Well it has been over a month and this years State shoot is in the record books. Sorry it took so long for me to give a over view of the shoot. But here it goes whether you want to hear it or not.
After being involved with the first two shoots at the new Homegrounds I have to admit that the preparations for this years shoot were a bit easier and a bit more difficult at the same time. The week prior was very busy for a very few people that were there. There were alot fewer volunteers this year compared to last year. The shooter shade shelters were still going up. The campgrounds and shower house were still in need of some work. And then all the usual things like getting the pods ready for the Classification, Squadding, and Cashiering. Getting the items needed for the trap line help to their benches. Cutting grass and trimming. Removing some trees in the campgrounds that needed removing. Even though it was a lot of work I don't think it was as difficult as last year. Even though there were a lot fewer of us there it seems like it went a lot smother. And the bobcat was invaluable.
On Monday when we opened for classifying, squadding and cashiering it seemed we were in better shape than last year. Like we were more prepared. I think the first day went very smoothly.
We had a new bunch of trap help this year. They were from the Nekoosa High School. Over all I think by the end of the week they were doing a great job considering they had never done this before. And they will be even better next year because a lot of them will have had some experience. We had very few complaints. The first couple of days they didn't have the number of bodies that we had asked for so the doubles events were run on half as many traps as we were supposed to. I feel this was the biggest problem we had for the week. It made the days a little longer than we had hoped. But in the end it wasn't a major problem be cause we still finished early enough. It would have been nice if we could have cut a hour and a half off of the day on Tue. and Wed. but it is what it is. The rest of the week I feel we finished quite early. On Sunday I think we were finished with the event around one o'clock. That was great considering the attendance was up from last year.
Speaking of attendance. No one has told me what percentage of increase we had this year but it looks to me to be about 17%. With the increase last year and now this increase I think this amount of increase is amazing and I think it will continue for years to come. In the three championship events we had a total of 1514 entries. Giving us enough shooters to make our shoot a 5 multiplier for All American points. This is the first time in quite some time that this has happened and is very important.
The weather was simply amazing. Other than the first day when it was cold and windy with a few drops of rain. The rest of the week was beautiful.
Considering the weather was dry the dust which was a major problem last year, was pretty much a non issue this year. And with the bit of grass that is growing increasing on it's own for next year it will be even better. We are also going to be reseeding some of the area's that got pretty trashed by some of the ATV tires this year.
I think the shooter shelters are terrific. After being at the Grand this past week you really see how the extra sq. footage we added was important. If may have cost more but well worth it. And speaking of differences from the Homegrounds to the Shooting center in Sparta. I noticed a few other things I think we did right. First the spacing of the traps. We had a few carry overs on the voice calls at the Grand . Our squad here had none all week. The extra concrete we have behind the 16 yrd line. It sure makes it easier to change stations. In Illinois you have to walk over the walk ways and grass and dirt. I'll bet the chair shooters like ours better too.
The Friday night fish fry. Unbelievable. Thanks to Paul Becker. Everyone said it was fantastic. I'm sure we will do it again if possible.
The Homegrounds RV Park. Wow. All I heard was what a terrific campgrounds. One of the best campgrounds at any gun club in the country. We had a couple of hiccups but most of that will be worked out by next year. We have a issue with a lot of iron in the water. It is totally safe though. We already have bids on taking care of that. It will be very pricey but it will be taken care of some how. We will also be making some adjustments in where and what type of camper will be put in the different sites so to better accommodate the larger buses and fifth wheels. Also on Monday after everyone left we were cleaning up after the shoot and I have to say that the campgrounds were left in amazingly good shape. Thank you campers.
And speaking of cleaning up. I would bet that there are very few people that know what a job it is to clean up after our shoot. In the past a few of us Directors and a few wonderful volunteers stayed till Monday and even Tuesday. Well this year I thought that we should hire a dozen young people from the High School to help out. Well it was the best $600 we have spent. We were done for the most part by Monday afternoon. Plus we gave some money to some of the young people in the community. There was a few things that still needed doing but the major cleaning and picking up was done. Just the cleaning of the trap houses and emptying out of the targets is a major job. The young men did a great job.
A few things we are working on for next year. A storage building. On the SW side of the main parking area and in the area where there are pine tree's now we hope to have a large storage and RV Park office. This can also be used instead of the pods for the shoot registration. This is one of our top priorities. We need more donations though. So PLEASE help if you can. This building is in the $120,000 range. If we could get 24 donations of $5k each or 120 donations of $1k each or even a bunch of $50 donations. Every dollar helps. Next we need a cart path for all the golf carts, atv's and the like to drive on instead of the grass. If we can keep some of the people on the path our grass will do a lot better. Next as I have already mentioned we need to do something with the water. Dennis added some filters and a softener in the shower house which helped but we need to do something different. Some other projects that need to be done. Wifi, a sound system, broad cast the shoot info to tv's and computers. There are other projects but as with everything it takes money. We could most likely get another loan or even add more to the existing loan but it is the wise decision of the BOD not to go deeper into debt until the campgrounds gets rolling which will be soon now that we are open to the public.
At this point I would like to thank the Department of tourism for their generosity in helping with the costs of advertising. GEC. Jessica and Elizabeth have done so much to help us strive and grow. Finding grants and showing us where to use them to get the biggest bang for our bucks. All the volunteers that put in countless hours of backbreaking work through out the year. I am just going to mention a couple and I know I shouldn't because I am going to miss some that should have been mentioned, but Fritz, Pat, Verg, Dick, Arlene, and so many more. Without your help we wouldn't be where we are today. And last but not least the WTA Board of Directors. Bruce, Glenn, Dave, Bill, Dewey, Adam, Bob, Gary, Theresa, Rick, and Eric. All but two of these people put in a unbelievable number of hour for no pay at all. The other two don't make nearly enough. We are considering doubling the pay for the BOD next year. Oh wait 2 X 0 is still 0. Dennis and Ruth Taylor. Even though he is paid now if you took the number of hours he puts in and figured out his hourly salary it wouldn't be very much. Next time you see one of these people just tell them how much you appreciate their effort. We would also like to thank the Westfield Gun club for the tents that they loaned us. They put them up and took them down all at no cost to the WTA. Thanks guys.
So in closing out my thoughts on this years shoot. Did we have a few minor issues. Yes. Any time you run a shoot this size you will have some bumps. Will it be bigger and better next year. You bet. Was it a great shoot? Yes it was.
If you have ANY comments, ideas, questions please contact me at 262 470 2708 or donmittag@aol.com. Or contact your zone director.
Thanks for coming and see you next year. July 14th thru the 19th.
Don
