Question About May Shoot...

[Verdadero]

Why wasn't the May Shoot moved to avoid conflict with Comancheria Days, which is also the State Championship? I understand there is going to be a special "practice/workday" the first weekend of May, but that isn't the same thing as a regular match?

We have such limited opportunities to shoot a match in our neck of the woods, I hate to miss a regular match. When our match conflicts with another match, I'm interested in, I usually opt to shoot our match because I want to support our club; however, the State Championship is a pretty big deal for Cowboy Action Shooting and the Texican Rangers do a really good job of putting on a major match.

While I haven't asked, off the top of my head, I came up with 10 members that I believe will be at Comancheria Days...9 shooters and the cook! If the same crew attends Comancheria Days that attended last year, there will be two additional shooters going to Comancheria Days.

Perhaps those going to Comancheria Days will have gotten their fill of cowboy shooting and wouldn't be interested in making the club shoot in May, but given the chance, I'd make both...

Verdadero

[Wandering Man]

I think that several of us made a lot of noise last year about the club switching saturdays and cancelling shoots at the last minute because of holidays or because somebody wanted to go to a shoot that was on the same weekend as our clubs.

We didn't give our poor board much wiggle room, as a result. No one said "OK, the State Meet is an exception." I haven't said anything to the board members about the State Championship because I'm one of the 10 you counted, and I didn't feel it was fair for me to suddenly jump up and say, that they should make an exception just because now I am personally involved.

Sounds like we still have some tweaking to do. My objection last year was that nobody knew for sure when we were going to shoot. It is hard to invite newcomers to the range to watch us shoot, or to advertise our matches in any way when they were so uncertain.

Maybe for next year the board could sit down and line out the "really important" exceptions, if there are going to be any.

I can't blame the board, because I feel they were simply trying to be responsive to folks like me.

Anyway, Verdadero, I know that I am part of the problem here.

Sorry.

-WM

[Verdadero]

I don't know of any club that doesn't have conflicts, regardless of what weekend they shoot. Most simply move the shoot and advertise the move on their website. I believe it was this month that the Tejas Caballeros moved their match because some of their members were participating in some community activity. They moved it from the 3rd Saturday to the 5th. It sure seems like we could come up with a schedule that would allow members to participate in the State Championship without missing our own match.

The April 2011 edition of the Cowboy Chronicle still shows we shoot on the 1st Saturday. Have we notified them of the change of weekend? If we are concerned about folks showing up, only to learn we've moved the shoot to another weekend, we ought to advertise the right weekend to start with. I realize SASS may be the problem, but it might be time to light a fire under somebody...

Verdadero

[brushy]

I agree with WM that a lot of people were concerned with the fact that we were changing too many shoot dates, so we decided to set it at one Saturday and leave it there come "hell or high water". Many families set their schedules several months in advance and knowing when the monthly match will be held helps them be able to make it plus do all the other things in life also. But I also think maybe we could look at the calender a little closer next year and maybe leave some months as a tentative date and leave us a little room to move some dates if necessary. This is an ongoing learning experience for all of us, officers and members alike, and with positive input from everyone we can strive to make it the best for everyone involved. After all, we all want to shoot as much as possible.

My thoughts on the practice weekend were not for it to be like a regular match shoot. It would to be to practice on what ever the shooter needs. Pistols, rifle, shotgun, transitions, shoot whole stages? The timers can be used to see what moves work the best and the fastest. The shooters can shoot the stages or targets in any order they wish. We can watch and help each other at the same time. I thought an all morning practice like this would help everyone be on top of their game come the next weekend where we could all shoot our best. Any other Ideas?

My apologies for not contacting SASS sooner. The fire has been lit and I will get the monthly match date changed with them ASAP.

Thanks to everyone,
Brushy

P.S. Hamburgers will be served for the practice shoot.

[Verdadero]

I'm looking forward to the practice session. I think that is a good idea and I appreciate Brushy and Janet making the range available to those shooting Comancheria Days, for that purpose.

I do hope that the club will develop a contingency plan for when we do have a genuine conflict or when a match has to be canceled due to inclement weather or for some other reason. As we all know, things are going to happen and I hope we can be flexible enough, as a club, to address those things with a minimum loss of shooting time.

Verdadero

[dreamchaser]

Hey Brushy,
Are we going to start at 5am on practice day?? I'm likely to bring 500 rounds of ammo for my pistols and rifles and another 100 for my shotgun. Wouldn't that be something, wear myself out to where I can not even hold a gun for Comancheria Days? Actually, I am looking forward to the practice what you feel you need to practice and will be there with bells on.....well, in truth I will likely wear my faded shirt and worst jeans but that's okay....my ammo will be good and all painted up! Now's the problem, what do I need to practice...the answer is "everything"!