259, Reviews & Previews w/Neil Chadwick & Pete Melloy

  Neil Chadwick co-hosts this episode as we review the World English Sporting clays from San Antonio, and the Southeast Regional From Quail Creek Sporting ranch In Okeechobee Florida. Lots of really interesting statistics here! As a Preview, we hear from Pete Melloy of Game Unlimited in Wisconsin, as he gives us the 411 on the upcoming US Open. We follow that up with a preview to the National Championship in San Antonio this coming October. Lots of great statistics and information for you in this jam packed episode!

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Transcript

Jason Rambo 0:36

Welcome back everyone and welcome to the show, Mr. Neil Chadwick. How are you, my friend?

Neil Chadwick 0:41

Good Jason. Thanks for having me back. How are you been?

Jason Rambo 0:44

Ugh, dude. I it seems like I've been running ragged. I mean, but I'm not going as hard as some of these some of these people that chase the circle. My goodness, we have had back-to-back big shoots. Wet shooters' championship, and and then uh you know, Southeast Regional was the next week, and we're rolling right into state shoots. California State's going on, Georgia State's next weekend. It's like, holy cow, buckle up, you know.

Neil Chadwick 1:08

Yep. It's getting busy. It's getting difficult to choose which shoots to do.

Jason Rambo 1:14

It is. It is. And you know, I got, you know, you and I talked about it. I got a lot of heat for not going to worlds, and it's like, I can't afford all of them. You know, I mean, it's expensive, you know, and it's not necessarily the cost of the tournament as much as it is the travel. You know, you start adding airfare, rental car, hotel, or VRBO, whatever you want to call it, food, and getting your ammo there, or buying ammo. It gets expensive.

Neil Chadwick 1:39

Yeah, it does. It does.

Jason Rambo 1:41

But hey, speaking of tournaments, I got a real quick turning talk to get to.

Speaker 3 1:45

It's turning talk. Brought to you by Scorechaser.

Jason Rambo 1:53

All right. The California State at Sun Mountain is not open. That shoot will be April 29th through May 2nd, 2027. Uh, the 2027 Kansas State at Lasada Lodge is also April 29th through May 2nd, 2027. Um, so get over to Scorechaser, get signed up for those. I know that both California State and Kansas State are putting a lot into their state shoots. They're doing a really good job. So those will both be good shoots. But again, we just talked about that, Neil. Who's two here's two great state shoots, the exact same date, you know? Yeah. So it's harder to choose, uh, harder and harder to choose. Hey everyone, last week uh we just had the episode we did with Midway USA Foundation. And most of you know that this year we're celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, and they have the perfect way for you to honor this amazing country. Uh, if you make a $250 donation or contribution to your favorite youth shooting team through our partner, Midway USA Foundation, and that donation will be matched. So if you make a $250 donation, they're gonna match it. That's $500 to that team's endowment. So supporting Youth Shooting Sports is a powerful way to preserve our freedoms and future for generations. Follow the link down in the show description or go to midwayusa foundation.org. They are doing some amazing things. Uh, if you guys remember Neil, I don't know if you heard it or not, but we had uh Pete Eisenstrager from Midway USA Foundation on the show. They're doing $500 million this year to you shooting. Wow. That is impressive. Neil, we're we're doing shoot previews and reviews today. Um I uh, you know, I've been dying to ask you, and through all of our private conversations, but I haven't asked you. You have been attending, whether through participation or working the world championship for many years, was there anything that popped out at you about this year's event that was different and made this event more special compared to others?

Neil Chadwick 3:58

That's a good question, you know, because each different ground that it's been at has got its own unique personality. Let's call it grounds personality. And we were fortunate in San Antonio because I wanted to make it different to what everybody's used to at Nationals. You know, everybody's used to the four mains running down that main road, right down the middle of the property.

Jason Rambo 4:21

Yeah.

Neil Chadwick 4:22

And with the World English only having three mains, each of 10 stations, I was able to change things around as people attended source. So what was the green course was Fitas, and we used an area on the north side of that green course in that field that I remember using it probably 20 years ago, which made Fitas just feel different. I had so many people come up and go, Wow, that Fitas was a world-class Fitas event. We could that could have been the world championships, you know. Jason, Jason said that and really used that terrain to the best advantage of that. So that then super sporting was where orange and red was. Uh Corey Howe said that. Again, that was a good course. Drew was down there on the yellow course, which was always been a yellow course, and uh that was the one. That was the one that sort of caught them out. Ask Braxton about that one.

Jason Rambo 5:29

Yeah, we did. We had him on the show. He uh they kind of stumbled and fell a little bit.

Neil Chadwick 5:34

So but but overall, I mean, I I I could not fault it, uh Jason. People had a great time, the targets were were good. Uh we didn't have any holdups. We had that little bit of rain. Well, we had rain during setup that very first weekend, and it was rainy and cold, but by Wednesday it changed, and um, you know, everybody was joking that the Brits had brought the rain over the but by Wednesday it cleaned up and and it was dry and it was pleasantly warm. In some afternoons, it got up into the 90s, so it it was it was a good shoot, you know. Yeah, people enjoyed themselves at this one, I think. Um the targets were not too hard. Uh, if I look at sort of my comparison would be back to Anthony's in 24th for the World English that he had.

Jason Rambo 6:33

Yeah.

Neil Chadwick 6:33

You know, you know, I'm all about stats and numbers, and I've worked, I I've had Anthony's. Anthony's average score that now this has taken every entrant into consideration. Anthony's average that I give him is 108.6. The world English we just had was 123. So that's the number, that's the average number of targets broken. So you can see from there that we were probably 15 targets easier than Anthony's, although it didn't seem it. Huh. So it it it was good. It was a really good, it was a really good shoot, had a lot of compliments, you know. And then of course, you know, Braxton, I just Braxton just ate it up, didn't he?

Jason Rambo 7:21

Oh my gosh. Uh yeah.

Neil Chadwick 7:24

I was so pleased that he won it at the end, not that I didn't want anybody else to win it, but you know, running that uh running straight on that green course, and I watched uh Johnny Carter's video. Well, Johnny's, you know, Johnny's Johnny, and of course he concentrated his video on station five, where Nathan had got a sort of a Tealy type target speeding out the top of the trees, which was causing everybody fits. You know, that was the hardest target on that green course, and um Braxton obviously he ran it because he ran the whole lot, but uh yeah. I mean, uh Karen as well, being the first lady in a super final, just brilliant, you know, and everybody else that won. And I know the foreigners had a really good time.

Speaker 4 8:08

Yeah. I think I believe that's the first time we've had a husband and wife team in the top five, isn't it?

Speaker 2 8:15

Probably.

Speaker 4 8:16

Yeah. So there, I mean, there that was that was kind of cool, you know.

Speaker 2 8:20

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 8:22

But um, hey, I wanted to ask you, you gave away an entry to a junior shooter uh for that event. Were you able to meet up with that shooter and his family?

Speaker 2 8:32

We did. He they they sought me out, and uh, and I was by the maintenance building there, and Preston Rand and his mom, Stacey and his dad came up and uh just said, Hey, thanks so much, it helped so much, you know. The $500 towards his entry, it was good, and I'm glad he won it. So, following on from that, I'd like to do the same thing again for nationals, Jason. Oh, cool. Again, $500 as a credit uh registration. It's only open to junior shooters and uh Preston, you can't enter. Let's let's make that uh he's that he's had enough. And what I'd like to do, Jason, if it's all right with you, is just to get them to email email you. Um and I just want a couple of pieces of information. How long have you been shooting? And what has been your favorite tournament since Nationals last year.

Speaker 5 9:36

Okay, so for the first time.

Speaker 2 9:38

Doesn't have to be one of the majors, it might be to the Jack Links, or it might be a local shoot or something. But just tell me which was your favorite shoot since uh since Nationals last year, and we'll put those in a hat and uh we'll do a draw again closer to Nationals.

Speaker 4 9:53

Okay, yeah, no problem. Um, I'll make sure and remind everyone of that each week. So another interesting thing, you had two trap providers for this event for the worlds, right? Am I correct in saying that? Uh you had Atlas and Laporte.

Speaker 2 10:11

That's correct.

Speaker 4 10:12

Okay.

Speaker 2 10:13

Lincoln was on the make a break.

