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Trap Talk From The Back Fence
Inside the World Shooting Complex w/ Brad Mayberry | Trap Talk Podcast E114
01:06:48
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- [00:24]
A
Welcome to season three of Trap Talk.
- [00:26]
B
Brought to you by Craig off the choice of champions.
- [00:30]
A
Welcome back to another episode of Trap Talk. I'm your host Zach Nini where we discuss all things trap shooting related. Bunch of trap lovers. On the show today we've got my co host Richard Marshall Jr. And Brad Mayberry. Welcome to the show, Brad.
- [00:44]
C
Hey, it's great to be here, guys.
- [00:46]
A
Ricky, you've known Brad for a long time. Give the, give the people a little intro on what he does, where he's from and. And why we love him so much.
- [00:54]
B
He's from Sparta, Illinois. I mean that's where he lives at now. Or close? Yeah, yeah, close. I mean but he, he is the head guy of. For trap and skeet for the World Shooting Complex. So Brad, you've been doing it what, three years now?
- [01:11]
C
Four years in Covid I got the official title. Yeah. Okay.
- [01:16]
B
Going on five years.
- [01:17]
C
Yeah.
- [01:18]
B
Because during the grand. During COVID grand, you actually came over to. To Missouri and worked at. And you were the guy that actually made sure that shoot ran pretty well because you were actually going back and forth. Right, we'll get into that in, in the episode here.
- [01:35]
C
But right.
- [01:35]
B
You know, Brad is the guy. If anybody wants anything done at Sparta, you get a hold of Brad. That's it.
- [01:42]
C
No one else.
- [01:43]
A
Well, yeah, I've known you for some years now, Brad, and you know, you've always ran a great shoot over there and then on top of that spent a lot of time together because now that we've got the, the trap talk Store, you know, when dad was up there fixing the store and renovating and doing everything, you were like his go to. He's like, I gotta call Brad. I gotta get in here and I need some guys and all this other stuff. So you know, we really appreciate all the help that you put in the effort into helping facilitate us make the dream come true. And, and that's why you're repping that make trap great again hat. I mean it looks good. That's a John Slinker special, but special. It looks, it looks good on you. So, so today's episode, just for the folks listening, we really wanted to talk to Brad about what it's like to run a shoot. You know, what's going on at the World Shooting Recreation Complex, any new shoots that are coming up and just some, some trap mechanic stuff because Brad's one of the guys that not only knows how to throw a shoot, but he also knows how to fix stuff as far as setting a target the right way, doing Maintenance on the traps, and just kind of some general stuff that gun clubs need to know. So I guess let's start there. Brad, I mean, for all the gun club managers listening or all the people on the board of directors, what are some things that you think are really important for, you know, maintaining your equipment or your mics or your, you know, just kind of keeping things generally working in a good direction for our gun club?
- [03:06]
C
Well, I mean, you know, it all starts with. With how you train your staff to handle the equipment. We. We service, obviously, everything ourselves. Short of if something's completely broken, we'll send a brain box out to target shotguns or somebody like that for repair. But it's all in how you set it up and tear it down. And I'm very meticulous on how I like the field set up. Cables run underneath, things like that. We've also invested a good portion of money into the mic savers, which is a device that goes on the end of the microphone that when you lay your equipment down at the end of the night, it keeps the speaker off the ground. Helps out a whole lot. Metal speakers are prone to get dented and beat up. We like to run equipment that looks very well aesthetically, and the mic savers help out with that. But really, it's just all about making sure that the people know how to take care of the equipment.
- [04:03]
A
So that mic saver is just like a. A welded piece of metal that goes on the. The pole and holds it up, or what's.
- [04:11]
C
Is. So it's a. A piece of plastic, but it's not plastic, and it bolts onto where the microphone is. And basically it's just a. It's a long square tube. It's about, you know, about this long, so that when it lays down, it lays on that plastic piece and the microphone is off the ground. I see Steve Ricketts from mta, he is the one that designed that. And we. We bought all 24 fields on the west line, which is what we primarily use. All 24 fields on the west lines. So if it gets blown over in the wind and things like that, you get no damage with that because it hits that mic saver first.
- [04:53]
B
Kind of like a doors.
- [04:55]
C
Yes. Very affordable to the very expensive microphones when they get blown over in the wind. And as we all know, Sparta is always windy.
- [05:03]
A
Yeah.
- [05:03]
C
Or. Or it's miserably hot.
- [05:05]
B
Yeah, exactly. You don't get the mediocre.
- [05:08]
C
No.
- [05:08]
B
Yeah.
- [05:08]
A
You need that air conditioning running when you're down there, that's for sure.
- [05:11]
C
For sure.
- [05:12]
A
All right, folks, we got to take a quick second and give a huge shout out to our title sponsor, Craig Off. Me and Ricky Bull.
- [05:18]
C
Shoot him.
- [05:18]
A
We both love them.
- [05:19]
C
Yeah.
- [05:20]
B
Best gun in the industry. I shoot them, I sell them. Nothing better, folks. Get yourself a Craig up. Your scores will increase.
- [05:27]
A
Yeah, I mean, Ricky's got hundreds and hundreds of hundreds with his. I mean, I've got a few hundreds, but. But I'm always working to get a little bit better, and they definitely help me, that's for sure. So on top of that, we also got to thank winning. I'm wearing the shirt today. Love this shirt. If you're down at the grand, pick one up.
- [05:41]
B
Yeah, Winning. Like I said, Zach, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of my winning stock. You know, get ahold of Bobby, Luke, Bill, get an appointment set up. They will make you a better shooter with that winning stock.
- [05:54]
A
Of course. Yeah. The Grand's the great place to do it. Give them a call, get on their book. It's worth your time.
- [05:58]
B
Just remember, winners shoot winnings.
- [06:00]
A
With that being said, let's get back.
- [06:02]
B
To the show so that. That stop. So what. What are those usually cost?
- [06:07]
C
You know, I'm. I'm not sure. I'll. I would have to look and I. It was. It was less than $2,000 to do 24 fields, I believe. Yeah.
- [06:18]
B
So not.
- [06:19]
A
Not bad.
- [06:20]
B
Basically, 90. What is that, 20?
- [06:24]
C
25 times four. So 100 to do a hundred microphones. Okay. No, 125 microphones. 25 times five. Yeah, yeah.
- [06:31]
B
125 microphones. So that's fairly reasonable at. You're about 15 bucks a piece.
- [06:39]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [06:40]
A
That's not bad at all. I mean, if you just imagine if you broke one mic, what that's going to cost you, right? So every time you break one.
- [06:48]
C
So that really helps us out because everybody's used to just laying the speakers on the ground. Well, they're going to get damaged or they're going to get wet. If it rains, you're going to get some kind of moisture and it creates a barrier, keeps a speaker off the ground. It literally takes two minutes to install, and it comes with all the hardware.
- [07:04]
A
So I've noticed that you guys do a really good job of making sure that all the fields, you know, and obviously it's different at the grand versus at, like, your local shoots of the weekend, that you're running it. Right. Because on. On the grand, you actually physically run everything. Or is the grand the one shoot that you take a step back?
