shooting sports in trouble?

View · by **shooter115** on Mon Aug 03, 2015 6:27 pm

Jack's My dog wrote:
shooter115 wrote:
yukonjasper wrote: How many competitive shooters are hunters?

>>>>This guy<<<<

In fact I shot a duck just the other day.......with a .380 LCP none the less.

Me too... the hunter/comp shooter... not the duck, but along those lines.... don't you think the 380 is a little under powered for ducks?

I'm a trend setter. .380 is the new 12ga.

View · by **bucktail** on Mon Aug 03, 2015 9:11 pm

I shoot in trap league. Calling myself competitive might be a stretch, but I still hunt deer and plan on going back out west for elk and antelope and doing a little more rabbit and squirrel hunting. I actually got into trap because I wasn't doing much pheasant hunting anymore.

View · by **Eric Marleau** on Wed Aug 05, 2015 8:21 pm

Shooting sports are doing good. My pistol leagues have as many shooters as I care to manage and score. Don't look under every rock for doom and gloom. Be happy. This will be remembered as the good old days of shooting participation. Thank you Mr. Obama for all of the help!!

Eric

View · by **PhilaBOR** on Fri Aug 07, 2015 6:25 am

I do a little competitive shooting, a lot of trips to the range, carry everyday and hunt every year.
By all reports there is a major influx of women into shooting, mainly for self defense.
Not sure about national trend in hunting, think it is down. Big difference between city and small town or country. I live in TC suburb, have to make an effort to find a place to hunt. Rural people much more likely to have connections to hunting land, but smaller percentage of population.

View · by **MJY65** on Fri Aug 07, 2015 6:46 am

I think what we are doing here is similar to basing the nation's fitness on the number of marathon participants. Participation in organized events/competitions (growing in both) does not correlate well to the population as a whole. So, I'll agree that organized shooting sports are as strong or stronger than they have ever been. However, the number of individuals who participate in some type of firearms related activity, even if that's one weekend of deer hunting per year, is not what it used to be. The former is great for gun and ammo sales, the latter is needed for political survival.

View · by **Ron Burgundy** on Fri Aug 07, 2015 8:36 am

MJY65 wrote:I think what we are doing here is similar to basing the nation's fitness on the number of marathon participants. Participation in organized events/competitions (growing in both) does not correlate well to the population as a whole. So, I'll agree that organized shooting sports are as strong or stronger than they have ever been. However, the number of individuals who participate in some type of firearms related activity, even if that's one weekend of deer hunting per year, is not what it used to be. The former is great for gun and ammo sales, the latter is needed for political survival.

I think you're probably right. Following your theme, I think Americans will all die out from the diabetes before gun ownership falls completely out of favor.

View · by **Jackpine Savage** on Fri Aug 07, 2015 11:35 am

Gun sales keep hitting new records. More carry permits are being issued. Time will tell.

View · by **-=VILLY=-** on Fri Aug 07, 2015 4:22 pm

I run the MN Shoot Schedule & Calendar (https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?s ... ca/Chicago) which lists all the action shooting matches from at least 14 clubs. Looking at the calendar for the summer months, one could have shot an event just about everyday of the week.

Some clubs struggle more than others of course, and the reasons can be lack of volunteers, lack of attendees, or location of the club. Just about all the events are volunteer run, and it takes quite a dedicated volunteer to "man the helm" and make the events happen.

By the way, the calendar is open for the public to access anytime. If anyone wants to get on the email list to receive monthly emails of upcoming events as well as notification of last minute updates and cancellations, send me an email at mnshootschedule@gmail.com.

View · by **MJY65** on Fri Aug 07, 2015 5:19 pm

-=VILLY=- wrote:I run the MN Shoot Schedule & Calendar (https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?s ... ca/Chicago) which lists all the action shooting matches from at least 14 clubs. Looking at the calendar for the summer months, one could have shot an event just about everyday of the week.

Definitely a bunch of events out there if a guy wants to do a bit of driving. My concern is that there just aren't a lot of places a dad can take his 12 year old to plink at a few pop cans with a .22 when they have a couple of hours on a Saturday. I suspect that's how most of us older guys started out. Hop in the car with dad after the yard work was done. Head to the local shooting spot and do a bit of target practice. Not many new shooters are ready to jump in to competition right away.

View · by **-=VILLY=-** on Fri Aug 07, 2015 5:56 pm

MJY65 wrote:Not many new shooters are ready to jump in to competition right away.

I would agree that they shouldn't. Competition is not the place to learn to shoot and get to know your gun. It is a place to advance your shooting skill and learn what you with your gun are capable of.

But I always say this to new shooters, "you don't have to be competitive to participate in the sport." We have quite a few people that come out just to shoot something different than shooting one target in a shooting lane. Some come to have fun rather than be competitive. And some come just to be with like-minded folks.

As for kids, they are the future of our sport. The support they receive from the shooters and the industry folks is amazing. Everyone goes out of their way to make sure they have a great and safe experience.