Catskill Pheasantry & Sporting Clays

This place is quite an operation. They have several hundred acres and on those acres there are a few activities to choose from.
Their claim to fame is pheasant hunts, where you and your party are equipped with shotguns, led into one of their fields by a guide accompanied by one of their dogs, and at some point, live game birds (pheasant, quail, etc) are released and you are expected to shoot them dead. The birds are all raised in captivity at the facility and this whole business strikes me as being a little strange, but I’m sure people love it. It also seemed quite expensive.
Catskill Pheasantry also has a 5-​stand clay pigeon shooting range and a 100-​yard rifle and pistol range — both covered for use in inclement weather — but we went there for something called «Sporting Clays» which is best described as a combination of golf, bowling and shotguns.
In Sporting Clays there are ten individual stations, all along a ¼ mile trail which is easily walkable or ride-​able by means of rented golf cart. At each station there is a small covered stand and an industrial-​looking yellow box with some buttons on it. Pressing the appropriate buttons will trigger machines buried somewhere in the woods to launch two clay pigeons in view of the shooting stand. Sometimes the clays fly out in nice slow arcs, sometimes they zing along low to the ground. Sometimes they come from the left, sometimes the right. Each station is different. You are given a scorecard and enough ammunition to take 5 turns at each of 10 stations for a total of 100 shots. The guy who shatters the most birds wins.
The whole course takes somewhere between 1 and 3 hours to complete, depending on the size of your party. This seems to me like just about the best idea for an afternoon activity that anybody has ever had.
There are a few things to be aware of before signing up though.
You do not need a firearm or any sort of license to use one. I expect you need to be of a certain age though. Catskill Pheasantry will rent you a shotgun and supply you with ammunition, should you need it. Our host suggested an over-​under 12 gauge and we opted to scale down to the smaller 20 gauge. I’m glad we did. the course is 100 shots long, and that many rounds of 12 gauge will really hurt the shoulder of all but the burliest shooters.
We went late in the day after it had been raining. Since all the stands are covered, we would have been okay if the rain continued, but we were glad it didn’t. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds though, and some of the pigeons took paths above the treeline, where they immediately got lost in the sun and were all but impossible for us to hit. Going out earlier in the day would alleviate this problem.
I noticed that there were large lights at each station. Presumably this can be a nighttime activity as well. Also, some of the foliage in the forest made spotting and hitting the clays fairly difficult. Going in the fall or spring when the trees are bare will almost certainly improve your chances.
Some of the stations were easy, lofting the birds right in front of the shooter at a nice slow speed in a predictable arc. other stations were not, and we had lots of «0“s on our scorecards. One of us managed to shoot 10 for 10 at station #8 though, which felt great.
I’m really not sure how I feel about the «guided pheasant hunts» where you kill birds which have been expressly raised for the purpose of being shot at by paying customers, but there was lots more to do, and the facility is so nice it almost feels out-​of-​place here in Sullivan County. Very much a diamond in the rough. Sporting clays were great fun, but a bit pricey. It was about $ 250 for 3 people to rent a gun, buy ammunition and use the course. I didn’t ask about prices for shooting clays from the 5-​stand — a traditional clay-​pigeon shooting experience — but I did ask about the rifle range, and it’s $ 10 a day, and they’ve got .223cal and 7.62mm rifles for rent.
I’ve lived here for two years and had no idea this place was 25 minutes away. Now that I know, I’ll certainly be back. This is a great place to take guests from out-​of-​town, and I’m sure if you have wealthy clients, this is a great way to entertain them once you’ve all gotten bored with golf.