- [07:19]
C
So, yeah, so I actually Started my career with the ATA in 2011 as a scorer and loader. I actually started out as a loader and they. My bank supervisor, who is still there, Penny Gibson, I don't know if you know her. She was my bank supervisor initially. And I. It goes that, you know, once they found out I could count, I was a little more. He's a good one. Little more useful, the scorekeeper than, Than a. Than a loader and. And then score doubles because I absolutely love scoring doubles because it's just, it's fast, it's fast, it's fun. And I, I slowly progressed. When the ATA moved their office to Sparta in 2012, I was asked to come do some maintenance stuff around the building because I was local and I was fairly knowledgeable. And so Lynn brought me on board to basically, you know, we painted walls and moved things around and, you know, all the general maintenance stuff. And I stayed doing that for a while before I came over with, with, with dnr. But after a few years, I. I became a valuable asset to the pre. Grand is what we call it, which is basically when we come in and set everything up, when the ATA does, you know, Lynn handles everything on the back end. I basically get a list and say we need this done by this date and this done and this is coming in this date. I just basically facilitate it getting done. You know, he tells me what needs, what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by. We get the staff to do it. You know, before we ever get to the grand, we put 2 million targets in the house. Yeah, it takes a solid week to put targets in the house. So during the grand, my job is basically logistics. I'm handling all the back end stuff, making sure that we have enough targets in the houses, setting up the evening events, making sure the PA system works, which is a challenge.
- [09:14]
A
That's important.
- [09:16]
C
Yeah, yeah. We're actually getting ready to redo our PA system now and then that's on the ATA side of handling all that stuff and basically setting up the entire event, the nuts and bolts of what. What goes on during the grant and then keeping it running during the grant. You know, I'm out and about all the time. I'm. Most people probably see me just driving around, but I'm waiting for that phone call when something breaks for me to go fix it. Now during the grant, I don't have anything to do with the machines. The trap machines, they bring in the best crew in the world to set targets and work on the machines. Yeah, they start on the Machines. When we start loading houses, they're doing full service on the machines angle, mastering every field. So during the grand, I'm just handling the back end stuff and making sure that we have a night load crew. And then on the DNR side, I'm handling some of the building related issues or vendor related issues, power issues on our side. So I kind of split my time during the grand for both of those entities. But my guys on the DNR side handle all the cardboard trash hulls. You know, trash alone. We're two, two roll off dumpsters a day, every day.
- [10:28]
A
And I would think it's got to be huge. I mean just the amount of, I mean the holes, cases of shells. And then with all the vendors, I mean every day they have garbage from all the food and lunches and stuff. I mean everybody's eating all that stuff. It's got to be.
- [10:42]
B
I mean that takes up a dumpster itself, I'm sure.
- [10:46]
C
And so we don't throw cardboard away, we recycle it. So we have that added added into it as well. The DNR side of it, we do it with 14 people. Our staff is about 14 strong. Couple people during the day that basically pull our trash midday. And the bulk of the crew is at night handling, getting everything else ready for the next day.
- [11:04]
B
Yeah, because I know you guys have a huge night crew. Because we see, of course, you know, last year, of course we had the trap dock building open late every night normally.
- [11:13]
C
Yeah.
- [11:14]
B
And you guys are always, I mean especially. And you can't do a lot of stuff till after shoot offs are over even.
- [11:20]
C
Right. And I can remember years ago when I first started, it wasn't uncommon to see night crews on both sides. The ata which they're loading the houses and my night crew guys that are picking up the trash and stuff, 3 and 4 in the morning, we've got it down to now 90% of the time, nobody's staying after midnight.
- [11:39]
A
That's fantastic.
- [11:40]
C
If it's a shoot off situation, I'll bring people in early, early in the morning to clean that area up, which is what usually happens. We have a morning crew that'll come in and take care of all that. So we've really streamlined in the decade plus that I've been there of basically how to get those crews where they need to. And I have a great staff that work with me, that have been with me several years as well.
- [12:03]
B
So do you have during stuff over and over every year that come back? I'm sure they have other jobs too, so.
- [12:10]
C
Well, so I. I'm lucky enough that I have. I started out with high school kids, and that's what I like to do. I'll get somebody that's a junior in high school. And like, right now, the. My. My secondhand man. I got him when he was a junior in high school, and now he's a sophomore in college. And so during the winter, the schedules get a little. You know, he's working Mondays and Fridays this year, and then some days on the weekends. Yeah. So usually during the day, it's just me and. And. And our front desk attendant on the trap and skeet side. But I'm lucky enough that I've had those guys for a long period of time. I can just tell them what to do, and I know that it's going to get done. And I have two guys like that, so. And basically this year, they're training their replacements for when they. When they go away. And we. Unfortunately, there is a vicious cycle. You know, it. There's. You know, you can't pay somebody a whole bunch of money to do that job. No, it's not a career to be.
- [13:08]
A
It's just a job for the time being, a couple years. You do it past the time, and then you kind of roll to the next stage in life. So it's obviously got to be hard to good people consistently.
- [13:17]
C
It is. It is. And I've been blessed with two, and I've got a third one that's coming along now that we're working with, which will take over for those guys when they. When he. When he leaves.
- [13:27]
A
All right, folks, we got to take a real quick break and acknowledge the official target of the ata, White Flyer. They've been sponsoring us since the beginning, and they make a great target. What do you think, Rick?
- [13:37]
B
It's the best target in the ata. Shout out to everybody there, all the reps, you know, Bill Daniels, Josh Taylor, Nick Arnold, Robert Crow, everything they do for the sport and all the shoots. Really appreciate it.
- [13:49]
A
They're always there. They're always trying to make a better target, and they're always supporting the game that we love so much. With that being said, let's get back to the show.
- [14:02]
C
You know, on the grand side, I don't handle the staffing, but we get the same staff back every year. You know, all of your bank supervisors have. All have been at the grand at least once, if not twice, some several years. So we have a really, really good staff during the grand side of it. Now, outside of the grand, on a. On a shoot, my staff, we handle Everything from the scorekeeping. I hire all the scorers and loaders, we handle all the trash and things like that, which is again, my right hand guys. They're actually trained mechanics too. I mean they can do almost everything to a machine. Anything major they would call me. But they can fix jams, they can fix a machine that's went out of angle or you know, CVR stuff. That's all CVR stuff is very basic. It's just plug and play. But yeah, you know, right now my guys are working on escape machines. We, we tore our skate machines completely down to the frames this year and we're overhauling the skate machines and so I've showed them how to do it on two machines and they, they picked up instantly. They're both mechanically inclined people and so they're, they're rebuilding the ski machines and I'm just kind of, I check on them every once in a while.
- [15:12]
A
So what I'm hearing in general is, is maintenance. I mean, you guys seem to be doing maintenance on your stuff. It's not like you could have a trap club and just throw machines in there and leave them for 10 years and not touch them. Right. I mean, you're, you're, you're constantly going through and checking things and cleaning things and adjusting things at some level. Is that correct?
- [15:32]
C
Yeah, I mean, to some degree, yes. The, the, you know, we all have PAT traps and they're just good reliable machines. I hear a lot of horror stories from other clubs that have PAT traps and, and I don't know how you can get behind on the maintenance on a PAT trap because there's nothing to the maintenance of a PAT trap. Some o rings and brushes, a break, you know, you're checking fluid levels and greasing things. This is all very basic, basic stuff. So yeah, it's all maintenance. And whether it be the PA system or, you know, I'm, I'm very particular on lights, the lighting and building lights. We had like 40 building lights out, so my guys were going through and replacing all the building lights. We want the facility to, to show the best picture possible when people come out to it.
- [16:21]
B
Well, it's a world shooting complex and I mean, we know since we a building there, you know, there is the maintenance and, and I mean I've been involved, you know, I've sold guns for game masters and now that's, you know, done. But you know, we had a building there that, you know, there's issues. You have little stuff come up. I mean, faucets, I remember, you know, someone like, well, who do we call? I'm like, you gotta call Brad.
- [16:44]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [16:45]
B
Brad's a guy being everything. So not only are you doing stuff, you know, you're the head for trap and ski all the time, but also, like during the grand, you also in other times, you're in charge of all the maintenance on the buildings too.
