Sparta is a super nice place to shoot

Any one who bashes Sparta and the Grand either haven't been there or will never be happy..and probably doesn't shoot anything but their mouth. When you look at what it takes and took to organize it and lay out the facility its pretty impressive. Runs 1300 plus shooter's for 11 days no traffic issues ,very little congestion with some of the cutest score keepers that seem to know what they are doing . perfect.. No. Impressive... Yes!

 

I have never seen a post saying it was a "bad place to shoot."

 

Rosey

There is a good example in Butterly's post of the semantics you were referring to in another thread. They may not say it is a terrible place to shoot, but it is a terrible place to have it, get to, stay, etc.

 

Load the facility onto a flatbed and drag it to a major metropolitan area, and it would be a heck of a success.

 

Heck, PA ran 1,604 shooters through 48 traps in 2006 and still had time for another hundred. Cute pullers too and very polite. Sparta ain't nothin"!

 

I'm with Romie.
Yeah, it would be great if it was in a larger metropolitan area but the size of such a facility limits where you are going to build it, unless money is no object. How about zoning?
You can't expect a small town to have a massive building campaign for a facility that has limited usage and income.
I hope things things work out. I haven't shot the Grand since 1988 and it's high on my bucket list.


Regards...Gerald

 

How about the shooters that still pay their dues and fees, shot and still shoot thousands of registered targets every year, and have done so for for the last 10 years, travel back and forth from home or stay on the grounds in PA, OH, or WV for the bigger shoots BUT won't shoot in sparta?

I think they definitely shoot "more than their mouths".

Flyersarebest

 

OH NO!

Update to follow.

Stay tuned for possible bad news you Sparta haters.

 

I do not know that anyone has said that Sparta would not be a nice place to shoot or that the Town folk are not nice but obviously outside of people;s ability to understand the State of Ilinois has HUGE budget problems ... The WSRC is part of the 4 Billion dollar budget problem and the Governor is considering closing the Trapshooters Play ground to stop the bleeding and eliminate a 3 Million dollar expendature ... That does not mean that Sparta will not still be nice and the people can still be nice, but the sink hole called the WSRC will become a monument to all of those who had anything to do with it ... God Bless American and Sparta too ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

Someone sent me a pic of a sign the government put up in the main building. It has the dates for next years grand, to be held in sparta, on it.

All it took to fix that pesky multi million dollar deficit problem was a sign on a wall. Who woulda thunk it?

I guess now that it's "official", all those PA, OH, and WV shooters, the ones that didn't like the idea of traveling that far can make their reservations.

Flyersarebest

 

Uh, that's billion, with a B !

 

I was thinking of the yearly deficit.

I'm sure "someone" will be along shortly to question your Billion number.

Flyersarebest

 

Signs are like trapshooters, they don't always tell the truth. Let's wait for some substantial evidence.

 

Well if it will work at Sparta, then the governor can post signs everywhere where needed, problem solved.

 

St Louis metro area is 2.8 million.

How big of a metropolitan area do you people need?

I stayed at a motel on I-64 and State 4 just outside of the metro area and was 28 miles from the Grand.

How far was the Heritage Inn from the grand at Vandalia? What was the area population numbers?

 

Leonidas,

smoking357 left off part of his post where he meant to say ".....a major metropolitan area in Ohio......."

 

Azcotrap I agree with you my wife would like it better if it was in Telluride Co or how about Pebble Beach and I'm with you......... and for the money the ATA spent you could build one trap in either of these places without a bathroom ........ I think the founders took all this in consideration.... This is a heck of a nice place and centrally located for a lot of people ! !!! but Ohio and Pa.
Monty McGee

 

If 1600, the number that shot last years GAH is, " a lot of people".

Flyersarebest

 

St. Louis is fine.

That's in the middle of nowhere.

You had to fight 28 hard non-Interstate miles from the middle of nowhere to another place in the middle of nowhere.

This is why the WSRC is in trouble.

 

It has to be "a super nice place to shoot" ....

D-class singles winning scores 98, 97, 98 .... and doubles D-class 91, 96, 94, 97 .... not too bad for 'D-class'.

What 'other' reason could there be for people to shoot D-class scores everywhere else to be 'classified' in D-class .... then shoot so well there .... other than it is "a super nice place to shoot" ??????????

 

What a bunch of dopes. Are they actually going to put the membership through another year of a sword hanging over their heads? Just be smart, admit the mistake, and walk away. Call Cardinal, apologize to Ohio, and put the match back where it belongs.

If they think they're just going to buy or lease the WSRC, they'd better check again, because Rauner has to do everything according to state law and ethics laws. If Rauner structures a private deal not put up for competitive bid for the sake of his political allies, the Chicago U.S. Attorney will be all over him.

 

I can see that you HAVE NOT been there.

 

Smoking357 what have you heard or imagined you heard?

