Eric is right. From what little I have seen, it was a great event, but I don't see any pictures yet.

I posted a few pictures under the events, shows, and conventions forum. Can you see them ? Strange that only 5 people have looked at it and no body has commented.

I have searched and see not pictures? I may be looking in the wrong place.

Ok I found the pictures under the parker/fox challenge.

Here they are:

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthr...411#post225411

Quite a bit of vendor / participant discussion sotto voce about this, Eric. Chuck posted some pictures and elaborated on the near-fiasco with the FPC when we couldn't locate one of our Fox shooters. Concensus is he never came back to check the leader board to see if he had made the team and most likely left the premesis before the 3PM shootoff! This, after having signed up, paid $50 for the qualifiying round, and coming back to turn his scorecard in!

There were in excess of 150 shooters overall but in typical fashion they trickled in & out in small groups according to their event classes and gauges. Hopkins staff did a good job checking with vendors through the tents periodically but nothing like prior events at other locations which shall remain unnamed. You have to remember that this is year 2 of Hopkins involvement in the VC; the learning curve IMHO is still steep for them.

Having been to every one of these things since the first one at Addieville (with the exception of last year), I can tell you one of the biggest problems with these events is advance publicity. Before the first VC at Pintail Point in MD, there was exactly ONE sign in the window of Albright's Gun Shop in Easton MD regarding the event. Last weekend at Hopkins, there was NOT ONE SIGN or notice at the full-service sporting goods store (think a "mini-Cabela's") or attached restaurant and quick-stop gas mart less than a half-mile away! I bet I talked to 20 people on Saturday who had no idea that they could go there for ice, paper towels, bottled water, bug spray, etc. And this at an establishment (Hopkins) that's been in operation for the better part of 25 years! After doing these type events since the 1980's, I'm convinced the key is a 'total immersion" approach with a little bit of Chamber of Commerce connection flavor (e.g., what's nearby, etc.). Also - ads in ALL the specialty mags, nearby storefronts, and on our BBS sights many months in advance. Without advance publicity these things happen in a vacuum.

I was at last years and this years VGC.

What Mr McCormick said is spot on.

Much more shooters this year over last. Much more shooters on the course and entering events.
More vendors. I don't know how the vendors felt. If guns were sold or not. I know I bought one but overall I just don't know how it went for them.

I will say this as far as from a shooting perspective (again shooting, nothing else): Mr and Mrs Hopkins and their excellent staff have done and are willing to do everything that has been asked of them. They made adjustments that were asked of them from last years event and made them much better this year. THEY ARE LEARNING and WILLING TO DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES to make this shoot a success.

IMO: advertising for next years event needs to start now. Just like Kevin said, all the usual magazines, journals, parker pages, LC smith journal, etc. Get the word out. On line sites, etc.



As for the course:
1. sub gauge course (410,32,28,24,20)
2. large bore course (16,12,10)
3. Two practice five stands
4. One competition five stand (FPC and Main event shoot off for HOA)
5. a great 6 machine driven flurry set up
6. 100 bird main event course (on a totally different part of the property)
7. Rifle course for big bore, stalking/ stopping rifles/ cape gun/ drilling/ etc


It is a big place. I do suggest a golf cart or gator or something. some were walking it but a cart helps.
Trappers at all stations and fields.
Water coolers on the course

great targets!!!!!!!!!!! for all events, each course with its own flavor.

Excellent staff. Very professional. they know what they are doing.
remember this is only their second time dealing with a side by side event. They are used to NSCA. so it is a big learning curve and very different than what they are used to.

I have nothing negative to say about the event, course, location, people, etc.
I am thankful the VGC is back and around and back again for next year. I will do everything I can to support both the VGC and Hopkins and the PGCA.

Thanks very much for the expanded view of the event, John - especially the layout and target regimens. I will 'ditto' your views on staff and attention to detail - they did a good job! Also your comments on the size and desirability of a cart - one thing I didn't notice until late Saturday was that they sent staff around with a huge water tank truck to dampen the dust down, which was becoming a real problem settling on guns & other merchandise on Thurs. and Fri. Great perception by these people!! They need our assistance to improve and propagate this event for the future. Better for them means better for us - vendors and competitors alike - lets work on it!

They need our assistance to improve and propagate this event for the future. Better for them means better for us - vendors and competitors alike - lets work on it![/QUOTE]

Could not be any more true. Well said Mr M.

Just my take on things.

Of course this is only the 2nd time Hopkins did the Vintagers event, but Hopkins has been putting on well run sporting clays tournaments for twenty or more years and surely knows how to do the shooting part. The question is: was Hopkins doing the event as per parameters set forth by the new Vintagers organization, or was Hopkins in the driver's seat and using the Vintagers name and goodwill to promote its own (Hopkins) SxS shoot?

Said another way, was this a Hopkins shoot or a Vintagers shoot? It seems the answer is the latter as there were Vintagers flying signposts at the entrance driveway to the club and none of the promotional posts I've seen either here or elsewhere were originated by Hopkins management or staffers.

If in fact this was a Vintagers shoot, the feedback and improvement ideas should be addressed to the Vintagers organization, not to Hopkins as some of the posts here seem to propose. I'm sure Hopkins will do whatever the Vintagers contracts for, and do it well, and I believe that the future improvement of this event lies primarily with the Vintagers leadership. Let's not chase the wrong rabbit.

One last comment, it didn't help that there were three competing events last weekend and the weekend before. And those of us in the north who didn't have other obligations and wanted to shoot or see some of the larger vendors before they travelled to Hopkins, had other options closer to home.

Again, all this is just my take fwiw.

frank