I’ll be the first to ask - who is new GM?

 

Came from Greater Houston , left earlier this spring from here

 

Will be interesting to see how that plays out for Jack Links, lots of trappers required for that event.

 

You think they won't get people to do it for 200 dollars a day? that is still really good money

 

Mike Boire

 

IMO maybe you should be thanking the new GM for keeping Quail Creek out of trouble with the IRS because bartering for services/labor has long been against the law. Yes I know its been done this way for a long time.
A club I belong to also had to make that change. There is no longer "I will fix that for targets". Its "please fix this for us and give us a bill"

Steve

 

Negative. Starting this last year at Jack Links all trappers filled out tax documents, regardless of clays or $$ payment. They have a system to report earnings even if paid in clays. I’ll caveat that by stating I don’t know what rate they used for clays as this is the first year they did this, which BTW I was perfectly fine with. We’ll see what comes in my tax documents when I prepare next year for working Jack Links and several other events up to yesterday.

 

We used to earn 400 clays for a half day You will now only be offered $100 for half day

Assuming you loose 15% to taxes you net $85.00 for your half day, which gets you 400 targets for about $0.22 a piece, if I did the math right. Still a great deal.

Steve

 

I wish it was that, but no your math is incorrect. For $85 you get 188 clays, and that’s if you trap five or more events ($0.45 a clay) or if you trap less that five events you get 154 clays ($0.55 a clay, standard rate).

 

If you didn't receive more than $600 of income as an individual, private contractor, or freelancer during the year from just them they don't have to issue a 1099 MISC. They are writing off the trappers as an expense so they are giving you a 1099 MISC for some reason. So if you work Quail Creek during the year and earn over $600 they must issue the 1099 MISC.

 

Paying taxes is not the issue. The government will always get their slice.

It’s the value of the compensation. They have essentially reduced the value of our service by approximately 53% for those that chose clays as payment.

 

So “they” decided that your help was not worth it? As a lng time business owner , I learned that some customers were not worth all the troubles they brought to us.

 

Or they felt they were way overpaying..400 dollars a day is a lot.. 200 a day is still a lot..

 

If the OP’s biggest problem in life right now is this, he’s a very fortunate guy in my opinion.

 

I can never remember asking for a raise to cover my taxes. That’s between me and the government. Stay under $600 per year at Quail Creek and you have no problem.

 

Most of us work multiple days of Jack Links, if not all days, every NSCA shoot, and the charity shoots.

Nobody’s asking for a raise to cover taxes, I’m thinking you are missing the point. They just cut the “pay” by more than half and will drive trappers away.

$600 is a joke. We’ll earn that by mid February.

 

That's a drastic cut in value if you wanted to shoot. They were probably looking at the retail value of 800 targets ($400) vs $200 in wages.

 

I would bet there was a tax or wage an hour issue.. they have to report what they compensate people for.. maybe at some point the clays were exceeding the legal limit to not be reporting them as payroll.. or it was a workers comp issue.. a lot of reasons for this kind of thing.. in the end it will cost Jack Links more out of pocket than the clays were costing them..

 

I know certain clubs that have limits on the targets you can earn by working shoots each year. And no carryover from one year to the next.

 

I'll tell you this much. I have RO'D at a minimum of 50 PRS, 3-gun and other shooting matches over the years.. I never got paid... We got some gifts from sponsors and a tee shirt most of the time.. we did it for the love of the sport..
If they are paying 200 a day.. they will get plenty of RO's.. or trappers if you prefer that title.

 

They struggled to fill spots last year at Jack Links, but also had some new rules in place that may have contributed to that issue. As the OP indicated they have now annoyed some of their regular trappers, time will tell.

 

I regularly shoot at Quail Creek and see the regular trappers there at several other clubs throughout Florida. I spoke to a number of them today while at a shoot at another club that were not happy with the changes Quail Creek has made to how trappers are being treated. I hope Quail Creek is able to find a way to make it worth the trappers' time. In my opinion, trappers are critical to this game. I speak for myself when I say that I would personally prefer to pay a few extra bucks than lose the regular, reliable trappers we have here in Florida.

 

How they are being treated? LOL! C'mon.. 200 a day is a lot of money. You are acting as if they put leg irons on them and made them eat rotten fruit....
If you think they won't get people to fill the spots at 200 a day.. you are clearly mistaken.. a lot of retired shooters out there who will do it..
fwiw,
The PGA tour pays nothing to volunteers.. they have to turn them away at events because they have too many... and they use around 300 per tournament

 

God Bless You and the other regular trappers that travel to the clubs in this area! $200 a day to sit out in 90+ degree heat, bugs that leave a mark, MAYBE a break to go relieve yourself and a crappy lunch that you have to shove in between squads/ rotations!? No thank you sir! Heck, I don't even want to shoot an event right now. It's just too uncomfortable. These guys, in general, do an outstanding job. Worth every penny. I'm not a SYO fan either. Good luck with it. I hope to see you guys back out there. Steve

 

How long do you think they are out there? 6 hours? 33 dollars an hour sucks to you? to do something you enjoy being around?
You guys are killing me..

