This site is NOT the Official Site of The Tonawandas Sportsmen's Club, Inc. To access the official site, click *** HERE ***. This site is provided as a free service by WeLoveOutdoors.com - "THE Internet Community Bringing Outdoors Enthusiasts Together!" One of the goals of WeLoveOutdoors.com is to encourage an involved, active, adventure lifestyle by promoting outdoor recreational activities such as those hosted at The Tonawandas Sportsmen's Club, Inc. in Niagara County, New York. Another goal of WeLoveOutdoors.com is to grow awareness of the amazing year-round outdoor adventure and sporting opportunities in Niagara County, in the Western New York area, in the broader Buffalo-Niagara Region, and across New York State.

Services at the Tonawandas Sportsmen's Club (TSC) include:

• Skeet Shooting
• Trap Shooting
• Sporting Clays (Shooting)
• Pistol
• Rifle
• Archery
• Hunting
• Fishing (Angling)

     The Importance of Sportsman’s Clubs
     By Rich Davenport

Whether you hunt, fish, snowmobile, horseback ride or enjoy the great outdoors in other ways, the importance of joining a Sportsman’s club in your area goes well beyond the camaraderie and new experiences and friendships these clubs deliver. In fact, becoming involved in a local organization is truly the only way Outdoors Enthusiasts can help protect and preserve our right to enjoy our Natural World.

... Read More ...          

According to wikipedia.org Skeet shooting is one of the three major types of competitive shotgun target shooting sports (the others are trap shooting and sporting clays). There are several types of skeet, including one with Olympic status (often called Olympic skeet or International skeet), and many with only national recognition.

Skeet is a recreational and competitive activity where participants attempt to break clay disks flung into the air at high speed from a variety of angles. The event is in part meant to simulate the action of bird hunting. The shooter shoots from seven positions on a semicircle with a radius of 21 yards (19 m), and an eighth position halfway between stations 1 and 7. There are two houses that hold devices known as "traps" that launch the targets, one at each corner of the semicircle. The traps launch the targets to a point 15 feet above ground and 18 feet outside of station 8. One trap launches targets from 10 feet above the ground ("high" house) and the other launches it from 3 feet above ground ("low" house). At stations 1 and 2 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house, then shoots a double where the two targets are launched simultaneously but shooting the high house target first. At stations 3, 4, and 5 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house. At stations 6 and 7 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house, then shoots a double, shooting the low house target first then the high house target. At station 8 the shooter shoots one high target and one low target. The shooter must re-shoot his first missed target, or if no targets are missed, must shoot his 25th shell at the low house station 8. This 25th shot was once referred to as the shooter's option, as he was able to take it where he preferred. Now, to speed up rounds in competition, the shooter must shoot the low 8 twice for a perfect score.

Link to Wikipedia article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeet_shooting

According to wikipedia.org Trap shooting is one of the three major forms of competitive clay pigeon shooting (shotgun shooting at clay targets). The others are Skeet shooting and sporting clays. There are many versions including Olympic trap, Double trap (which is also an Olympic event), Down-The-Line, and Nordic trap. American trap is most popular in the United States and Canada. American trap has two independent governing bodies: the Amateur Trapshooting Association, which sanctions shoots throughout the United States and Canada, and the Pacific International Trapshooting Association, which sanctions shoots on the West Coast.

The sport is in some ways a replacement for a game where the targets were live pigeons. Indeed, one of the names for the clay targets used in shooting games is clay pigeons. The layout of modern trap shooting is different from skeet shooting in that there is only one house that releases targets and the shooters only move through 5 different positions.

Trap shooting has been a sport since at least 1793 when it used real birds, usually the Passenger Pigeon, which was extremely abundant at the time. Fake birds were introduced around the time of the American Civil War as the Passenger Pigeon was nearing extinction and sufficient numbers were not reliably available. Clay targets were introduced in the 1880s

Link to Wikipedia Article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_shooting

According to wikipedia.org 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. For safety, the course size is often no smaller than 35 acres (140,000 m2).

