The Shelldrake River's headwaters are an undefined area in the Betsy Lake Wetland, an Eastern Hemlock and tamarack forest in the roadless area of northern Tahquamenon Falls State Park.

A dam impounds the river 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Shelldrake; a state-run rustic campground at the dam pond offers 17 spaces, mostly for fishermen seeking northern pike.

Local large mammals include moose and black bear.

There is a noted sandhill crane nesting ground near the mouth of the river.

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft camped at the mouth of the Shelldrake on June 18–19, 1820, finding a small village of Ojibwa who fished for whitefish in the lake.