What Trap Tournaments of any Size Don't Require an ATA/PITA Membership?

Just that. I'm looking over the Cardinal Classic program, and they require an ATA card.

 

In Muscoda we have an annual team shoot and it is a non registered event with more than 80 five person teams. It is the largest team shoot in the State of Wisconsin held every year on the Sunday before Labor Day. We move more than 400 shooters trough on six traps on that Sunday

 

I have attended some pretty sizable shoots that were not registered over the years, most club shoots are not and are more dang fun that you can imagine having with your clothes on ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

I was going to host a Handicap Shoot in lieu of the Spring Grand one year and use the money that would of been paid to the ATA for expenses, trophy's etc. as added money ... We had a mailing list and the majority of shooters responded that they would of been okay with it ... The ATA backed off on the demands so we went ahead and had the Spring Grand, often wondered how it would of turned out ... I think that $17,500 added money would of drawn a sizable crowd ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

Big shoots without ATA card. OH and PA have many. Stroudsburg in PA has a shoot before Easter that has around 500 shooters. (not exactly sure about the numbers) Middletown, OH is know to have large non ATA shoots.

Quite a few are held in northwest OH , Dysinger land.

A club near Georgetown, PA has a yearly "Sandbaggers Tournament."

There was the recent Dysinger Throw Down shoot for the Shriners.

 

Most of us are caught between a rock and a hard place, if we want to shoot our state shoots or the bigger shoots such as at the Cardinal Center. I could care less that my targets are registered, but trinket shooters and the loyalist of the ata would not attend so the rest of us are stuck in the revolving door.

 

It would be almost impossible to hold a responsible shoot w/o membership in a safe gun handling sport, for just anyone to shoot.

I know there are non-registered events held, such as the large buddy shoot twice a year in Kentucky, Wednesday before Thanksgiving and New years day every year., Jaquas used to hold a non-registered event, and there are several in Pennsylvania that come to mind.

It takes a lot of organization to put on a large shoot of any kind. Like Advertisers, Vendors etc.


Gary Bryant Dr.longshot

 

The biggest obsticle is letting the shooters know (Advertiseing) and not to go against another club for obvious reasons ... Trusted people can be range masters for the sake of safety as Gary mentioned ... Its truly amazing how many people will usually give a hand and help organize a lot of shoots, event's etc once it gets going ... There is a lot of untapped talent out there being ignored ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

Biggest issue is format ....

The ATA format solves 'yardage' and 'class' issues for 'large shoots' ....

You would not have enough time to shoot if you had to spend all day with people just signing-up, and you had to handicap and squad them in a 'non-ATA' format.

Some small Calcutta shoots use a 'what you sell for', or 'what you break on the 16's', as a non-ATA handicap system. If you tried to do that for hundreds or thousands of people, you can guess what amount of 'time' it may take.

A 'fixed' handicap or singles only does not get a lot of interest .... and doubles only gets even less interest.

 

The guidelines (format) would remain the same as the ATA or PITA right down to the known ability, but it would be strickly enforced ... The majority of shooters who would even compete for the most part would usually be someone who has shot in some kind of regulated shoots before and by invitation for the most part ... Club shoots more or less do not apply, but a shooter can be subject to penalty if they are known sand baggers though that rarely happens ... I see a lot of shooters who are not interested until they get their feet wet a time or three and then they do not want to stop ... We used to shoot pieces from the 30 yardline for quarters, 2 man teams, pick or draw for partners ... Its not always easy but it can be done ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

I know the International shoots don't require ATA membership.

Thank you for this explanation.

It always comes back to that ATA target everyone is used to and all the ranges throw. With a harder target, like International, classes don't matter, and yardage doesn't matter. Everyone registers and is called to the same shooting line in whatever order the event uses.

There's no chance of finding a Wobble tournament around here. Seattle has a Wobble league, but that's a drive. There's International at Fairfield.

 

Clubs should have a sign up sheet for shooters and one of the questions could be if they are PITA, ATA , or a member of any gun clubs, then use that to establish a mailing list ... Based on that you can usually get a pretty good feel for some non registered shoots, it don't take long and you get more shooters involved and you can let your imagination run wild ... Vernal, Utah is a perfect example of what can be done if you put your mind to it except the shooters would have to establish the pots and monies that they were shooting for ... Perpetual pots can add up to big money in a short time and do not have to cost a lot of money ... 50/50/50 shoots can be shot reasonably cheap yet generate good money for the club once they get going ... Use your imagination, you might be surprised what you can come up with ... WPT ... (YAC) ...