- [16:58]
C
Yeah, a good majority of it. We do have another person that handles some of the maintenance responsibility, but for a majority, if we wanted to get it done, we rely on our staff to get it taken care of. Now we only do things to a certain level. You know, if it's above what we feel comfortable doing, we will go to a contractor, like plumbing. There are certain plumbing things that it's not in my purview to even try to work on. We'll just bring somebody in. We have local plumbers nearby that we can bring in. Same thing with electrical. You know, we had an event, it's been years ago, where we lost the whole substation. And I go into the substation to try to turn it on while it was melted. And the electrician's like, you probably shouldn't be in that 25,000volt enclosure. And I said, noted, you won't see me in there again. I'll call you next time I'm out. So. So yeah, like some of that stuff, you know, we, we. We pass on to people that are more knowledgeable than us. The small level stuff we can all handle. We can paint walls and we can fix outlets and light bulbs and. And another big product, General maintenance. Yeah, general maintenance. General facilities maintenance.
- [18:03]
A
All right, trap talk listeners, let's take a couple seconds and thank a couple more sponsors. First of all, Remington's been with us since day one. I've been shooting these shells since 2007. I shoot the Nitro 27 from 27 yard line, ounce and eight, seven and a half and STS, ounce and eighth eights for singles and doubles. They've worked great for me as they do a lot of top shooters all around the country. Give them a try. Don't forget the gun club line. When you're practicing and you're wanting to save a little bit of money.
- [18:31]
B
We'd also like to thank another sponsor, Outlaw Engineering. Randy Freston. R2. I've known Randy since, since 1988. They do engineering, survey and drafting, GIS, civil structural land development, wetland permitting. They do.
- [18:47]
A
And they're friends of trap shooters. I mean, they're trap shooting family. They've been in the ATA forever. His dad's Been involved, they're involved. They're beautiful family. They're great people. And we just love that they listen to the show and we love that they support trap talk.
- [18:59]
C
Yeah.
- [19:00]
B
His dad was past president, 1989. So I really want to thank those guys for the support and really appreciate it here.
- [19:07]
A
With that being said, let's get back to the show. So, so, so getting back to the trap side, you know, it sounds like we talked about, you know, changing brushes, changing rubber bands. Are you a big fan of sanding the arms? I mean, I know we talked to Sean Holly about that. Do you guys utilize that at all or.
- [19:24]
C
We do. We do sand the arms every day that we're going to have an event now on your average weekend and things like that. Probably not. We may hit them, we may not. It just depends. But for an event. Yeah, it is. We have a two by four. Not a two by four, but a one by with a. With sandpaper on it. We do give it a. Give it a little. A little buff. Now we're. We're also listening.
- [19:47]
A
That might not know why. Why do you scuff the arms? What does it do to the target to make it better?
- [19:53]
C
I just feel that it gives it a better presentation. So maybe a little spin, a little more traction on the target. We just see that it. It does fly a little better. The target does.
- [20:03]
B
It's more stable. Zach, with the. When you sand the arm, it roughs that rubber up just enough to where. Grabs on to that target because you.
- [20:15]
C
Do get a lot of natural debris and the pitch material that comes off the target and does coat the arm. Yep. You know, on the arm situation as well, we replace our arms every other year at the shooting complex. Unless we are. We are.
- [20:31]
B
How many targets do you throw annually there?
- [20:33]
C
You know, I think that our mega Target award, which includes the grand, is over 4 million. You know, I wanted to say that I. I just did my rebate for White Flyer a couple weeks ago and I wanted to say it was 5 or 600,000, maybe a little more than that. I'm not 100% sure.
- [20:52]
A
On the west side.
- [20:54]
C
From the west side. Including not.
- [20:56]
A
Not including. Not including the grand. Because you probably are throwing a half a million targets or more just between the US Open and the local shoots in the leagues and the practice that you do on that side.
- [21:06]
C
Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, we. We're not just. We're not just the grand. We're not just the US Open. I host at least one. A one day registered shoot every month. Outside of August and September. I don't want to shoot in September. It's always too hot. You're coming off the grand for me. That's just not. We don't ramp back up till October. But we also have ACUI Collegiate competition. We have the largest ACUI competition short of their nationals at the shooting complex, which is in October. Yeah. You know, over 400 competitors for three days. It's amazing. It's growing astronomically.
- [21:45]
B
When is. Is that like the second week of October?
- [21:47]
C
Yeah, second week of October. And that has changed. You know, years ago, Russ Arnold used to be involved with that, and now it's. It's Taylor. And now they're with SCTP as well. Yeah. So we're seeing immense growth there. We picked up their spring shoot, which was. Was held in Missouri, and it's up coming up in just a few more weeks, so it could be interesting for the first one of the spring style here. But we're still over. Over 220 athletes registered so far for the event.
- [22:16]
A
That's incredible.
- [22:17]
B
And they're shooting everything.
- [22:18]
C
Trap, skeet and sporting trap, skate sporting trap, doubles, skeet, doubles and super sporting. Yep. Boom. And you guys are doing it.
- [22:27]
A
I mean, you're throwing some big shoots.
- [22:29]
C
Yeah. We have SCTP state, which is, you know, 400 athletes. We have an SCTP regional. The Southern Illinois Youth Shooting Association. Youth Shooting Sports association is immense. You know, there's over 400 registered athletes in the Southern Illinois Youth Shooting Sports association, which is just the southern half of the state. Yeah. I mean, it's phenomenal.
- [22:50]
B
What about skeet? I mean, you guys used to throw a big skeet shoot once a year, and then are you guys still doing any of that, or is that kind of dwindled down a little bit?
- [23:01]
C
Yeah, I mean, we don't put our own skeet shoot on. Okay. Because of financial reasons associated with skeet, we're not. We don't have the luxury to pay certified referees the way that some other facilities can. Yeah. But we do have an outside guy that lives in Missouri that puts skeet shoots on at our facility. Skeet just when it went away, it's hard coming back. Yep. We are seeing a very large increase in our public shooting. Just not the registered side, not the NSSA side, but I mean, NSSA registered targets. You know, we're right there at number two in the state because. Because of our youth programs, SCTP State is required to register their. Their. Their skeet targets. So, I mean, we. We throw skeet 10, 12 times a year for events Just not public events. But so now we're. We've. We're basically. We've maxed out how many fields we have. We have 24 skeet houses. We don't have machines in 24 houses. Okay. They would always used to bring in Promatic to fill the other machines for the large event, which is the SCTP Nationals. But so now we've. We're buying two brand new Mattarelli machines that are Olympic specs. So we're going to put in two Olympic skeet fields. Well, that'll be great because we're seeing a rise in the Olympic skeet side of it. Yeah. Which is very, very humbling. I love to shoot the Olympic Games, whether it be bunker or skeet. Yeah. Yeah.
- [24:36]
B
International skeets. Probably one of the most humbling games as far as. Especially for me as a trap shooter, even though I shoot a lot of sporting that gun mount. You know, I trained years ago when we had the world all around with Kim Rhodey, and I remember her dad was like, your gun mount's the worst I've seen. I said, well, I've mounted the gun like a million and a half times shooting trap, and I've done it like 50 times. Shoot International ski, because it's all in how you flip that gun.
- [25:05]
C
Right. And we're fortunate enough that we have an amazing. Several amazing collegiate programs within reach. We have, obviously Lindenwood, which is just across the river from us. They come down and practice a couple times a year. You know, my former boss, Lauren Dunn, is. She is running that program now. And, you know, she was amazing when she was at the facility with us and managed to get a lot of stuff accomplished for us. And so they come down and visit us, and they're a big part of that ACUI because they can bring their whole team to that because it's literally just across the river. There's no. No cost involved for the travel.