Speaker 4 10:15

Okay. All right. Um, well, the reason why I'm asking this is Atlas is kind of new to the party, right? Like they were introduced last year at uh Nationals.

Speaker 1 10:24

Yep.

Speaker 4 10:25

And then now the world's so I'm I want to hear it from you. How did things go?

Speaker 2 10:30

Well, they're certainly an asset to the team that we've got down there. Uh Scott and his crew don't mind jumping in and loading a red machine, a green machine, whatever the machine. They're very uh astute as to what's going on. They know if I can see a if they can see a problem or targets are getting low in a machine. They were certainly an asset to that shoot. And uh they will be back again for uh nationals. Uh Corey will be back again with two of his guys for as techs uh for the nationals. He's bringing 60 machines in, which will be Atlas again. But no, I was impressed with them. And um, as far as I'm concerned, they're welcome back anytime.

Speaker 4 11:15

That's awesome. Well, it's I mean, yeah, okay, I'm biased. I'm an Atlas dealer, and I'm you know, Atlas supports the show, so yes, I'm biased. But at the same time, um, I think it's awesome when you have uh a manufacturer that's new to the program that you know gets a shot at it.

Speaker 2 11:31

Yeah, yeah. And of course Laporte were was there with just as many machines and did just a great a job as as the Atlas guys, and I know I can always depend on uh Don Evans and the and the Laporte guys to get me out of a pickle if I gave him one.

Speaker 4 11:48

Yeah. Well, you know, I mean, look, there's a lot of teasing that goes on back and forth between the brands, but I think at the end of the day, we all respect each other. You know, I I I tease the Promatic guys all the time, and they tease me, and but though I tell you what, they'll jump in and help me if I need help with something, and I do the same for them.

Speaker 2 12:05

Yeah. Oh, I know they would. Yes, I know they would.

Speaker 4 12:08

But um, so you're a numbers guy, and I know you got some stats for us from the worlds. Can you can you lay the smack down on us, Neil?

Speaker 2 12:17

If you want to go over some stats about the worlds, uh yeah, now remember uh Jason that there was no pro class at the world championships, it was just not it was just masterclass. And of course, a lot of the uh foreign competitors got into masterclass because they bumped up a class from their own uh uh from their own classification, you know. So yeah, um, but no, the scores overall, if the if I look at the the average for masterclass, the average score out of the 200 was 156.

Speaker 4 12:51

That's pretty good.

Speaker 2 12:52

Masterclass was by far the biggest class, you know. Um, and then I if I run down the list, well, you're in double A when you weren't there, seems to be a little bit more of a drop-off. So from 156 as an average score in Master, we drop down to 135 as an average score for double A. Wow. So, you know, that's what 20, that's 21 targets. Uh then if I go down to A from 135, we only drop six targets, seven targets there to 127 as an average score. Then a big drop again for C class, their average score was 105, and then D class was 99. So overall, it was a harder shoot than we did at Nationals last year. It was easier than Anthony's at uh back in 24, but uh everybody said that it's a world championships, it needs to be that little bit tougher, which it was, but it wasn't over the top, I don't think.

Speaker 4 14:00

Well, I mean, by i i if you look at it on a chart, worlds should be the hardest, technically. I mean, it should be the hardest out of out of all the tournaments that we attend. But I like the fact that from the numbers you're telling me, and I know I wasn't there to personally see the targets, but it sounds to me like it was pretty daggone fair across the board.

Speaker 2 14:21

It was, it was. I, you know, I have to say so myself. I it was it was a fair shoot across the board. The five stand might have been a little bit on the tough side again, um, but not as hard as it was at nationals last year. It was easier than that, but nevertheless, it was still a little bit on the tough side.

Speaker 4 14:42

Yeah. Well, um, any other cool stats you have for us other than scores?

Speaker 2 14:48

Well, I I know you're itching to get to the regional so far this year.

Speaker 5 14:54

I don't know about it, but yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 2 14:57

With the Quail Creek uh just having gone past the weekend before last. That was a tough shoot. Yes, it was. If I using my own uh formulas, their average score, now this is for every competitor in every class, so the average score for all those people was 115. Okay, okay. To put that into perspective, if we look at Tim's place at Coyote for the Western regional, their average score for all of the competitors was 135, right? So that's 20 targets difference between Quail Creek and Coyote Springs. So you go, okay, well, Anthony's Anthony was there. Where did he come? You know, Anthony was on the high end, Anthony was uh five thirteen targets easier than Quail Creek.

Speaker 4 16:01

And this is for the 2024 worlds at MM.

Speaker 2 16:04

No, this is MM's Northeast Regional.

Speaker 4 16:07

Oh, Northeast, okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 16:09

This is this is this this year's regionals. I've got three of the uh three results so far. So Anthony was 128 as an average score, which is only seven behind the Western regional. So their tendency was to be in the high 120s, 130, where Quells 115, which just makes it it was tough, you know. Yeah, it was tough.

Speaker 6 16:35

Yeah, it was tough.

Speaker 2 16:37

You know, you can break it down, and I feel sorry for some of the lower class people. If I start at the bottom, class D, their average score in class D was 38.8. Well, yeah. You go to class C 45.9. And then you just get over the halfway mark at class B at 51%.

Speaker 6 17:06

That's tough.

Speaker 2 17:08

Yeah, with an average score of 102, which is 51%.

Speaker 6 17:11

Yeah.

Speaker 2 17:12

But I have to tell you though, Jason, the and I and I know people think targets are getting harder. The trend since 2024, uh, regionals I'm talking about now, at 2024, the trend is easier.

Speaker 6 17:29

Okay.

Speaker 2 17:30

The trend is getting easier. The 2024 regionals, um they were down, they had lower scores. Um, for example, remember the forest city one. Everybody said that was a hard shoot. Forest City score was 116. That's only one easier than Quail Ridge. So that was a hard shoot. Uh, if we go to the North Central at Woods and Meadow, their score was 118. We go to the Western Regional in 24 at Pinnacle, that was 119. And there was only one regional tournament that was somewhat easier, and that was the Northeast Regional at Hopkins, where he got 128 as an average score across the board.

Speaker 5 18:22

Interesting.

Speaker 2 18:23

So if I look and if I look at the 2025 regionals, Jason, out of all of those six shoots, there's no score under 120. Wow. They're all between 120 and 129. So last year the regionals were easier than the year before.

Speaker 5 18:44

Interesting.

Speaker 2 18:46

Well, we'll have to see how the the other three run out this year, uh, because at the moment we're easier again at MM, which was easier. The Western at Coyote was easier. Um, let's see what the last three do.

Speaker 4 19:00

Yeah. I know you're saying it's trending easier, but it sure didn't feel that way. I mean, it it's it was it felt like a prison rape scene, but the one thing I wanted to address uh I I I first of all, I don't want to comment on the targets. It's not my position, too. The only thing I've got a question, uh the only thing on the targets is I want to ask a question. Is you know, given these averages, do we think this is the right way to grow the sport by making sure that anybody from A class and down is dropping 50% of the targets? I don't I don't know. I mean, uh maybe I'm wrong. Maybe a regional should be that hard, but I look at it as in difficulty, it should go, you know, state shoot, then regional, then US Open, then nationals, then the worlds. Like that it should be from least to hardest.

Speaker 2 19:56

Well, I totally agree with that, uh, with that, Jason. Um, but this year we're only halfway through.

Speaker 6 20:03

Yeah.

Speaker 2 20:04

I gotta let's wait and see what the other three do. I mean, if they're in the if their average score is in the upper 120s, then that will that could easily finish up this year on average, being easier than last year. Yeah, we've got the low one at 115. Let's call that an anomaly, an anomaly.

Speaker 6 20:26

Yeah.

Speaker 2 20:27

You know, because then the next one is 128 and 135. Well, I think people had a lot more fun at those. You know, and I get I get it. People say, well, these regionals, you know, they are really selection shoots. Who joins the team, who who represents their country abroad, who joins the uh sporting team, who joins the FITAS team.

Speaker 5 20:50

Right.

Speaker 2 20:51

And yes, it is a selection shoot, and should it be a little bit tougher, just as you said, yes, but there's a fine line between pissing so many people off and selecting your best shooters to represent the country. We can still do that without really crucifying the lower class shooters, I believe.

