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I have taken on the roll of Skeet Coordinator at our home club, partly to make our offerings better and partly to try to breath some new live into a declining game. Our 5 stand shooting has drawn mostly from our skeet fields, while trap is still going relatively strong at the club.

I have only been able to find one Long Island club hosting registered shoots and then only 2 a year open to the public. This year I became a referee and one other guy in our home club is also one.

I have been able to get some people re-interested and hope that we will start league shooting with a few other clubs on the island and I am also hoping to start having some registered shoots at the club. Though I have found little support here for registered shooting as most of our members that do shoot skeet, are Fun shooters. Since both the national and state associations feature free first year membership for first time registered shooters, I am going to try to run two Honors Only Shoots and see what happens. I would like to see an renewed interest of our home skeet program rather than attract the people looking to win some money.

Will have to see if we will get any recovery. If not, I hope to find 4 out of the 20 that seem interested, that might want to become a traveling squad.

Bob
 
I struggled with this as well, and my club continues to see a decline. I don't think there is a right answer - it;'s been rehashed countless times here but every club is different. We certainly have fewer registered shooters, but you have to look at targets shot to determine relevance. Is a registered shooter putting in 12 rounds a week more or less valuable than 6 non-registered shooters who put in 2 rounds a week? A lot of our actual shooting is off hours now - especially the guys that want to really work on their game.

One thing is certain - make sure you throw good targets. This is one area I believe we have failed our club currently. Soft targets don't do anyone any favors, and makes it hard to attract registered shooters.

Make sure the person running the program has enough time to actually commit to it. Skeet by committee doesn't work well IMO. Someone needs to organize it and keep it moving smoothly - that requires time, and it's where I got into trouble. There needs to be outreach and communication.

Keep the facility clean and modern as budget permits. Lots of guys get sentimental about the old club house, but when it starts to smell overwhelmingly of coffee grounds and Ben-Gay, it's time for a freshening.

Regular/Monthly fun shoots where you break out the grill and fire up burgers/dogs/brats might help. Put theme around it? Vintage? Shoot in reverse order? I wouldn't do a lot of sub-gauge stuff - it limits participation too much.

Leagues can help. Anything you can do to get shooters out, especially in the winter, can help. Handicapping can help encourage participation if necessary.

Registered shoots are a mixed bag. Even if you have the facilities, and your targets are good, its a decent amount of work for not a lot of financial return. I think its good to have at least one or two a year - it helps with reputation, but per above - make sure the targets are good or you open yourself up to criticism.

Anecdotal evidence from another local club that recently renovated their fields and houses suggests that at a minimum, good targets and nice facilities can move the needle. How much is anyones guess, but they've seen turnout improve "significantly". I certainly wish you the best of luck.
 
I don't shoot registered skeet and VERY little non-registered skeet. However, I'm puzzled by the emphasis on making sure the targets are "good". :? :? If the machines throw the targets at the right speed (which I assume is mainly a function of having the right spring in the machine) and throws the targets through the hoop, what else is there to throwing "good" targets?
 
A lot of people think that way, and then wonder why the better, registered shooters are migrating to other clubs. There aren't as many of them these days, but those that are out there aren't going to patronize clubs that throw soft targets.

Just getting them through the hoop doesn't qualify them as good targets. You can lob them through the hoop, or you can throw them through the hoop - the angle matters. Just because they are legal doesn't mean they are good. Other traps put more or less spin on the target, adding or detracting from stability in flight, especially in windy conditions. Speed is another factor, as mentioned, and it's not a given. When you allow members to access the houses and change settings, you never know what you'll get when you show up - that's a no brainer and our fault, but speed is also related to the angle. Lob a target through the hoop and it's loosing velocity at a more rapid rate. Angle it too far up and the slightest breeze could send it into the Stratosphere. Again, potentially legal, but not "good". The other thing is how well centered they are - or perhaps more important, how consistent they are. Some traps will put them in the same place reliably every time - others vary from right to left and you're never really sure where you should hold for H1 and L7. Where do they cross in doubles? At the center stake? Before? After? In theory, if everything is perfect adjustment, all of these things fall into place, but it doesn't take much for things to get sketchy, and if it goes neglected, it can get pretty bad.