- [25:41]
B
Crazy travel. Just drive. That's it.
- [25:44]
C
Yeah. So we're growing.
- [25:46]
A
It's great to see the improvement that you guys have made and the consistent, loyal followers that you have of people that are coming down there wanting to train, wanting to be involved. I mean, even people just wanted to shoot the practice sporting clays. I mean, that's a pretty busy sporting clays course as far as just, you know, regular people wanting to go out and shoot it. I mean.
- [26:03]
C
Yeah.
- [26:03]
A
I mean, want to drive up all the time on the weekends and shoot it.
- [26:07]
C
Sporting clays in the fall and the late spring, it's almost impossible to get out on the course on a weekend because there are so many fundraisers and events like that. The sporting clay course is rocking and rolling. We just got a new manager in down there and she's really learning the ropes. And we brought back some of the previous staff that was doing the mechanicing side of it to get all that stuff lined out. Yeah, I mean, sporting clays is fun. It's kind of one of my go to's in the evening after the grand if I can get away because it's fun and relaxing and it's a challenge. I mean, trap shooting isn't a challenge for me. I'm a solid C class shooter. Maybe B, depending on the day, but I'm getting better, you know, I, I really didn't. I'm just starting to shoot a little more and more every year.
- [26:51]
B
Well, shooting sporting will help you too with the trap. I'm a big believer in that.
- [26:56]
A
Just shooting a shotgun in general. Whether it's that sporting clay, ski trap, a bird or whatever it might be. I mean, just the more time you get recognition, shooting at things, moving. I think me and Rick both believe that you're, you're always picking something up every time you're handling a shotgun. I mean, I love learning and just having a good time.
- [27:16]
B
Yeah, that's one thing. And that's the cool thing about the world shooting complex is you do have, I know skeets not open during the grammar, but we do partake, you know, and I know all the kids, you know, they like to go up and shoot sporting, you know, a couple times during the grand and I've had some parents, like, I don't know if I want my kid doing that. I'm like, it's fine, let him shoot, let him hurt.
- [27:38]
A
It ain't gonna hurt anything.
- [27:39]
B
It's another experience of the Grant. You know, there's all the side events during the grand with, you know, the sub gauge stuff and the double stuff, handicap doubles, all the fun. Absolutely.
- [27:51]
A
Have fun, do whatever you want to do. Just make sure you're having fun. I mean, if you're too tired to do it, then don't do it. But if you're but fun and want to go out, go do it. But we got another sponsor we gotta thank. Shotguns west the Peel us, baby. Check out these wings. You Ricky don't got these. He ain't that stylish, folks.
- [28:08]
B
Listen, Zach tries to wear these driving down the road doing podcasts. It's okay, we still love it when you look good.
- [28:14]
A
You don't have to apologize Guys, remember that not only can you hit more targets, but you could look good doing it. Give Ryan a call.
- [28:20]
B
That's right.
- [28:21]
A
With that being said, let's get back to the show. You know, Brad, one thing I did want to spend a little bit of time on before we skip past, because I know you talked about the shoots and everything. You know, I was under the impression last year, didn't you throw your first ever silver shootout or what did you call that shoot? I mean, what was the name of it?
- [28:37]
C
So when I first came along, we had the spring classic and the fall classic. Everybody has a spring classic and a fall classic. So I'm like, we got to change the name. It's got to be something different. And so I got hooked up initially with Jeremy at trap shooting trophies. Have you heard? Have you heard of him?
- [28:53]
A
I have.
- [28:54]
C
His trophies are phenomenal. And so the first. The first year I do his trophies for the fall. For the fall shoot, and they're Maple Leafs. And for the spring, I was looking for something a little different. And we have a friends group at the shooting complex which kind of helps in acquiring things for us. They'll come out and. And help us pick up trash or help us with projects and, you know, funding source for us to do some odds and ends around the facility. Yep. And so we try to give them a fundraiser every year to. To help, you know, get raise. Help them raise some money. And so I went to. I don't remember where I went. Maybe I saw it with our Indians, our local Indians, which is the Illini Indians. They give away silver every year at their shoot. And I said, man, wouldn't it be cool to give away silver? And. And I. I'd saw him that. That. That slinker had given away some silver at Nevada. And I said, man, we got to do silver. We got to do silver. And so I had to. I didn't even have to convince him because the friends group is just there to help us out any way they can. And I said, this is what I want to do. I want to give the silver away. We're going to sell sponsorships to cover the silver costs. It's just going to be 100% in your pocket. You have to pay for the labor. And so we did. And everybody loved it. We gave away graded silver Eagles and 1 ounce bars, 5 ounce bars, 10 ounce bars. So this year, and we had fairly good attendance last year, we were handicapped with. They put a kids shoot at a different facility nearby us on top of it. So our numbers weren't exactly what I wanted. We still, we still, we didn't lose money on the shoot, but we could have been so much more. So this year I was like, well, I called, I called John and I said, hey, can you give me the contact info for Midstate Precious Metals? And. And so he did. And so I reached out to Ron and I said, look, this is what I want to do. This is what we've done in the past. And so he locked me in at a rate and I mean, I think we were on track to get about 20 more silver because we went through him than where I bought it at online previously. And, and so the program is just about ready for that. We'll be releasing that in the next week or two. But it's a three day shoot, singles handicap, doubles, you know, 200 singles on Saturday and then a doubles event. And then we're also going to do, we're, we shoot a lot of wobble here. People love the international. It's a game that I love to throw and have a good time. So we're going to do an international event where, where we give away 10 ounce, a 10 ounce cougarrand to the winner of the international competition. Only three places. First, second and third. 10 ounce, 5 ounce, 2 ounce. And it's all international currency between Krugerrands, Mexican Libtards and then British pounds in silver. So something different. Some, you know, international. Which international is. Is two shots per bird.
- [31:53]
B
Yep.
- [31:53]
C
And I crank that machine up until it breaks the target and then we back it off and then I widen the angles out as far as possible. You know, like the old, the old guys say the three hole targets or whatever, two hole, whatever. As wide as you can get without bouncing off the walls. And it's very humbling.
- [32:11]
A
You guys out of that house?
- [32:14]
C
It is out. Yeah. You know, what yardage are you going.
- [32:19]
A
To shoot it from?
- [32:20]
C
Oh, it's hard enough to shoot at the 16. We're just going to leave it right at the 16.
- [32:24]
A
Okay. I mean 16 yards, two shots, 100.
- [32:27]
C
100 targets. Is that 150 targets?
- [32:31]
B
So you're basically putting about 18 turns.
- [32:35]
C
On the spring then I guess from the start. Yeah, something like that.
- [32:40]
B
Because we ended up last year at Wisconsin State shoot. Ryan Glow and I had to shoot off the singles and they, the guy kept putting, jay kept putting two turns on every round. And we got up to 18 turns and we were still straight and we shot two more rounds and he's like, okay, you guys got to figure something out. We're like, all right, let's shoot handicap and he goes like this and we go no, back it off to legal. I but throw it to the stake and add a turn. We ended up going three more rounds and he kept adding turns to it and I was like, Jesus, you know. But yeah, you. And then you put on a wobble that's gonna make it even though is it below the roof?
- [33:21]
C
No, we keep it right at the roof line. But that's, that's the ones that get you. Because as somebody that you know, for me I hold high. I'm a high. I hold high on the house. I don't even see the target come out so I gotta lower my hold point which is just crazy to do. But it's, it's fun. We. We have a wobble field open every day. We're open so nice. And we crank it up as much as possible. And so the next step we're going to do is we're going to probably put a spring on it instead of a band so that we don't wear. Wear the bands out so much, you know from cranking them all the way up. So it's fun. And then we got heavy into the black lights and we do. We did some black five stand and some blacklight trap that went over really, really well. So we're going to do a black light 5 stand as well.