Unlike trap and skeet, which are games of repeatable target presentations, sporting clays simulates the unpredictability of live-quarry shooting, offering a great variety of trajectories, angles, speeds, elevations, distances, and target sizes

Link to Wikipedia Article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporting_Clays_(shooting)

According to Wikipedia.org Pistol Shooting is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency (accuracy and speed). Hunting is also a shooting sport.

Handguns, or Pistols, are smaller than rifles, and are much more convenient to carry in general. They usually have a shorter range and lesser accuracy compared to rifles and shotguns.

Competative shooting takes place at a shooting range or firing range which is a specialized facility designed for firearms practice. Each facility is typically overseen by one or more supervisory personnel commonly called 'Range Master' or 'Range Safety Officer'. Shooting ranges can be indoor or outdoor and possibly restricted to certain types of firearms, e.g. handguns (pistols) only, shotguns, or rifles, or they can specialize in certain shooting sports.

Link to Wikipedia Article (Shooting Sport - Pistol) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_sport
Link to Wikipedia Article (Shooting Range) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_range

According to Wikipedia.org a Rifle is a firearm or airgun with a rifled barrel, but commonly refers to long weapons that usually require two hands to hold and fire steadily. They generally have a longer range and greater accuracy than pistols, and are popular for hunting.

As with Pistol Shooting, competative shooting takes place at a shooting range or firing range which is a specialized facility designed for firearms practice.

Link to Wikipedia Article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifle_shooting#Rifle

According to wikipedia.org Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from "arcus" (Latin). Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity. One who practices archery is typically known as an "archer" or "bowman". Equipment typically includes the English Style Longbow, the recurve bow, the compound bow, and the crossbow and the corresponding arrows, bolts, or other projectiles used by each.

Link to wikipedia Article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archery

According to Wikipedia.org Hunting is a sport which a human 'hunts' any living thing, but usually wildlife for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law. The species which are hunted are referred to as game, and are usually mammals and migratory or non-migratory gamebirds.

Hunting can also involve the elimination of vermin, as a means of pest control to prevent diseases caused by overpopulation. Hunting advocates state that hunting can be a necessary component[1] of modern wildlife management, for example to help maintain a population of healthy animals within an environment's ecological carrying capacity when natural checks such as predators are absent.[2] In the United States, wildlife managers are frequently part of hunting regulatory and licensing bodies, where they help to set rules on the number, manner and conditions in which game may be hunted.

The pursuit, capture and release, or capture for food of fish is called fishing, which is not commonly categorised as a form of hunting. Trapping is also usually considered a separate activity. It is also not considered hunting to pursue animals without intent to kill them, as in wildlife photography or birdwatching.

Link to Wikipedia Article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting

According to Wikipedia.org Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping.

Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" (fish hook). The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself can be dressed with lures or bait. A bite indicator such as a float is sometimes used.

Angling is a principal method of sport fishing, but commercial fisheries also use angling methods such as longlining or trolling. Catch and release fishing is increasingly practiced by recreational fishermen. In many parts of the world, size limits apply to certain species, meaning fish below and/or above a certain size must, by law, be released.

The species of fish pursued by anglers vary with geography. Among the many species of salt water fish that are caught for sport are swordfish, marlin, tuna, salmon and halibut. In North America the most popular fresh water sport species include bass, pike, walleye, muskellunge, yellow perch, trout, salmon, catfish, crappie, bluegill and sunfish. In Europe a large number of anglers fish for species such as carp, pike, tench, rudd, roach, European perch and barbel (especially in stillwaters). Although some fish are sought for their value as food, others are pursued for their fighting abilities or for the difficulty of pursuit.

Which of the various techniques an angler may choose is dictated mainly by the target species and by its habitat. Angling can be separated into two main categories: using either artificial or natural baits

Link to Wikipedia Article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angling