Why it isn't the economy

Those people from Ohio and PA that used to flock to Vandalia can tell you about bad economic times and shooting trap.

Some may remember the hyper-inflation under Nixon but Vandalia and trapshooting was getting bigger.

Carter and his malaise and double digit unemployment and the fuel shortage hit the Midwest hard. Of course it was another banner era for trapshooting.

One of the worst days for the Vandalia and the trapshooting lands was the Monday the steel mills closed in Ohio and PA. Another great year for trapshooting. One of the biggest.

Black Thursday and the stock market crash and the following recession did not stop trapshooting.

The next big crash was the dot com crash. Hurt everything but trapshooting. Vandalia hardly blinked.

We have been reminded on occasion how well the sport did during the great recession. Darn good.

All those bad times above we call the golden age of trapshooting. The good 'ole days.

Then came the move. Not even trapshooting could overcome that.

 

So, the USGA actually does research to keep track of the participants in their sport. How come they say, it's a "demographic problem"? In that sport, young people start, then stop due to money, family, and time. This research has come to the conclusion, it's ages 22-50. The decline since the high numbers in the early 90s is down 30%.

Sound familiar?

 

Video games took their place!

 

dawg
Did you guys in PA quit shooting during all those bad times?