- [34:05]
B
The Cosmic.
- [34:06]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We went out and we bought our own equipment. Our friends group once again helped us out and they bought all the equipment for it. And we're actually going to shoot that where we have our five stand down by sporting clays. And it'll be a massive. Instead of compacted on a trap field it'll be a very large five stand.
- [34:22]
B
Oh nice.
- [34:23]
C
Yeah.
- [34:24]
B
And the cosmic five stand is great. My local club here in Lincoln, Trabisquite shout out to them and John Sturts, he's the one that does it all. But we have a heated enclosed.
- [34:35]
C
I seen this video.
- [34:36]
B
Yeah. And it. I tell you, I went out and shot gets very humbling. I mean I was in. I think I broke like 37 or 38. You can't see the end of your barrel. But here was. You know, John loves to throw some crazy targets but he threw a rabbit and it bounces through all the targets and it's just like a big blur going by and. And it was windy as heck. But it is a lot of fun and they do it. They started I think it is 5:30 and it's every half hour till 9:30. And once he posted on score chaser. Usually within 30 minutes. It's sold out. Every day is sold out.
- [35:15]
C
Yeah. So when we, when we did our five stand the first time, the problem that we ran into is that we didn't have enough time, you know, for us we're starting late. It was last fall when we did it and we were there to like midnight and I was so cold because for a labor stand. Labor standpoint, I'm the only one staying. I'm just gonna run the score so I can send everybody else home. And so we bought enough equipment to do two fields so we can set up two identical fields so we can get more people out there to shoot. Yeah, but yeah, like a green rabbit. I mean it's just so crazy bright out there because it's such a big target. And we threw, we threw. We had a bunch of leftover crush targets. And crush targets are pretty cool in the black light as well.
- [35:58]
B
Yeah. Oh yeah. Especially with the orange now they look great. Considered doing the enclosed one. So what they did is they just took a. Basically an old semi trailer and they just cut, actually cut six holes in the wall, one for the score. And that one is actually got plexiglass over it. So you don't. You get the cool. But the other ones, they have sliding doors on them that just plywood that slides over when you're not using them. But there's usually two or three, you know, propane heaters in there. And it's not that. That day we were out there, I.
- [36:33]
A
Mean, it was bad cold, it's toasty, it's nice.
- [36:37]
B
You, I mean, it's not bad. And we used to have a deal on the trap fields here at Lincoln Traps Key, which was an enclosure you could go in and same thing, shoot trap out of. And those though, that would get too warm in there. And they had. I was like, it's 20 below zero and you're wearing shorts and a T shirt. So you can go shoe trap indoors.
- [36:56]
A
Getting too hot in this month.
- [36:58]
C
Yeah, yeah. I mean we went a whole week when we had all that snow and stuff. People just don't come out to shoot trap in that weather.
- [37:05]
B
Exactly.
- [37:06]
C
You know, and for us, the winters can be really harsh. Not harsh compared to you, but I mean harsh compared to us because we're seeing 30 mile an hour winds.
- [37:14]
A
Harsh compared to when you go outside and shoot singles. No, not going to happen.
- [37:20]
C
And on the days when we get 40 degrees, you'll have 40 people show up because they think there's a heat wave. I mean, you know, Yesterday we had, which was Sunday, we had a lot of people come out because it was the first nice day. I mean, yeah, there was probably 50 or 60 people to come out. Shoot practice.
- [37:34]
A
Hey, Trop Talk listeners, let's take a quick second to thank a couple more amazing sponsors. Sos, Clay Shoot Management, they're doing a fantastic job. I love the app. I love being able to see everything on my phone instantaneously. It's freaking awesome. Rick, what do you think?
- [37:48]
B
Yeah, Greg Pink and his group over there, I mean, they've got majority of the satellite grants, majority the state shoots. I think it's 40 plus state shoots they're doing. But the app, honestly, we were doing a little beta testing with that at the spring Grand. It's awesome. You can see your squad if they paid. You know, you can see your options, your payouts, the whole works of the. Your fingertips. Great deal. They're just.
- [38:10]
A
Ricky, how much money he made before he even got off the line, he was like, hey, I'm buying lunch. I'm like, yeah, good job. We're good to go. We also got gun and trophy insurance. I mean, they're the best in the business. I. I know they're. They're great price. Ricky, you're familiar with them, right?
- [38:25]
B
Yeah. Cole and Larry Cushman been longtime supporters of myself and, and I've been a supporter of them. And, you know, especially with my college team, you know, we require insurance. It's so fast and easy to sign up and get your insurance. In literally 10 minutes, you can have your guns insured. And they're just great. They're great to deal with. Like I said, you can do your trophies also, you know, your, your wildlife, animals and that such, and your guns. It's just a great.
- [38:54]
A
It's always good when you're traveling around to have that peace of mind and know that you don't have to worry about losing your stuff forever. And these are expensive things, especially when you got those Craig offs. You got to keep them insured, so.
- [39:03]
B
Oh. With that being said, let's get back to the show.
- [39:06]
A
Here's a question I have for you because, you know, you really have a good temperature on the local crowd that feeds the ATA shoots, and you have a lot of league stuff going on. You know, how much conversion do you get between, like, the local league shooters that actually come out to the US Open and actually come out to these ATA shoots? And. And do you think that having a consistent league is important to kind of feed into that, to that audience?
- [39:31]
C
So, I mean, my League. We run our league, it. It stops in, in November and we started back up in end of March. Typically we have 24 teams, anywhere from 18 to 24, but. So my league's on Thursday night, but that is also the same night that the schools practice. So we have 12 high schools that practice at the shooting complex on Thursday nights. So you come out on a Thursday night, there's 400 people at the shooting complex, and they're all in a trap line. So I'm not a sit behind the desk person. I have to from time to time, but I like to be out in the fields and I like to talk to all the coaches and see how everything's going. And I convinced a lot of these youth teams to field league teams because it gets them to shoot with, number one, all the adults, because the adults are there as well. They talk to the adults, they're hanging around the adults. And I see a lot of, a lot of conversion from that where. And we also throw a big 50 every league night. We can, we can do that. We've. And, and I've been told before that we're probably one of the clubs that throws the most big 50s because, you know, it's. Why would I want to go out and shoot 50 targets? Because our leagues are mostly single. We run run handicap league, and that's actually our smallest league because more people want singles. But if I'm out there shooting 50 targets, well, why don't I just register? Yeah, you know, it cost me, you know, an extra couple of bucks to register them with ISTA and the ata. Why not? We get a lot of people, you know, 30, 40 people a night that register their big 50 targets.
- [41:11]
A
Well, especially for people. Like an example, my dad, he always has trouble getting his target requirements in every year because he doesn't really shoot a lot. And then he goes to the grand because he wants to shoot the two weeks of the grand in the state shoot. And he's always like, man, I don't have enough targets. So those big 50 programs, I think, have a great place for people that, you know, might go to the big shoots once or twice a year but don't always hit their target requirements, you know, get those, get those targets in, you know, And I know some people are rushing to the marathons. I know they have them at Brittany. Do you guys ever have any marathons?
- [41:44]
C
So, yeah, we do a marathon before the state shoot and, and before the grand. But like on the, on the. If you shoot my leagues, my, my. Just regular leagues are not a. They're not a registered league. You will have enough singles targets. If you register every week that you shoot, you'll have enough single targets to shoot the grand in the U.S. open.
- [42:02]
B
Well, there you go, don't you?
