Sporting Clays

You may have heard of sporting clays, referred to as golf with a shotgun, and that's a fair comparison. Like golf courses, no two sporting clays courses are alike, and terrain and background have a lot to do with how targets are presented. Since no two courses are alike, shooters travel to different courses to experience variety. Sporting clays is the closest thing to actual field shooting of all shotgun sports. Rather than having clay birds thrown from standardized distances and angles as with skeet or trap, sporting clays courses are designed to simulate the hunting of ducks, pheasants, other upland birds, and even rabbits.

Since there is no set season and it can be shot at any time, many hunters shoot sporting clays to further their wingshooting skills during the off-season. Targets may be thrown from literally any angle or distance to simulate wingshooting, and six different sizes of clay targets are used to give the shooter more experience in actual hunting conditions.

Red/White/Blue Sporting Clays Courses

There are 30 stations on Powder Creek Shooting Park's Sporting Clays Course. They are divided into three different courses that vary in length and difficulty:

Blue Course

There is a Blue Course that is made up of 12 stations of slightly easier targets. It will be otherwise known as the Standard Course and is suggested to the general public shooters, especially those that are new to the sport or just looking to have a good time.

Red Course

There is a Red Course that is made up of 13 stations of slightly harder targets. It will be otherwise known as the Advanced Course and is suggested to any shooters that are familiar with the game of Sporting Clays and are looking to challenge themselves and enhance their skills even further.

White Course

There is a White Course that is made up of 5 stations of very easy targets. It will be otherwise known as the Beginner Course and is often used by Instructors or first time shooters. Targets on the White Course do not change unless being used during State Tournaments.

All stations are clearly marked with a colored sign in the upper-left corner of the shooting stand with Blue numbers for the Blue Course, Red numbers for the Red Course, and White numbers with a black background for the White Course.

Every stand is equipped with the wireless long-range system and Promatic machines. The long-range system allows shooters to shoot in groups of up to 6 people or by themselves thanks to a delay option. The course designer is not limited to target speed, angle, or distance, so every course is different. The most common target used in sporting clays is the standard target, which is the same clay that is used in skeet and trap. However, sporting clays also uses specialty targets such as Midis, Battues, and Rabbits to introduce the illusion of speed or distance in the eye of the shooter, moving at speeds or in the ways of game birds and other animals. All targets can be thrown as singles, report pairs, or true pairs.

Any shotgun that's in safe working condition and capable of firing two shots may be used. Any gauge can be used except 10 gauge, but the most popular are 12 and 20 gauge. Many shooters like to shoot an over/under because it gives them two choke choices. Shooters who tend to be sensitive to recoil may prefer gas-operated semiautomatics.

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