Speaker 4 21:12

Right. Uh, and that I guess that was one of the things that was disheartening. And again, I'm not commenting on the targets or anything. Look, I know what it's like to go set a course, and it's it's not it's not easy, right? Because you're not going to please everybody. I get that.

Speaker 1 21:26

Right.

Speaker 4 21:27

But I will say that it was a little disheartening to see the amount of people that dropped out and didn't even finish. You know, Sean and I, for years, have pushed on this show that if you haven't been to a regional, you need to go. Go see some big targets and check it out.

Speaker 1 21:42

Yeah.

Speaker 4 21:42

And then, you know, here I am. I feel like I'm encouraging people, and they're getting so discouraged when they're there that they're leaving without finishing, you know. So I yeah, I don't know. I mean, I I don't know how you fix that. I mean, there look, there's a lot to it. And, you know, Neil, I I told you before it it's the Number, the one thing that the numbers don't define is what is a hard target, right? So what I think a hard target is, the guys in the class above me might think is easy. What what I think is easy, the guys in classes below me might think is hard. You know, and and environment does a lot of that too. You know, like like I said, it's you're not going to get a 60-yard crosser if you're shooting in the woods, but if you go to Northbrook, I guarantee you're going to get a 60-yard crosser, right? So it's so environment has a lot, landscape has a lot to do with that too. So, but you know, what do you define as hard and what do you define as easy? Everybody has a different opinion on that.

Speaker 2 22:36

Well, you know, I mean, um okay, let's uh now and I know we're gonna talk about Quail Creek. Let's talk about their 5'10. Okay, okay. Uh now I somebody when somebody that called me afterwards, well, for a start, they didn't throw any singles.

Speaker 5 22:54

Correct.

Speaker 2 22:55

Uh, and that's caused such a ruckus uh to the extent we've now got a special EC meeting next Monday. Now I know this program will probably air after that, so anybody that's listening at this point in time, we've already had the meeting, so we're gonna have a meeting. But there was a couple of targets on there where they were thrown as a true pair and didn't give you a fair amount of time to shoot one and then the other. If I'm now I wasn't there, this is what people are telling me. So the presentation that you put on, instead of putting a true pair on like that, it makes it so much easier if you put it on as a report pair.

Speaker 4 23:34

Yeah, so let me run that down real quick for anybody that wasn't there, because I I was there and shot that event. What we're talking about here is a Hunterbird five stand, instead of being four fields of 25 targets each, it's actually five fields of 20 targets each, and there was no singles. You got a report pair and you got a true pair at each stand. So that's what Neil's referring to. So there was no singles, and yes, you're right. The first time you saw a target sometime was in a true pair. And it could be a ripper. Now, I will say this if you take a look at the targets as individuals, you know, you stand in the box and you're seeing the show pair for the first time, and you're seeing two A's, two B's, two C's on down the list. The targets, they were great targets. I think they really were. The problem was the way they paired them. To your credit, Neil, the first time you're getting a target is in a true pair, and it could be a ripper. That's great. You smoked it. You shot that one first. The problem is the other target's at 70 yards by the time you get to it. Or on the ground, right? So it was the way they paired the targets, it was a little bit more difficult. And you were definitely going from one side of the field to the other with your gun on most of the layouts on these true pairs. So I think that was I mean, maybe if the menu would have been a little bit better, but definitely not having the singles. I I I hate to say it, but I haven't spoken to anybody that likes this format, this layout.

Speaker 2 25:00

Yeah, I yeah, and you know, and I've had several calls, and I was I was not there, so I'm not I'm I'm not really criticizing, but I know exactly when people tell me what you just said, exactly. I always remember shooting River Road in 1996, Bruce Basotti was a US Open, and he did exactly the same thing. Everything was a true pair, but the time you shot one, the second one was either 70 yards or in the ground.

Speaker 6 25:29

Yeah.

Speaker 2 25:30

Beside the point. The other thing though is that uh what I find sort of disturbing is that in the rule book, under five stand, the very first line in the rule book says five stand will be shot in rounds of twenty-five. Right? So so you know why did they break the rules, you know? Um if you're gonna shoot five stand, we've all got we've all shot enough five stand that we expect a single. You wouldn't expect to go and shoot fit ass and not shoot any singles, just shoot pairs, would you?

Speaker 4 26:10

Right, exactly.

Speaker 2 26:12

You wouldn't expect to go and shoot English sporting and just have one trap on every stand.

Speaker 6 26:17

Right, exactly.

Speaker 2 26:18

Yeah, it you've got to keep within the spirit of the game. Um we will have a meeting about that that uh uh and and address that fact that it should be shot in rounds of 25, and in my opinion, they should include singles.

Speaker 4 26:35

Well, and I had a comment made to me by a shooter, and he, you know, he had a valid point. He's like, I think it should be mandatory that if they're gonna do five fields like this, it should be specified in Scorechaser that that's how they're gonna do it, so I know not to sign up. I'm like, oh, okay. That's not a I get what I get his point. Yeah, you know, it should be yeah, if they're gonna change the format of what a traditional five-stand is, then it needs to be specified, you know, through registration. And he's he's got a valid point. I mean, you can't argue that. Whether you like love or hate the format, he he does have a valid point.

Speaker 2 27:08

Jason, why change the format? It's a known format, it's five-standing. You're gonna shoot one single, a report pair and a true pair.

Speaker 4 27:15

I agree a hundred percent.

Speaker 2 27:16

What why change it? Were they so overwhelmed with people wanting to shoot that they had to do it like that to get through more people? Or yeah, I don't know. Do you know?

Speaker 4 27:28

I I think when they did it the initially, they did it at Jack Langs. I can understand that because the volume of shooters they had. They had less they had what a less than a third of the people at the Southeast Regional that they did at Jack Links. So they really didn't have to do it. Right. Because I I know I shot 510 on Friday, which is normally traditionally Friday and Saturday the two busiest days for 5'10. And I wasn't in a full squad, the squad ahead of us wasn't full, the squad behind us wasn't full. So I mean like two and three people instead of five. So I I if you if you were slam-packed, maximum capacity for your registration, I would understand why you would want to try something like that to get five more people per rotation through, but it wasn't necessary. So I I get why they did it at Jack Lynx, although, like you're saying, it was against the rules. So I guess it shouldn't have been done. Um but what kills me is you know, you were talking about scores there a minute ago and averages. The average scores for 5 10 were pretty bad.

Speaker 2 28:36

Yeah, I saw that.

Speaker 4 28:38

You know, masterclass, I think the average score was a 70. Double A, it was a 59.

Speaker 1 28:43

Right, right, right.

Jason Rambo 28:44

And these stats aren't hard to find, people. If you don't already know this, look, get over to Score Chaser, you got an account there, go to a shoot you've attended and click on my stats or my statistics, and it'll bring it right up. You can see these averages. You can go by course, by event. Casey, I didn't even know that existed. Casey did a wonderful job on that.

Speaker 1 29:03

But yeah, yeah.

Jason Rambo 29:05

It's uh it's just tough, you know. I mean, you shoot these side events, you look forward to them, and then you you feel like you I don't know. I I'm I'm not gonna say I feel like I got robbed, although the the target setting kind of robbed my brain a little bit, but no, I it's just I I'm just curious, is is that is that where we want to go with target sets? Um to me, I think it's a little bit much because if you if you look at the new guy, which is something we focus on here on this podcast, is we're always trying to encourage new shooters. He steps in the box and he sees that stuff, man, he's gonna be so overwhelmed he might just be disheartened from ever attending a big event. You know, I don't know. I mean, maybe, maybe not. So I just think we need to be a touch softer on some of this stuff.

Neil Chadwick 29:54

Yeah, but also, Jason, don't uh predicate your assumptions on one shoot.

Jason Rambo 30:01

No, no, no, no. I'm not, I'm not assuming horrible.

Speaker 2 30:04

I just told I just told you from the stats I have got going back to 24, the tendency is for the regionals to become or are getting easier.

Speaker 4 30:16

Right, but you've always got the one shooting there the same.

Speaker 2 30:19

You've always got the one, yeah, you know, and I mean if they mess it up, and we've said it a million times, it is easy to uh mess it up. I've messed them up. Oh, yeah. You know, I mean, I I won't go there, but I have messed up big time before, uh thinking, oh, that's not too bad. Nobody hit it.

