February 16, 2024 • 54 mins
The highly anticipated 2024 Texas State Championship is set to take place in conjunction with the prestigious Browning-Briley at Greater Houston Gun Club. Anticipated to draw a substantial turnout, this event has an impressive payout with over $150,000 up for grabs. Everyone is encouraged to secure their spots by registering on ScoreChaser, ensuring they don't miss the chance to shoot at a great club with great companies behind them. This tournament will not disappoint and has a lot of events planned for everyone attending.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Shotgun Sports USA.
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(00:20):
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Speaker 2 (00:46):
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You'll find the link there.
Click it and find out more.
Okay, you're going to hearabout another huge tournament
(01:46):
coming up very soon.
The Texas State Championship iscombined with the Browning
Briley and this is taking placeat Greater Houston Gun Club with
payouts of around $150,000.
I have the President of theTexas Sporting Clays Association
on with me to tell you allabout it.
Please welcome to the show, benMcInally.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Ben, what's up man?
Not too much just burning upsome Texas highways, like always
.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, there's a lot of highways out there in Texas
to burn up, I can promise you.
Yes, sir, I mean from one endto the other.
It takes you about three weeks,doesn't it?
Yes?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
yes, yeah, you know, talking to people who maybe
shoot either overseas or inother parts of the country.
You know they always want toknow about Texas and you know
about how we have.
I think we have just under 40clubs in the state that throw
registered targets and you know,from Beaumont to El Paso is a
(02:53):
greater distance than it is ElPaso to LA or Beaumont to New
York City, and so, yeah, you canfact check that one, but it's a
big state.
Just to say that.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I know.
I drove out to Nationals oneyear and I rode with a guy named
Kyle Millwood.
I'm sure you know who Kyle?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
is yeah, I know, kyle .
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And I'm telling you, we drove through Texas for at
least three days.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I mean, I said Kyle, what is it?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And he swore it was just one night.
I said, I'm telling you, wedrove through Texas for three
days, so it's a big place, big,big place.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yes, sir, but in arguably kind of the probably
one of the sweet spots for clayshooting.
You know, I know you're inGeorgia and Georgia has just
some amazing clubs, greatshooters, great pros.
I know there's some little hubsthroughout the US, but I mean
Texas.
It's pretty hard to argue with.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Well, they do a lot of stuff out.
You know all the.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
You get the corporate stuff you know the old guys and
whatever.
Whoever else is out therethey're all the guys.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Whoever else is out there, they all like to shoot
clays, or that's competitive orfor recreation, and there's some
of that here, but this is Iknow it's huge in.
Texas, just that side of it.
Yes, so, being in Texas, wetalk about sporting clays on
this podcast most of the time.
Sometimes we get some crazypeople on here talking about
something else.
But what do you do?
(04:18):
Tell me a little bit aboutyourself, sure?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So my business partner Michael and I, we own a
private wealth management firm,cedar Gap Wealth Management.
So we kind of came from the oneof the big Wall Street firms
and COVID helped us becomemotivated to tell all the folks
in New York and California youknow audios and that we were
(04:43):
going to do it our own way.
So anyway, we were both prettyactive in shooting.
Michael's got a couple of boysthat he chases around doing the
sports thing so he doesn't makeas many shoots as I do, but you
know, anytime you see Cedar Gapsomewhere, that's how you know
that Ben and Michael wereinvolved or donating, or you
(05:06):
know, and I'm a big fan of youknow, put your money where your
mouth is and maybe, if you don'thave the money, put your time
where your mouth is.
So and that's how I gotinvolved in the association, you
know local club that grew tothe state level.
That's grown to, you know, evenbigger.
So that's and it's funny.
(05:27):
You mentioned corporates.
You know I think that's howeverybody gets started.
They get invited to besomebody's plus one at a
corporate shoot and you go outthere with a borrowed gun and
you break 54 out of 100 and yougo.
Holy cow, that was the coolestthing ever and before you know
it, you're.
You know you're drowning in it.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That's the only time that you really don't care what
you shoot Every time.
After that, the very next timeyou're like, I should have hit
all of those.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
You know, what.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I mean Exactly so.
But yeah, it's so.
You're on the board for TexasState.
Yes, sir, Yep, I've been on theboard.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I gosh, you know what .
I should know this, I think,since 2014,.
I was, I was pretty involved inmy local club and it's out in
West Texas not exactly you knowa huge area and I just felt like
some of the shooters and theclubs and the people weren't all
the way represented.
(06:24):
I felt like there was a lot ofactivity in Houston or San
Antonio or Dallas, and so I justwanted to to to have a voice
for the little guys out there.
And then you know what's thesaying no good deed goes
unpunished.
Before you know it, if you'reincapable of keeping your mouth
shut and sitting on your hands,you end up with one job, then
(06:47):
three, then 10, and you end upbeing the, the, the chairman.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
So Well, you're, so you're.
You're the man For now.
Well, for now.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, this is my fourth and final year and I've
kind of I've kind of perfectedmy elevator speech, if you will.
You know the state associationsand Idaho, different states,
have different kind of mandates,but you know we're not the
governing body, we're not theNSCA.
You know we don't make therules, we don't write the
(07:17):
rulebook, you know stuff likethat.
I think our job as a stateassociation is to do programs,
awards and recognition.
And you know our programs areour Texas state chute coming up,
the little tour around Texasthat we do to kind of help the
smaller and and and midsizeclubs that maybe can't just have
a thousand people show up at aat a Texas state, and you know
(07:43):
awards for those people whoparticipate in those events.
And then our recognition program, probably our biggest one, is
the Hall of Fame, which is thisis the 20th anniversary.
So later when we talk about theHall of Fame, I think it's
important to to hit on the factthat that's one of our big
recognition programs.
And so you know, beyond that,there's a lot of questions and
(08:04):
comments that I get that I endup forwarding uphill to our, our
friends in San Antonio whoactually make those you know
judgment calls and, and you know, help help the sport grow
because it's it's difficult.
It's difficult to manage thelittle club you know in a small
town versus, you know a clubthat might have 500 people that
(08:26):
are registered chute, you know,just a monthly chute, and that's
a reality in Texas and whereasa lot of states don't have that
problem.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, I was going to ask you next what is?
Is Texas being as big as it isand having as many clubs as it
does?
How, how much different do youthink it is in that organization
versus some of the other onesin the country?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
You know I've got a lot of good friends in Kansas
right.
I've got a great relationshipwith the, with the Greenwood
family, and and you know I'vespent many, many an afternoon in
that in Jim's shop watchingwoodchips fly and us just
talking about nonsense orsporting clays or everything in
(09:09):
between.
And so you know I know a littlebit about Kansas.
I know some guys you know from,from the Midwest and you know,
I think I think the bigdifference is, like I mentioned,
texas has just under 40 clubsthat throw registered
tournaments and so that's one ofthe big tasks that the state
(09:32):
association takes on every yearis.
You know there's only 52 weeksin a year and if you throw out
the holidays and the, you knowthe known, you know graduation
weekends and spring breaks, youknow you can really narrow that
down.
So how do you fill a calendarwhere you got a state with 40
(09:53):
ish people all vying for optimumweekends?
So we fantasy football draft it,if you will.
It's a process we call pick dayand we take the clubs that
throw the most, like a, like agreater Houston sports club or a
or a defender.
You know Clay Sports Ranch, allthe way down to the.
(10:14):
You know my home club, one ofthe smaller ones, abilene Clay
Sports, and so you know whenit's your turn in the draft, the
calendar is yours, and as longas there's not somebody within a
100 mile radius of you who'salready chosen that date, you
know the dates yours because,quite frankly, it's you know,
from my home to greater Houstonis six and a half seven hours,
(10:38):
so, no offense, we're not reallycompeting for the same shooters
, even though you know youhaven't even left the state, and
so that 100 mile rule solves adecent amount of problems, gets
everybody, you know, on the samepath, and that's something that
the association does to justkind of make everything fair and
help.
You know, help the little guyas much as the big guy, where,
(11:01):
when it comes to calendarplanning, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Now when you talk about people sending you
messages and you have to sendthem up the up the line to the
NSCA, how, how many of those doyou have to to look at?
Is it a ton?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
A few, um, I don't know, I would say two to five a
month.
Oh, it's not that many.
I think the NSCA has done agood job of empowering club
owners.
Um, it's, and that's somethingas a business owner myself, it's
hard to.
It's hard to be a part of anorganization that really
(11:38):
dictates what a privatefor-profit business is doing.
And, uh, that's something thatMichael Hampton and I have
talked about.
You know, it's a, it's a, it'sa line to toe.
This is the competitive andprofessional sport at the same
time that it's a recreationalsport, and these are private
for-profit entities, um, thatare, you know, as, as Gary would
(12:03):
say, uh, they open their gatesand invite in a couple hundred
people.
They don't even like field alltheir complaints and then kick
them out.
You know, five hours later,Right, and you know, and I say
that with with a, with a grin onmy face, because it's it's a
little true and it's a littlehyperbolic, but, um, you know, I
(12:23):
feel like it's important tohave that relationship.
And so, if there's somethingegregious or rules-based or
really needs a judgment, um, youknow that stuff gets forwarded
up so that, so that theappropriate people can look at
it.
We're pretty blessed that wedon't have just a ton of that.
I think the rumor is alwaysworse than the truth, right Like
(12:45):
the bark is worse than the bite.
