Sporting Clays is the closest thing to actual field shooting of all shotgun sports. Rather than having clay birds thrown from standardized distances and angles as with Skee or Trap, Sporting Clays courses are designed to simulate the hunting of ducks, pheasants, other upland game birds, and even rabbits. Since there is no set season and it can be shot at any time, many hunters shoot Sporting Clays to further their wing-shooting skills during the off-season. Targets may be thrown from literally any angle or distance to simulate wing-shooting and 6 different sizes of clay targets are used to further give the shooter the experience of actual hunting conditions.

Sporting Clays is typically shot in squads of 2 to 6 people and played over a course of 10 to 15 shooting stations laid out around fields or around the natural features of the land. The course designer is not limited in target speed, angle, or distance, so every course is different.

The most common target used in Sporting Clays is the clay target that is used in Skeet and Trap. But Sporting Clays also uses specialty targets to introduce the illusion of speed or distance in the eye of the shooter, moving at speeds, or in ways of game birds. All can be thrown as singles or pairs.