Speaker 4 30:40

Yeah, and it's and you're I you're exactly right. I've done that, I've set a target and go, oh that's that's that's no big deal. Tournament pressure added to it, and you know, a little bit of wind that you didn't anticipate, a little bit of sun you didn't anticipate, and that spot or whatever, it could all play into effect.

Speaker 2 31:00

We have to cater for the new shooter. We don't want them to have such a bad experience that they don't shoot any more registered targets. We still want them to progress along their natural path, whether they be a you know, a B C or D shooter.

Speaker 6 31:16

Yeah.

Speaker 2 31:17

The we've had several meetings as the EC now, and our big push now is on trying to get new shooters into the game as falling players. You know, they may already be gun owners, they or may already be hunters, they may be shooting SCTP, or you know, or their uncle is a shooter or stuff like that. And um, you know, uh Mark Balzar came up with a great uh uh with a great budget plan for moving forward where you've seen the ads that come up. If you look at YouTube, if you click on something, you get a you get a 15-second ad that comes up before it plays, you know, how do you fix your lawnmower? And they are played randomly uh at the beginning of YouTube's, and I've seen them come up on Facebooks, you know. I don't know how they do it, it's amazing. I looked up how to make French bread on Facebook. Yeah. I guarantee you, every time I open Facebook now, there's an ad for bread. Yes, yeah, it's an algorithm. I tell you, you've got to be careful, they're watching you. Anyway, getting back to the budget, you know, if we can generate sort of interest from new shooters, we don't want to, and they'll start off locally, you know, and we know that the local clubs are gonna put on easy targets for them because that's what they do. They want them to enjoy themselves, come back, and they're gonna be thinking, you know, I'm getting good at this. Yeah, and then we and then they go, I'm gonna go and do a national, and not a national, a regional, or a national. Hopefully, we don't do it to them at nationals, but you know, yeah. They go, I'm gonna go to a regional, you know, and um they get they get it handed to them on a plate and they go, What the hell am I doing? I I should be better than this, uh, you know. Um some of them will go, Well, there's a lot I need to learn. Maybe I go and get a lesson from you know, some of the pros or something like that. Hopefully they do. But what we don't want them to do is go, yeah, this isn't for me. I'm gonna I'm gonna go back to hunting, or um, I'm gonna hang the gun up, or I'm gonna try golf or whatever it might be.

Speaker 4 33:33

Yeah, we don't want that.

Speaker 2 33:35

No.

Speaker 4 33:35

And and I don't I I want to state this very clearly right now. I don't want to take away from the hard work that Quail Creek did because they did put on, they put on a great event. They really did. It was a lot of fun. Um, you know, they they worked very hard to make sure there was no backups. I know it's gonna happen. You're dealing with mechanical devices, it's gonna something's gonna fail at some point. But you know, everybody I saw was all smiles. There was a lot of groaning about the targets, but you know what, like you said, you're not gonna get it right every time, Neil.

Speaker 2 34:09

No, you can't apportion blame, uh Jason. You know, you know, what was it two years ago when you and I had a podcast and it was uh it was a regional out in uh Denver.

Speaker 7 34:23

Yeah.

Speaker 2 34:24

And it was so easy. People were going, why did I pay all this money to come here when I could have shot these targets at my local club? So there is the opposite end of the spectrum. You know, um, no, I don't blame Quail Creek at all. It's that's it's not there's no blame to be placed anywhere. No, it's easy to go a little bit too hard and not realize it. It's a little bit to go too easy and not realize it.

Speaker 4 34:51

Yeah. I mean, look, I look at going back to what I said though, you know, like Justin, uh uh Justin Ketchum, he's I've known him for years. Uh I I think his title's assistant manager there, but he uh every time I saw him, man, he was covered in sweat and running 100 miles an hour. Yeah, you know, just to just to make sure whether it was uh coolers needed ice or traps needed filled or trash needed picked up. I mean, they did a great job, and the grounds looked amazing, it really did.

Speaker 1 35:19

Yeah.

Speaker 4 35:20

Um, you know, and they're and they're continuing to invest into the property. And I please don't anybody listen to this and think, well, I'm never going to Quell Creek. No, don't think that. I I would if they had another regional tomorrow, I would be there, you know, and we'll deal with the targets, right? Well, that'll I'm sure that the target setters, whoever they were, for whatever the courses are, I'm sure they've made a mental note of, well, I know not to set that again. You know what I mean? We all learn by our mistakes. Like Sean Alley always says, you don't know what you don't know, right? So, oops, we got one off, you know, and I'm sure they'll fix it and make it better.

Speaker 1 35:56

Yeah.

Speaker 4 35:57

But yeah, so what I do want to do, Neil, is uh I've got Pete Malloy uh from Game Unlimited that's going to give us a preview of the U.S. Open. And then when we come back, I'd like to do a preview with you of the nationals that are coming up. Sure. So if everybody will sit tight here for just a minute, we will be right back. The day. All right, everyone. Help me welcome from Game Unlimited, Pete Malloy. What's up, Pete? Hey, Dom Munch. How you doing, Jason? Good, man. It's good seeing you down at the Southeast Regional, man. That's a that's a long trip for you.

Speaker 8 36:36

Yeah, you know, I kind of did a last-minute uh trip down there. I wanted to get an opportunity to check out some uh events, some big events before the year started, and hadn't really been to a big shoot since the U.S. Open uh last year in Mississippi. So just looking at the targets and hearing people's uh comments and kind of seeing what to do, what not to do, it's just always been one of the things on my list as uh, you know, trying to throw a good quality event, you have to know what the customer base wants.

Speaker 4 37:03

Yeah, and you know, that's that's really cool that you're doing that. Um, you know, you you take a guy like Anthony, he competes all over the place. So when it comes to an event at MM, he kind of knows what the ins and outs are of what people do and don't like. And, you know, I know you want to compete more. We've had that conversation, but you're kind of like chained to the grounds there at Game Unlimited a lot. So, but no, I think it's awesome because you've got a big event coming up and you're kind of getting a feel for everything. And I I think that's really cool. I mean, there's a lot of people that that either don't do it or don't have the opportunity to do it.

Speaker 8 37:36

Yeah, no, I mean, uh, you know, as far as uh shooting goes, you know, I've been shooting for a while, but to be competitive at Anthony's level, obviously he's world class. Uh, I'm just a master class shooter that that's had some success uh here and there. But target setting is more of a passion for me uh than shooting is, and uh, but to have both put together just kind of helps you understand uh what's difficult for people, what's too hard, what's too easy, and uh have that balance between the two really helps me in uh not only uh setting targets, but uh you know, vetting them for the other guys that are here.

Speaker 6 38:09

Yeah.

Speaker 4 38:10

Well, I mean, you know, maybe Anthony was a bad example being that he's both world and national champion. But but what my point was is he does get to travel all over the country and see the different clubs and the different targets and everything. So he's kind of got a good base when he sets something at home.

Speaker 8 38:25

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, he's uh top, top, top, top class. I've shot Anthony's uh place one time, and that was a great tournament. So we're we're looking to throw a great tournament here for the U.S. Open and and uh give a good wide variety of targets and uh uh you know, just uh give everyone a great time because that's what you were trying to do. We're trying to host an event where everyone can leave and just they had a lot of fun. They were challenged, they could see everything, it was fair, and uh the grounds were in good shape, and there's water and tents on every station, and you know, just all the little things that add up to make a really top-notch event.

Speaker 4 38:59

Yeah, well, speaking of that, the last time I was there, you had opened up a bunch of new grounds for the worlds, and you know, it it trust me, if this U.S. open's anything like the worlds, everybody's in for a treat. Um, because you guys did a just an absolutely jam-up job. But can you tell us what's new for the U.S. Open this year at Game Unlimited? Do you have some more new ground you've opened up, or what are you what are you doing different this year to kind of flare it a little bit, Pete?