So you know, everybody knowssomebody that heard somebody and
totally saw this other guy dosomething, uh.
But when you start asking whoand where and how, uh, lots of
times it kind of it doesn'treally materialize.
So your mileage may vary, butthat's kind of what I see, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
That's right.
So you're talking about rules.
Well, we just had a uh, apretty big I mean adjustment.
I guess you would say yeah,yeah, and I know you listened to
the Gary Fitzgerald podcast wehad uh what do you hear and
what's your take on that?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
You know, I've I've heard both sides, I, so I'll
reference one of our directorswho's just kind of been a long
time pillar of of of the sportin Texas.
Uh, jr Cooper.
Jr got down class and he said,man, I love it, I love the
shoots.
Again, I can't wait to, youknow, get excited again.
(13:44):
He says, cause, you know, now Idon't have to show up and beat.
You know Corey Cruz or Domgrassy or you know somebody like
that.
You know, now I get to go, nowI get to go see where I'm at and
what I'm doing and how thatworks.
And so consolidating theclasses a little bit, um, I, I
think is a positive um, man, I,I walk the line Like I'm just
(14:07):
good enough to get in troubleand not quite good enough to get
out.
So you know, a lot of times Ifeel like I don't belong in
masterclass.
And then, you know, a couple ofweeks ago I went to a shoot.
I missed a couple of birds.
I went to the parking lot kindof like, oh shucks, I left about
four out there.
You know somebody's going tobeat me.
And by the time I got home thatnight, you know I got a text
message from the score chaserapp that said, you know,
(14:30):
congrats.
And I thought, man, if that'snot a lesson and in every bird
counts just as much as theprevious one, you know, I don't
know, I don't know what is, andso you know, as soon as I say,
like dang, why won't they put mein double A?
Then you go in and win a littlesomething.
So, as my shooting buddies,travel buddies, clayton, nancy,
(14:51):
one, all of those guys you knowwe always joke about, there's a
difference between being WestTexas good, being Texas is good
and then being nationally good,and so I don't know.
I think I'm in the middle, Iknow all the right people, but I
I'm always a couple of birdsbehind.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So yeah, yeah, I'm more than a couple, but it's
okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
And I really love the spirit of the competition.
You know, we shot an event inHouston this weekend, I think
champion was 79.
That was Byron Justice.
Corey shot a 74.
I shot a 64.
And I'm more proud of that 64than I am of a whole bunch of
stuff, because this was a shootthat was over the top, you know,
just for the fun of it.
You know so, everybody wants toshoot a 96, but sometimes it's
(15:37):
a heck of a lot of fun to shoota 64.
Now, a lot of people were inthe parking lot not agreeing
with me, and and I respect theirright to do so, but you know
it's just a clay pot in the sky.
I mean, shoot it or don't hitit or don't.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I mean, at the end of the day, it's not going to
anybody that, other than thepeople that do it for a living,
which you and I don't.
So I mean yeah, yeah, you knowit's.
I've always said it's, you knowit's.
It's.
It's always said it's just a,it's just a piece of clay
floating in the air.
I mean, shoot at it and hit it.
If you don't hit it, then, ohwell, you go and practice some
more.
I mean yeah, yeah, there's noreason to get mad about it.
(16:14):
So you know if you don't it'slike I tell my son if you don't
practice enough, how do youexpect to hit any of them?
I mean, I mean you're going tomiss them, you're just going to
do it, so right.
But anyway, we're going to talkabout the Texas state, teamed
up, I guess, with Brown andBradley this year.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yes, so kind of like we've alluded to Texas being
being what it is in sportingclays and our state championship
having such prestige andgrowing so large.
Unfortunately, there's just afew venues that can hold it, and
you know, right or wrong, Ithink we, you know we could
(16:52):
change a whole bunch of stuffand shrink the event, but you
know I don't think that is inthe best interest to the sport
or the people or the venues.
And then you know, vice versa,Sometimes you get too big to
manage, though, for better orfor worse, and everyone
schedules what they are.
Greater, Houston Sports Club,Kevin and the guys down there
(17:16):
and in South Houston stepped upand said hey, you know, if you
want, if you'd like to partnerwith us, you know we'd like to
have you.
So the Browning-Briley that isa shoot with a lot of legacy
this year is going to becombined with the Texas state
championship.
So there's a ton of supportthat's been given by Browning
(17:39):
and by Briley, and so you knowit's neat, it's an experiment,
it's part of the growing painsof you know what happens when
you, what happens when you findyour state association shoot
being bigger than a couple ofthe last US opens.
So that's yeah, it's nuts.
(18:00):
You know, Texas, having afacility like the National
Shooting Complex in the stateputs us in an interesting place.
Obviously, you know, nationalscan hold a couple thousand
shooters at any time, and so,from 2020 to 2030, we've agreed
(18:22):
to have the odd years at NSC,and one of the reasons we agreed
to that is because, when youcompare not NSC and NSC events,
the NSC events are attended by34 or 35% more people.
And so, you know, sporting clayshooters, right, if they don't
(18:44):
really like what you're doing,then they won't come.
So if 30% of them, more of themcome, you know, regardless of
what's said on social media or,you know, mentioned in the
parking lot, it's hard to arguewith the data, right?
So, Greater Houston, theNational Shooting Complex,
Travis Mears' Defender, ClaySports Ranch.
(19:05):
You know we've found ourselveswhere there's a few clubs and I
think we have a few on thehorizon.
I don't want to put anybody onblast, but I think there's a few
clubs interested in looking togrow into it and, of course,
there'll be some pains there too.
But um, Uh, you know, it wouldbe neat to expand the venues,
but right now we're kind ofrotating between those three or
(19:26):
four.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah, and greater.
Yeah, hadn't been to.
Only what I've been to is thenational she natural, she
accomplished yeah so it's.
I Don't know anything aboutTravis Mears place and I don't
know anything about greaterHouston.
Only thing that I know isTravis is a nice guy.
I'm sure he's got a nice placeand yeah very.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
He's, he's in, he's outside of Fort Worth, right, uh
, kind of on the west side ofthe Dallas Fort Worth area.
Some rolling hills, some, someterrain.
It's.
It's really neat and there's a.
The south central regional willbe there in September.
So he's had a Texas state in2022, a regional coming up, and
(20:07):
I know he is actively working tohave another Texas state in the
future.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So 10 out of 10 for for him, yeah, but it's gonna be
a greater Houston this year.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah, yeah.
So back to greater.
That's a club that's beenaround since the late 50s.
In fact I offline, you and Iwere trying to get Kevin they're
their COO on the phone with usand it and it just didn't worked
out.
I know I'm gonna Do a littlebit of a disservice, but but
(20:37):
graders of fantastic club.
They've had, I think, fourcourses that just run 24, 7365.
A lot of people who have been togreater Houston Know that
famous drive down the lane whereyou know off to your left, you
see a hundred and twenty foottower.
I mean it's, it is, it is a,it's a monster tower.
(21:00):
And you know, at the, at theBrowning Briley or at the
Diamond Classic, the, the twomain events that greater Houston
hosts every year, you'll see abird all the way up there and
it's just, I don't know, it'slife altering to watch a clay
come off that thing and just goon for about two weeks before it
leaves over the horizon.
Yeah, it's, it's a really,really neat facility.
(21:23):
They've put Sometimes someeffort and some money.
Um, everybody's sorry, noteverybody.
If you're familiar with greaterHouston, they kind of have a
Main event course that'sdouble-sided and, you know,
unlike a lot of places.
It's about six.
Polaris is wide so you canactually get through it and it's
(21:45):
well paved and the shootingstands are all nice and covered
and it's it's Very, very, verynice.
Um, they've actually kind ofleapfrogged that and have a
whole nother set and I think itwas Debuted at the Diamond
Classic last year.
But that's where fee tasks andfive stand.
(22:06):
Some some events like that willbe.
They pushed a lot of dirt,couple man-made ponds.
The dirt that created thoseponds you know is is Piled up in
some Northbrook like berms insome places.
So you know it really addedsome terrain to that kind of
(22:26):
South Texas coastal Property andhas made it Just ten out of ten
in my opinion.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I need to see that place.
There's a lot of places I needto see I hadn't been to, but but
that's you know that.
You know I've always heard goodthings about it.
You know they.
Yeah, the Diamond Classic, thetrophies you see coming out of
there, the Browning-Briley yousee something about that.
You know the greater HoustonChampionship, club championship
I mean, you hear?
(22:54):
champion buckle race.
Yeah, you see that on Online,just as I mean it seems like as
much as you see anything elsethat they host.
You know like you get yourfirst parking spot.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I mean yes, man, on that you know, yes, yes, no,
they, they, they do it, they doit first class, and and and they
do it right.
So, yeah, so, april the 17ththrough the 21st, myself and
about 1100 other shooters andprobably another thousand
spectators will all descend inSouth Houston and we're looking
(23:28):
forward to, we're lookingforward to that party.
So that's big.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Oh, that's big for people listen, I mean and
they've been, people listenprobably know.
But you're expecting about 1100, 1200 people.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yes, cuz, cuz.
Every year we seem to setanother record, and so this
would be on on par, I thinkwe're.
We're like 60 to 70 days awayfrom the event kicking off and
you know we're knocking on 800.
And Kevin sent me a screenshotthe other day of Individual
(24:03):
entries, right?
So like if Justin's gonna shootthe main fee task in five,
stand you're.
