Five Stand is new shotgun activity at MDC’s Andy Dalton Range

Shotgun enthusiasts have a new activity to test their shooting skills at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Andy Dalton Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center.
Five Stand Sporting Clays, a shotgun activity where shooters take aim at targets launched from a variety of positions, gives hunters a chance to hone their skills and offers recreational shootings an opportunity to have fun. It’s one of several shooting options offered at MDC’s Dalton Range, which is located in western Greene County at 4897 N. Farm Road 61.
“We are excited to offer this new shotgun shooting venue at the Andy Dalton Shooting Range,” said range manager Mike Brooks. “This course has been made available through a grant partnership with the NRA, Friends of the NRA, the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation, and MDC. This really opens up opportunities for people who hunt or recreational shoot with a shotgun to be challenged while shooting and practicing.”
Five Stand is a shotgun sport shooting activity with five stations – or “stands” – and six to eighteen strategically placed clay target throwers. This differs from trapshooting, where clay targets are launched from one “house” and from skeet shooting where targets are launched from two houses in a sideways pattern.
Five Stand is best enjoyed as a group activity – shooting groups usually are five participants that shoot in turn at various combinations of clay birds. Each station has a menu card that lets shooters know the sequence of clay birds they will be shooting (i.e., which trap the clay bird will be coming from). The shooter is presented with five targets at each station – first a single bird, followed by two pairs. Pairs can either be “report pairs,” in which the second bird will be launched after the first, or “true pairs,” which is when both birds are launched at the same time.
After shooting at the five birds on the menu at that station, the shooter proceeds to the next stand where they find a new menu of five targets. Typical five stand targets are:
• rabbit
• overhead
• side angles (both incoming and outgoing)
• teal (launched straight up)
• chandelle (target travels straight up, then turns)
• trap (straight ahead from ground level)
• incoming (target comes towards the shooter)
The cost of this activity at Dalton is $4 per round (cash or check only). Other MDC staffed shooting ranges that offer Five Stand shooting opportunities (besides Dalton) are Lake City Range in Jackson County, August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center in St. Charles County, and Jay Henges Range and Outdoor Education Center in Jefferson County. Brooks said one advantage of having a Five Stand sporting clays course is that it takes less time to shoot a complete round of 25 clay targets than it would on conventional sporting clay courses.