Speaker 8 39:25

Well, you know, we uh we definitely widened some trails out, um, did a lot of dozer work out there, getting things prepared, uh, you know, certain roads and certain things that you're trying to upgrade uh at every event that you have. Uh so you can, if you have poor weather conditions, like uh last year's regional, we had a lot of rain and it caused some mud in certain spots, and we had to have people kind of on top of things, helping people out in case they got stuck. So we've eliminated those issues and uh our problem areas, um, so we won't have any any any issues in transportation. But we did open up uh another course that we're gonna use for the main um in the in the back part of the property, kind of in the southeast corner. So we made a nice we made a nice loop on that where it's gonna be uh pretty neat, uh some just some different terrain and uh and it loops around and it kind of overlaps some things that we already did at the world feedest, but for the most part, uh just kind of upgrades and uh road and road work and uh those new grounds with the dozer work, and we're just really excited to throw some cool targets because we got some really cool terrain out here to throw sporting clay targets on.

Speaker 4 40:31

Yeah, that that is cool, and that place is beautiful too. And you you've kind of got like the world at your fingertips, you know, for for landscape. You know, I was just checking registration before we got on here to record this, and at the time of this recording, there's still plenty of spots open in just about all the events.

Speaker 8 40:47

Yeah, there's there's plenty of room. I mean, I'm I'm pretty happy with where we're at right now. I think we had uh just shy of 1100 entries. Um last last time I looked, is that was that where you came up with?

Speaker 5 40:58

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 8 40:59

Yeah. Okay, so about last time I looked through about that, which is which is pretty good, because in the in the north central region, uh, you know, around a thousand shooters of the U.S. Open is pretty is pretty good. You know, when you get down to the south, the southeast, the northeast is a there's a big population of shooters, and you tend to have a little bit higher attendance. Um, but we have a lot of local shooters that I know haven't signed up yet. So I think we'll be probably right around uh right around the highest that we've ever had the North Central. So I'm I'm I'm excited about where we're at right now.

Speaker 4 41:28

Yeah, awesome. Well, one of the things as competitors we all like to talk about is payout. Can you run down through your payout for us, Pete?

Speaker 8 41:35

Yeah, you know, everything. So on our on the website for the US Open, you can see it all there, but it's uh 2026 NSCAUSOpen.com. It's got a whole listing of all the payouts, and our payout structure this year is the highest payout that we've ever had in the NSCA at any U.S. Open. So with that being said, right there, it just kind of puts it at the top of the line. I know a lot of clubs are um are competing to get the U.S. Open. We're fortunate enough to have the opportunity. And I think that the the World Fee test really gave us an opportunity to showcase with uh with a large group. And um we ended up getting the U.S. Open for 2026. We've been prepared for it ever since we got it. And with that being said, uh, you know, the payout structure uh is at the top of the top of the list, too. So I mean it's 20,000 for first and it goes down from there. Um but if you look on that website, it'll have all the information and have all the payout structure. And uh we're excited about offering the biggest payout in NSCA uh U.S. Open history.

Speaker 4 42:34

And another cool factory about this shoot, you got Jamie Peckham coming in. And if I if I'm remembering this correctly pro conversation, you also said you have another guest uh target setter coming in. You want to tell everybody who that is?

Speaker 8 42:50

Well, we have several target setters. I'll kind of run them down, but Jamie, I worked with him at the uh World Feet ask, and we're a great team. Um, you know, he's not only a target setter, but he's run clubs and he knows the traps inside and out, so he has a lot of resources just beyond target setting. And uh, we were a great team, a great tandem. So there was a it was a no-brainer to have him back for the our our biggest shoot ever behind the um world feed test, and then this will be larger than that. So Jamie's on board. And then uh an old friend of mine who's been, you know, to me is one of the greatest uh natural shooters of all time, John Kruger, having him come out. He's got a great eye for the game. He's been around forever. His knowledge is uh limitless. And uh he came out for the world feed task as well, and he helped with that event and set some targets out there. So Chan's gonna be here. Um Abel Speyer set a prelim in the North Central region last year that everyone loved is a great, um, great set of targets. So Abel's gonna set a set of course as well. And then I have myself and and my son Tyler, who's been shooting really well and setting targets, and he's kind of he's kind of the man on the ground now. I mean, I I went to help him uh At our last shoot, and I went to grab a trap and and I realized that I'm out of shape now because I can't I can't pull him around like he does. I used to he's taking my role over kind of uh uh fully, him and my son Jackson, who are doing a great job with that. So he'll be on there. And then Nate Wanable, you know, we're in-house from there. And you know, and then he always gave an opportunity to some local guys. You know, I got an opportunity at Caribou Gun Club when they had the world uh Grand Prix in the World Fiat was back in 14 or 15. And I set the super sporting courses for two weeks and some some some other courses there as well. And Randy Vas gave me an opportunity as an up-and-comer, someone that was trying to get into it. And uh, you know, that was a I'm thankful for that opportunity because I've got to learn and watch a lot of other target setters, and that's how you that's how you figure it out. So I got some local guys, you know, Stefan Salominsky and Nick Wagner from Wassaw Gun Club, they're probably gonna do the five stand. And uh, you know, to make sure no one gets over their head too much, we we we have a team that vets them too. So between Peckham and Kruger and myself and Tyler and Wanable, we'll be vetting every course out there to make sure it's a fun, enjoyable, but challenging. And when it comes to fun and enjoyable and challenging, that our number one goal is that all shooters of all ages can see every target and uh and they have time to shoot them. So that's our focus. And they can vary in distance, they can be longer, they can be shorter, but as long as everyone has time to see them and shoot them, um, our job is uh complete.

Speaker 4 45:35

You know, uh Jamie Peckham, we had him on the show last year. Um I shot his targets at the U.S. Open for the fee task. And I and I straight up told him, I'm like, I've never had so much fun having my butt kicked.

Speaker 8 45:47

I mean, I mean, right.

Speaker 4 45:49

His targets were fun, but plenty of time. Um, see him really well, like you said. And man, they're great targets. As far as John Cruger goes, the only word I have for him is legend. I mean, he set targets in the past that Ohio State shoot, and look at the individual that he is, right? I mean, so and it sounds like you're giving some new up-and-comers some chances, and that's that's awesome, man. I I love hearing that.

Speaker 8 46:13

Yeah, that's great. So just grow in the game.

Speaker 4 46:16

I I do need to get down through some boring stuff real quick, but it's important stuff at the same time. Closest major airport.

Speaker 8 46:24

Uh, Minneapolis, St. Paul Airport. That's about uh about a 40-minute drive to the club.

Speaker 5 46:30

Okay.

Speaker 8 46:30

Not that far away. Logistically, we have a lot a lot around the area. It's pretty easy uh on the highway, straight shot.

Speaker 4 46:37

All right. And hotels. What's the closest area to you that's got all the hotels?

Speaker 8 46:42

You know, hotels is in uh there's there's a lodging uh on the website as well where you can see that. But Hudson, you know, you're looking about uh 10 minutes, so probably about eight miles from uh from the club. You have New Richmond, you have Stillwater. And you know, a lot of these, it's kind of funny because a lot of these hotels that are close by, they get they get wind of these big events and they start jacking the prices up. So, you know, some of the hotels close by are getting pretty expensive uh because there's a it's a it's a touristy area for us too with the St. Croix River. It's one of the seven scenic riverways in the United States, and weddings and whatnot. So they can they've kind of if you if you want to get a little bit cheaper rate, you're probably just looking at getting about a half an hour away versus uh 15 minutes away. And and you're looking at St. Paul, Woodbury, you know, Woodbury's pretty close by, and there's just tons of hotels everywhere. I mean, you can't really, you know, you just get on the old Google and figure it out. And there's there's there's plenty around.

Speaker 4 47:42

And you know, the more I travel, uh it's and I think you'll agree with me on this, the VRBOs and the Airbnbs are the way to go. You know, if you can get two, three people to go in with you and get a house that's got two or three bedrooms on it, you can get it cheaper substantially than you can. Right.

Speaker 8 47:57

Oh yeah. I mean, if you have a if you have a if you have a group, I mean that I agree with you. It's a lot more fun. That's the way to go. Be able to do that, and then just have people switch when we go to uh a bigger shoot on occasion. Uh we'll get it, we'll get an Airbnb. And you know, each night someone has dinner, right? Or if you're at the club, they have something going on at the club. We all stick around the club, but the nights that there's nothing going on, we'll just cook out, and it's just kind of fun. That's what the shoots are all about. It's just about having a good time with your friends and and uh competing at the same time.

Speaker 4 48:26

Yep, 100%. I take it you got plenty of ammo available, right?