 

Google has.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.5492988,-89.807903,15z

Use Street View. Look around. See the cornfields.

 

If you build it, they will come.




Or maybe not.

Flyersarebest

 

How about an actual satellite photo instead of a line drawn map? The map maker might be a Sparta hater and pro Ohio, thus leaving out important landmarks on his map.

 

O


M


G


Do you not know how to click the little buttons on Google Maps?

 

They do not show on my I-Pad, seriously. I had to go to the trouble of pulling up the satellite photos myself. You did not think that through carefully. Either that or you knew I was using a I-Pad and wanted to shut me out. Anyone else using an I Pad can try your link with it and see what I am talking about. Things show up differently when using a PC vs and I Pad.

 

I will take cornfields for background over planes any day.

 

user 1

I could not hit a target if you laid it on the trap house for the last two years.Tried to shoot an un single last year and got where I couldn't break 80 developed habbits I never thought I could break.....almost quit . life sucks being a duffer!
Monty

 

Maybe you should look again for all those cornfields. LOL

Even grade school kids know the google maps aren't last minute photography

 

That was a discount for trapshooters, Major Motels were 20 miles form the CC+ 4-5 Star Restraunts, nothing is that close to Sparta

 

What was the distance of Heritage Inn? be honest now.

 

Not everyone has to stay in "major" hotels and "4-5 star" restaurants. But there are places to stay and eat in Sparta and surrounding towns.

 

The only reason there's a few places to stay in Sparta is because so few shooters make the trip without a motor home!

 

You should try it. You can buy really great ones like Thor, American Coach and if you really want to go all out a Provost. They would rival the 500 dollar night hotels DLS says are lacking at Sparta. Bargain coaches like Tiffin, Fleetwood and others make nice Motel 6's.

 

I'd rather spend $800 for a week in a nice hotel surrounded by quality restaurants with plenty of beer choices than sleeping on a motor home mattress, cooking hamburgers and hot dogs on a grill surrounded by others who are too cheap to buy their own, and listening to more complaints about targets, weather, squadmates and all other bitches from trapshooters with little else in life.

Been there-done that!

 

You are right why buy a motor home having to hear all the b-tchimg , when you can find it here for free.

BTW, the technology in mattresses has come a long way in a few short years and a foam mattress in a coach is like the foam mattress people are putting in their houses. The seat pads you use to make a bed out of the dining table is where you put the kids, mother-in-law or tag along friends.

 

Oh, and I doubt $800.00 a week qualifies for a major hotel by the standards of some who have posted here. That's riff raff class. Get rid of those Kreighoffs and buy a trap gun..your scores will improve and you can afford a decent stay at the Motel 6.

 

Ileolliedawg
If you said one thing right that is it..but I'm good with a decent CLEAN hotel with air, TV and hard bed.....but most important is the beer.. the food....It's not five star at Sparta but foods ok...Not too many places in the is world can cook as good as me or my wife and the ones that can cost $70 plus a plate and at 61 I need to avoid the calories...or spend them on the beer. The heck with a camper of any type a camper!

 

If you can't find a real nice hotel room for $125-$150/night you're not looking very hard.

I sold mattresses for a living for a few years so don't bore me with nonsense. A great mattress costs as much as a week in a great hotel and I don't have to cook my own meals, meals for hanger-ons or spend a weeks pay filling the gas tank either.

The beer is usually fresher too!

 

Once again, what you did years ago, does not apply today. Things change quickly now days. Box springs and mattress, waterbeds, air beds, now foam. Cooking is optional for many people. You can still eat out with a motorhome. The only nonsense are people who's minds are shut because they know it all.

 

I was a store manager for Sleepy's. Don't bore me with how little you know!

 

Did you have customers that actually bought anything from you with that dopey attitude? Whatever you did or knew or think you knew in the past has no bearing on what I or anyone else purchases today. You may think you know everything there is to know about a mattress and box spring, but you don't know jack about my needs. A common mistake of sales people. The only thing boring is your dumbs-- ego.

 

My favorite customers were those with bib overalls, straw hats or suspenders. All the other sales people would ignore 'em and drink their coffee while I smoked 'em for a top line mattress. You know nothing about first class sales people either!

 

Not true, but I do not have anything to prove to you. Now you are not only boring, you are pathetic.

 

I just told you everything you need to know and you haven't disapproved any of it. Oh, that's right, you don't shoot either. Now go to bed in your top line $69 mattress while I sleep on a mid-range Serta foam. I suppose you also believe those Simmons one sided pen spring mattresses are your next step up!

 

You go right ahead think whatever your little mind tells you.

 

AZCOTRAP,

To quote one of your own posts.

LOL

 

That's quite a charge coming from you and quite silly of your failure to notice, I conceded to Oleolliedawg. He can have this one......even thought he knows nothing about me, or my needs. I try not to argue with fools. Sometimes, I forget that I should not. Double LOL back at you.