 

The days of trapping for clays at Quail Creek officially ends TODAY.

Yesterday, after trapping an event, we were notified of this change. We used to earn 400 clays for a half day and 800 clays for a full Jack Links work day. You will now only be offered $100 for half day and $200 full day. Direct deposit only and make sure to fill out your tax forms.

If you trap 5 events a year or more, you will be offered clays at $0.45 each. Your current clay card will be effective until 12/31/2025.

If you have trappers in the future failing to score you properly, identifying that minuscule chip as a hit, or understanding the ever changing rules of the game, feel free to thank the new GM at Quail Creek.

800 targets a day is a good chunk of money... almost 400$...

I'd prefer high schoolers to score for 200$ a day.

 

If you look at retail pricing when talking 800 clays, yes, the value to trappers is about $400, but when you look at cost to the club who purchase clays by the pallet, it’s well under $100. But I’m guessing they add in all their overhead charges and is therefore no longer worth it to them. Or on par with the $200 they will now offer for a full day Jack Links day.

I’d say most HS worth scoring an event like this, will be shooting in it.

 

Something else that should be mentioned is that Jack Links offers the largest prize money of any Sporting Clays event in this country that I am aware of, and for that reason attracts all of the elite shooters. Doesn't seem like HS trappers fit with that profile to me.

 

the PGA tour uses around 300 volunteers in an event.. nobody gets paid.. I am gonna go with the PGA tours purses being infinitely more than the Jack links.
And again,
200 a day is solid pay

 

btw,
What did the trappers get paid at your state shoot?

 

okay, assuming they got a few breaks to eat, pee etc.

They might have gotten 20 minutes between flights.

btw,
What did the trappers get paid at your state shoot?

I do not know as I shot the event. I do know scheduling is a nightmare. Our shoot required 32 trappers for the two day, 2 course event, 16 per course and a few spares just in case.

Steve

 

They might have gotten 20 minutes between flights.

I do not know as I shot the event. I do know scheduling is a nightmare. Our shoot required 32 trappers for the two day, 2 course event, 16 per course and a few spares just in case.

Steve

I would bet a a solid amount those volunteers were not paid.. or at least not 200 a day.
I don't know what kind of revenue your state assoc has, but that would be 6400 for 2 days. I don't know how many shooters you had or what the costs to run the event are. But that is a pretty penny

 

The Feds could collect every penny of taxes due, 1099 and otherwise, from the entire NSCA event calendar and it wouldn’t fund 60 seconds of the government.

 

I suspect that this has nothing to do with it being gun related and rather the club is formally establishing the trappers as independent contractors, not for tax purposes but to avoid claims of trappers as being employees entitled to benefits. I've seen similar issues with private golf clubs that no longer offer caddies playing privileges because it is viewed as compensation. Now, the caddies get nothing from the club other than the right to caddy, and the caddies' only compensation is the caddy fee paid by the member(s).

 

a lot of lawsuits being filed against business and clubs these days.. When I was a kid getting a range day as part of the job was a nice perk.. but everything was ruined by lawyers and government regulations

 

My wife and I both trapped several days at Jack Links in 2023 and 2024 and will say Shoeless 18's description is very accurate.
Since I also shoot some events, I sincerely wish Quail Creek only the best of luck going forward, it has been an awesome experience the first three years of the shoot, I won't be trapping in 2025.

 

I can understand how some of the older folks may look at $15/hour (+/-) as "not worth it", especially if they're not doing it because they need the money. But on the other hand, if they don't need the money, then this likely doesn't have an adverse affect on them overall to now have to pay a little more for clays.

Most of the places I shoot just pay the trappers outright anyway. So it sounds like Quail Creek is going the same direction as most other clubs.

Quail Creek has for a very long time been trying to cater primarily to the upper-end of the shooter/sportsmans spectrum. They want the place to be a premier place for both clays and wing shooting. And it's gotten even more so since Mr. Jack Link took it over.

 

Or they got audited by either the state or feds. Or possibly got some advice from a good accountant. The 1099MISC is required by law.

 

I would bet this is the reason.. they sure aren't saving money by doing this..

 

I will guess they are under some type of audit/ investigation. The only way to know would be to hear there side.

 

Or one of the shooters who earned prize money got audited. Then a can of worms opened.