Texas State Shoot --
This shoot was a hundred times better than last year's shoot, hands down. While it was not great, it was still very good.
It was very hot and humid, but there's nothing the range could do about that. They had lots of water, gatorade and snacks on the various event courses -- kudos for this.
There was a shuttle service for Main event, but we only saw it one time, and it was a long walk from Main event station 12 to station 1. Each of the Main event courses were structured with 12 stations each, with some five pair stations -- this structure meant there were backups. If there had been 2 or 3 more stations on each course, it would have flowed more efficiently.
We had a small issue with the Saturday night banquet... they were giving away many prizes, and understandably, the shooters had to be present to win. So, when we finished shooting for the day at around 5pm, we stayed for the banquet. If we had known that it would be 8pm before the prizes were drawn, we would have gone back to the hotel and showered and come back to the banquet... oh well, live and learn. :?
The Prelim was a trap shooters dream, but in all fairness they had a flat piece of land with no towers so everything was off the ground and the scores showed it... was not a kind event. :twisted:
5-Stand was a very fair event with a good mix of target presentations... a few battues, a small tower and a couple of rabbits, with very little quartering away. Well done, solid event.
The FITASC was not as good as it could have been. There were to many trap type targets, over-the-top targets, very edgy targets and some silly targets. Each layout had similarities to the others -- very little imagination used. I thought layouts 1 & 2 were not bad, but layouts 3 & 4 were not so good.
The Main event contained very good target sets on both courses, with a good mix of a little bit of everything. I heard some talk about trees/bushes being in the way... not sure if that was an issue. After being completely embarrassed at the US Open, I was very happy with these targets. If you only shot one event at the Texas State shoot, the Main was the event for you.
One very negative issue was there was no money to out of state shooters, with the exception of out of state HOA and RU (maybe I am wrong, but I'm going by what is posted on the web site). That is very unfair to the 53 out of state shooters who came to Texas to support the Texas State shoot. I'm not sure if any of the out of state AA - E class shooters had a chance at the out of state HOA / RU money, yet they paid the same entry fee as the in state shooters that took home good money. Very, very unfair. We will pay closer attention to the money structure next year and if it's the same as it was this year, we will not come back. Sorry, just how it is!
It was fun, it was hot, it was humid and we are glad we made the trip
Your Humble Target setter
Dave F
This shoot was a hundred times better than last year's shoot, hands down. While it was not great, it was still very good.
It was very hot and humid, but there's nothing the range could do about that. They had lots of water, gatorade and snacks on the various event courses -- kudos for this.
There was a shuttle service for Main event, but we only saw it one time, and it was a long walk from Main event station 12 to station 1. Each of the Main event courses were structured with 12 stations each, with some five pair stations -- this structure meant there were backups. If there had been 2 or 3 more stations on each course, it would have flowed more efficiently.
We had a small issue with the Saturday night banquet... they were giving away many prizes, and understandably, the shooters had to be present to win. So, when we finished shooting for the day at around 5pm, we stayed for the banquet. If we had known that it would be 8pm before the prizes were drawn, we would have gone back to the hotel and showered and come back to the banquet... oh well, live and learn. :?
The Prelim was a trap shooters dream, but in all fairness they had a flat piece of land with no towers so everything was off the ground and the scores showed it... was not a kind event. :twisted:
5-Stand was a very fair event with a good mix of target presentations... a few battues, a small tower and a couple of rabbits, with very little quartering away. Well done, solid event.
The FITASC was not as good as it could have been. There were to many trap type targets, over-the-top targets, very edgy targets and some silly targets. Each layout had similarities to the others -- very little imagination used. I thought layouts 1 & 2 were not bad, but layouts 3 & 4 were not so good.
The Main event contained very good target sets on both courses, with a good mix of a little bit of everything. I heard some talk about trees/bushes being in the way... not sure if that was an issue. After being completely embarrassed at the US Open, I was very happy with these targets. If you only shot one event at the Texas State shoot, the Main was the event for you.
One very negative issue was there was no money to out of state shooters, with the exception of out of state HOA and RU (maybe I am wrong, but I'm going by what is posted on the web site). That is very unfair to the 53 out of state shooters who came to Texas to support the Texas State shoot. I'm not sure if any of the out of state AA - E class shooters had a chance at the out of state HOA / RU money, yet they paid the same entry fee as the in state shooters that took home good money. Very, very unfair. We will pay closer attention to the money structure next year and if it's the same as it was this year, we will not come back. Sorry, just how it is!
It was fun, it was hot, it was humid and we are glad we made the trip
Your Humble Target setter
Dave F
