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After your monthly matches?


Dusty Devil Dale

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Do your club(s) typically do anything together for fun after monthly shooting?  Restaurant gatherings?  BBQ?  Campfires?  Overnight camping  or whatever?  

 

 

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Our club down here in the Rio Grande Valley heads to Rudy’s BBQ.  The club I shoot with up in George West, Texas generally has a nice meal provided by the shooter couple who own the range and live a couple hundred feet from the range.  Lot of work on their part and is appreciated by the shooters.

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Sue, I believe you have come up with a new side match events.

 

Fastest gun cart to the car.

Fastest time to pack car/truck (this will require a timer and 3 spotters to check for gun sweeps)

First one gone, which means they will miss out on that award after the match.

 

I suspect some might complain about close versus far cars/trucks.

Other might suggest age groups.

 

Who would like to write the rules/guidelines?

 

 

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After the Escondido Bandidos match there is usually a picnic In the club picnic area. Someone brings hot dogs and the rest bring buns, condiments, salads, desserts and such. A couple of times a year we’ll have access to the clubhouse and have a big cookout, lots of fun. After the Cowboys match at Norco most hang around for the scores to be read and eat lunch they brought or buy a hotdog from the on-site hotdog vendor that works the entire public range. After other matches some go to pizza joints or breweries for lunch.

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Used to be: at CRR we'd shoot for a couple hours, then have "campfire" down by the lake 'til dark.  Good times.

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I attend four different clubs.  Three have a shoot & run attitude.  One gathers for beer & burgers at a local spot after.  The Spot even delays their usual closing time for us.  Guess which ONE I prefer.  The social gathering part of CAS has always been important to me.

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At TenHorns, several go out after match to different local spots.

Red River Valley  Cowpokes monthsly match fee includes one heck of a meal by Calamity Dibar at her kitchen at the indoor area. Air conditioned and complete with closed screens to show videos of  match. Meal alone is worth entry price.

 Bar 3 has meal in big barn before PCC match starts on Saturdays.

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2 minutes ago, Anvil Al #59168 said:

At the Texas Ten Horns, many of us head out to eat.

 

Right now we have been going to a place called the Rock Yard. 

 

Yes, Rock Yard is great. I am a fan of Leas also.....both with adult beverages

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We have built canteen facilities and outdoor table settings (under cover) and there's beer for partakers and an urn for hot water for coffee and tea drinkers and we usually sit around for an hour or so and shoot the breeze. Some of the ladies nearly always bring home baked cakes.

 

We should 2-3 matches a week (all different disciplines of shooting).

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After our matches we have a lunch and drink/cigar/etc. We have a saloon with a fireplace and a covered outdoor picnic area which we use depending on weather/temp.  We shoot all year long. The social aspect is the best part!  :)

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There was about 4-5 of us that used to meet at a restaurant after the shoots, always somewhere different. We’d go in with our cowboy outfits and get lots of looks and many questions. That was years ago, now everyone goes right home and crashes!!:)

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Before Covid, we had the Boy Scouts come and sell lunch after the match, we would read scores, give out a few door prizes, and hang out for a while.  That stopped last year, but we are trying to bring it back again.  First one in a long time last month, but turn out was a little light.  Hopefully, things will pick up a bit as it is a lot of work for the Scouts and they need to make a few $$$ to make it worth their time.

 

No doubt that a lot of the after match socializing has faded away, and I do miss it.  I see it more and more after the big matches too, folks just want to shoot and then go.  Used to call this sport Run & Gun, now I think it's Shoot & Scoot.

 

I do miss spending time with folks after the match, but I am not sure those days are coming back.

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Nobody...I say this with absolute confidence...could ever match the post-match festivities at The Cowboys (aka: The Coto Cowboys).

 

Everyone gets a raffle ticket at the sign-in

 

Folks staying for the post-match festivities gather has many tickets as they can during the match from folks not staying.

 

Everyone gathered around the Jersey Lilly, shared food...drinks...jokes...all the while Capt. Jake MC'd. Items brought in by folks were given away...Capt. Jake was hilarious...and then when it was all over and starting to get dark, the match results would be read.

 

It was soooooo much damn fun...no one was in a hurry for the day to end.

 

Phantom

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Typical Saturday shoot we start showing up between 3PM till dark on Friday.   Leave Sunday between 8 and noon         Pot luck suppers and campfire      Life is good but only for half the year up here      GW

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It was quite common to either hang out at the range after matches or go out for a bite to eat years ago.  However, as stated above, it's more common nowadays to shoot and run.  Up until only a couple years ago, many of the shooters at one club would adjourn to a little restaurant/ice cream stand nearby.  However, it closed and went up for sale.  Now it's slated to become a Dollar General.  At our club we do the scores and those that stay that long usually leave soon afterward while others might stick around a little longer chatting.
Twenty plus years ago when we started shooting, the matches lasted longer and people drove longer distances to attend them.  We had lunch at the range and it was approaching supper time by the time we were ready to leave.  Extending the day by gathering with friends at a local restaurant before the long drive home was common.  Now the matches are over earlier (no lunch breaks, etc.), we don't travel as far, and everyone is in a rush to get home.  When asked by non-shooters if we would be around to do something on a match day, our response was usually, "Sorry, we have a match that day.  We don't know just when we'll be home."  For us, it was what we did for the day.