Speaker 8 48:31

We do. Yep. There's uh the ammo pre-order uh sales just went up last week. So if uh anyone hasn't got hasn't uh pre-ordered any ammo, they can get online and do some um some pre-orders. Um, you know, we have uh obviously close to us, only about 40 miles away, is uh the Federal plant. And they're always a big part of what we do out here. So we'll have uh you know Winchester, B, uh Fioki, uh Game Board, and uh RC.

Speaker 5 48:59

RC, okay.

Speaker 8 49:00

Yep, yep, RC. So we have plenty plenty of ammo, and they'll be on the the pre-orders, but we'll also have ammo on site at the club as well.

Speaker 4 49:08

And in addition to golf carts, this year you've actually got you can run it side by side.

Speaker 8 49:14

Yeah, that's kind of a cool feature. Um, you know, we're pretty spread out out here, and you know you go to these shoots and you get a golf cart, and the golf carts are getting so expensive now. I mean, we don't make any money on the golf carts, that's what they're charging. So I I thought to myself, well, you know, if we could partner up with a local company that'd be willing to rent some UTVs out in their new UTVs, that would be a pretty awesome feature. So I talked to somebody, we we partnered up with uh with the group, and they're having uh ATVs available because if you have, let's say you have four people in your group, and you can all just pop in the UTV together and you can have air conditioning and uh in an closed cab.

Speaker 6 49:51

So that options on there.

Speaker 8 49:53

You can just register on Scorechaser and get a UTV. There's different levels. There's some that are just open air, there's some that are the higher ends, and of course the the prices uh you know fluctuate based on what kind of model you want to get.

Speaker 4 50:05

Yes, just please, for the love of God, shut the thing off when you pull up to a station. Some of these air conditioners are annoying.

Speaker 8 50:11

Unless it's really hot out, Jason. Thank you. I'm just kidding.

Speaker 4 50:18

Um okay, vendors. I think I counted like 29 of them on the website that are gonna be there.

Speaker 8 50:25

Yeah, there's gonna be a pile of vendors uh, you know, there. We have we have uh, you know, the great group of sponsors as well, you know, a lot of the traditional names that are just at all these events, and they're they're so supportive. And these major events can't really happen uh without the without their support. So we're we're extremely thankful, you know, Chromatic uh with their traps and and and their team and uh our our local guys, federal, you know, their premium um sponsors. So yeah, and uh, you know, they have your your berettos and your Winchesters and your White Flyers. I mean, the list goes on and on, and it's it's on the website as well. But we're we're incredibly grateful for you know them supporting the shooting sports and especially uh the U.S. Open this year.

Speaker 4 51:09

That is awesome. Um, the last thing I have for you, Pete, is like raffles or door prizes or giveaways. Are you doing any of that kind of stuff?

Speaker 8 51:17

Yeah, we'll have we'll have some things available there. That's kind of above my pay grade. I have I I have that delegated out, so so I I wouldn't I wouldn't be uh great at uh going through everything. But yeah, we'll have things. We have a Saturday night banquet. Um we're gonna do a great dinner um Saturday night. I know everyone's really gonna enjoy that. We have a make a break shootoff with a huge payout on that, like we did at the World V task.

Speaker 7 51:41

Nice.

Speaker 8 51:41

Um Make a Break will uh will be a blast. So Saturday night, the festivities will be make a break and then uh followed by followed by dinner with some uh we'll have some music going on. Probably not live music, but more or less just some speakers and some good tunes playing. And then uh, you know, there's a couple other, you know, I'll while you got me on things we're doing, uh we kind of have the first kind of state of the art uh map that we're gonna do this year. So we'll have your traditional map, right? That you see in the little in the in the book or the the piece of paper. But you know how hard they are to figure out sometimes? You're like, oh my god, right now. Well, my buddy put this together and it's pretty neat. All you need is a free app, you know, your Google Earth, and there's a QR code that we'll have um on the on the map itself, the hard copy. And you could just download that QR code, and it'll be an aerial, an online map and an aerial of all the course layouts, and it'll show your exact location live. So you can be like, Am I going the right way? Am I going the right way? And you just look at the little blue, the little dot, and you go, Oh, yeah, we're going to make a super sport. So that's awesome. I think that's kind of a cool feature that we'll see. You know, it's gonna be like anything that hasn't been pulled out before. You know, the the UTVs have never been done before in this uh this map. So we're trying to bring something out different every time we do a shoot, and uh we're looking forward to bringing something near the table and just giving everyone a really good time and and uh enjoying themselves up in Hudson, Wisconsin up here. You know, it's a beautiful area and uh great restaurants all the way around. So there's really there's a limitless things to do to do, a lot of family things to do too. There's tubing on the rivers that are close by, there's there's river cruises, you got you know, the the gals that come with that uh wives that come with might want to go to the Mall of America, the biggest, biggest mall in the U.S. There's sporting events if you want to go to soccer games or or you know professional events with uh Minnesota twins and whatnot. So there's all kinds of stuff to do. So we'd love to have people bring the whole family and bring them out.

Speaker 4 53:45

Yeah, heck yeah, that's awesome. There is a lot of amenities in that area. I mean, there's it's you're not far from just about anything and everything. So, I mean, and plus it's I mean, anybody that hasn't been out to Game Unlimited really needs to get out. I mean, it is very cool. It is a club you have to experience. And um, I can I can testify personally that Pete and his crew do a wonderful job. Uh so August 11th through the 16th, get your butt out to Game Unlimited. Pete, I really appreciate you spending some time with us, man. I really do. Uh, I know we've been trying to get this off the ground for a while now, and you've had some um accidents. So we'll just leave it at that. So um, but no, man, I I I appreciate you spending some time with us, buddy.

Speaker 8 54:31

Yeah, no, I I appreciate that. Thanks for your time. And uh, we're looking forward to everyone come up to the U.S. Open and uh can guarantee that everyone's gonna have a great time and shoot some great targets.

Speaker 4 54:41

Oh, and by the way, we're starting to go fund me so that way you can get your butt to the dead pear blast December 11th and 12th at Rocky Creek.

Speaker 8 54:48

Well, good. Let me know when that gets up to 10,000 so we can have a little bit of extra fun.

Speaker 4 54:56

Awesome, man. Well, Pete, thank you again, buddy. We really appreciate you.

Speaker 8 54:59

Sound sounds good. Take care.

Speaker 4 55:01

The deadplay. All right, Neil. Welcome back, buddy. Uh, you know, I have you been to Game Unlimited? Have you been up there?

Speaker 2 55:12

Uh no. No, I've no, I've been to a couple of places up there. I've been to Minnesota and uh Randy Voss's place, set targets there many years ago, but I've never been to Pete's place.

Speaker 4 55:24

It's absolutely gorgeous. You need to make it up. Um it's it's put it in the bucket list. It's one of the places you need to go. I was there for the worlds when he had them a couple years ago, and uh couldn't believe uh how beautiful that and there you want to talk about somebody that busts their butt. It's Pete and his staff.

Speaker 2 55:40

Oh, I know, I know.

Speaker 4 55:42

They work hard.

Speaker 2 55:43

Um Yeah, we had Pete Downey coming out to set nationals one year. When would that have been? Probably maybe 2014, maybe. Yeah, and yeah, he worked his ass off. I mean, he's he's one of the good guys, there's no doubt about that.

Speaker 4 55:58

Absolutely, and he's got a lot of cool stuff, as you heard. He's got a lot of cool stuff in plan or in store for the U.S. Open. So look forward to that, Sue. That's gonna be a good one. Neil, moving on, so nationals this year, you were telling me, unless I misunderstood you, on the phone, that we are already set for another record breaker on attendance.

Speaker 2 56:19

Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, um current entries are over 2600. Wow. Um it always gets me though, you know, and because then I keep an eye on what the entries are, you know. You would think that the main event would be the the highest entry. Um it's not, it's always K Cup. Can you believe for that 100 bird event around that K Cup course, there's 2,224 people signed up.

Speaker 4 56:49

You've got to be kidding me.

Speaker 2 56:51

No, just for K Cup. Just for K Cup. Wow. Yeah, and super sporting again is one of those that's that's gaining traction. There's 1,65 already signed up for that.

unknown 57:03

Wow.

