Travel Tunica has taken you to the golf greens this year, but this week we wanted to explore “golf with a shotgun” at the Willows Sporting Clays & Hunting Center at Harrah’s Casino.
Willows is hidden on the Harrah’s property off of Old Highway 61. Instead of having 18 holes like a golf course, it has 14 stations, ranging from sporting clays for bird hunters, to a duck flush that can allow a team to hit 75 targets in 90 seconds plus deer stands, upland bird hunting, and more.
Since we are all beginners in hunting, before we ventured onto the Willows course, all of Travel Tunica had to learn how to shoot a shotgun. Barry Kelly, the Willows Manager, started with Travel Tunica’s Lisa showing us how to hold, aim, and shoot to hit the clays.
“You can’t focus on the gun barrel and the target,” Kelly told us. “Your eyes must be focused on the target.”
Lisa, Chrissy, and I all got a quick lesson that we’d soon get to use. We also had a guest, Meg Coker, from the Tunica Times, who joined us in learning about this sport from Kelly.
“Instead of over thinking it, let your instincts take over,” he said.
I must not have great hunting instincts because my shot would have only ruffled a few feathers, but Chrissy hit the clay on the first attempt, and Lisa and Meg hit the clay after a few tries as well.
The Willows hunting environment consists of stations set in a beautiful serene setting. We got on our golf cart and headed to the next station on our stop, which was a rabbit trap. After shooting at the simulated rabbit, we decided rabbits must be hard to catch!
We tried our skills at three stations total and toured the entire shooting course.
At the end of the morning, we decided the Willows is a must see for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of hunters. It is open year-round with highly trained and friendly guides, like Barry Kelly. For hunters wanting more than a simulation, the Willows offers guided hunting tours just in time for quail season (November 25-March 5) as well as many other guided tours.
For more information on the Willows Sporting Clays & Hunting Center at Harrah’s, and to book your outing, click HERE. For a complete listing of hunting seasons, bag limits, and other legal restrictions, go to https://home.mdwfp.com. We’ll hopefully see you taking your best shot in Tunica soon!
