About Us
League Background
The Hunter's Tour was originally established in 1991 to promote the new shooting sport variation called Sporting Clays that has since come to be known and loved by all that have tried and experienced the game. Since its early days, this traveling fun league has grown to well over 200 shooters that comprise all walks of life. The intent of the league, first and foremost, is to offer a fun yet challenging shooting experience to all and all abilities; men, women, youth, blue collar, white collar, doctors, lawyers, electricians, laborers, alike.
Clubs
Ten Sportsman Clubs currently participate in the annual league located over a broad area of Western New York State. The four corners of the area in which the clubs are located range from Painted Post, NY in the South, to Williamson, NY in the Northeast, to Auburn, NY in the East, and Hamlin, NY in the Northwest. Each club prepares and presents the shooters with a new or virgin course to shoot each time their club hosts a scheduled event. Most all clubs provide food and beverage that ranges from coffee and donuts, to full breakfasts and lunches. Check with the Affiliated Club for details
Safety is everyone's responsibility in everything we do in life! The Hunters Tour participating clubs want everyone to enjoy the Sporting Clays shooting sport now and for many years to come, and most importantly no one wants to see anyone hurt in any way due to negligence of not knowing the rules of the game. To satisfy this goal, all it takes is for you be knowledgeable of and ensure Sporting Clays safety rules are understood and followed. A physical restriction is required to keep the shooter from being able to swing the gun to the trapper or a barrier be place between the shooter and the trapper. If you see an unsafe situation, bring attention to it and resolve the situation reasonably. Please take time to read and understand the basic Hunters Tour safety rules by clicking on 'Safety Rules' above.
Shooting the Event
Shooting the league event involves 50 target presentations containing variations of regular 108mm, midi 90mm, mini 60mm, battue, rabbit, rocket, and teal target types. The minimum number of stations for the 50 bird event is 9 which provides 4 to 6 target variations per station. A combination of single, report pairs, following pairs, and doubles are thrown. As the league has grown, so has the participating clubs ability to provide the shooters with continuous shooting. Most clubs offer European start shooting format in the mornings when it is busiest, with some offering traditional squading.
All shooters will shoot a Virgin course upon arriving to a shoot. Just like if you go hunting, what you see, shoot at, and hit (or miss) is scored the first time you're on the course. No practice rounds are permitted prior to shooting for league score under any circumstances. If you plan to shoot in more than one class the Open class must be shot first.
To maintain continuous flow and movement of shooters from one station to another and limiting wait times at stations, shooting squad sizes are limited to 6 shooters or 6 guns maximum, whichever is greater. eg. If three shooters are shooting two guns or gauges each during one pass or time through all league event stations, the three shooters is the maximum squad size given they are shooting 6 different guns amongst them.
Shooting Schedule
The shooting schedule is pretty flexible, with dates occurring about every two weeks from September through May. Events are held over a weekend, so you can decide to shoot either Saturday or Sunday anytime during posted club shooting hours. All clubs ask that you arrive and sign up during posted registration times. Shooters are allowed out onto the course to shoot typically beginning at 9:00 AM, with last shooters typically on the course until 2:00 PM.
The schedule is set at a Hunters Tour Directors Meeting each year. The dates are selected in order of the clubs with the most participates. i.e. the club with the most shooters selects the first date, the club with the second most shooters picks the second date... This continues until each club has their first date, then the process repeats for the second shoot of the season.
Check the Schedule Page for details.
Scoring
During the course of the league, event scoring and average is maintained for each individual shooter by shooting class entered. Each league member is asked to provide the name of their home club, and class (open, lady, youth, small-gauge-20, small-gauge-28, small-gauge-.410, or vintage) during registration at the beginning of the league year for which they want their score included.
You can shoot more than one class as long as you pay the full league price for each class. If you shoot more than one class, you must meet the minimum Ten (10) shoots in each class to qualify for prizes in each class you shoot.
Individual scoring is calculated by maintaining an average of each shooters events they've entered throughout the shooting season excluding the last shoot. At the end of the season, each shooters best Ten(10) scores from all shoots excluding the last shoot are used to establish a year-end average. This year-end average is then used to determine rank order by class of all league shooters who have at least the minimum Ten(10) scores posted.
Over the course of the league year a shooter shall have the opportunity to use two options to either make-up or to shoot ahead a shoot date on any league weekend at any club. This is meant to aid a shooter to qualify with eight shoots. In essence a shooter now has the chance to use 20 possible shoots to qualify with 10 or to raise their average. This will apply to any gauge/class and will not change the maximum number of shoots for the prize drawing at the end of the year. It will also be the shooters own responsibility to use only Three(3)options. If a fourth(or more) option is attempted the subsequent score will be deleted and the league & target fees not be refunded.
In the event a shooter can not attend the last or year end shoot, any prizes the shooter is eligible for will be given to the shooter's assigned Hunters Tour club director within 30-days from conclusion of the last shoot. The shooter can make arrangements to pick up his/her prize(s) from their home club Hunters Tour director.
Year End Shoot
At the conclusion of the league season, Lewis Class standings are established for league shooters who have entered a minimum of Ten (10) shoot scores prior to the final year end shoot. All league members and guests may shoot during the final year end shoot weekend, however only those having a minimum of 10 shoots entered prior to the final year end shoot weekend are eligible for prizes. The year end shoot does not count toward prizes or average for the year.
The 2021-2022 League Final Year End Shoot will be hosted by Bath on June 4-5, 2022 at their club. Those eligible for prizes can pick up any prizes earned on either of the two days of the year end shoot weekend.
See the Schedule Page for details.
For the 2021/2022 season the top five shooters from each club will shoot off at the Bath shoot and the winning club will be recognized on the Hunters Tour Website. Each shooter on the five man team from the respective clubs can shoot for score at their convenience during the last weekend, as they would at any other Hunters Tour event. The scores will be assembled at the end of the weekend.
Weather
Those of us who know what the weather is like here in upstate NY, know that you just need to be prepared! The only thing that stops shooters and clubs in this league is lightning. Other than that, we shoot in rain, sleet, snow, and yes, sometimes sunshine. If you have a question about whether a club is open or not on any given league day, you can give them a call before you head out. Check the Club Page details for specific club phone numbers.