Clay target shooting in France

[jwpzx9r]

I was reading the FITASC thread in the general section of the forum and there was one thing that struck me, all the shooting grounds mentioned were commercially run businesses looking, not unnaturally, to make a profit. I have been shooting down here for a couple of years and have yet to hear of a club or shooting ground run in that manner. I am not against the thought of commercial shooting grounds, traps and all that goes into a shooting ground are expensive it is a lot of cash to lay out but all the clubs I have heard of down where I stay are owned by the members and run for the members to give them the cheapest possible shooting, they are very much the bowling club of the shooting world. The clubs vary in size from the very small basic club like the one I shoot at to clubs with OT and multiple UT and sporting set ups and club houses. The club I shot at on Wednesday has fully automatic UT set ups which are controlled through a card reader so the set up knows how many shooters are on the stand and triggers the traps accordingly. The cost for a round of 25 clays is €4 for members and €5 for non members. I was never involved in clay targets shooting at home in the UK are there many clubs run along the lines I have described here? I would go on to say in fairness to the shooting ground owners in the UK these clubs while being functional in shooting terms and in most cases having decent club houses they are not the sort of place one has lunch while shooting although again on competition days the catering is super at most and food is usually restaurant quality. At the end of the year most clubs have a grand competition for the members and a slap up meal with lashings of vin rouge

 

[Les53]

Well John, as far as I know, most clubs these days are not member owned, unless they are straw balers that is. Most are commercial enterprises, the quality of facilities and targets can vary by a huge degree too.

 

[ExSCA]

This might be a sweeping generalisation, but as someone who has spent a lot of time in France (married to a French woman, and parents had a house in France for many years) - I think the French approach is down to a heightened sense of community, especially in rural areas. 

Wine and farming cooperatives and focused village life probably fosters the idea of having a more simple approach to shooting - where costs are covered and the community joins in. Seems to me like many villages have their own 'ball-trap' event regularly and local planning and government means that Health and Safety or planning DO NOT get in the way of having a small, safe event.

Over here - it's harder to get up and running with those obstacles in place - so when someone invests time and money in making it happen, they eventually HAVE to take a more commercial approach to the running of their shooting. 

 

[Les53]

This might be a sweeping generalisation, but as someone who has spent a lot of time in France (married to a French woman, and parents had a house in France for many years) - I think the French approach is down to a heightened sense of community, especially in rural areas. 

Wine and farming cooperatives and focused village life probably fosters the idea of having a more simple approach to shooting - where costs are covered and the community joins in. Seems to me like many villages have their own 'ball-trap' event regularly and local planning and government means that Health and Safety or planning DO NOT get in the way of having a small, safe event.

Over here - it's harder to get up and running with those obstacles in place - so when someone invests time and money in making it happen, they eventually HAVE to take a more commercial approach to the running of their shooting. 

Yes I noticed a lot of small Ball Trap signs when I've driven through France over the years, it almost seemed as though there was one every few miles in Normandy!!!!!

 

[jwpzx9r]

Les one of the things I notice about the people that I shoot with and shooting in general in the region I live in is the sport is for the ordinary working man many of them trades men. This is why I think so many of the clubs are run the way the are all the maintenance building work and so on is done by the members everybody helps wives , kids the lot ! One of the clubs I shoot at made their own OT set up I think the club president said they paid €40k or so doing it but had it been done by contractors it would have been way more than 100k its all about cooperation and nobody does coop like the French ! Another aspect of these clubs is the social interaction every weekend I can find the same old lads sitting having a blether at the club they don't shoot anymore but they like to get down to the club and meet up to look after the gardens and then watch the shooting, keep score, drink coffee laced with old Armagnac and enjoy the fluffy rabbits. 

 

[jwpzx9r]

Admin

I was writing as you posted but that is exactly it ..... what the man said ! BTW health, safety and shooting are not words that are even loosely associated down here to my knowledge anyway I lost count of the number of accidents, some fatal, reported last year involving shotguns.

