Sporting clays is a form of clay pigeon shooting, often described as “golf with a shotgun” because a typical course includes from 10 to 15 different shooting stations laid out over natural terrain, which each station (or hole) having its own unique presentation.  Sporting clays offers a great variety of trajectories, angles, speeds, elevations, distances, and target sizes. Every course is different, much like golf.

Eye-twisting target presentations as well as the variety of models of clay targets make the sport extremely interesting. Our sporting clays courses operate using a TargetKey counting system, which count how many clays you launch and allows shooters to utilize any combination of the clay target presentations – whether it be singles, reports or true pairs. The system also offers a delay feature for individual shooters.

We have three sporting clays courses at our Bald Mountain location – the ridge course, the upland course, and the executive course.

The Ridge Course – the ridge course has 14 stations with four automatic clay target throwers at every station, A’s and B’s set for the novice/intermediate shooter and C’s and D’s for the competitive shooter.

The Upland Course – the upland course is an easier course and has 14 stations, each with two automatic clay target throwers. The upland has relatively easy to medium shots with a lot of presentations that simulate wing-shooting.

The Executive Course – the executive course is our 5 station miniature course. Each station has A’s and B’s that are super easy and C’s and D’s that are relatively difficult. If you’re looking to introduce someone new to clay target shooting, the executive course is usually the best starting point.

5-Stand is very similar to sporting clays in that a wide variety of clay targets are thrown. There are five “stands” or shooting positions to shoot from. There are usually somewhere between six and eight different throwers. Participants shoot in turn at each of the five stands, attempting five targets from each stand. One round consists of 25 targets per person.

A menu card, with the availability of at least four levels of difficulty, advises the shooter of their sequence of targets. Five-Stand is a great way to get a sporting clays-like experience in a small amount of time and walking distance. It is also a great warm-up for the full course.

All of our 5-stand fields at Bald Mountain are enclosed and heated during the colder months. In the summer, we open the windows and shooters can shoot in the comfort of some shade.

Whether you are sighting in your rifle for opening day or introducing your granddaughter to your old 22 rifle, you’ll feel at home and safe on our rifle and pistol ranges. We are known for having one of the largest, safest and best run public outdoor rifle and pistol shooting ranges in the state of Michigan.

At our rifle and pistol ranges, you’ll find black powder and bench rest enthusiasts, experts and novices alike enjoying their deer rifles and defensive handguns, single shots and the latest modern auto loaders. Trained range personnel are always on hand to assist with problems, to give advice and to make sure that the range and safety rules are strictly enforced for everyone’s safety.

Steel reactive target days are offered on designated steel shooting nights, check our calendar for details. Positions are available at both ranges at 25, 50 and 100 yards. Portable targets are additionally available free of charge to bring targets even closer than 25 yards.

Sporting clays is a form of clay pigeon shooting, often described as “golf with a shotgun” because a typical course includes from 10 to 15 different shooting stations laid out over natural terrain, which each station (or hole) having its own unique presentation.  Sporting clays offers a great variety of trajectories, angles, speeds, elevations, distances, and target sizes. Every course is different, much like golf.

Eye-twisting target presentations as well as the variety of models of clay targets make the sport extremely interesting. Our sporting clays courses operate using a TargetKey counting system, which count how many clays you launch and allows shooters to utilize any combination of the clay target presentations – whether it be singles, reports or true pairs. The system also offers a delay feature for individual shooters.

We have three sporting clays courses and a total of 21 stations at our Lake Orion location – the red course, the white course and the blue course.

The Red Course – the red course has 7 stations with four automatic clay target throwers at every station. All the targets on the red course are on the more difficult side and are geared for the competitive shooter.

The Blue Course – the blue course has 7 stations with four automatic clay target throwers at each station. The A’s and B’s on the blue course are easy and the C’s and D’s are of medium difficulty. The blue course has relatively easy to medium shots with a lot of presentations that simulate wing-shooting. This is a great course for a mixed group of both experienced and novice shooters.

The White Course Course – The white course has 7 stations with two automatic clay target throwers at each. This course has easy targets and is intended for novice shooters. If you’re looking to introduce someone new to clay target shooting, the white course is usually the best starting point.

5-Stand is very similar to sporting clays in that a wide variety of clay targets are thrown. There are five “stands” or shooting positions to shoot from. There are usually somewhere between six and eight different throwers. Participants shoot in turn at each of the five stands, attempting five targets from each stand. One round consists of 25 targets per person.

A menu card, with the availability of at least four levels of difficulty, advises the shooter of their sequence of targets. Five-Stand is a great way to get a sporting clays-like experience in a small amount of time and walking distance. It is also a great warm-up for the full course.

We have one 5-stand field that is enclosed and heated during the colder months. In the summer, we open the windows and shooters can shoot in the comfort of some shade.

Skeet utilizes two machines for presentations from eight shooting stations. The targets emerge from a high house ten feet above ground on the left and a low house 3-1/2 feet above ground on the right. Targets face one another forty yards apart and pass fifteen feet above a crossing stake set twenty yards from the shooting stations. Shooting stations are arranged around an arc running from one house to the other. A round of skeet consists of twenty-five shots, beginning with a high-house bird at station one, then a low house bird, then a double at one, two, six, and seven.

In trap, the targets are thrown from a single automatic trap quartering away from the shooter at various angles. One to five shooters move through five positions, shooting 5 shots at each – totaling twenty five targets in one round. We recommend trap for beginning shooters and novices.

Island Lake Shooting Range has a total of four skeet/trap overlay fields.

Whether you are sighting in your rifle for opening day or introducing your granddaughter to your old 22 rifle, you’ll feel at home and safe on our rifle and pistol ranges. We are known for having one of the largest, safest and best run public outdoor rifle and pistol shooting ranges in the state of Michigan.

At our rifle and pistol ranges, you’ll find black powder and bench rest enthusiasts, experts and novices alike enjoying their deer rifles and defensive handguns, single shots and the latest modern auto loaders. Trained range personnel are always on hand to assist with problems, to give advice and to make sure that the range and safety rules are strictly enforced for everyone’s safety.

Steel reactive target days are offered on designated steel shooting nights, check our calendar for details. Positions are available at both ranges at 25, 50 and 100 yards. Portable targets are additionally available free of charge to bring targets even closer than 25 yards.