- [42:05]
C
Yeah. So, you know, 10 to 18 weeks, depending on which league it is. And then I, I turned my league to. It's not always about the best shooter, and I've always been that way. And it comes from the golf world and I'm a horrible golfer. But we do flights. We always do flights on our league. So depending on how many teams we've got, every league team gets paid money. No matter if you're in the first place or the last place, you're going to get some money. And our, and our fall league is, you know, the, the smallest or the lowest place, you know, at least gets 150 bucks, so you're getting something back. And that's everybody. Because, I mean, I shoot with several good shooters, but there's no way that I'm beating the best shooters that are out there because we have a, we have a team of Rainers, and I swear I don't know where they come from, but they just constantly win all the time. And, and so I know that when I go to a competition and I know that I have no chance unless I just have a stellar day, I don't really want to compete. But because we do this in flights, you know, like my team was first place in, in the B flight, so we won just as much money as that first team. And it was based basically because of our skill level. You know, we're not the people that hit constant 50s every week. You know, we're the 40.44s to 48s or whatever. And we also do a mandatory Lewis every week. $2 goes into a Lewis, so you get some money back. And you know, it might be two or three bucks, but hey, you can get a soda or a bag of chips or something like that. People like to get money.
- [43:42]
B
Exactly.
- [43:43]
A
Like, that's a great thing to do a mandatory Lewis on a league like that, just to get people used to it. And you know, if they hit one night on a loaner, I mean, they might make 20 bucks or something.
- [43:51]
C
And it just, I mean, for us, it's 40. Well, there you go. It's a $40. And. And we do two divisions on that. And then also I always do to the quarter or to the half. And so I got into the habit of we, we do half dollars. So when you win that 14.50, you're getting a half dollar. So people like, oh, you know, I haven't seen a half dollar in years. Or people collect their half dollars and, and use them, use them all one day to pay for a round of trap or whatever. But it's just something different. We have a really good strong league night. You know, we start at 4 o' clock and we're done. But we run, we run our league three times a year. We have basically run that around the large events like the US Open in the Grand.
- [44:33]
A
Do you give like a trophy package at the end of the league or is it all just money related?
- [44:37]
C
It's all money.
- [44:38]
A
Okay.
- [44:39]
C
Yeah.
- [44:39]
A
So just all money. Keep it simple.
- [44:42]
C
Students.
- [44:43]
B
Anna route, she shoots down there all the time. That's where she practices.
- [44:47]
C
Yeah. You know, and we do food a couple of nights for the league guys and you know, we'll make hot dogs or whatever and things like that. But we're getting an ice cream machine so we'll have ice cream. But it's just kind of a, you know, a lot of guys will come in and the kids, they're with their parents obviously. So the parents come hang out and yeah, you know, obviously you know, they can drink or whatever they may be. They're not, they're not working with the firearms. So the parents sit back and they have a good time amongst themselves. And Thursday nights are just really, really fun at the shooting complex.
- [45:19]
B
And now is that only Thursday nights is when you do that.
- [45:22]
C
Yeah, we do our league on Thursday nights. League and school practice. We use every lighted field and usually the, the schools are split in two sessions. Two, two hour sessions. Every lighted field at the complex.
- [45:33]
A
Also we've got Mid State Precious Metals. Ron Prescott, he's a great guy for all your gold and silver needs. Ricky, tell him about our friend.
- [45:40]
B
Yeah, Ron. He graciously donated a 10 ounce silver bar to our live in person podcast in Tucson. And you know, he has everything. I bought a bunch of silver from him. You know, we got our silver and gold for the, the fun day at the Nevada State shoot on Monday this year. You know, John got all the silver and gold for the Nevada State shoot. So look him up for your silver and gold needs. He'll give you the best price out there.
- [46:08]
A
He really is. And, and he's a friend of the trap shooters. I mean he's looking to get gold and silver to these gun clubs for their shoots at the lowest price of across the country. He's doing him a service and helping grow the sport. So you know, thank you so much for that, Ron.
- [46:20]
B
Yeah, thank you, Ron. We appreciate it.
- [46:21]
A
With that being said, let's get to the show. So you got a fair amount of nighttime shooting. I mean, really in the year. I mean, that's. There's a lot of it, right? It's not all daytime shooting. I mean, you got as much going on at night as anywhere, right?
- [46:33]
C
Yeah, we try to. I mean, to keep more people engaged, especially like, you know, our spring event where we're gonna have a lot of locals for the spring event, but we're also gonna have a lot of people that will be camping. So it gives them something else to do in the evening. You know, go up to the restaurant and get something to eat, and then, you know, after they're done shooting, and then maybe come back and shoot the. Shoot the five stand or whatever else we may be doing. You try to keep them involved as much possible.
- [46:58]
B
Now, how is the. Is the restaurant still the same. Same people?
- [47:02]
C
Yeah, same from the grand last year. John Weatherford. And he still got it. They had a taco night the other night. I went up there and had some phenomenal, phenomenal tacos. He's like, yeah, I told him. I told him he needs to have it. Have it more, because I don't. I'm not a seafood person. He's got some seafood on his menu, so, like, give me some more options. I'm not a seafood guy, so. Yeah, but, yeah, no, he's there. And. And the same thing goes. We work hand in hand together. He's open the same days that we are at the gun club. So on a Thursday night after league, you go up there, there'll be 40 cars in the parking lot because all those old guys, they go up to the restaurant and give them something to eat or give them something to drink or whatever.
- [47:40]
A
Get a little beer, why not?
- [47:42]
C
Yeah. And I mean, our event center is rocking and rolling year round between weddings.
- [47:47]
A
It's crazy to think that that place is always busy. Like you said, 400 people a night. And I'm like, I would have never guessed in my wildest dreams that you'd had 400 people there practicing, you know, on a night or shooting a league on a night. But that just shows how powerful that that weekly presence is in those local communities of people wanting to be around the game, people wanting to have the camaraderie of their friends and getting consistent around it. And I can't help but think that that's gonna then carry over to wanting to shoot the aim or wanting to shoot, you know, ata, or wanting to shoot the grand or whatever it is.
- [48:23]
C
So. So we're in AIM country here. Yep. We're not so much in SCTP country. Once they left, some of the teams chose not to stay with sctp. We had a lot that did, but we have a lot that did not. And that's where the sister organization picked up the slack. SISA is basically on the AIM side of it. Sister actually competes during the US Open on the east side. And that's which allows the US Open to get a high competition factor because those 400 kids also compete on those events. But Sisa picked up the slack on that. So everybody, everybody that's there in shoots is they're all ATA members, every one of them. And a good majority are sctp. So I mean I, I submit a lot of, of new membership packets and we get to give out, you know, five, five free memberships a year for AIM and five free memberships a year for regular ata. So we give those out and yeah, and they continue to shoot and, and they come out on days we're open to the public just to shoot more. We have teams as far as Mascuda, which is an hour, you know, an hour and 20 minutes away. They practice at the shooting complex. We also have teams as close as Sparta. You know, Sparta has a good shape shooting program. They came out and practice on Thursday nights. So we've gotten, we've gotten to the point now where we're actually going to have to expand to another day because I'm out of lighted fields. There you go.
- [49:46]
B
Practice. Yeah, well, and here's the thing. It only is a smart thing to do. I mean, I know years ago when the grand was in Vandalia, I used to go shoot the Ohio State shoot. Why people say why you go to shoot that? Well, because it's month and a half later you're at the grand, so you're shooting the same facility, seeing the same background, seeing the same target it makes. And that's why I know Zach comes and shoots the US Open this year. I don't know. It's up in the air. We might come because my son graduates weekend prior. We have a bunch of stuff going on the weekend that we're not sure we'd be able to make it to vernal or not. But you know, if not, then we're.