 

[Les53]

My first club, although it was a commercial enterprise, was a small friendly affair.  Most of us would turn up, shoot a few rounds and then we would often spend hours drinking coffee and chatting. I do envy the fact that you have nice small member run clubs over there mate!

 

[SIMON-B]

My local RFD is setting up a shoot for himself and our club members. The legal side alone would cripple most groups and the hurdles he has to jump over seem draconian in the UK. If he wasn't financing the project himself I can't see the members affording it on their subscriptions alone. UK=MONEY.

chicken curry no worry

 

[shootinguru]

I have shot quite a few times in France, one of the friendliest true club is near Falaise in Normandy, they held a 200 bird French selection shoot which was a World Cup event. The shoot ran like clockwork, they stopped for lunch  for 90 minutes everyone was fed including trappers, referees and ground staff and finished on time!

This is the only ground I have shot anywhere in the world who can start on time, stop for lunch (90 min) and finish well before stated time!  :hunter:  

 

[jwpzx9r]

Lunch is an absolute must in France

 

[** Pending Removal **]

I have shot quite a few times in France, one of the friendliest true club is near Falaise in Normandy, they held a 200 bird French selection shoot which was a World Cup event. The shoot ran like clockwork, they stopped for lunch  for 90 minutes everyone was fed including trappers, referees and ground staff and finished on time!

This is the only ground I have shot anywhere in the world who can start on time, stop for lunch (90 min) and finish well before stated time!  :hunter:  

And their Calvados is brilliant too.

God I remember Falaise.....Eeeeek...! We snook off for a quiet meal (in our courting days) and hit a restaurant which had the French Fitasc team in there....well most of them......they adopted us......we all returned pissed...back to the half renovated Chateau that served as the hotel for us all.. ..! Brilliant homemade croissants and just the best greengage jam......yum yum.

The Calvados was still going the next day...!

Owned by the guy with the funny moustache .....cannot remember the name.

As a member of 'That Squad' we used to haunt the place for the French selection shoots.....they used to say to us....'you cannot win anything...you are not French..!!'

We replied...it's ok...we are just here for practice :wink:

Everyone would turn up, Brits , Krauts, etc etc....... Great laugh..! Always a brilliant lunch.

Those were the days.....funny though.....I do not remember much moaning buggers.....just people who liked to have fun in the sport :wink:

 

[shootinguru]

:fie:  As I have said before Nicola, we have had the BEST of clay shooting its a downhill slope from now on? :fie:  

The only guy that I know with a "funny" moustache is Dominic Lemmonier the French team  Manager and previous French head referee and I'm sure that he does'ent have a chateau?   The only moaning bugger was "Webby" if he lost at cards between parcours! :haha:  

A cooked lunch with starters and dessert and WINE! for 7 Euros!     (the U.K. price of a bacon sarnie and cup of tea!) Oh Sh*t banned again from U.K. grounds. :nyam:  

 

[Wonko the Sane]

John, except for the weather (and having to speak French of course) I cannot tell you how totally I envy your situation.

Just doesn't seem right that they should be so much better at it.   :fie:

 

[jwpzx9r]

Wonko it is the speaking French bit that I am finding toughest to crack, but I try my best to communicate because in the main the French are a very friendly people. There is a very great sense of community in the region I live in every village has a number of fete's every year which is a chance for all the villagers to get together eat, drink, sing and have a laugh. This is carried through into the shooting community where the local hunt plays a very major roll in the control of pests and also game animals like boar and deer, which left uncontrolled would run riot. A chasse dinner is one not to miss food and wine a plenty!

 

[ips]

Menge tu

 

[Les53]

Menge tu

yeah,i hate those little flat empty pea pod things!!! .

 

[ips]

Yep wereare the ruddy peas ?

 

[Les53]

Yep wereare the ruddy peas ?

i reckon them frogs just sell us all their defective peas meself.