There, you go, you're you'rethree entries.
I think we have like 3750entries, so that is a lot of
rounds that will be thrown.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yes, sir, what about the money?
Tell me about what you can winthere.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah.
So Kevin Browning, briley, theTexas State Sporting Clause
Association, a bunch of theother sponsors, they have kind
of kind of Come together to makea Pretty serious purse.
One second I'm gonna scrollback, okay.
(24:45):
So, um, hoa is ten thousandcash, runner up five thousand,
third place, twenty five hundred, which is, you know, in line
with some national, if notbetter than some recent
nationally known shoots.
So you know, in class it goesdown to like fifteen hundred, a
(25:08):
thousand and seven fifty.
Same thing for concurrence, andso it's a.
It is a series of events thatyou can come participate in and,
yeah, you might, actually youcould actually be net positive.
I don't know, it depends whatyou eat and drink after the fact
.
I guess, yeah, that's usually,that's usually where mine goes.
So, so there's some, there'ssome interesting stuff they
(25:33):
they're publishing, they're backto class numbers.
So the Cedar Gap wealthmanagement fee task Event and
five stand event are all tendollars, back to class.
They're doing a coupledifferent Well gauge events.
So greater has has kind ofcoined a term sporting light.
So it expect easier, simpler,charity, feel-good targets,
(25:58):
right.
So you know, if you know whatthat is going in Now, you, now
you know what you're signing upfor, you know, versus the main
or maybe fee task or something.
The TSA is sponsoring the Hallof Fame In honor of the 20th
anniversary of our Hall of Fameprogram and we're going to each
station is going to have somespecial signage and and
(26:21):
recognition for our 30 or soPlus, you know, living Hall of
Fame members White flyers, truepair cup, the audios cup, those
are all gonna have ten dollarsback to class.
So you know you're not gonna goshoot a side event when, when
your class and and then feel alittle shafted when you get a,
(26:44):
you know, a trophy, but no, butno payouts, and that's some of
the feedback that we get.
And you can't, you can't giveaway the farm, but you know you
can.
You can definitely Put yourmoney where your mouth is and
that's what they're doing.
So the last thing is Agulaammunition is a sponsoring the
super sport and the super sportpays $50 a person back to class,
(27:10):
and so Previously this wassponsored by Do you know, ron,
you were, yeah, legacy Ford,yeah, so, ron, before Ron
retired, this was, you know,sponsored by Ron and his family
dealerships and so, based on theway it used to work and how you
know, greater Houston, agulaand the TSA see it going forward
(27:32):
the the total purse should be25 30,000 there and master class
should be paying out abouteight grand to win the Win super
sport.
And that's just in class,that's not, that's not Anything
else.
So that goes all the way to E.
(27:53):
So if you got a, if you got abigger, deeper class Payouts or
sky high, and so that'ssomething really neat that the
folks at Agula and craterHouston have worked on, so I
Think you can.
I think there's a shout out tobe made there for those guys and
and Corey Corey crews and Forthem coming up with a great idea
(28:13):
.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, and so if you add all that together, about how
much is that?
Speaker 3 (28:20):
A little over 150,000 .
Wow, I think, is the yeah, ohgosh, I'm embarrassed.
I should know well, it'ssomewhere 150 hundred sixty
thousand.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah, so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
It should pay so now who's second?
Speaker 2 (28:36):
you got.
So who set the targets?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yep.
So, um, mike Boyer is there.
Uh, for lack of not knowing hisactual term, he is the.
He's the boss of the outsidestuff.
I always say Kevin's the bossof the inside stuff, mike's the
boss of the outside stuff.
So, michael, be setting somecourses.
Henry Velazquez a lot of peoplemay not know Henry, but if
(29:03):
you've ever shot the orange orthe red at at nationals, chances
are Henry's had his hands on acouple of those machines.
So you know, if he can setnationals, he can.
He can set Texas State and andhe is a Regular employee at
greater, if I'm not mistaken.
Jason Minkie, of courseeverybody knows.
Jason Bryley, jason Maderelly,jason world famous, and then and
(29:27):
then Dennis Aguilis, who's alsoon staff there and sets
Diamonds, and Brian Browning,briley's buckle races.
So they've got a pretty deep.
They have a pretty deep bullpenthere.
There's dozens of other peoplethat'll be running around tech
and and managing the courses.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
So, yeah, it sounds like you have this thing down
pat.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Well, a lot of credit goes to greater for that.
But, but, yes, but you know, wedo, we do big events.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, tell me about like so, when everybody's done
shooting, what you know, whatyou have, dinner and on.
Saturday night.
How you know what Yep?
What are you doing there?
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah, so Browning Briley goes first class in in
all of their events and so withwith the, with the Browning
Briley Texas State beingcombined, thursday night there's
gonna be a ladies snooker eventand a cocktail hour.
So I, if I'm not mistaken,there there's something for the
(30:28):
guys to shoot and I think youcan be on another field posting
a snooker event score for the,for the shoot-offs later.
But there's a special ladiesshoot-off and a cocktail hour,
and and then Friday night is the, the Hall of Fame banquet.
So that's a pretty traditionalFriday night thing for Texas
State, regardless of where it'sheld, it will be in the pavilion
(30:50):
.
This year we plan to max it outas far as capacity.
We have tickets available onscore chaser whenever you do
register or you can get some.
They're live and in person.
Like I mentioned, it's the 20thanniversary, so we would.
We're inviting all of ouralumni.
(31:12):
We're asking them to bringtheir blue jackets, their their
blue sport coats with the TSEApatches on them, even if they
don't fit.
I've gotten that text messageonce or twice like, hey, I grew
mine and I'm like, well, justbring it to have it over your
arms.
Yeah, I think it'll be specialto get a picture with all those
people and just to have some ofthe legends of the sport.
(31:33):
You know there are a few thathave unfortunately passed on and
I know, if there's a few thatjust you know flat out, wanton
won't make it, but you know Mebeing active in the sport, you
know 10 years and some of thesebeing guys being active in the
sport, guys and girls, 20 or 30years, you know they've, they've
forgotten stuff that we hadn'teven thought of yet, and so I
(31:56):
think I Think it's important tohave those people around and
embrace it, and then I'm prettysure it's all public knowledge
it definitely will be by thetime this goes out.
But For the TSEA Hall of Famethis year we are inducting Ed
Oregi and Mark Tipton, a couplenames that that a lot of people
(32:18):
are gonna know and recognizethrough either their
accomplishments with With thegun or or they're, you know,
giving back to the sport,representing team USA,
representing a lot of industrypartners to gentlemen that are
that are each, I think, personalfriends, and and I'm looking
forward to being able to put ablue sport coat on those
(32:41):
gentlemen that night- so and itis special Corey's father-in-law
right.
That is yep, that's that'scourse, father-in-law, and then
a lot of people will know mark,and then and then marks dad.
I Never actually got to meetmarks dad, but Growing up in
West Texas I knew these guysthat had stickers on their
(33:02):
buggies and I asked one timeWell, what does the razor mean,
you know?
And that was the marks dad.
One year he entered 74 Eventsand I think he flat out not just
concurrent but like opendivision, hoa 72 out of 74
(33:23):
events that he entered.
And so, yeah, super, super coolto see you know a father and a
son, you know, represent Texas.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
So well, so yeah, yeah, well, that's that should
be interesting, and it soundslike it'll be big.
Yes, sir, yeah so.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
So that's Friday night.
Saturday night is theBrowning-Briley bingo.
Heavens has crawfish.
Rumor has it they will havesome crawfish.
So a lot of people in Texas,louisiana, are not gonna get any
this year.
I guess maybe there's adroughts issues, something like
that but we will have crawfish.
(34:05):
I guess Kevin's gonna buy thelast one off the boat or
something.
The snooker shoot off, whichyou know is always super well
attended I, you know I think thesnooker payouts are bigger at
Texas State than than some ofthem at at the US Open or our
nationals just how many peopleare shooting and participating.
(34:26):
And that'll all be right therein front of the pavilion under
the lights, live scoring.
Kevin announces it and thenBrowning-Briley Always Bonthers,
the big bingo night and I.
We have a bunch of Browning'sto give away, a bunch of Briley
stuff to give away, stuff fromsome other sponsors, and so it
will be a party and it'll beworth your while to to be there
(34:48):
For all the festivities, whetherit's Thursday, friday or
Saturday.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Yeah, that's I Don't know what I've got going on,
when that's when that comes upwith.
That sounds like it's somethingyou know, something to be fun
to go to for sure.
Yeah, it's always something todo, it sounds like, and there's
a lot of money to win.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Yeah, always, always something to do so.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
What else is?
Going on in Texas other thanTexas State.
I mean you got you know whatother shoots for big stuff that
you have going on.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Sure, well, you know we were talking about growing
pains earlier and you know, notevery club can, can, can just
open their gates and have athousand people show up.
So you know, over the years theboard of directors has tried to
do, you know, like assistanceprograms or grant programs.
Long before I was involved, myhome club wrote a letter and
(35:42):
filled out the grant paperworkand you know the TSA donated
some, a couple shooting stands,I mean, you know, it's it's
little stuff like that thatmakes the world go around.
But I think some of thoseprograms had kind of seen their
day and we weren't getting a lotof Applications and things like
that.
So in order to put that moneyback to work and to bring
(36:04):
shooters and events to smallclubs, we came up with the Texas
championship tour.
