PA Grand all events down. Why?

The PA Grand saw all it’s events in the red. Reasons?

 

I know a few people that went to the Virginia State shoot instead of the PA Grand.

 

There was no Special Event this year.

 

Actually they kinda held their own regardless of the very hot weather. That and a few other commitments kept us home.

 

Really Mr Olliedawg....you say they “kinda held their own?”

Every event down!? Was this the first year in three decades there was a warm summer? Math wise this was the worst year in 30 years. Please tell me your metric for kinda.

 

70% chance of showers every day. Virginia State shoot was going on and throw in Holiday weekend! Overall we still had a good shoot and the down #'s are why we're opening Sporting Clays in the near future.

 

Down a total of 5.6%. Not traumatic considering the weather. More old timers skip a shoot in hot weather and they're not getting younger. Down 35% in around 10years-now that's a number to be disturbed about. Of course, many former attendees are tired of only pulling banks 5-11 or 12 while prima donnas always shoot bank 3 certainly doesn't help. Suckers aren't born everyday it shows.

 

A downturn in attendance numbers from a particular ATA registered trap shoot shouldn’t come as a surprise. The whole thing is a “falling knife”, kept afloat by youth trap shooting and inflated membership numbers.

 

That about covers it
Why else would Gipson offer free targets to the kids if not to make that place look as though it was drawing big numbers

The SCTP goes back to Illnews

See, I told you we were moving in a fantastic direction. Just look at all those happy young faces. Look how many registered shooters we draw. Just proves that the wsrc is a viable facility

The reality of them staying at the CC for 10 years

Uh, well, uh, hmmmm, yes but, ah, I tried, hmmm, was well,

Hey, on a good note, I did find that building

 

I have come to the conclusion you do not get much for only $200,000.00 a year. I wonder just what all that money buys. Roger C.

 

All registered shoots are down a bunch from just 10 years ago, let alone from the old days. The ATA with the move to sparta illinois and all the other bad moves from the last 25 years have caused all ata shoots problems. It's sad that PA has to go to sporting to save their trap range is what I read here.

When I lived in Maryland (85 -93) the Pa grand used to give away Perrazi Shotguns to the yardage winners on the big handicap each year. I know because I won a couple MX -3's. The Va state shoot was also on July 4th weekend and PA went to the gun giveaway to give some of those shooters who went to Winchester a reason to go to PA instead, it worked on me.

I'm not even sure that just by moving the grand to the Cardinal Center it would make that much difference anymore. The Cardinal Center already has a few Sporting Courses. The Ohio State Shoot attendance isn't what it was 7 or 8 years ago either and the ata has killed money shooting. I don't think the Ribbon and AA point shooters will make up the shortfall.

The 10 year SCTP deal is great for the kids and the Cardinal Center, the ATA should be so lucky to get to come to Columbus. But I bet even the ATA EC is sweating the great direction they are headed.

 

Yup, moving the grand away from it's shooter base put the nails in the ATA's coffin. That said, PA finally realizes it's time to expand or die. I wish 'em luck.

 

You finally got it right. Maybe the suckers are staying home while the prima donnas shoot banks 2 &3.

 

Old men with the money are dying off. Fewer new men with money are not shooting. I recall when I started shooting, most of the shooters were WWII guys and a lot of them, and they loved to gamble. When they started dying off our club in San Diego (Miramar Gun Club) saw a real downturn in shooters. As I suspect happened all across the country. The sport has never recovered. Now the children of those WWII guys are reaching the same age. ERGO: Another downturn. The following generation, the X'ers grew up with video, Bambi, soccer Mons, and anti-gun rhetoric. What will their children (Millenials) be like? Where will their money be spent? Not on Trap. Not unless it's orientated toward the Olympic type Trap with wobbles, two shots, 70-yard targets, and 7/8 oz loads. We need a big change to recover the younger generations. 1903 shooting and rules need to be updated to a modern age. Do you see where this is going?

 

Old trapshooters have been dying for a hundred years; that's nothing new.
What's "new" is that they aren't being replaced these days with younger shooters....not long-term anyway. There is a slug of high schoolers who are temporarily bolstering the trap ranks, but they typically don't stay in the sport and if new high-schoolers don't keep coming to replace them (does this sound like a Ponzi/pyramid scheme?), then the shooting sports are in trouble.
I go to a trap club or 5-stand field these days and it's rare to see anyone shooting who is between 19 and 50....most are on Medicare. I see a greater range of participants on the Sporting Clays courses, but we're mainly talking about trap here.

 

It seems to me that both trap & skeet are down while Sporting Clays is the game many want to shoot now. At least that is the way it appears to me. I belong to a small club with one trap & one skeet field. Rarely do any trap shooters show up anymore, never used to be like that. Nobody showed up yesterday so I shot skeet. No fun shooting alone.

 

"No fun shooting alone."

I know of 3 ata shooters, 2 from PA and 1 from WV that would disagree with that statement.

Oh, and one Sporting shooter

 

Not arguing the point that different locations may see a different result. I was merely commenting on what I see here.
I wish I had the answer overall. I'm no youngster & many of the clubs I shot at are no longer in operation & no new ones being built. Damn shame.

 

There were different results with the 3 ata shooters, that's for sure.

 

In my area of the upper hudson valley of NY ATA shooting has basically died. Used to be there was an ATA shoot every weekend within a 50 mile area. Of the dozen plus clubs nearby that were in operation 25 years ago, eight of the clubs have closed.
I have been shooting ATA for 55 years, used to shoot most of the local shoots and traveled up to around 5 hours driving to the larger shoots. For me it's a few factors why not shooting much at all anymore. ..most of my buddies have given the sport up,
Also to be competitive requires a lot of work and preparation. And if you don't put the time in and go to a big shoot you end up shooting penalty which was a good reason for laying off for awhile.
The sport has to do something to revitalize itself- if it stays the same, probably will die. As the older shooters pass on, I don't think now as it is , there is enough younger people doing the sport. Basically too costly. I know from my own standpoint...I don't even go to the club that I belong to to shoot much practice anymore...Golf clubs are in the car, and at the drop of a hat I can be at a course and play 9 holes for about 15 bucks.
In our area Sporting Clays has definitely taken top sport of shooting sports. And actually I can't figure that out... after coming from being a trapshooter, I don't think I have the appetite to sit around most of the day just to shoot 100 targets which is what a lot of the matches around here are.
My Dad and I ran a trap range and sporting clays course for many years, and all I can say is that in the "hayday" of trap shooting it was one heck of a sport. I have many a fond memory - mostly of the good people that I've met during that time.
So I definitely don't want to sound like I'm complaining but do think we need to make some changes to get people into the sport and stick with it.
I personally don't think the speed or hole setting of the target has much to do with it. We need to make the sport more appetizing to the regular "Joe" that spends his hard earned money to compete. Seems to me that most of the entry fees are way too high for what is given back.

 

ATA shoots run by the law of diminishing returns. That is, since there are fewer shooters, prices must rise to maintain the same level of profitability. Let's not forget the need for more and more trophies as more meaningless classes have been added for those precious AA points. Sending the Grand off to Sparta land didn't help. Yup, the good days are over.

 

Dawg.......as long as the PA delegate keeps the votes secret no one should care. Do you think he will ask for a roll call vote?

 

Are you telling us Skip is not on the up and up?

 

I did not take that as a hit on skip. More like a prod to stand up and be counted. My delegate needs to do the same or step out.