Speaker 4 57:05

That that is uh just that is my absolute favorite event. I like I would rather go shoot three super sporting courses than a main event. I just love super sporting. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's my ADHD. I keep my brain wrapped around the singles and reports and the truths, and I love that event. That's that's a funny.

Speaker 2 57:24

Well, what it is, Jason, is it's an easier version of Fitas. I shouldn't say that, but you went there, not me, Neil.

Speaker 4 57:32

You went there. That was that was Neil Chadwick, not Jason Rambo. So um, but no, I I do I do love super sporting. And is it gonna be up there? Uh up on I keep saying up on the top, like where it wraps around through the trees and comes out in the field. Turns out where it's it's rocking up.

Speaker 2 57:54

What are you talking about? Okay, a couple of super sporting.

Speaker 4 57:56

Super sporting.

Speaker 2 57:57

No, I'm gonna have to um because we're back on four main events down main event road, and I'm pushed for space. Super sporting will be back down on the dozen. That'll be um, you know, on those skeet fields down on the uh where there's those 12 skeet fields. Yeah. Um, so super sporting will be there. Uh Fitas will be what I call on 471, which is the furthest away that runs along that main road and then goes out into the open field.

Speaker 4 58:26

Okay.

Speaker 2 58:27

Um, I've moved a little bit. I love the way that the green course at World English worked for Fitas. I'm gonna see if I can do the same setup, and I know you didn't see it, but for the green course at Nationals, I've moved the sub gauge uh FITAS from where it usually is down to rifle and pistol so that uh I can get further north on that green course so we can shoot along that north side of the green course. Um hopefully that works. I've got to be careful of shot fall going that far forward, you know. But it no, it should be good. Jake and Drake and the guys down there have done a lot of uh trimming.

Speaker 5 59:09

Okay.

Speaker 2 59:10

Umrange course, you'll see two big openings. Remember where we used to go for station 10, you used to get up that corner under that big oak tree. No, we won't need to do that anymore. Uh, we've put another little bit of extra road in on the red course to try and alleviate the traffic problems on that narrow bit uh of the red course, you know.

Speaker 7 59:31

Okay.

Speaker 2 59:32

So we've made a few changes and they've uh made a few changes to the road uh with some more concrete work, some more asphalt work. So I think people that come back for nationals will see uh a little bit of a difference, some improvements that we've made as we go along.

Speaker 4 59:49

Very cool. Now, did you tell me that there is going to be three, or there already is three main event rotations in place? So you have the traditional four day at the end of the last week, and then I know you always had the weekend before. Are you looking at adding a third rotation or is there one in place now?

Speaker 2 1:00:08

We've already done it.

Speaker 4 1:00:09

Okay.

Speaker 2 1:00:10

So now you're talking about a third rotation for no, you're not talking about the main starts on the Saturday.

Speaker 4 1:00:16

Right.

Speaker 2 1:00:16

The Saturday the first Saturday.

Speaker 4 1:00:18

Correct.

Speaker 2 1:00:19

Also starting on that Saturday now is super sporting. K Cup and Fitas.

Speaker 4 1:00:27

Wow. You've had to back them up that much.

Speaker 2 1:00:30

Yep. Yeah. Um now for um there's a ton of people still on the waiting list, and I've had several calls saying that uh they get on Scorechaser and they say, Okay, I want to enter K Cup. And it says, sorry, K Cup is full. Well, it's not, but that nevertheless they get put on the wait list. So what happens there is that I'm I suggest that anybody that wants to shoot any of those Super Sporting K Cup or Fitas events gets on the waiting list. There are some openings, not many, but there are some openings on the main event for that first Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. And what happens is when you're on the waiting list, uh Casey and her crew go through them manually and try and fit you in and see whether you I want to shoot with Jason Rambo or see if there's a spot on your squad. Also, timing-wise, if you shoot at 10 30 on Tuesday, where do you fit in on Wednesday? You know, you know what I mean. So there's a lot of work that Casey and her crew do to get you plugged in to some spot to be able to shoot.

Speaker 4 1:01:51

Yeah. Well, my I've I signed up the week after it opened. I was able to get in the main, but in the K Cup, uh, but I am still on the waiting list for uh five stand and the well and the rotation I want for the super sporting. So I'm still on the waiting list for this. Because I was planning on being there on Monday night, shooting K Cup on Tuesday, super sporting on Wednesday, and then just having the main for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

unknown 1:02:28

Right.

Speaker 4 1:02:28

The main, I was able to do that. The K-Cup, I was able to do that, but the Beretta, I'm still waiting on, and and I tried to add five stand, and it's like, no, you're gonna wait a minute. So um it just gets so full so fast.

Speaker 2 1:02:40

You know, and see super sporting is a little bit different because we allow more time per rotation. So there's only three rotations on super sporting, whereas on K-Cup in the main, there's four rotations. So there is a limited number of spaces on on super sporting.

Speaker 4 1:02:57

Yeah. It's it's getting tough. Uh is there any is there any talk at the NFCA about wrapping up on Saturday and shoot-offs on Sunday, like we talked about, or is there any talk of adding more days on the front end or well we've added we've added days on the front end.

Speaker 2 1:03:17

What we did discuss just casually for the main event is believe it or not, starting on the Thursday and have a Thursday Friday rotation.

Speaker 6 1:03:29

Really?

Speaker 2 1:03:30

Before that first Saturday-Sunday. But you know, we've got to look at we've got to look at the numbers, you know. Um there'll be well, there'll be probably in excess of a hundred people drop out. Um you know, they s sign up early to get a place and then, you know, work schedule or whatever it might be uh prohibits them from from coming, so they drop out.

Speaker 6 1:03:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:03:55

But yeah, that we did discuss that, you know, and the logistics of it is uh horrendous, really, because it's you know, you've got to get the referees in, and you know we use a lot of the military for referees apart from their local people that referee. So, you know, if you start off that uh Thursday, now you've got to get a minimum of of 40 referees in there for that first Thursday Friday.

Speaker 4 1:04:21

Yeah, that's a big undertaking.

Speaker 2 1:04:24

Yeah, it it it really is, you know. But yeah, if it's if it's needed, we'll do it. It's you know, to to to to get people to come in. I mean, it's it's really taken off to be over 2600 entries now. This this is still this far out.

Speaker 4 1:04:42

That's incredible. That is absolutely incredible. I'm looking forward to it though. Um, definitely, without a doubt. Um, I'm probably gonna be spending two weeks in San Antonio because I got invited on a hunt again. So I'll be down in Del Rio for the week before. Um That'll be nice. Yeah. Uh I mean, as much as I'm looking forward to both of those things, it's also very tough being away from the family for a couple weeks at a time.

Speaker 1 1:05:09

Yeah.

Speaker 4 1:05:09

That was the whole reason I started this gig and got away from my other one, because I was tired of playing Landman, but now here I am back in the saddle again. But yeah, I mean, it's it's one of those shoots. I don't and don't take this the wrong way, Neil, because I know how much you and everybody at the NFCA puts into the shoot. The the Nationals is becoming less and less about the targets in the title as it is seeing everyone. It's a social event. You know what I mean? Because everybody's there. I mean, and it just keeps growing every year, and that's where I've spaced out where I'm only shooting a hundred targets a day because you know, if I'm gonna do any interviews or if I'm gonna meet with any of the sponsors or anything like that, I don't have time if I'm shooting more than a hundred targets a day. You look how big the place is, and you know, you're gonna interview somebody at two o'clock and You gotta be on rotation at three o'clock. You you got your hands full.

Speaker 2 1:06:04

So it's just it's but but Jason, you're you're one of the uh I call professionals that of the that wear more than one hat.

Speaker 4 1:06:14

Yeah you use the term use the term professional lightly with me now.

Speaker 2 1:06:19

So but you know, if you if you win a Mike Wilgis, you know, won the national title. It's uh Brandon has won it now a couple of times. You know, the national title is an accolade that is so difficult these days to achieve. Oh, absolutely. When you do achieve it, it is monumental for the person that has achieved that goal. Absolutely, you know, and then you look at the people that win their class. Well, when you've got 2,600 people there and you win your class, I don't care what class it is. That's you know, I'm gonna stick my chest out and go, I won that.

Speaker 6 1:07:01

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 1:07:03

Although I although I agree with you, it is certainly a great social event to meet old friends. I've got the two people that I met two years ago, uh Maria and Tez. They're coming back over from New Zealand again, so I shall see them. It is a social event, but it's so much more for the people that participate that do have a chance to win.