So everybody loves the bignational championship tour and
so in Texas the tour consists ofyou know there's a pocket of
clubs that we call north, and ifyou would just kind of in your
(36:24):
mind draw a pretty loose circlearound the DFW area right and
then we call it south, so youcan draw a pretty loose circle
around, you know, houston andSan Antonio, and then pretty
much west is west, you know, andthere's a Smattering of clubs
all throughout there.
So every year we pick one clubin each zone.
You know they ride in, they sayhey, yeah, we want to have an
(36:48):
event.
This is, you know, we want apartner.
And my ask of them is just, putyour best foot forward.
We want to partner with you, wewant to promote your club, we
want to incentivize people to gochase those points, chase the
statewide payouts and thestatewide trophies.
And we don't, we don't need athing in the world from you,
(37:11):
except just, you know, put yourbest foot forward.
Somebody might come to yourlittle club, fall in love with
the place and, you know, maybenot every month, come back, but
every couple of months come back, because it's always fun to go
shoot at a cool, new, differentplace and hopefully this
motivates somebody to Gosomewhere that they've never
been.
So you know, you don't have togo over the top, you don't have
(37:33):
to have a 200 bird main, youdon't have to triple your
payouts.
Just hey, we want to highlightyou and we want to partner with
you and give shooters a reasonto be there.
And so you know, for a smallclub, say, they get 40 or 50
people at a regular shoot.
Well, if 10 people show up, Imean that's a meaningful
(37:55):
increase in attendance, right?
And so it's one of those.
You know we move the needle onthe thousand person shoot.
Well, we also want to help tryto move the needle on the on the
50 person shoot.
And then what's the middleground, you know, is that kind
of 200 person shoot.
And there's some clubs GreaterHouston, defender, dallas Gun
(38:19):
Club you know that every timethey open the doors they do get
200.
But then there's some that,that, that don't or won't ever.
And so for the last 10 years,the second most registered event
at a state, championship, issuper sporting.
And so you know I say numbersdon't lie people vote with their
(38:40):
feet.
If they didn't like what youwere doing, they wouldn't offer
you their credit card.
So let's have a super sportingchampionship.
And so we've, we've bounced itaround, we've had it in in lamb
passes set at Julie ClarkClark's Club, austin Gun Club,
we've had it in East Texas at atthe Hunt Families Club, 5h, and
then this year it'll be atGraystone Castle.
(39:01):
And so a lot of people know,know, beth Bounds, she's the
general manager.
There runs everything from thequail and the chucker and the
pheasant hunting to the sportingclays.
And so you know our goal thereis just to give shooters another
chance for programs, awards andrecognition and you know, an
(39:23):
unique venue to shoot at amidsize club that you know can
handle the, the two and threeand 500 people, but 1000, you
know 1000 folks.
I mean you'd run out of, you'drun out of parking in Mingus,
texas, really quick, yeah, ifeverybody showed up at Graystone
.
So, yeah, that's the.
(39:45):
That's kind of what the boardhas settled on and as a way to
help anybody who wants toparticipate and, you know, raise
their hand.
So we've, we've popped thoseevents around a few different
clubs and you know we just wentto Texas Premier.
In March we're going to go toBrownwood, texas, which is kind
(40:08):
of central West Central Texas, anew club.
That that is really.
That has really turned intosomething pretty special.
Lots of terrain, I mean severalhundred foot elevation changes.
Their main event wraps aroundthis canyon on the side of this
mesa, and so you know, fromstation one to station 10, I
(40:33):
think you gain something like800 feet.
I mean it's serious, and sothat's really cool.
And then in in May we'll be atNorth Lake, which is a new club
in North Fort Worth that acouple gentlemen partnered
together, one of them that youknow from the podcast of Vincent
Hancock, so long time USAOlympian.
(40:57):
Yeah, he's got some ski fieldsout there.
If you watch his you knowsocial media you'll, you'll see,
you'll see the backdrops havechanged and that's because he's
coaching and operating a newclub.
They have a neat littleclubhouse.
I was, I was there a coupleweeks ago with some of the
Beretta folks on their way outto the shot.
(41:19):
Joe and Vincent has a pro shopthere in North Fort Worth that
rivals the one at the Nationalsin San Antonio.
I mean, he's got a lot of stuff.
But you know he's also one ofBeretta's most accomplished
athletes and a longtime partner.
So yeah, he has a really coolsetup and you know he's, he's
(41:44):
out there on some equipment,some machinery, pushing brush
piles, you know, the day beforea registered event.
So he's, he's all in.
So neat, neat little thingslike that happen in in Texas
that we want to highlight andpromote.
And you know, keep on goingdown the list, anyone listening
that's in Texas.
I would encourage you to reachout to myself or somebody else
(42:07):
and say hey, I'm, I'm in, I wantto.
I want to partner, and becausewe have nothing set for 2025.
So opportunities are out there.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yeah, there's 40 of you out there.
Yeah exactly, you know so.
So, exactly what are you doinglike when, when your terms up
here, which is this you know,what are you going to?
Speaker 3 (42:30):
do so, I'm act.
So we'll have a new president,which directors are elected by
the membership and then theofficers are elected by the
board of directors in our firstmeeting, which is May after the
(42:51):
state championship.
So whomever is the newpresident, I will stay on the
board as the immediate pastpresident.
Hopefully many of those videocalls I can stay on mute, but
you know my job's always just tobe there and give a little
historical house and wise.
We did the things that we didand, for right or for wrong, at
(43:13):
least provide a little context.
But I've I've had a fewinteresting conversations.
I love shooting sporting clays,I mean I you know there's a lot
worse things that you could dowith your time.
I would, I would like to keep,I would like to keep going, I'd
(43:33):
like to be involved, kind of theat the national level, because
I think we've done a good job togrow some things here in Texas
and and I'm not, I don't thinkthat we could, I don't think we
need to go in and turneverything upside down, but I
think that there's, you know,some some people who love the
port love the competition, havesome ideas, have a little bit of
(43:55):
business sense, you know, canat least, you know, put some
input so that we can keep takingbaby steps in the right
direction.
There's, there is no one sizefits all, and and I don't envy
really anyone that has to makethe hard, hard calls Because
even on the whole class thing,like we talked about earlier,
there is not, there's not aperfect way to do it, but there
(44:18):
are incremental improvementsthat can improve the game and
when we look back in five oryears or 10 years, you know,
ideally we're in a better spotthan we are currently.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
So yeah, sounds like you got going on down there in.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
Texas.
Well, yeah, I, whenever myfriends invite me to do
something, I say, oh, I got asporting place thing.
They always joke and say, oh,you've got to go be the mayor.
And I say yeah, yeah, but I butI love it, I love the shooting,
I love the people.
My cheesy joke is that I'm farbetter at collecting shotguns
than I am shooting shotguns.
So you know.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
I collect nothing, I'd rather do.
What now?
And what do you shoot?
What kind of gun do?
Speaker 3 (44:59):
you shoot One of everything.
Is that a correct answer?
That's why I said you said yougot to collect the collection,
yes, yes.
So I, by hook, by crook, byaccident, ended up with one of
the launch edition SL twos andJim Green would just restock
that for me and it is absolutelygorgeous.
(45:21):
I like it a lot so.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
I know three people, with one now.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Well.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Anthony, and I think Mike Deonda has one.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
Well, and I shot with Christian Crawford at one of
the regionals last year andChristian has.
Christian was shooting one.
I said, oh gosh, what was it?
Louisiana, we were shooting inLouisiana.
So, yeah, there's a, there's afew sneaking around out there.
It's neat, it's different.
I have a stable full ofburritos.
(45:53):
I love to mess with them.
I take them apart Like I'm not.
I'm not scared to knock everyspring and roll pin out of one
of those dudes.
And a big shout out to ClaytonNance.
Clayton polished a DT 11, doubleE, double L, like mirror white
and then said you know, it'd bereally cool if somebody would
(46:15):
deal C coat one.
So I was like, oh, here, watchthis buddy.
And so I did.
I I'd knocked every pin out.
I had them in an egg crate andyou know, folks were like, gosh,
weren't you worried that youcouldn't put it back together?
And I was like, no, not really.
So I DLC coated it.
So that's neat, just a neatproject.
(46:35):
Jim Greenwood's restocked Kreg,often parrotsies and all kinds
of stuff.
There's always a good reason.
There's always a good reason tohave a cool new gun, and so
yeah, why not?
Life's too short to let yourfriends shoot ugly guns.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
I know one thing you got.
You got every single color vestthey make Well I guess I well
that.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
a huge shout out to the rodents and Bear Pelt.
I have full disclosure.
I've maybe given away as manyvests as I've purchased for
myself.
They're super people and proudto represent them and be on the
on the Bear Pelt Pro staff teamand it's just too fun to write
(47:22):
the whole sports too fun.
So so it's too fun not to haveyou know your logo, or?
I've enjoyed, I've reallyenjoyed, wearing the state logo
on a vest that says president,not because I'm, you know,
trying to brag about, you know,leading a conference call every
month, but because I want peopleto come up to me and ask me the
(47:43):
questions because you don'tknow.
You don't know until you ask.
And so you know, find somebodyand ask, because there's so many
perceptions and I don't do alot of social media anymore, but
you know, the things that youread on social media that
somebody assumes is absolutefact and turns out couldn't be
farther from the truth.
