Why is the attendance at SxS events down?

[John Liles]

Originally Posted by Mills Morrison

This is an interesting thread from my perspective of running Parker's part of the Spring Southern.

For the Fall Southern, we take the top 5 shooters and then the top youth shooter, lady shooter, senior shooter, super senior shooter and then a random shooter from those in the qualifying round

I hear ya Mills, as the same guy for the LC Smith team in the Fall. I've been associated with the Southern SXS events since I picked up my first shotgun of any flavor about ten years ago. Maybe I've not been paying attention, (not very likely) but I've never seen many of this threads posters at a single one of these shoots since I've been going. As for the same guns from the same folks for displays at the Southern, I've been tasked with that very thing for the last several years, and while it might not be fashionable for those of the one ilk to peruse the display of the other ilk, if they had they'd see that for at least the last couple of years(and for the foreseeable future if I have my way) we're showing average members guns with other than average characteristics. Hell, our shining star last spring was a beat-up, low grade Market Hunters gun complete with pictures of the original owner and the gun in front of rafts of hanging ducks waiting for rail transport to market. Included with the gun was also a picture of the current owner, (grand child if I recall correctly) in a darn diaper, sitting on the floor with the gun in the foreground. Pretty darn cool in my way of seeing things and pretty far removed from the dynamic pitched earlier in this thread.
The way I see things, feel good, everybody gets a trophy, the hell with scores, is great for those who don't spend the time to get good enough to be competitive, or whose skill level in their mind is directly tied to their ability to write a check for a gun that most could never afford.
I'll shut up in just a second.
Some folks are primarily collectors, and some folks are primarily shooters. Some folks are primarily BOTH.
Those that primarily collect, will always be happy to just show off their guns, and curse the wind, target setter, or solar anomaly that caused them to miss entirely too many targets today.
The primarily shooter contingent will always take these competitions too seriously, and dream all year of beating those rapscallions that bested them the last time out. (count me in on this category!)
Those that collect and shoot, and I'll not mention any names from either Team Parker or Team Smith, are the ones that love the guns, shoot for score, and look forward to the next outing whether they won or lost the last outing.
Sorry, as I know that I've pissed some folks off with my thoughts, and if I get banished...oh well.
Hope to see the rest of Team Parker at either the Fall Southern in a couple of weeks, or in Sanford in the Spring.
John