- [50:21]
C
Going to come to the Open.
- [50:22]
A
That's exactly why I do the Open. I mean I really. One, I've got to get my trailer kind of all set up over there and now we've got the Store. But the other is. I mean, the more targets that I could shoot at the World Shooting Recreation Complex, the better. I mean, I would. I would think, you know, get those targets under your belt so you could feel prepared for the grand and.
- [50:41]
C
And get to see the side picture when you're picking your fields as well, because. Yep. You know, I. There is such a crazy difference across the entire facility in my personal opinion of backgrounds. You know, you get into low numbers like 2, 3, 4, which is the west line. I don't like to shoot on the west line. I'm more the 1715-17 on the east side. I like a further background out there with. With less trees and stuff working on. We're mowing even more every year. Mowing further out and doing more invasive removal to give it the best background as possible out there.
- [51:15]
B
Are you going to do that on the west side, too?
- [51:18]
C
We're trying to do as much as we physically can. We're at terrain limits on certain areas.
- [51:23]
A
All right, folks, we got to take a quick second and give a shout out to the Cardinal center in Marengo, Ohio. They hold the Cardinal Classic and they also hold the Ohio State shoot, which is home of the first Back Fence Shootout. Ricky, what do you think about Ohio?
- [51:36]
B
Listen, I. I love the Cardinals Center. I. I actually broke the first 100 from the 27 there at their very first shoot ever. Great place. Jake Spangler and their whole clan there. They do an awesome job at running the shoots. The Ohio State shoots ran by the Ohio State association, the Cardinal Classics right after the Grand. So if you're looking for some. Some more points right out to the grand, hit that up so you can get a little more points than old Zach here.
- [52:01]
A
But listen, it's a great shoot, great facility. It really is. I. I personally love the RVs. They've got great camping there. They've got a great time. Good shoot, good target presentation. Go check it out. It's worth putting on your list. With that being said, let's get back to the show.
- [52:16]
B
Yeah, we. Well, we always shoot on banks, you know, 2, 3, 4. We have the bill. You know, I did it in the years past just because. So close to the buildings.
- [52:26]
A
Yeah, you're working down there, you know.
- [52:28]
B
But now, I mean, in this next year, I mean, I don't know, we'll see. We might change it up a little bit. You know, I might leave Zach down there. He doesn't shoot.
- [52:38]
C
They have their purpose. You know, we always do the games. The ATA does the games on bank one, and I love Shooting down there because it is so close. I mean, it's a very, very close background. And it's very humbling going down there and shooting a.28 or the international during the grab because they really crank them up. But yeah, no, I'm. And I mean, if they let me shoot where I normally shoot, which is right out in front of the clubhouse, field five, which is a practice field, unfortunately, I'd shoot there all day long because I shoot there every day. Yeah, every day. Every day that I go out.
- [53:05]
A
It's what you get used to. And what I like about it too, though, is when you do shoot on the west side, I mean, whether it's better or worse, I don't know if that's the case. But you're shooting shoot offs down there. So if you, you know, you get a couple days on those fields. Yeah, you know, you get, you get a couple days down there and you're like, okay, you don't want to head down to the shoot off for the first time ever and shoot on the west side for the first time ever. I mean, that's why I think that U.S. open, you know, makes a lot of sense to me because you're shooting pretty much all of those western fields and you're getting a feel for them.
- [53:37]
B
And do you at the open now, is that, do you shoot every field on the west side of the open?
- [53:44]
C
Every field down to bank one? I don't. I'm pretty sure we do not use bank one.
- [53:49]
B
Even though all the way up in front of like Craig off and.
- [53:52]
C
Yes.
- [53:52]
A
Yeah.
- [53:53]
C
Oh, yeah.
- [53:53]
A
All the way over. So they're shooting all the way to.
- [53:55]
C
The right on those during the U.S. open. The U. S Open only. The U.S. open only has three practice fields. That is what that is, 0, 1 and 2. So that's right there in front of the Winchester building. Those are the only three practice fields. Everything else is programmed. Now, they do do a. It's a two trap bank during the U S. Open.
- [54:13]
B
Yeah.
- [54:14]
C
So A's and C's. So yeah, they use all the way down to bank one. They don't use bank one because if we use bank one, we have to close the. There's a road that's over there. We have to close the road.
- [54:25]
B
Okay, so then what other folks do you use? Do you go on the east side too?
- [54:29]
C
Yeah, east side is Saturday, Saturday and Sunday. And the first eight fields on the east side is what they typically use for the US Open. Now they go down another 30 fields, but that's just for Sisa Sisa's with us. But they're kind of kept separate for their scoring purposes. So. Yeah, they use the first eight. Eight fields on the east side on Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the time they're using the west line. And it starts off slow. You know, Wednesday, I believe that. Or Thursday, they're only. They're not using the whole west line. I think Thursday is when they start to use the whole west line short of field one. Okay. But it's good. It's a good pre. Courser to the grand people coming to see because, you know, on my side of it, we're going to have all the fields mode basically exactly how they're going to be for the grand. They're going to grow again, but we're going to mow again. So you'll get this. What you see at the US Open is. Is what you're going to see during the grand.
- [55:26]
B
Yeah, I know last year at the Grand, I know there was. There was a lot of people complaining about the grass and stuff, but they didn't realize that y' all had. Both campgrounds were underwater, you know, for several days. And then.
- [55:42]
C
So the campground is. My staff doesn't handle the campground. The campground has its own separate staff. Yep. But, you know, we. We got a new director, I'm sure, you know, you know, Skip. Skip, when he started. We have two. We had two lawnmowers, two two zero turns facility. Yeah. And we had a third one that was kind of, you know, on its last leg.
- [56:06]
A
The spare.
- [56:08]
C
Yeah, yeah. And. And basically the managers took care of their own areas. That was so me and my staff, we bowed the entire west line and. And then the east line, we'd brush hog and then we'd finally get down to finish it with finish mowers. Yeah, it's tough with. With three lawnmowers.
- [56:25]
A
It's gotta be. Just to mow it itself would be a huge job in my mind then, much less taking care of the machines, taking care of the mics, taking care of all that other stuff.
- [56:35]
C
And so Skip. Skip came along and. And Skip managed to get us another four lawnmowers. So. And then what we did was we hired a dedicated crew to. To basically mow the grass. And so that dedicated. That dedicated crew, that's what they're doing is blowing the grass because it's always tough to get that east line going for us because we're so focused on making. Look. Making the west line and the main event center to drive and sporting clays and a pistol and Rifle burn looks so good. You can't get it in in. You can't. There's just not enough time. So adding those additional mowers, which Skip managed to get done, and then, you know, one of our mowers was like a 54, you know, a little tiny guy. And so we got all backyard. Yeah, yeah. We got all new 72 inch John Deeres and. And they just screamed or gas. Gas, gas. Yeah. But I mean, we're changing the oil every. Every eight days. Yeah. And we got a good crew of high school kids. They were. It was tough going in the beginning, but they got it figured out and. And they just mow and mow and mow and mow and mow and mow constantly. The hard part was getting them to. To use a string trimmer, which we're doing that now. We bought a real nice machine edger. They're going to edge all. Edge all the trap fields this year. We've been working on it all fall, so it'll be looking phenomenal for next year.
- [57:57]
A
All right, folks, we got to take another quick break and thank one of our show sponsors. 73 Pointers Ranch Jonesburg, Missouri. Rick and Carla Burke. Best place in the area to go shoot chuckers and pheasants and have a great time. Rick, we got to get you down there.
- [58:10]
B
Yeah, I need to come in. Hopefully I can do some hunting with you guys and come to your. The annual clay shoot in August right after the grand.