You know, I think that's whatwhether it's podcasts like, like
(48:08):
this one, or just boots on theground, I think that's what you
know we need some more of is howdo you reach as many people as
possible, put a gun in theirhand, develop a passion for the
things that we like to do andthen make sure that they know
where to go ask and to not bescared to ask I, you know.
(48:28):
The first time I saw I don'tknow Zach or Corey or somebody
like that, you know, in the wild, I was still a little
starstruck, you know.
And slowly but surely yourealize, hey, you know what.
These are real people that youcan go up to and ask questions.
And believe me, I'm I am notanywhere near them when it comes
to pointing a shotgun, butplease, somebody come ask me
(48:50):
what?
What do we do?
You know I it's always neat toget a call or a message from
somebody in another state thatsays hey, I heard Texas is doing
this, you know, and so, yeah, Iwould love to help Anybody have
a better program.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
So yeah, because that just means more shooting.
That's right Means you get totake all work more right.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
Yes, yes, well, so yeah, anytime it looks like you
know we're having too much fun.
You never see the you never seesitting in a hotel room at one
o'clock in the morning with youriPad open Typing away like a
maniac.
So you know these things happen.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Well, uh, you got anything else?
Then, before I get on, no, dude, that man.
Speaker 3 (49:31):
I can't thank you enough.
This was a cool opportunity andand I would encourage everybody
to Check out the stuff thatwe've got going on here in Texas
.
I know we, we have, I, I knowwe have 25 or 30 states already
represented when you look at thebreakdown, and I think seven
(49:52):
countries.
So you know, by all means, cometo Texas, make this, make this
your people talk about the, theclay vacation that is the
Florida swing.
You know I'm headed to Jacklinks tomorrow I think you are
yeah, also later in the week.
But make, make Texas a Coolswing, just like Florida, or are
(50:14):
?
Speaker 2 (50:14):
some of the West Coast stuff.
Now the thing about Texas youhave to wear boots and cowboy
hat and all that stuff when youcome down there.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
After your shooting.
After your shooting, come onnow.
If you wear cowboy boots whereyou're shooting, you know they
got those heels on them you loseyour ankle mobility.
So if I ever get in a shoot offwith somebody at a charity
event, they're wearing cowboyboots.
I just, you know, I just assumethey're not gonna be able to
turn very well, so they're gonnabe too much of their hands.
Yeah, yeah, all hands, allhands.
(50:43):
No, after the fact well, andthat's why we go big with the
parties on every night here atthe at the Texas state.
So we do it right, yeah, wellthere you go.
Speaker 2 (50:55):
Everyone listen and go check them out.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
Well, how do?
Speaker 2 (50:57):
they find out more information about the just
everything.
The organization, yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (51:02):
So.
So the Texas Sporting ClaysAssociation website is
txclayscom.
If you click, there's severaldrop downs across the top.
You can click the ones forevents and it'll show you the
events we've got going on.
That's where you can find ourboard of directors meetings that
we hold on the first Tuesday.
I encourage anyone interested,raise your hand.
(51:26):
I think we'll have a few boardseats Turning over this next
year from just people that arerotating off, though you know
there are opportunities to serveand and we're not gonna throw
you in the fire on day one youknow, come, get on the board of
directors, learn what makes theworld go around, learn about the
sport and find a way that youfeel comfortable helping and
volunteering.
(51:46):
And then you know, let's, let's,let's make it work.
My contact info, personalcontact info, is on that website
, so you can always get ahold ofme that way.
And then you know we've really,I think most of our shoots have
kind of consolidated.
We've got a few clubs thatstill use iClays, but nearly
everything's consolidated onscore chaser.
(52:07):
So whenever I'm looking for ashoot, I go to score chaser, I
go to the upper right handcorner and in the search bar if
you just type TX and hit enter,it will just bring up Texas only
clubs, and I'm always lookingfor a you know a place to a
place to shoot Maybe there'svery few that I hadn't been to
anymore after after being thepresident for four years.
(52:28):
So you know that's all of ourTexas clubs are represented
there one way or the other.
Speaker 2 (52:36):
Sounds like it's in line.
So you know, I hope the turnoutfor the shoot's good and I'm
sure it will be like you said.
Speaker 3 (52:43):
Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
Oh yes, you know it sounds like it'll be fun and a
lot of money to win.
So yeah all you.
They got kicked back down aclass.
You might want to go out hereand try to win some of this
money.
Have your masterclass pen back.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (52:57):
Yeah what?
You might as well have a hatfull in that.
What in that, what Gary said?
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, four different ones.
Speaker 3 (53:05):
Absolutely so well, last but not least, browning
Riley, can't think those guysenough long range.
Blaser, lincoln, white flyer,jg industrial, wsl, cedar
Gapwell management TSA.
Those are.
I'm forgive me if I've left oneoff, but those are some of the
(53:28):
sponsors that that have workedto make this a sweet event.
So one last shout out to them.
And I don't know man, let'scall it a night.
Speaker 2 (53:35):
Oh, I'm the Texas coming Texas, but first go to
Florida, jack, I'll see youthere.
Speaker 3 (53:41):
I'll see you there, you.
Welcome to Shotgun Sports USA.
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Speaker 2 (00:46):
Russell Moccasen's are leather workers and
bootmakers out of Berlin,wisconsin, and a lot of you've
probably heard of them.
The company started in 1898,still making boots today.
They're all handmade, supercomfortable and geared toward
the sporting lifestyle.
They're hosting a sportingclays tournament in March at
Orvis Shooting Grounds atPurcell Farms.
This will be a fun shoot with alot of great companies behind
(01:10):
them and some cool prizes.
For more information, go to ourwebsite, shotgunsportsusacom.
You'll find the link there.
Click it and find out more.
Okay, you're going to hearabout another huge tournament
(01:46):
coming up very soon.
The Texas State Championship iscombined with the Browning
Briley and this is taking placeat Greater Houston Gun Club with
payouts of around $150,000.
I have the President of theTexas Sporting Clays Association
on with me to tell you allabout it.
Please welcome to the show, benMcInally.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Ben, what's up man?
Not too much just burning upsome Texas highways, like always
.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, there's a lot of highways out there in Texas
to burn up, I can promise you.
Yes, sir, I mean from one endto the other.
It takes you about three weeks,doesn't it?
Yes?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
yes, yeah, you know, talking to people who maybe
shoot either overseas or inother parts of the country.
You know they always want toknow about Texas and you know
about how we have.
I think we have just under 40clubs in the state that throw
registered targets and you know,from Beaumont to El Paso is a
(02:53):
greater distance than it is ElPaso to LA or Beaumont to New
York City, and so, yeah, you canfact check that one, but it's a
big state.
Just to say that.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I know.
I drove out to Nationals oneyear and I rode with a guy named
Kyle Millwood.
I'm sure you know who Kyle?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
is yeah, I know, kyle .
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And I'm telling you, we drove through Texas for at
least three days.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I mean, I said Kyle, what is it?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And he swore it was just one night.
I said, I'm telling you, wedrove through Texas for three
days, so it's a big place, big,big place.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yes, sir, but in arguably kind of the probably
one of the sweet spots for clayshooting.
You know, I know you're inGeorgia and Georgia has just
some amazing clubs, greatshooters, great pros.
I know there's some little hubsthroughout the US, but I mean
Texas.
It's pretty hard to argue with.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Well, they do a lot of stuff out.
You know all the.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
You get the corporate stuff you know the old guys and
whatever.
Whoever else is out therethey're all the guys.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Whoever else is out there, they all like to shoot
clays, or that's competitive orfor recreation, and there's some
of that here, but this is Iknow it's huge in.
Texas, just that side of it.
Yes, so, being in Texas, wetalk about sporting clays on
this podcast most of the time.
Sometimes we get some crazypeople on here talking about
something else.
But what do you do?
(04:18):
Tell me a little bit aboutyourself, sure?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So my business partner Michael and I, we own a
private wealth management firm,cedar Gap Wealth Management.
So we kind of came from the oneof the big Wall Street firms
and COVID helped us becomemotivated to tell all the folks
in New York and California youknow audios and that we were
(04:43):
going to do it our own way.
So anyway, we were both prettyactive in shooting.
Michael's got a couple of boysthat he chases around doing the
sports thing so he doesn't makeas many shoots as I do, but you
know, anytime you see Cedar Gapsomewhere, that's how you know
that Ben and Michael wereinvolved or donating, or you
(05:06):
know, and I'm a big fan of youknow, put your money where your
mouth is and maybe, if you don'thave the money, put your time
where your mouth is.
So and that's how I gotinvolved in the association, you
know local club that grew tothe state level.
That's grown to, you know, evenbigger.
So that's and it's funny.
(05:27):
You mentioned corporates.
You know I think that's howeverybody gets started.
They get invited to besomebody's plus one at a
corporate shoot and you go outthere with a borrowed gun and
you break 54 out of 100 and yougo.
Holy cow, that was the coolestthing ever and before you know
it, you're.
You know you're drowning in it.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That's the only time that you really don't care what
you shoot Every time.
After that, the very next timeyou're like, I should have hit
all of those.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
You know, what.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I mean Exactly so.
But yeah, it's so.
You're on the board for TexasState.
Yes, sir, Yep, I've been on theboard.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I gosh, you know what .
I should know this, I think,since 2014,.
I was, I was pretty involved inmy local club and it's out in
West Texas not exactly you knowa huge area and I just felt like
some of the shooters and theclubs and the people weren't all
the way represented.