Speaker 4 1:07:27

Yes. No, and and don't take what I said lightly.

Speaker 2 1:07:31

I didn't.

Speaker 4 1:07:32

It's just that yeah. I mean, look, it's our friends from Australia. You know, I talk to them all year, I get to see them at the Nationals.

Speaker 1 1:07:41

Yeah.

Speaker 4 1:07:42

Right? And I talked to there's certain people I talk to all year long, I get to see them at the Nationals. Oh, by the way, there's a national title on the line that we're there to compete for. And and it and it used to be you went there for the national title, now it's become such a big event, and there's so many people there, it's real easy to get distracted, right? It's real easy to forget that you're there for a national title. And by the way, it's the largest sporting clay shoot in the world. So, I mean, it's it really, I don't know, it's something special. And I'll never forget credit to Chad Roberts. He told me years ago, I mean, this was eons ago. He's like, once you go, you'll never miss it again. I was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I he's right, I haven't missed it since. So um, and and I won't, you know what I mean? Um, I hold that that's a very prestigious shoot. And I hope throughout all the good and bad, we haven't discouraged anybody. Uh hopefully we've encouraged people to get out and shoot. And, you know, Neil, our message every week is the same. Take someone new shooting. If they're already a shooter, they shoot recreationally, take them to a tournament, introduce them to the the competition side, the the dark side, as Sean and I call it. And you know, who knows? They might get the bug like we did. Um, but so yeah, I mean, this is the national championship. And what a fun event. If you've never been to a tournament before, what a fun event to take someone to. There's so much going on, there's so much action at any one given time. You know what I mean? From 8 a.m. until I think the final round goes out at what, 3:30?

Speaker 5 1:09:21

Yep.

Speaker 4 1:09:21

And and and then on into the night, you have the top gun shootout, you have the east or the north versus south. Uh you have all the shootoffs on Sunday, the make a break uh shootout, which by the way is new this year. Make a break will officially be there.

Speaker 2 1:09:35

Yep. Yep. We've got uh Ed Preckel coming in to to run uh both make a breaks. There'll be uh Master A and then A through D. A through D. Yeah. Master double A will be to the left of the stadium and uh A through D will be on uh Skeetfield 3.

Speaker 5 1:09:56

Yes.

Speaker 2 1:09:57

Yeah. So no, I'm looking forward to Ed coming back down there. I've worked with him many, many years ago, and he's one of those that's a hard worker and he loves that make or break, you know? Uh and he does he does just such a super job at it. So I'm excited to have him there, and um, you know, hopefully he'll he'll he'll put on a really good show for us and uh we can perhaps get him back for Texas State, which is next April.

Speaker 4 1:10:23

Yes, Ed I Ed is so much fun, and and I've I've gotten to know Ed really, really well over the last six or seven years, and I have a hute with him every time, you know. I've handed that man more twenty dollar bills than I have my bank account, but uh you know, but it it's it's an addictive fun game, and I hope if it if you anybody listen to this hasn't tried it, you gotta go try it. It's it's a lot of fun. Um there goes another bug, so you'll get addicted to that one quick. Um, Neil, before I let you go, are we leaving anything out, buddy? Is there anything else you want to talk about or get out about the nationals or anything?

Speaker 2 1:10:59

No, not not really. Um you know, we've got a busy 2028 coming up, uh, where we have the world English back in this country, the world fitas, and obviously the US Open. So at our last EC meeting, we discussed how the bid process would work for those shoots, which ones got priority. You know, if you bid on a oh if you bid on a US Open then and get it, you can't bid on a world FITAS. So that you know, we don't expect two clubs to get two of those large shoots. Uh plus in 28 getting all the regionals in. Uh so we really spent some time on that and looked at the bid process. Prospective clubs will be asked to submit a five-minute video. Um, and again at the national delegates meeting, which is at nationals, if they want, it won't be mandatory. In the past, it's been mandatory that they stand up and give a presentation. Um, but we're hoping that we can get through all the presentations prior to the delegates meeting so that all the national delegates uh go, yep, that was a good uh presentation, that was a good video, whatever it might be, look through the paperwork, and then the delegates then can get hold of their national uh delegate and the EC people and go, Um, when you vote, I want you to vote for this club, yeah. Or I think this club should get it because whatever it might be. So it will still be up for uh the EC's vote at the end of the day as to who gets what. But that was uh we spent we spent a lot of time on that. Brett Seabuk came up with a brilliant way to do that. I'm not gonna explain it all now, but it it makes it so much fairer, you know, than it possibly was in the past. Uh the other thing that's been passed is, and I know this will jar perhaps a lot of people, um, in at the beginning of next year, there'll be an increase in target fees. Uh the increase is four cents increase.

Speaker 6 1:13:10

Okay.

Speaker 2 1:13:11

Now, the skeet people yet haven't got their act together, they're gonna increase their target fees. So there's a possibility that we will go two cents in 27 and 2 cents in 28.

Speaker 5 1:13:23

Okay.

Speaker 2 1:13:24

If the skeet people do that, that's what we will do. If they decide to add four to it in 27, then we'll probably follow suit. But I would prefer just to do two in 27 and two cents in 28.

Speaker 6 1:13:38

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:13:39

You know, people go, well, why? Where where's that money going? What are you gonna do? You know, well, there hasn't been an increase in target fees in the last 20 years.

Speaker 6 1:13:48

Oh wow.

Speaker 2 1:13:49

And we just heard what yesterday, David 4, inflation now is above four percent.

Speaker 6 1:13:53

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:13:54

So the amount of money that we're getting in for target fees doesn't buy us as much as it did 20 years ago. So that's really the uh that's warranted the increase in target fees, you know.

Speaker 4 1:14:06

Yeah, no, I understand. Interesting. Well, yeah, I mean, at least everybody's got a heads up. I could see wanting to break it up though across two years instead of all, you know.

Speaker 2 1:14:15

Yes, yeah, yeah, just to make it just to make it easier.

Speaker 4 1:14:18

Sure, sure. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 1:14:21

Yeah.

Speaker 4 1:14:22

Well, hey everyone, listen, uh I don't know if you caught it on the last show or not, but the dead pear color raffle is now up. Um, there is a link right down here in the bottom of the show description. Uh, click on that, it'll take you over to uh Give Smart, which is through Kids and Clays. Get your raffle tickets for that Dead Pearl Kohler gun. We're gonna be drawing it December uh I think 11th. No, sorry, the 12th at the Dead Pearl Blast at Rocky Creek. You do not need to be present to win. But there's some pictures on there. That is a absolutely gorgeous firearm. So get your raffle tickets in for that. If you are listening and paying attention, Neil gave the criteria for a junior shooter for the national championship. Uh, get me that email and I will make sure it gets sent to Neil. Um, I have I have a bat phone, I have a direct line to Neil. I can get that right to him. So um, but no, uh, get that sent in. Remember, uh, if you're buying from Taconic Distillery or RE Ranger, there is a 10 or Slick Products, there's a 10% discount. Uh, just use the code 10 or dead pair10 at checkout, or follow the links down in the show description. I want everyone to check out this outro that Toby Tomplay remixed for me uh that highlights all the sponsors. Check it out. He did a great job. Thank you to Toby for that. Thank you to my wonderful wife for putting this along. We went long today, Neil. Putting this long podcast together and making us sound good. Uh, because Neil attests that I sound like crap without her. So thank you, everyone. Thank you, Neil Chadwick. We appreciate you, sir. Uh, any any new information pops up, you know you're always welcome back here.

Speaker 2 1:15:57

Sure. Thanks for the opportunity, Jason. And you know, uh always try to keep my ear to the ground as to what's going on and new ideas, different ideas. But uh thanks for the opportunity to tell everybody about what's going on.

Speaker 4 1:16:08

Yes, absolutely. That's what we're here for. So don't hesitate, Neil. You know that.

Speaker 2 1:16:13

Yeah.

Speaker 4 1:16:14

But hey everyone, thank you very much for listening. And until next week, we can't wait to catch you all back here on the Dead Pear Podcast.

Speaker 3 1:16:22

We'll see you next time on the Dead Pear Podcast.

Speaker 1:16:25

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