- [58:18]
A
It's a lot of fun. It's the Optimist Club charity shoot. They throw a charity shoot. They put it on and it's wonderful. I think last year they had over 100, 100 entries into it, and it's just a good time. With that being said, let's get back to the show. It's really nice to see when a facility's kept up and when people are coming out to an event and see everything nice and like, it's almost like a golf course that's, well, you know, manicured. It's like, wow, I enjoy being here. I enjoy walking out. I enjoy seeing this. And, you know, your hard work is definitely appreciated, Brad. You know, I think it's, it's. It's sometimes not seen, but that's why we wanted to talk about it on the show a little bit, to show like, what goes into it. Because you're always working. You're always working and talking about like, oh, hey, we're doing this and we're doing this and we're doing this. I mean, it's a never ending job.
- [59:05]
C
Yeah. I mean during the grants, typically 16 hour days. But it's not just, it's not just me and my guys. It, it skip all the office staff, even the, the people at idnr. We have an amazing director, Director Finney in Springfield. She's the head of idnr. Her son shot trap, shoots trap. I think she understands that she is a hundred percent behind us. And you, you know, they want to see us succeed. They want us to succeed. What do you need? Let's get it done. And so we're getting it done and we're saving money. We're saving money in, in the process. So you know, we're doing the best we can. I think we're in the best place we've been in a long time. We, we pretty much get you know, free rein to, to take care of what we need to. You know, a lot of people think that when they, oh you know, you ran by the state and there's a lot of bureaucracy. There is. But there's also not. They understand that we have to do things a little differently. And maybe, maybe before that wasn't how it was done or how it was thought of, but now it's, we understand, we understand that it has to go this way. You know, I mean targets, like buying targets was a problem before and you got to have targets, you know, you can't.
- [60:20]
A
Gotta have them.
- [60:21]
B
Yeah.
- [60:24]
C
Yeah. And we're 100 white flyer. So you know Jeff, we get our targets from, from Gamil's. He'd been on the contract. So.
- [60:31]
A
Shameless plug.
- [60:32]
C
But it used to be, it used to be that, you know, every, every load was a different, a different contract and so you can't do that because it takes too long. So we managed to start getting these three and five year contracts established to, to get us our needs and basically what we need. And, and so there's a lot. You're going to see a whole difference this year when you come to the grand with a lot of the things that we're doing.
- [60:55]
B
So I'm looking forward to it. I think it'll be great. Now is there any, anything new come up or with the complex or.
- [61:06]
C
I mean, you know, nothing, nothing really. This, the spring shoots coming up but we have the new ACUI shoot. We're growing shoots every year. And, and my goal, my job is to put targets in the air. That's what my job is. Targets and instruction. Yeah. And, and, and I, I, I want to get SCTP Nationals back and, and I, you know, whatever, whatever we got to do to make that happen to get those events back. And maybe the ACUI Collegiate nationals. I'd love to get some bunkers. You know, four or five bunkers. Anybody got four or five million dollars they laying around they want to give me, but for a good cause. We're working on those things and we're looking at grants to get some of that stuff done. And you know, we have an amazing pistol and rifle side. We've got a new manager over there that's. That's doing great work over there with bringing a lot of. Before, we had some issues with the public coming out and using our pistol and rifle burn. He's pretty much quashed that. The pistol and rifle berms open almost every day of the week and we're starting to see a lot more traffic over there. Yeah, the pistol and rifle, Burma. It's not really my area with all those cowboy guys and two and three gun stuff. I hear them banging away all the time because they're, you know, just across the facility from me. Yeah, but they're constantly banging away over there, so they must be doing something right.
- [62:23]
B
All right, folks, we need to take a quick second and get to a new show sponsor, Big Red Motorsports. Big red, they're personal friends of mine, Jason and George Lee, and they're also a personal sponsor mine.
- [62:34]
A
Now, I'll say this, Ricky looked great driving around in that side by side. I got some free rides down at Tucson, the autumn Grand. I think it's awesome that they deliver all across the country. And obviously they love trap shooters. They love trap shooting and they're doing a great job.
- [62:48]
B
Listen, they got can Am, Kawasaki CF Moto Triton trailers. Hit them up. We'll take care of you guys. With that being said, let's get to the show.
- [63:03]
C
But yeah, I mean, other than that, you know, just we're doing our standard improvements and, and getting more shoots. I. I want to get SCTP nationals back. I don't know what it'll take or, you know, whatever.
- [63:14]
A
I think if you just keep doing your job and keep making things better and keep throwing amazing shoots, at the end of the day, people are going to talk. And I think people vote with their money. Right? So you just, you just like, hey, we want to go back to sport or we want to go here, we want to go there. Enough people saying this is where we want to go and it's eventually going to move. And I think just getting out there and marketing it the way you're doing is the way to go. But you know, Brad, we could probably have like three hour episodes with you.
- [63:39]
C
Because you're a wealth of knowledge.
- [63:41]
A
I think what we probably need to do is we probably need to, to, to get another episode with you in person at the store. So when we come down either for the US Open or for the grand, we'd love to sit down with you and maybe do an update of your spring shoot and, and hear kind of what else is going on and maybe some other tips on how people can run the gun club. But before we get out of here, is there any, any little last bits of advice or any little last takeaways that you want to leave the listeners with?
- [64:09]
C
You know one, I do love the trap talk building what you got. What your dad did in there was just absolutely amazing. He is phenomenal. He is very meticulous in what he does. Everything is done absolutely perfect. No, I mean just, just come out and shoot with us. We're. We, we host a lot of events. You can go to our Facebook page. I uploaded a calendar about a month ago with all of our shoots on there and it has all of our up to date details. Be looking forward. For those that want to shoot some ice ski with me, I'll gladly go out and shoot ice ski with you. It's my fun game. I'm not the best, but I'd love to be the best.
- [64:45]
A
I'll. I'll suck it up with you. We'll have fun. I'll be fine.
- [64:48]
C
I mean that's what it's about.
- [64:50]
B
We'll have John add a link to the, to the calendar for the shoots so people can see.
- [64:55]
C
And, and it's not just that. We have sporting clays as well. She's changing the course up constantly out there and doing some new things and, and pistol and rifle restaurant. I mean restaurant's good. Everybody knows the restaurant's good now, so.
- [65:08]
A
Hey, I like it all.
- [65:09]
C
And he's there for at least the next, you know, I mean 10 years, eight years at least with another renewal period on top of that.
- [65:18]
A
Nice. That's good to know.
- [65:19]
C
That's for more vendors. We're working on more vendors for the grand. So we have had a lot more interest with people wanting to come in and be 10 vendors and things like that. So that's it.
- [65:29]
A
It's exciting. I'm excited for the 2025 year to see everything you guys got going on out there. I'm probably going to make some trips out to practice and shoot some stuff that you've got this the local weekend because it's only 90 minutes away from me, so it's gonna be, it's gonna be a fun time. We appreciate you being on the show, we appreciate everything you're doing for trap shooting and obviously trying to make trap great again with that hat. So you know, we will, we will catch you all soon. Thanks for tuning in this Friday. And remember, like share, subscribe, comment, let us know who you want to have on the show. Any ideas? We're open and listening and we're just rolling along. Trap Talk Nation we appreciate all the love, we appreciate all the, all the fun and, and we're going to keep just making, making good stuff for you guys to listen to. So thank you.
- [66:15]
B
We'll see you soon. Thanks everyone.
- [66:16]
A
And the Trap Talk podcast is brought to you in part by RM Shooting Clinics. Have Ricky take your game to the next level. If you want to shoot hundreds of hundreds of hundreds, give Ricky a call today. Zach Nini Financial we believe in putting people first.
- [66:38]
C
Sam.