(06:24):
I felt like there was a lot ofactivity in Houston or San
Antonio or Dallas, and so I justwanted to to to have a voice
for the little guys out there.
And then you know what's thesaying no good deed goes
unpunished.
Before you know it, if you'reincapable of keeping your mouth
shut and sitting on your hands,you end up with one job, then
(06:47):
three, then 10, and you end upbeing the, the, the chairman.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
So Well, you're, so you're.
You're the man For now.
Well, for now.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, this is my fourth and final year and I've
kind of I've kind of perfectedmy elevator speech, if you will.
You know the state associationsand Idaho, different states,
have different kind of mandates,but you know we're not the
governing body, we're not theNSCA.
You know we don't make therules, we don't write the
(07:17):
rulebook, you know stuff likethat.
I think our job as a stateassociation is to do programs,
awards and recognition.
And you know our programs areour Texas state chute coming up,
the little tour around Texasthat we do to kind of help the
smaller and and and midsizeclubs that maybe can't just have
a thousand people show up at aat a Texas state, and you know
(07:43):
awards for those people whoparticipate in those events.
And then our recognition program, probably our biggest one, is
the Hall of Fame, which is thisis the 20th anniversary.
So later when we talk about theHall of Fame, I think it's
important to to hit on the factthat that's one of our big
recognition programs.
And so you know, beyond that,there's a lot of questions and
(08:04):
comments that I get that I endup forwarding uphill to our, our
friends in San Antonio whoactually make those you know
judgment calls and, and you know, help help the sport grow
because it's it's difficult.
It's difficult to manage thelittle club you know in a small
town versus, you know a clubthat might have 500 people that
(08:26):
are registered chute, you know,just a monthly chute, and that's
a reality in Texas and whereasa lot of states don't have that
problem.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, I was going to ask you next what is?
Is Texas being as big as it isand having as many clubs as it
does?
How, how much different do youthink it is in that organization
versus some of the other onesin the country?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
You know I've got a lot of good friends in Kansas
right.
I've got a great relationshipwith the, with the Greenwood
family, and and you know I'vespent many, many an afternoon in
that in Jim's shop watchingwoodchips fly and us just
talking about nonsense orsporting clays or everything in
(09:09):
between.
And so you know I know a littlebit about Kansas.
I know some guys you know from,from the Midwest and you know,
I think I think the bigdifference is, like I mentioned,
texas has just under 40 clubsthat throw registered
tournaments and so that's one ofthe big tasks that the state
(09:32):
association takes on every yearis.
You know there's only 52 weeksin a year and if you throw out
the holidays and the, you knowthe known, you know graduation
weekends and spring breaks, youknow you can really narrow that
down.
So how do you fill a calendarwhere you got a state with 40
(09:53):
ish people all vying for optimumweekends?
So we fantasy football draft it,if you will.
It's a process we call pick dayand we take the clubs that
throw the most, like a, like agreater Houston sports club or a
or a defender.
You know Clay Sports Ranch, allthe way down to the.
(10:14):
You know my home club, one ofthe smaller ones, abilene Clay
Sports, and so you know whenit's your turn in the draft, the
calendar is yours, and as longas there's not somebody within a
100 mile radius of you who'salready chosen that date, you
know the dates yours because,quite frankly, it's you know,
from my home to greater Houstonis six and a half seven hours,
(10:38):
so, no offense, we're not reallycompeting for the same shooters
, even though you know youhaven't even left the state, and
so that 100 mile rule solves adecent amount of problems, gets
everybody, you know, on the samepath, and that's something that
the association does to justkind of make everything fair and
help.
You know, help the little guyas much as the big guy, where,
(11:01):
when it comes to calendarplanning, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Now when you talk about people sending you
messages and you have to sendthem up the up the line to the
NSCA, how, how many of those doyou have to to look at?
Is it a ton?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
A few, um, I don't know, I would say two to five a
month.
Oh, it's not that many.
I think the NSCA has done agood job of empowering club
owners.
Um, it's, and that's somethingas a business owner myself, it's
hard to.
It's hard to be a part of anorganization that really
(11:38):
dictates what a privatefor-profit business is doing.
And, uh, that's something thatMichael Hampton and I have
talked about.
You know, it's a, it's a, it'sa line to toe.
This is the competitive andprofessional sport at the same
time that it's a recreationalsport, and these are private
for-profit entities, um, thatare, you know, as, as Gary would
(12:03):
say, uh, they open their gatesand invite in a couple hundred
people.
They don't even like field alltheir complaints and then kick
them out.
You know, five hours later,Right, and you know, and I say
that with with a, with a grin onmy face, because it's it's a
little true and it's a littlehyperbolic, but, um, you know, I
(12:23):
feel like it's important tohave that relationship.
And so, if there's somethingegregious or rules-based or
really needs a judgment, um, youknow that stuff gets forwarded
up so that, so that theappropriate people can look at
it.
We're pretty blessed that wedon't have just a ton of that.
I think the rumor is alwaysworse than the truth, right Like
(12:45):
the bark is worse than the bite.
So you know, everybody knowssomebody that heard somebody and
totally saw this other guy dosomething, uh.
But when you start asking whoand where and how, uh, lots of
times it kind of it doesn'treally materialize.
So your mileage may vary, butthat's kind of what I see, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
That's right.
So you're talking about rules.
Well, we just had a uh, apretty big I mean adjustment.
I guess you would say yeah,yeah, and I know you listened to
the Gary Fitzgerald podcast wehad uh what do you hear and
what's your take on that?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
You know, I've I've heard both sides, I, so I'll
reference one of our directorswho's just kind of been a long
time pillar of of of the sportin Texas.
Uh, jr Cooper.
Jr got down class and he said,man, I love it, I love the
shoots.
Again, I can't wait to, youknow, get excited again.
(13:44):
He says, cause, you know, now Idon't have to show up and beat.
You know Corey Cruz or Domgrassy or you know somebody like
that.
You know, now I get to go, nowI get to go see where I'm at and
what I'm doing and how thatworks.
And so consolidating theclasses a little bit, um, I, I
think is a positive um, man, I,I walk the line Like I'm just
(14:07):
good enough to get in troubleand not quite good enough to get
out.
So you know, a lot of times Ifeel like I don't belong in
masterclass.
And then, you know, a couple ofweeks ago I went to a shoot.
I missed a couple of birds.
I went to the parking lot kindof like, oh shucks, I left about
four out there.
You know somebody's going tobeat me.
And by the time I got home thatnight, you know I got a text
message from the score chaserapp that said, you know,
(14:30):
congrats.
And I thought, man, if that'snot a lesson and in every bird
counts just as much as theprevious one, you know, I don't
know, I don't know what is, andso you know, as soon as I say,
like dang, why won't they put mein double A?
Then you go in and win a littlesomething.
So, as my shooting buddies,travel buddies, clayton, nancy,
(14:51):
one, all of those guys you knowwe always joke about, there's a
difference between being WestTexas good, being Texas is good
and then being nationally good,and so I don't know.
I think I'm in the middle, Iknow all the right people, but I
I'm always a couple of birdsbehind.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So yeah, yeah, I'm more than a couple, but it's
okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
And I really love the spirit of the competition.
You know, we shot an event inHouston this weekend, I think
champion was 79.
That was Byron Justice.
Corey shot a 74.
I shot a 64.
And I'm more proud of that 64than I am of a whole bunch of
stuff, because this was a shootthat was over the top, you know,
just for the fun of it.
You know so, everybody wants toshoot a 96, but sometimes it's
(15:37):
a heck of a lot of fun to shoota 64.
Now, a lot of people were inthe parking lot not agreeing
with me, and and I respect theirright to do so, but you know
it's just a clay pot in the sky.
I mean, shoot it or don't hitit or don't.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I mean, at the end of the day, it's not going to
anybody that, other than thepeople that do it for a living,
which you and I don't.
So I mean yeah, yeah, you knowit's.
I've always said it's, you knowit's.
It's.
It's always said it's just a,it's just a piece of clay
floating in the air.
I mean, shoot at it and hit it.
If you don't hit it, then, ohwell, you go and practice some
more.
I mean yeah, yeah, there's noreason to get mad about it.
(16:14):
So you know if you don't it'slike I tell my son if you don't
practice enough, how do youexpect to hit any of them?
I mean, I mean you're going tomiss them, you're just going to
do it, so right.
But anyway, we're going to talkabout the Texas state, teamed
up, I guess, with Brown andBradley this year.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yes, so kind of like we've alluded to Texas being
being what it is in sportingclays and our state championship
having such prestige andgrowing so large.
Unfortunately, there's just afew venues that can hold it, and
you know, right or wrong, Ithink we, you know we could
(16:52):
change a whole bunch of stuffand shrink the event, but you
know I don't think that is inthe best interest to the sport
or the people or the venues.
And then you know, vice versa,Sometimes you get too big to
manage, though, for better orfor worse, and everyone
schedules what they are.
Greater, Houston Sports Club,Kevin and the guys down there
(17:16):
and in South Houston stepped upand said hey, you know, if you
want, if you'd like to partnerwith us, you know we'd like to
have you.
So the Browning-Briley that isa shoot with a lot of legacy
this year is going to becombined with the Texas state
championship.
So there's a ton of supportthat's been given by Browning
(17:39):
and by Briley, and so you knowit's neat, it's an experiment,
it's part of the growing painsof you know what happens when
you, what happens when you findyour state association shoot
being bigger than a couple ofthe last US opens.
