Sporting Clays

Sporting clays are fast becoming a popular form of recreation for many sportsmen. Since it is a sport that is especially enjoyed by hunters who are involved in bird hunting of some type, it is included in the consumptive discussion. In shooting clays, sportsmen walk a trail or course with stops randomly laid out along the course. Each stop represents a particular hunting scenario, and the targets are skeet clays rather than game animals.

At each stop the clay targets are released by positioned throwers in a variety of ways to simulate flushing quail, flying doves or ducks, a running rabbit, or some other hunting scenario.

Advantages of sporting clay enterprises are:

1. they can be easily developed on most farm or forest land,
2. they are not dependent on game populations,
3. they can be operated year-round, and
4. they can provide a reasonable rate of return.

Disadvantages include:

1. a high initial investment, and
2. they can be labor intensive.