Skeet is a game of consistency and repeatability and the targets should match that philosophy. Good targets don't "hurt" the casual shooter other than maybe dropping score a little bit on Saturday afternoon because the birds are a little faster or a little more level/stable/predictable - but they'll adapt quickly enough. Bad/soft targets can ultimately drive the better shooters away in search of a more consistent experience.
 
JerseyJim said:
Attendance is dropping off at skeet. It seems if we have an event they come out of the woodwork and then go back there. Looking for ideas to genreate and sustain activity at the club
Close the local 5-stands and sporting courses. The newbies overwhelming choose those if they are available.
 
Do your best to ensure it's a welcoming environment. It only takes one A-hole to drive new shooters away after their first couple outings. Not everyone wants more skeet shooters; the selfish see them as a problem.
 
Less emphasis on registered shoots. One is not going to step into a competitive situation with its increased costs right out of the box.
Our club has a monthly fun shoot on the first Saturday of the month. We shoot standard and non-standard targets. It's a fun shoot. No one takes it deadly seriously. We give out small badges for top shooter, top woman, top youth and oldest shooters. Every one wins something, usually reloading supplies or boxes of ammo, based on a raffle ticket basis. That way even first time shooters might get first pick off the prize table. The raffle ensures the best shooters don't dominate the best prizes every month. Lunch is included and it is $30.00 for 50 targets. It gets newbies interested without being intimidated. If the new shooters are given this early positive shooting experience, they may well come back and eventually become registered shooters.i
 
JerseyJim said:
Attendance is dropping off at skeet. It seems if we have an event they come out of the woodwork and then go back there. Looking for ideas to genreate and sustain activity at the club
Whether trap, skeet, 5-stand or sporting, the key is to make it fun for everyone of all abilities. I used to be a BOD at a local club out West. We ran a fun league for 6 weeks at a time. Everyone was handicapped to ability. It was 50 targets every Thursday evening and we incorporated every discipline - trap, skeet 5-stand and even a small 25 target sporting overlay.
Typically, the team with the new shooters won the league because their handicaps were usually large; BUT one's handicap changed weekly, so as one improved (or declined) the handicap went accordingly. It really worked well to even out the playing field among the brand new folks, the average folks and the top-tier shooters. We did teams of four to keep things moving and we shot regardless of the weather. It's where I learned how to shoot at night, under the lights, while it was snowing. At the end, the total team scores were summarized. My team over the years had won by as little a 1/4 of a bird, and also lost by that same amount. We gave away prizes at the end and had a great steak dinner to celebrate. One of the neatest things was watching a team of 4 women, only one of whom had ANY shooting experience, win one of these leagues.

Perhaps you folks could try something similar during a time frame that would garner the greatest attendance? Whether that is a weeknight, weekend or whatever, you know your members the best.

We also added Custers and Annie Oakley events; did things like have folks shoot while sitting in a chair; the funniest to watch was having folks shoot from their off shoulder at the 16 yard line.
No matter the score was, everyone had fun and came back for more the next league time.
 
We shoot standard and non-standard targets.
So educate me, what are "non-standard" targets?
 
oneounceload said:
We shoot standard and non-standard targets.
So educate me, what are "non-standard" targets?
Image


I mean... we only throw these once a year. Twice, tops....
 
Ulysses said:
...If the machines throw the targets at the right speed (which I assume is mainly a function of having the right spring in the machine) and throws the targets through the hoop, what else is there to throwing "good" targets?
Whoa, common sense rears its' head in the most unexpected places.

blackandgold said:
I honestly didn't know you could have hard or easy skeet targets. I figured they are either legal targets or not legal targets. Shows how much I know. Learned something new today.
No, you didn't. The rule-book definition of a "regular" target is clear and concise at only 90 words. Wasthestumper's post, at 347 words, is rambling, misleading, and sometimes just plain silly (...potentially legal but not "good").

Ulysses has it right. The requirements of the rule-book for a "regular" target dictate two things; proper direction (through the hoop) and proper speed (sufficient to reach within six feet of the distance marker). For the purposes of registered shooting, and disregarding target color and composition, a "regular' target is a legal target is a good target.

If you want to talk about target color and/or composition, that's a different conversation.
 