So that's yeah, it's nuts.
(18:00):
You know, Texas, having afacility like the National
Shooting Complex in the stateputs us in an interesting place.
Obviously, you know, nationalscan hold a couple thousand
shooters at any time, and so,from 2020 to 2030, we've agreed
(18:22):
to have the odd years at NSC,and one of the reasons we agreed
to that is because, when youcompare not NSC and NSC events,
the NSC events are attended by34 or 35% more people.
And so, you know, sporting clayshooters, right, if they don't
(18:44):
really like what you're doing,then they won't come.
So if 30% of them, more of themcome, you know, regardless of
what's said on social media or,you know, mentioned in the
parking lot, it's hard to arguewith the data, right?
So, Greater Houston, theNational Shooting Complex,
Travis Mears' Defender, ClaySports Ranch.
(19:05):
You know we've found ourselveswhere there's a few clubs and I
think we have a few on thehorizon.
I don't want to put anybody onblast, but I think there's a few
clubs interested in looking togrow into it and, of course,
there'll be some pains there too.
But um, Uh, you know, it wouldbe neat to expand the venues,
but right now we're kind ofrotating between those three or
(19:26):
four.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah, and greater.
Yeah, hadn't been to.
Only what I've been to is thenational she natural, she
accomplished yeah so it's.
I Don't know anything aboutTravis Mears place and I don't
know anything about greaterHouston.
Only thing that I know isTravis is a nice guy.
I'm sure he's got a nice placeand yeah very.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
He's, he's in, he's outside of Fort Worth, right, uh
, kind of on the west side ofthe Dallas Fort Worth area.
Some rolling hills, some, someterrain.
It's.
It's really neat and there's a.
The south central regional willbe there in September.
So he's had a Texas state in2022, a regional coming up, and
(20:07):
I know he is actively working tohave another Texas state in the
future.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So 10 out of 10 for for him, yeah, but it's gonna be
a greater Houston this year.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah, yeah.
So back to greater.
That's a club that's beenaround since the late 50s.
In fact I offline, you and Iwere trying to get Kevin they're
their COO on the phone with usand it and it just didn't worked
out.
I know I'm gonna Do a littlebit of a disservice, but but
(20:37):
graders of fantastic club.
They've had, I think, fourcourses that just run 24, 7365.
A lot of people who have been togreater Houston Know that
famous drive down the lane whereyou know off to your left, you
see a hundred and twenty foottower.
I mean it's, it is, it is a,it's a monster tower.
(21:00):
And you know, at the, at theBrowning Briley or at the
Diamond Classic, the, the twomain events that greater Houston
hosts every year, you'll see abird all the way up there and
it's just, I don't know, it'slife altering to watch a clay
come off that thing and just goon for about two weeks before it
leaves over the horizon.
Yeah, it's, it's a really,really neat facility.
(21:23):
They've put Sometimes someeffort and some money.
Um, everybody's sorry, noteverybody.
If you're familiar with greaterHouston, they kind of have a
Main event course that'sdouble-sided and, you know,
unlike a lot of places.
It's about six.
Polaris is wide so you canactually get through it and it's
(21:45):
well paved and the shootingstands are all nice and covered
and it's it's Very, very, verynice.
Um, they've actually kind ofleapfrogged that and have a
whole nother set and I think itwas Debuted at the Diamond
Classic last year.
But that's where fee tasks andfive stand.
(22:06):
Some some events like that willbe.
They pushed a lot of dirt,couple man-made ponds.
The dirt that created thoseponds you know is is Piled up in
some Northbrook like berms insome places.
So you know it really addedsome terrain to that kind of
(22:26):
South Texas coastal Property andhas made it Just ten out of ten
in my opinion.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I need to see that place.
There's a lot of places I needto see I hadn't been to, but but
that's you know that.
You know I've always heard goodthings about it.
You know they.
Yeah, the Diamond Classic, thetrophies you see coming out of
there, the Browning-Briley yousee something about that.
You know the greater HoustonChampionship, club championship
I mean, you hear?
(22:54):
champion buckle race.
Yeah, you see that on Online,just as I mean it seems like as
much as you see anything elsethat they host.
You know like you get yourfirst parking spot.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I mean yes, man, on that you know, yes, yes, no,
they, they, they do it, they doit first class, and and and they
do it right.
So, yeah, so, april the 17ththrough the 21st, myself and
about 1100 other shooters andprobably another thousand
spectators will all descend inSouth Houston and we're looking
(23:28):
forward to, we're lookingforward to that party.
So that's big.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Oh, that's big for people listen, I mean and
they've been, people listenprobably know.
But you're expecting about 1100, 1200 people.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yes, cuz, cuz.
Every year we seem to setanother record, and so this
would be on on par, I thinkwe're.
We're like 60 to 70 days awayfrom the event kicking off and
you know we're knocking on 800.
And Kevin sent me a screenshotthe other day of Individual
(24:03):
entries, right?
So like if Justin's gonna shootthe main fee task in five,
stand you're.
There, you go, you're you'rethree entries.
I think we have like 3750entries, so that is a lot of
rounds that will be thrown.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yes, sir, what about the money?
Tell me about what you can winthere.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah.
So Kevin Browning, briley, theTexas State Sporting Clause
Association, a bunch of theother sponsors, they have kind
of kind of Come together to makea Pretty serious purse.
One second I'm gonna scrollback, okay.
(24:45):
So, um, hoa is ten thousandcash, runner up five thousand,
third place, twenty five hundred, which is, you know, in line
with some national, if notbetter than some recent
nationally known shoots.
So you know, in class it goesdown to like fifteen hundred, a
(25:08):
thousand and seven fifty.
Same thing for concurrence, andso it's a.
It is a series of events thatyou can come participate in and,
yeah, you might, actually youcould actually be net positive.
I don't know, it depends whatyou eat and drink after the fact
.
I guess, yeah, that's usually,that's usually where mine goes.
So, so there's some, there'ssome interesting stuff they
(25:33):
they're publishing, they're backto class numbers.
So the Cedar Gap wealthmanagement fee task Event and
five stand event are all tendollars, back to class.
They're doing a coupledifferent Well gauge events.
So greater has has kind ofcoined a term sporting light.
So it expect easier, simpler,charity, feel-good targets,
(25:58):
right.
So you know, if you know whatthat is going in Now, you, now
you know what you're signing upfor, you know, versus the main
or maybe fee task or something.
The TSA is sponsoring the Hallof Fame In honor of the 20th
anniversary of our Hall of Fameprogram and we're going to each
station is going to have somespecial signage and and
(26:21):
recognition for our 30 or soPlus, you know, living Hall of
Fame members White flyers, truepair cup, the audios cup, those
are all gonna have ten dollarsback to class.
So you know you're not gonna goshoot a side event when, when
your class and and then feel alittle shafted when you get a,
(26:44):
you know, a trophy, but no, butno payouts, and that's some of
the feedback that we get.
And you can't, you can't giveaway the farm, but you know you
can.
You can definitely Put yourmoney where your mouth is and
that's what they're doing.
So the last thing is Agulaammunition is a sponsoring the
super sport and the super sportpays $50 a person back to class,
(27:10):
and so Previously this wassponsored by Do you know, ron,
you were, yeah, legacy Ford,yeah, so, ron, before Ron
retired, this was, you know,sponsored by Ron and his family
dealerships and so, based on theway it used to work and how you
know, greater Houston, agulaand the TSA see it going forward
(27:32):
the the total purse should be25 30,000 there and master class
should be paying out abouteight grand to win the Win super
sport.
And that's just in class,that's not, that's not Anything
else.
So that goes all the way to E.
(27:53):
So if you got a, if you got abigger, deeper class Payouts or
sky high, and so that'ssomething really neat that the
folks at Agula and craterHouston have worked on, so I
Think you can.
I think there's a shout out tobe made there for those guys and
and Corey Corey crews and Forthem coming up with a great idea
(28:13):
.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, and so if you add all that together, about how
much is that?
Speaker 3 (28:20):
A little over 150,000 .
Wow, I think, is the yeah, ohgosh, I'm embarrassed.
I should know well, it'ssomewhere 150 hundred sixty
thousand.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah, so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
It should pay so now who's second?
Speaker 2 (28:36):
you got.
So who set the targets?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yep.
So, um, mike Boyer is there.
Uh, for lack of not knowing hisactual term, he is the.
He's the boss of the outsidestuff.
I always say Kevin's the bossof the inside stuff, mike's the
boss of the outside stuff.
So, michael, be setting somecourses.
Henry Velazquez a lot of peoplemay not know Henry, but if
(29:03):
you've ever shot the orange orthe red at at nationals, chances
are Henry's had his hands on acouple of those machines.
So you know, if he can setnationals, he can.
He can set Texas State and andhe is a Regular employee at
greater, if I'm not mistaken.
Jason Minkie, of courseeverybody knows.
Jason Bryley, jason Maderelly,jason world famous, and then and
(29:27):
then Dennis Aguilis, who's alsoon staff there and sets
Diamonds, and Brian Browning,briley's buckle races.
So they've got a pretty deep.
They have a pretty deep bullpenthere.
There's dozens of other peoplethat'll be running around tech
and and managing the courses.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
So, yeah, it sounds like you have this thing down
pat.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Well, a lot of credit goes to greater for that.
