Well the 2013 State shoot is in the books. I just figured I would post some of my thoughts. I leave for the Grand in a couple of days and I am now rested up after our shoot.
To start out with I was a bit disappointed at the beginning because there were a few things that I had hoped would have been done that weren't. Things like the campgrounds. But as the shoot went on, I started getting comments from a lot of shooters that were camping. The common theme was that even though we had the campers in the parking lot, it was still better than a lot of other large clubs. And no I am not trying to pick on anyone. It is just a fact. We had electricity for everyone, water for everyone and sewer for a few. We pumped the rest which seemed to be ok for the campers. With the campers in the parking lots I was a little worried that parking may become a issue. Well it really didn't. Next year with the campers in the campgrounds parking will really be easy. You will be able to park right behind your traps. Just like it was planned.
Shade. We had more tents than most circuses. Not sure if the shelters will be in yet next year but I hope so. We are looking at a couple different designs.
The landscaping. (Dust). Well this too should be done (a lot of it. maybe not all) next year. A lot will have to do with mother nature but I would be willing to bet that it will be 100% better than this year. Speaking of the dust. I just can't say enough about the Rome fire dept. How many communities anywhere would have done what they did to try to help us out and water down a lot of ground. A big thank you to them.
The trap line. As for the targets I thought they were great. Most everyone I talked to said the same thing. We are hoping to have all of OUR machines in next year. It was truly a wonderful thing that the clubs from around the state did, letting us use some of their machines. But it is a lot of work and driving to get the machines there. Taking machines in and out of trap houses is a royal pain. Our houses aren't to bad because of the way we had them built but some other houses can be ugly for old fat men like me.
The line help. We know we need to improve a lot in this area. We have already started things in motion to do things better next year. Give us a couple of years to get some experience to our help and like in the past things will get better.
The office trailers. They didn't work out too bad. Next year the Training center should be up and operational and that will make signing up a breeze. The classifying trailer got really hot a few days but tolerable. It must have be Kevin and my hot bodies that raised the temp in there. Plus the new building will have indoor plumbing. With the portable shower and toilet trailer that we rented that really was mostly a non issue. There seemed to be enough port a johns around that we didn't kill to many bushes.
Next is just a couple of personal observations. I was on the grounds 8 of the 10 day prior to the shoot. I wasn't alone. There were all kind of people there. I am not going to name names because I am terrible with names and would forget someone. So to the dozens and yes I mean dozens of people that volunteered a big thank you. On Friday - Sunday prior to the shoot there had to be 30 to 40 people helping out doing everything from filling in some ruts on the fields, leveling, cleaning putting machines in the trap houses, placing trash cans where we needed them and you name it. So again thank you all. Until you have done it you don't realize how much mowing it takes to cut weeds on 30 trap field and the surrounding area's. Then everything needs to be blown off. Including the mower operator.
Then there were the contractors that did everything they could to be sure we had electricity and water to the temporary camp sites. They went far beyond what I would expect most contractors would have. If you had been there 10 days prior to the shoot you would have thought that there is no way in the world that this place is going to be ready in time. Well guess what. IT WAS.
And last but certainly not least. To all the shooters and families and friends that came to shoot or just to see our new home grounds thank you. Without your support and donations this project would not be possible. But the project isn't done yet. We have a long way to go. So if you liked what you saw. Please, Please if you can donate anything contact me and I will get you a pledge form or you can find them here on our web site. Even if you have donated in the past we don't have any rules that say you can only give once.
Well those are some of my thoughts. If you have any comments please use our comments section or write or call me. Contact info is on this site under Directors. Now is the time so that we can put your comments to work for next year.
Don Mittag
