Another shooting ground closes.

[ColinD]

Same as most clubs, you get the few who are willing to give up their time for the benifit of the members and the club and the many (it seems) who just turn up use the facilities and moan

You find out the many when you ask volunteers for a working party

 

[TRINITY]

I think that a true members ground would function best if it was run by a reasonably small number of like minded individuals. Once you start inviting wider numbers the problems then start. I joined a small club recently and one day three clowns turned up with a shared semi auto. I wont expand what they got up to but they had to be warned about safety . I havnt been back there since .

 

[Salopian]

Trinity , is that not one of the issues that causes clubs to fail ? Three idiots behave unsafely and you don't ever go back there , thus reducing member participation? Surely the correct action is to instill safety and enjoy our sport. A reasonably small number of workers soon become disenchanted by idiotic behaviour and no help. 

 

[Paul120]

I think the way forward for clayshooting is more member involvement , but sadly that is very thin on the ground. I help at a ground on a Sunday, it often has an entry of 60 plus , run by half a dozen club members, despite advertising and asking for help none is forthcoming .

I agree more members clubs are probably  the was forward to keep up the number of opportunities to shoot.

During the summer in the late 70's early 80's in out area you could find a small sporing or 10 bird  DTL shoot almost every evening in the summer often with more than one option to go to and all near enough on the doorstep. 

However the other side was that  I was involved in a private club shooting setting up only one or 2 stands on a sunday for practice. Usually to have a go with some of the non standard type of shotguns.  Mussel loaders, Blackpowder, Large bore guns etc. 

Usually 4 to 6 of us set them up.  As soon as the first shot was fired 24 or so more appeared from behind the hedge.

Same goes with a club that I'm now in for another sport. Small number set it up and the rest turn up late and leave early.  After  club fees which we all pay the same the being there as many times as you like is free, so it's not like they are paying fof a service 

We even had a group of students turn up. Asked to join in and watched while we marked out and arranged the field and then got offended when we asked them to help put the equipment away.  

Bloody amazing what some peoples8 interpretation of what's socially acceptable is. 

 

[Lloyd]

That path has been explored. A GPS needs several things. Power, an antenna to 'see' the GPS birds and another one to transmit an 'I'm being stolen' alert. 

Now if you are a scrote stealing traps ...... 1 - you disconnect the battery and 2 - you smash/remove or disable any antennas you see on the trap! Even if you load a trap into a van the GPS signal is masked so is pretty unreliable. In the back of a van your scrote has all the time he wants to remove/destroy any cover screws and 'remove' any tracking device. Sadly GPS and SMS jammers are ten a penny these days ......... illegal they may be but so's thieving other peoples property.

Consequently your ground owner knows exactly where he left the trap before it was stolen which is a bit pointless because unless he was really forgetful he knows that already!  

An internal battery you say ....... more expense and maintenance problems and it doesn't get round the smashed antenna challenge. Remember you cant 'hide' the antenna as it needs to see the sky and most of the 'secure' part of the trap is beneath the casting plate which acts as a lovely rf shield!

On top of this you need an SMS or LoRaWan capable device to communicate with some sort of monitoring facility or the mobile network. Cost price is around £40 so add £150 to the cost of a trap, plus  the cost of a sim card and monitor service AND the hassle of maintaining all of it, Say a fiver a month ........... 20 traps on a ground that's £100 a month for a tiny ground for a system that probably doesn't offer as much as a padlock with a chain to the nearest tree.

We HAVE solved the problem by approaching the domain from a completely different angle ( but I can't tell you how  ) and expect to be showing the solution to the market shortly ...... was going to be at IWA 2021 but that has now been cancelled and we are stuck behind this lockdown! 

Pahhh... call myself an engineer? I shall go stand in the corner and face the wall until lunchtime. 
Good to know you have a solution 

 

[Luke_(NL)]

Same as most clubs, you get the few who are willing to give up their time for the benifit of the members and the club and the many (it seems) who just turn up use the facilities and moan

You find out the many when you ask volunteers for a working party

I was amazed to hear how many "instructors" showed up for a pre-Covid annual dinner party, as I visit quite regularly and had only ever seen 5 or 6 of them. All volunteers so happy they exist at all, but there are always those that are more happy to volunteer for each free meal but less so for the actual legwork. 

As for non-volunteers moaning, that's just universal but I'm happy for every shooter that keeps the sport going.

 

[Nimbusgb]

I was amazed to hear how many "instructors" showed up for a pre-Covid annual dinner party, as I visit quite regularly and had only ever seen 5 or 6 of them. All volunteers so happy they exist at all, but there are always those that are more happy to volunteer for each free meal but less so for the actual legwork. 

As for non-volunteers moaning, that's just universal but I'm happy for every shooter that keeps the sport going.

Shooting, flying, sailing, I'll bet the local lawn bowls club gets the same. Still it's the same in life in general, a few people doing the work and the rest taking advantage of their industriousness and moaning about how they are doing it too!