CLAY TARGET COLLECTION

Clay Target Collecting with Tow and Collect.

Maintaining clean shooting fields doesn’t have to be such a time-consuming, labor-intensive process.

With the Tow and Collect, you can efficiently clean up clay bird fragments and shotgun debris, saving you both time and money. Whether you’re managing a trap, skeet, or sporting clay facility, our machine can help keep your grounds looking their best with minimal effort.

Testimonial

Grand Blanc Huntsman's Club

Grand Blanc, Michigan

Tow and Collect 1500 Pro

We sit down with Len Smith from the beautiful Grand Blanc Huntsman’s Club to talk about their Tow and Collect 1500 Pro and how they have found it since purchasing the model a year ago. The 1500 Pro has been a huge help in assisting them to clean the broken targets and shotgun wads on their skeet and sporting clay fields.

The Grand Blanc Huntsman’s Club is an 80 acre ‘piece of heaven’, located in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Its been operating for over 65 years and boasts 4 skeet fields, 2 sporting clay fields and a unique bystand set up. They’re a member owned club, with 600 members and the retirees taking care of the clubs general and ground maintenance once a week.

“For years and years we’ve been raking broken targets and shotgun wads off of the skeet fields and sporting clay fields, trying to keep the amount of debris on the ground reasonable. Its a challenge and we’d done it manually for years.”

“We heard about the Tow and Collect on Youtube… So I followed up about it and saw the video with the horse manure pickup situation and contacted Tow and Collect in Savannah. Talked to Brigette who put me in contact with a couple of clubs who were using the machine in Australia – I sent them emails and they responded and said it was working and gave a few tips on how to use it effectively. So we decided to go with it because our hand manual way of doing things was becoming more and more difficult as our volunteer group ages, so we needed a machine! So thanks to the effort of Brigette and the references she gave, we decided to make the investment a year ago. And its really been a blessing, its really helped us a great deal.”

“The biggest benefit is the time saving. Less labor. An easier way to do it. Its worth its price just in the time saving alone. It does a nicer job than you can do by hand. (…) You don’t have to pay the manual labor to do all the raking and then shovelling into the receptacle to haul it away, we just use the Tow and Collect to sweep it up, dump the pile in a convenient spot, to where we can scoop it up with a bucket on the tractor and take it to our dumping area.“

“The simplicity, and the time saving, and the labor savings is immeasurable.”

“Would I recommend it to another club that throws a lot of targets, or doesn’t throw a lot of targets, absolutely! If you can afford a quality piece of equipment, it’s worth its weight. I would recommend it to any club that throws a lot of targets to consider purchasing one. And Brigitte and her team have been very helpful in answering questions and helping us make it right.”

Len's Usage Tips

“The best thing to do is make sure you’ve got it adjusted properly. That the tow bar is level to the ground and you’ve got your tines adjusted so its just tickling the ground. Obviously the flatter the ground is, the less divots its trying to go through, the better. It does a tremendous job on flat ground.“

Thanks to Len and the team at Grand Blanc Huntsman’s Club!

If you’d like more information about how the Tow and Collect could be used for your facility, please get in touch.

As an Olympic sport clay target shooting has become a popular past time.

Recreational clay target/pigeon shooting, or skeet or trap shooting is a popular sporting activity worldwide. In the USA participant numbers fluctuate between 4 and 5 million people each year with a noticeable rise in participants in each year the Olympic games take place. As an Olympic Sport clay target shooting has nearly 30 competitors from different countries competing in both the men’s and women’s events. It is an exciting event that is extremely competitive. However, there is a downside to the sport that is increasingly becoming a problem for many clubs around the USA and that is the environmental impact of Trap Shooting. It seems like a simple enough sport to not really create these types of problems but on closer inspection there are some concerning trends beginning to emerge.

Toxic chemicals find their way into the environment.

Not many people won’t be aware that bullets or more appropriately the shotgun pallets are made from lead. Lead is now known to be a highly toxic substance that when left in the environment can affect the health of both land and water. Not only that, the clay targets or ‘pigeons’ also contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) which can also leach into the ground and contaminate a site including any ground water present. Over time the amount of material from the shots and clay targets is significant leading to a potentially large and problematic environmental issue. Increasingly across many clay pigeon and trap shooting ranges it is becoming necessary to clean up the debris left behind as a result of this sport. This is largely due to the increasing spotlight being placed on ranges at the council or community and metropolitan government level. For this reason trap shooting ranges need to be preparing for a future where they can no longer simply conduct a shooting exhibition or customer shooting day without clearing up the site after it has been used.

Tow and Collect Machines make the clearing up quick and easy.

Not only are the clay targets environmentally harmful they are also unsightly. As it becomes an increasingly important section of the range to clean up doing it quickly and without trouble is the focus for many owners. The simplest and quickest solution to this clean-up is using a Tow and Collect to clear the paddock in front of the range. The Tow and Collect range are a terrific machine to speed up the collection of the skeet shooting targets that have landed on the ground broken. You can travel around at around 6-8 miles per hour and easily pick up the broken skeets. The machine simply sweeps them into the back of the catcher. Once you have completed the collection it is then a simple case of driving over to your dump site and unloading the catcher at the back. The more often you head out to clear the range the quicker and easier collection becomes.

But what about the plastic wads?

The plastic wads that contain the led pallets are also an environmental problem if left out on the range. The plastic and metal used in their manufacture do not break down in the environment, so it is also necessary to pick these up and dispose of them in a safe and thoughtful manner. Once again, the Tow and Collect will easily pick these up and collect them in the catcher making for an easy-to-use, quick and efficient system to keep your shooting range looking tidy and environmentally sustainable.

Cleaning up clay targets for a better tomorrow.

As more and more focus is given to the environmental impacts of the things we do it makes sense for the owners and managers of gun clubs, clay target shooting ranges and similar properties to clean up the broken targets. Not only are the environmental benefits clear, but there are also obvious benefits in terms of how your property looks and presents itself to you members and customers. A Tow and Collect machine is terrific solution to the problem of leaving clay targets outside on the ground. Easy and efficient the machines are a terrific way to keep you club or range clean and tidy for years to come.