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2 hours ago, Black Hills Barb said:

It was quite common to either hang out at the range after matches or go out for a bite to eat years ago.  However, as stated above, it's more common nowadays to shoot and run.  Up until only a couple years ago, many of the shooters at one club would adjourn to a little restaurant/ice cream stand nearby.  However, it closed and went up for sale.  Now it's slated to become a Dollar General.  At our club we do the scores and those that stay that long usually leave soon afterward while others might stick around a little longer chatting.
Twenty plus years ago when we started shooting, the matches lasted longer and people drove longer distances to attend them.  We had lunch at the range and it was approaching supper time by the time we were ready to leave.  Extending the day by gathering with friends at a local restaurant before the long drive home was common.  Now the matches are over earlier (no lunch breaks, etc.), we don't travel as far, and everyone is in a rush to get home.  When asked by non-shooters if we would be around to do something on a match day, our response was usually, "Sorry, we have a match that day.  We don't know just when we'll be home."  For us, it was what we did for the day.

As it should be!

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Think it might have been 2004 or so, we were part of a group of about a dozen shooters who regularly went out for lunch after the Two Rivers Posse match near Manteca, CA.  A number of these folks were "exceptionally qualified" conversationalists, so these lunches often went late into the afternoon.  Eventually, the group had to institute a "Two Meal" rule that forbade staying at one venue so long that we had to eat supper there, too.  Adult beverages may have played a part in this.

 

Jackalope

p.s.  That was a fantastic group of people and I really miss them. 

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No, there is no place locally safe enough to leave gun carts in plain view.  Auto break-ins would occur.  However, my modern, action pistol group goes to lunch after matches.  It is easier to secure a single range bag out of sight.  As a result of our governor's draconian COVID closures, all the restaurants previously used went out of business.  The group is now exploring new restaurants.

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30 minutes ago, Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971 said:

No, there is no place locally safe enough to leave gun carts in plain view.  Auto break-ins would occur.  However, my modern, action pistol group goes to lunch after matches.  It is easier to secure a single range bag out of sight.  As a result of our governor's draconian COVID closures, all the restaurants previously used went out of business.  The group is now exploring new restaurants.

Never had the issue going to Pizza Barn with gear...

I know you had theft before, and hate that.

BUT, there is no reason our club doesn't hang out and visit like we used to...

Really sad everyone rushes to their cars.

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One of my clubs lost its range. Before that, I prepared a free  buffet lunch. We were able to do a little socializing. The club even built a nice structure for a galley area.  I also made breakfast, lunch and dinner for our annual invitational match Unfortunately, there was no more interest in going to the effort required so those were discontinued. We used to have an annual dinner but that also died. After awhile, the newer members just wanted to rush home. When we had to move, the friendliness did not travel well. I no longer shoot with them.

 

One of my present clubs formerly went to a restaurant after the match but that died out.

 

It appears that the original fun stuff just faded away. Shooting from the saddle, juggling money bags, playing cards, manacles, etc. have been discontinued in favor of shooting fast at simple scenarii in order to rush through the stages.

 

We still have extraneous fun at my private back acreage range but that's no longer the case at my current clubs.

 

 

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We used to have an annual picnic, nope

We used to have a Christmas diner, nope

We used to get 8 or 9 out to the range on Friday evening. Camp. Practice, shoot clays etc and then potluck Saturday. Sunday was the shoot, nope.

We have Fernleystock on the 4th of July. Used to be 3 days of camping and shooting. About 12 members would show up. Now we're down to 4

Now people are leaving so fast we're having a hard time getting people to put steel away.

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Thank everyone for some solid and thoughtful replies. 

 It sounds like a lot of clubs are enjoying less after-match camaraderie and it is missed by many.   My home club still has a core group of a dozen or so who (viruses not withstanding) have persisted in gathering socially after matches; usually at local restaurants.  But as time passes, the group size seems to shrink.  So we're seriously looking for ideas that might reverse some of that tide.  I've read some good ones here, so far. 

 

Looking here at what seems to be succeeding, I am sensing that without some kind of purposefully planned after-match activities as a sort of center attraction, we will see the trend continue and the warmth of CAS shooting that we've all enjoyed will be weakened by competing personal priorities.  Frankly, I'm not sure the trend is reversible, as people's lives become more intense and demanding, but I'd like to at least try.  Like others here, I do greatly value and would miss the social half of our sport.   I think competing for peoples' time is like any other competition.  You have to work at it until you find a program that works.   So please continue to share any success stories.  

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Hi DDD - great seeing you at Western Regional this weekend!  

 

Yup, at our club (Pozo River Vigilance Committee, Santa Margarita, CA) we stop for lunch and reading of scores, and folks usually hang around for another half hour or so chatting. Some like to get time on the range for function fire, testing ammo, spending some time on Long Range bay, etc. 


RR

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After a match we have a varying group of half to a dozen folks who gather at a local general store/restaurant for a meal of excusafying, lying and braggadocio. But we have fun.

 

Imis

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A couple of times we met with another couple at a catfish restaurant on our way home. That's about it.  We happen to be going home the same route and liked the same restaurant.

 

We had our match today. We were home by 1:00. I carried crap in while Sawmill Mary made a cold cut sandwich on rasinbread.  I got half my brass in the wet tumbler.   Then set down with ice tea and the next think I knew it was 3:00. 

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Around here, some clubs break for lunch in the middle of the shoot.   Some have lunch after the shoot.   Some don't do lunch.  But at pretty much all venues, folks are casual about leaving.   Some leave quicker than others, but if you wanna hang around the range for a while chatting, there will almost always be at least one other shooter who will also not leave so quick.

As far as a group of shooters going someplace together after the shoot goes, I've never seen it.  But then again, here in Massachusetts, doing so is of questionable legality.

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