pigeons. Although scores registered at the 1899 New Zealand pigeon championship have not been recorded, the event was held at Petone and won by C. L. Mackersey. Pigeon championships were the only live-bird national events held until 1911, when the first sparrow championship took place. This match, shot at Christ-church on 6 July 1911, attracted an entry of 31 shooters and resulted in a win for 16-year-old Donald Fraser, of Hororata. Prior to the introduction of the national sparrow championship, the first clay-target championship was held at Dunedin on 5 June 1908 and was won by the versatile Duncan Fraser (father of Donald), who won other national titles in 1906, 1909, 1911, and 1920. In these early days clay-target shooting was not so popular as live-bird competition, the entry for the 1908 single-rise clay-target championship being only 13.