Part of 'good targets' is a measure of how few broken targets get thrown. Lots of broken targets reflects poorly on the club.

Keep your machines maintained and adjusted and you can throw 'good targets'. Let things go and have several broken targets and you wont have a reputation for throwing 'good targets'.
 
If you want to attract new shooters don't discuss registered shooting, keep it recreational and don't make it competitive. The pressure, anxiety, fear, nerves and the chance to shoot a terrible score is enough to turn all recreational shooters away. Unfortunately these same shooters will never know how it feels to run a great score, maybe a 100 straight under these conditions. Registered skeet is about accomplishment under pressure, recreational shooting is nothing more than an activity. Both are fine but profoundly different. As for irregular targets verses targets on a string. Well, I for one believe that shooters know when targets are perfectly set. Pay close attention and listen to that target spin at the center stake. But the real proof is watching the kids walking over to the distance markers and filling up boxes with unbroken targets, those are perfect targets. To all those Trap mechanics who dedicated their time in setting the targets I just mentioned THANK YOU.
 
I'm trying to figure out how to get the recreational shooter into registered competition. The local clubs have dozens of league and recreational shooters. Some of those aren't very serious, and some even frighten me being on the same field with them given muzzle control, disregard of safety, etc. But there are a few that might transition to competition. How do we get those people involved in registered shoots?

First of publicity has been totally lacking in the past. If you walked into the club on Thursday you would have no idea that tournament was being held there starting Friday. At most you might see a sign that said fields 4,5,6,7 would not be available for open shooting. One club in town might be reluctant to post a sign about a tournament at another venue nearby. So I've worked to get more information and promotional material into the clubs and to all shooters.

One thing I'm trying this year is to have some special events for 12 gauge (where most of the first time shooters will be). We're doing a computer generated 3-man team event with a case of shells to the winning team. I've got some local sporting goods, sandwich shops, etc. donating gift cards to the first in class for 12 gauge. We're also scheduling the 12 gauge event in the afternoon on Saturday rather than the morning. The thinking is that the 12 gauge only shooter may stay and watch shoot offs, even if he's not involved in a shoot off, it will help generate a sense of community and help create more excitement around the competition.

We'll see if anything helps to generate more registered targets for our state.
 
skeet targets once hooped and launched are at the mercy of the eliments....yet skeet shooters will find ways to blame the machine or the owners for not providing good targets.
and too...targets are like eggs. they go bad. if you don't rotate stock or shoot them up in a timely manner.....they will rot and toss broken.
so let me see, if you have a pallet that hasn't been tossed for say 2 3 years because the game is in a decline....and people complain when they are tossed broken....who is going to eat that loss? you expect mgmt. to trash a pallet of birds for some shooter who whines about broken birds from perfect machines on a windy day who only visits your range once a year?
and you wonder why the game is in a decline?
birds are 135 per box for a reason. when machines were single stacks, it gave 5 men 1 round, and they got 2 broken per shooter per game. that was and is still acceptable.
ok, some machines are better than others. but skeeters have become spoiled and cant tolerate whats normal and brand some clubs as bad because of their birds or machines. its more of a shooter attitude in my opinion.
so....that's my input.
attract shooters who can tolerate broken birds and realize its part of the game to yell no bird w/o blaming someone.
I can understand whining about high stake odds for the buick at san ant. ya paid a lot for getting perfect. but jim bobs 1 range club? give me a break.
 
As the President of the Bayville Sportsman Club here on Long Island I have some thoughts on how to grow and keep a club active. When I joined this club about 10 years ago it was in decline, down to about 18 members and ready to fold I started by cleaning up the club roster, creating an up to date membership list with email contacts and most importantly keeping the membership in the loop constantly with emails not only about the club but also about ammo sales at F+S/Dicks etc. also using the email to recognize individual shooters in different ways and making some fun remarks about each member without insulting, I found they like the attention!!!
We are now up to about 50 members with about half coming to our weekly Sunday shoots. The big thing is treating all with respect and "DOING THE RIGHT THING"

Some of my fun sayings are WE ARE THE CLUB OF BROTHERLY LOVE and so and so YOU ARE HERE TO DEFEND THE HONOR OF THE BAYVILLE CLUB ETC. we are a fun club and it seems to be working. COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION is the key
 
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