How about another category

The State of Illinois has a category for state residents over 75 shoot @ their state shoot in championship events its called Elder Class

In my opinion the ATA should establish a new class for shooters over 80--call it Super Senior.

They created a Class for shooters who are still in their prime, Junior Gold

Give us old farts a chance @ winning some events and we would declare, in Fl you have to be nuts to declare for Senior Vet-if you are past 80

 

I agree they should do away with JG and make a Super Senior class

 

I think we have too many categories now

 

Agree 100%, and I feel they could do away with the sub-vet class as well. I never felt as though I was at a disadvantage until I hit my early 60's. Then things started going to Hell. I say do away with Junior Gold and sub-vet make the vet class start at 62 to 70, Senior Vet 70 to 75, and Super Senior over 75.

 

wont it just bottleneck, being itll be the same 10 or 20 guys at the shoots winning all the time?

 

Just give every shooter a participation trophy. Thats what this sport is turning into.

 

I think a Military category would be fun. Open to both Male and Female.... any age, currently serving, prior service.....etc.

 

I got a better idea.
ya wanna say...thank you for your service............ and mean it, instead of just saying what everyone else says?
make the military class a free entry.
wanna attract new shooters?
try that!

 

Cal Stinson tried multiple times to get a Super Senior class. The answer was not only no ...... I know some older ladies who have gone to bat and tried to generate interest in a Lady III category. Same answer. There are more than a few Lady I shooters who want to kick out the girls who should be shooting in Jr and Jr Gold but they do not want to compete against maie Jrs and Jr Gold shooters. It is a mess and I don't think anyone has the following to address it.

 

I think Senior Super Vet and Lady III categories would be as useful as lipstick on a pig for growing participation in the sports. New people aren’t coming into the sport in their 80’s- and if you still expect to win consistently when you’re that age, you should better. Time catches up with us all…

 

Why just one more category? How about five?

 

try this one......
a rack grade category.
no personal fitted guns.
stock out the box.
that oughta separate the men from the boys.

 

That wouldn’t matter much with the ergonomic stocks that come with a good chunk of new guns from the factory today.

 

How about a super senior category for shooters over 80. There are a lot of them. Roger C.

 

I can remember back in the day when I used to shoot I.H.M.S.A. ( International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association) shoots, They had classes for shooting both prone and standing, the type of gun, and your skill level. They had so many classes and category's you couldn't help but win something. But of course your "trophy" was nothing more then a pin for your shooting jacket. If you have never heard of this association, well this is probably why. I see the same thing happening to trapshooting. The trophy's they hand out are laughable. When questioning the lack of trophy quality it's always the same answer, there just aren't enough shooter's these days to allow any greater expenditure. So why then are more classes created? I love this sport and only want what is best for it, creating more classes , especially at the cost of trophy quality isn't helping, it's hurting. I started this addiction back when you could actually win real silver, a car, pay your entry fee's, and if you made it on your states shooting team was given a shooting vest with member of Michigan State Trapshooting Team and the year embroidered on the back. There would be 500 entrys in the state handicap, more then twice that of today. I feel the more we cheapen the awards ( in part by the added quantity) the fewer shooters are going to be attracted. I think it may have been Brad Dysinger that said it best ( sorry Brad if it wasn't you) but we used to shoot $300 guns for $10,000 prizes, now we shoot $10,000 guns for $300 prizes! and I think the $300 might be exaggerated . OK, I'll get off my soap box now.

 

Exactly

 

I think there should be two categories, open and shooting industry / sponsored shooters. Each shoots for separate options and added money.

 

I'll soon be 76 yo and I have enough flashlights. Trinkets are for kids.

 

I suggest a participation ribbon, blue in color with gold tassels be awarded to all participants. Since many of our ancient shooters can only remember their glory days but not what they had for breakfast it would be very fitting.

 

oleo, MANY OF THESE OLDER SHOOTERS ARE THE SAME SHOOTERS THAT WERE KICKING YOUR BUTT EVERY TIME YOU TOOK THE LINE.
It is better to remember the glory days, than to have been a never was. Roger C.

 

Category(s) have done little to nothing to improve things ..... So 'Events' would be a better option .....

Many Shoots are trying to cut down on the original number of days because of participation ..... so ..... use some of them for 'Special Events' .....

And/or use days that in the past had several Events in a day to hold a Special Event for ????? shooters .....

They do it for 'youth shooters', with success, so use the same 'idea' for 'others' .....

 

I got a message today that the ATA is going to make singles from the 11 yd. line. Roger just might be competitive again.

 

The closer u get the more difficult it is for older shooters, the eyes and the brain see the target but the body can't rotate that quickly, that's why handicap is better for older shooters as long as their eyes are still good

 

oleo, I was not a great fan of 16 yard targets. Most of my wins were for handicap, doubles and H.O.A. & H.A.A. 16's were just a bore.
But thank you for your concern. Roger C.

 

Time for a hug?

 

Come back to the 27 yd line and tell me how it becomes easier.

 

Farting around I ran the field several times from the 27 as long as I could still see the targets, not bad for an 81yr old who has been reduced to the 19

 

Handicapped at the 19 but profess to be a 27 yd shooter for fun. I'm 76 yo and wish they'd put me on the 19 for one shoot. I just might play the ticket again.

 

I'm not a 27 yd shooter, but tried out shooting from the 27 several times and got lucky a few times

 

Ollie, Just wondering if you got a volume discount when you were buying all those flashlights??? LOL

Dave Berlet

 

The dang one I have right next to me keeps flickering on and off. Maybe I should try to win another one again. I think I'd prevail at the 19 yd line-maybe.

 

Mmmm, I doubt it.

 

Since I started shooting handicap at the 22 yd line in 1972 and never made it backwards from there, I'd at least want one chance.

 

Adding or taking away a category is a big can of worms and unlikely to get onto the EC's agenda, and I don't think a super Senior Vet category is in the cards . I'm wondering, since we're saying that 60 is the new 50, why not shift the age in the category(s), especially those in the older age brackets? For instance: Start Sr. Vet at 75 or even 80, and put vet at 65 - 75? Look at the local club leagues and you see a large percentage of shooters in the older categories, and abandoning people who are buying your targets seems counter-productive. From a personal standpoint, once I crossed 80 threshold, things changed, stamina-wise. I may be in the minority, but don't know many 80+ shooters who can shoot 300 targets a day, and in my case, 100 sometimes is difficult. In any case, the discussion isn't likely to go away.

 

I can remember a time when our state singles Senior Vet Championship was based just on the first 100 targets for the same reason's you have given as many S.V. no longer having the stamina required for 200 targets. But like all good things that has gone by the wayside too.

 

Talking about stamina- I tried shooting my Infinity, but its extra weight tired me out after the first 100, with my 391 on a good day I'm able to shoot 200 targets

Talking about shooting your age the late NC shooter JC Nunn shot his age 93 avg @ age 93-he also shot a Beretta 303

 

Just think a minute at this years Spring Grand over 40% of all shooters were senior vets probably another 20% vets 15% Sub-Vets,in just a few years most of these shooters will be senior vets also.So you better think about adding another older age class for these shooters to keep them in the sport.There is a tremendous drop off for every 5 years of age after 70.When they become non competitive they will disappear.

 

You would need more information to make the correlation that they are no longer because they’re no longer competitive. What percentage of those shooters quit because of health reasons or death? Financial reasons for shooters on a fixed income could be another reason. Not because they are no longer taking trophies home…

 

I was home from viet nam and into college. I would be shooting junior gold category, if it existed at that time. What a joke for an adult to shoot this catagory!!!!