Shooters work on field-style presentations at the McGraw Wildlife Shooting Center.
Photo via orvis.com
One of the common hurdles facing the urban wingshooter is finding a suitable place to shoot. A clays course, preserve, or suitable piece of public land to facilitate shooting often lies hours and miles away from a metro center, making access and opportunity a big problem. But then, as in all things, there are those anomalies, and the slivers of protected land that permit hunting, shooting, and a semblance of wilderness nearly within the shadow of a cityscape. The Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation in Dundee, IL is just such a haven, and one with which Orvis is proud to be affiliated.
The Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation encompasses 1,231 acres of hardwoods, prairies, lakes, reclaimed gravel pits, and spring-fed streams near the Fox River in Dundee. The land and the Foundation provide opportunity for outdoor experience just minutes from metro Chicago. In keeping with the founder’s mission, hunting, fishing, and being a part of the great outdoors are at the heart of McGraw Wildlife Foundation. Each day at McGraw offers unscripted adventure, and proximity to the natural world: a ringneck pheasant may explode from prairie grass, or a four-pound-plus bass may break the quiet surface of the water. Witness a majestic great blue heron lifting off its perch as each dawn breaks with its own offering; one only has to choose the avenue that suits their outdoor interest, and Max McGraw will provide. And for shooters, that provision is special indeed.
Max McGraw is home to one of the finest clays shooting facilities in the country. Situated in the midst of tall trees and overlooking picturesque Duck Valley Lake, McGraw’s Clay Target Shooting Center incorporates a sporting clays course, state-of-the-art five stand, game clays, skeet and trap. The superior quality of the McGraw shooting offering, in conjunction with the Foundation’s proximity to the hubs of Chicago and Milwaukee, make the location an ideal spot for wingshooting instruction, and we are proud to announce that Orvis will be hosting three Wingshooting Schools at the site this August.
Orvis operates a world-class shooting school at Max McGraw, incorporating certified instructors and the Orvis Instinctive Method of Shooting to advance each student’s wingshooting skills. Our schools focus on sound technique, gun fit, and individual problem-solving, with the sole purpose of developing safe and confident wingshooters. The clays offering at McGraw can cater equally to the first-time shooter or to those who have specific wingshooting needs. And with the proximity to Chicago, students will be able to merge a wilderness experience with a metropolitan one, pursuing a day of clay targets with an evening on the town. We are truly excited to make this opportunity available to our customers, and to spread the word about the tremendous resource available at Max McGraw.
The dates for upcoming Orvis/McGraw wingshooting schools are:
- Sat/Sun August 16-17, 2014
- Monday/Tuesday August 18-19, 2014
- Thursday August 21, 2014
Details of this offering are available at orvis.com.
Orvis and magraws..that should be upwards of 1000.00
Many better (cheaper) places around to trap shoot, bird hunt, and even sporting clays. Sure max is a nice place, we used to get birds from them, but it is not geared for the common man. Check out IDNR for wing shooting class, silver springs or chain of lake for bird hunting and mchenry sportsman club, elburn, for clay shooting.