It’s an interesting discussion with good points on either side you agree with. I wasn’t there so I can not judge it from first hand experience. But I think trying new ideas is healthy. Nothing has ever grown or lasted without change.

Parker won with the format of top 5 vs top 5, the way it should be. Parker won with top 2 plus random 3 vs top 2 plus random 3 with a lesser format. I’d rather see it go back to the original format instead of having it more a “luck of the draw” process. And yes, I missed an unprecedented 5 targets, four of them being a lazy right to left crosser!! I felt bad for the Parker shooters who shot mid-40s in qualifying and were left out because it was deemed better to have a lucky draw instead of performance dictate the squads. That’s my two cents worth. I know there are plenty of shooters from both organizations who prefer the original format. Just sayin’.

Perhaps We should consider a format of just more shooters on each team.
Perhaps 10 or even 15 on each.
I watched the entire event and it took less than 45 minutes.
I agree with the competitive shooters that it should be best not random.
Having 10 or 15 shooters might solve the problem of more inclusion and the problem of the best against best that day.

Maybe even have 5 big bores for each team and 5 small bores for each team with total combined for winner.

One difficulty Fox ran into was fielding a team under the top 5 score method. After a few years most average shots realized making the team by score was futile, it's nearly always the same guys. So many average shots never shot for score since shooting not for score is cheaper and the chances of qualifying were nil. The pool of Fox shooters is much smaller the Parker, the paid membership is one third.
One change I liked was holding the shoot off on Friday since many leave Friday to be home for the weekend.

Mark, with 10 shooters it took 45 minutes to an hour. Doubling that will just be a problem. Now you need two hours late day Friday (which I liked. Friday works better than Saturday) and most shooters and the range help have other things to do. This isn't the Smith-Parker where you have hundreds of qualifying rounds shot and there is a culture of participation among both groups.

Actually, all the rules says for qualifying is that you must shoot a 50 bird field event. Doesn't say whether that is an "official" round or a "fun" round. As long as the same targets are shot and the cards are checked at the Fox booth you should be good.

Sounds like a solution might be to keep the Parker Fox challenge competitive and create some more events that would be fun and anyone can participate in. The goal should be to increase attendance and keep them coming back.

Typical format it seems at these things is ties are decided by long run . At the present format I’d be awful disgusted if I drove the five plus hours it takes to get to Hausemann’s and shot a mid 40’s score that tied with two others for the #1 and #2 spots and then find I lost out because of the long run deal . Granted that could happen if it were the top five or top ten .

Craig you should create an event, decide the rules, schedule a time and place and put out the invites. It would be easy to do at either Mike’s place or Ernie’s. Who knows, you might come up with something really popular. That’s what William Harden Foster did.