But, but, yes, but you know, wedo, we do big events.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, tell me about like so, when everybody's done
shooting, what you know, whatyou have, dinner and on.
Saturday night.
How you know what Yep?
What are you doing there?
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah, so Browning Briley goes first class in in
all of their events and so withwith the, with the Browning
Briley Texas State beingcombined, thursday night there's
gonna be a ladies snooker eventand a cocktail hour.
So I, if I'm not mistaken,there there's something for the
(30:28):
guys to shoot and I think youcan be on another field posting
a snooker event score for the,for the shoot-offs later.
But there's a special ladiesshoot-off and a cocktail hour,
and and then Friday night is the, the Hall of Fame banquet.
So that's a pretty traditionalFriday night thing for Texas
State, regardless of where it'sheld, it will be in the pavilion
(30:50):
.
This year we plan to max it outas far as capacity.
We have tickets available onscore chaser whenever you do
register or you can get some.
They're live and in person.
Like I mentioned, it's the 20thanniversary, so we would.
We're inviting all of ouralumni.
(31:12):
We're asking them to bringtheir blue jackets, their their
blue sport coats with the TSEApatches on them, even if they
don't fit.
I've gotten that text messageonce or twice like, hey, I grew
mine and I'm like, well, justbring it to have it over your
arms.
Yeah, I think it'll be specialto get a picture with all those
people and just to have some ofthe legends of the sport.
(31:33):
You know there are a few thathave unfortunately passed on and
I know, if there's a few thatjust you know flat out, wanton
won't make it, but you know Mebeing active in the sport, you
know 10 years and some of thesebeing guys being active in the
sport, guys and girls, 20 or 30years, you know they've, they've
forgotten stuff that we hadn'teven thought of yet, and so I
(31:56):
think I Think it's important tohave those people around and
embrace it, and then I'm prettysure it's all public knowledge
it definitely will be by thetime this goes out.
But For the TSEA Hall of Famethis year we are inducting Ed
Oregi and Mark Tipton, a couplenames that that a lot of people
(32:18):
are gonna know and recognizethrough either their
accomplishments with With thegun or or they're, you know,
giving back to the sport,representing team USA,
representing a lot of industrypartners to gentlemen that are
that are each, I think, personalfriends, and and I'm looking
forward to being able to put ablue sport coat on those
(32:41):
gentlemen that night- so and itis special Corey's father-in-law
right.
That is yep, that's that'scourse, father-in-law, and then
a lot of people will know mark,and then and then marks dad.
I Never actually got to meetmarks dad, but Growing up in
West Texas I knew these guysthat had stickers on their
(33:02):
buggies and I asked one timeWell, what does the razor mean,
you know?
And that was the marks dad.
One year he entered 74 Eventsand I think he flat out not just
concurrent but like opendivision, hoa 72 out of 74
(33:23):
events that he entered.
And so, yeah, super, super coolto see you know a father and a
son, you know, represent Texas.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
So well, so yeah, yeah, well, that's that should
be interesting, and it soundslike it'll be big.
Yes, sir, yeah so.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
So that's Friday night.
Saturday night is theBrowning-Briley bingo.
Heavens has crawfish.
Rumor has it they will havesome crawfish.
So a lot of people in Texas,louisiana, are not gonna get any
this year.
I guess maybe there's adroughts issues, something like
that but we will have crawfish.
(34:05):
I guess Kevin's gonna buy thelast one off the boat or
something.
The snooker shoot off, whichyou know is always super well
attended I, you know I think thesnooker payouts are bigger at
Texas State than than some ofthem at at the US Open or our
nationals just how many peopleare shooting and participating.
(34:26):
And that'll all be right therein front of the pavilion under
the lights, live scoring.
Kevin announces it and thenBrowning-Briley Always Bonthers,
the big bingo night and I.
We have a bunch of Browning'sto give away, a bunch of Briley
stuff to give away, stuff fromsome other sponsors, and so it
will be a party and it'll beworth your while to to be there
(34:48):
For all the festivities, whetherit's Thursday, friday or
Saturday.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Yeah, that's I Don't know what I've got going on,
when that's when that comes upwith.
That sounds like it's somethingyou know, something to be fun
to go to for sure.
Yeah, it's always something todo, it sounds like, and there's
a lot of money to win.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Yeah, always, always something to do so.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
What else is?
Going on in Texas other thanTexas State.
I mean you got you know whatother shoots for big stuff that
you have going on.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Sure, well, you know we were talking about growing
pains earlier and you know, notevery club can, can, can just
open their gates and have athousand people show up.
So you know, over the years theboard of directors has tried to
do, you know, like assistanceprograms or grant programs.
Long before I was involved, myhome club wrote a letter and
(35:42):
filled out the grant paperworkand you know the TSA donated
some, a couple shooting stands,I mean, you know, it's it's
little stuff like that thatmakes the world go around.
But I think some of thoseprograms had kind of seen their
day and we weren't getting a lotof Applications and things like
that.
So in order to put that moneyback to work and to bring
(36:04):
shooters and events to smallclubs, we came up with the Texas
championship tour.
So everybody loves the bignational championship tour and
so in Texas the tour consists ofyou know there's a pocket of
clubs that we call north, and ifyou would just kind of in your
(36:24):
mind draw a pretty loose circlearound the DFW area right and
then we call it south, so youcan draw a pretty loose circle
around, you know, houston andSan Antonio, and then pretty
much west is west, you know, andthere's a Smattering of clubs
all throughout there.
So every year we pick one clubin each zone.
You know they ride in, they sayhey, yeah, we want to have an
(36:48):
event.
This is, you know, we want apartner.
And my ask of them is just, putyour best foot forward.
We want to partner with you, wewant to promote your club, we
want to incentivize people to gochase those points, chase the
statewide payouts and thestatewide trophies.
And we don't, we don't need athing in the world from you,
(37:11):
except just, you know, put yourbest foot forward.
Somebody might come to yourlittle club, fall in love with
the place and, you know, maybenot every month, come back, but
every couple of months come back, because it's always fun to go
shoot at a cool, new, differentplace and hopefully this
motivates somebody to Gosomewhere that they've never
been.
So you know, you don't have togo over the top, you don't have
(37:33):
to have a 200 bird main, youdon't have to triple your
payouts.
Just hey, we want to highlightyou and we want to partner with
you and give shooters a reasonto be there.
And so you know, for a smallclub, say, they get 40 or 50
people at a regular shoot.
Well, if 10 people show up, Imean that's a meaningful
(37:55):
increase in attendance, right?
And so it's one of those.
You know we move the needle onthe thousand person shoot.
Well, we also want to help tryto move the needle on the on the
50 person shoot.
And then what's the middleground, you know, is that kind
of 200 person shoot.
And there's some clubs GreaterHouston, defender, dallas Gun
(38:19):
Club you know that every timethey open the doors they do get
200.
But then there's some that,that, that don't or won't ever.
And so for the last 10 years,the second most registered event
at a state, championship, issuper sporting.
And so you know I say numbersdon't lie people vote with their
(38:40):
feet.
If they didn't like what youwere doing, they wouldn't offer
you their credit card.
So let's have a super sportingchampionship.
And so we've, we've bounced itaround, we've had it in in lamb
passes set at Julie ClarkClark's Club, austin Gun Club,
we've had it in East Texas at atthe Hunt Families Club, 5h, and
then this year it'll be atGraystone Castle.
(39:01):
And so a lot of people know,know, beth Bounds, she's the
general manager.
There runs everything from thequail and the chucker and the
pheasant hunting to the sportingclays.
And so you know our goal thereis just to give shooters another
chance for programs, awards andrecognition and you know, an
(39:23):
unique venue to shoot at amidsize club that you know can
handle the, the two and threeand 500 people, but 1000, you
know 1000 folks.
I mean you'd run out of, you'drun out of parking in Mingus,
texas, really quick, yeah, ifeverybody showed up at Graystone
.
So, yeah, that's the.
(39:45):
That's kind of what the boardhas settled on and as a way to
help anybody who wants toparticipate and, you know, raise
their hand.
So we've, we've popped thoseevents around a few different
clubs and you know we just wentto Texas Premier.
In March we're going to go toBrownwood, texas, which is kind
(40:08):
of central West Central Texas, anew club.
That that is really.
That has really turned intosomething pretty special.
Lots of terrain, I mean severalhundred foot elevation changes.
Their main event wraps aroundthis canyon on the side of this
mesa, and so you know, fromstation one to station 10, I
(40:33):
think you gain something like800 feet.
I mean it's serious, and sothat's really cool.
And then in in May we'll be atNorth Lake, which is a new club
in North Fort Worth that acouple gentlemen partnered
together, one of them that youknow from the podcast of Vincent
Hancock, so long time USAOlympian.
(40:57):
Yeah, he's got some ski fieldsout there.
If you watch his you knowsocial media you'll, you'll see,
you'll see the backdrops havechanged and that's because he's
coaching and operating a newclub.
They have a neat littleclubhouse.
I was, I was there a coupleweeks ago with some of the
Beretta folks on their way outto the shot.
(41:19):
Joe and Vincent has a pro shopthere in North Fort Worth that
rivals the one at the Nationalsin San Antonio.
I mean, he's got a lot of stuff.
But you know he's also one ofBeretta's most accomplished
athletes and a longtime partner.
So yeah, he has a really coolsetup and you know he's, he's
(41:44):
out there on some equipment,some machinery, pushing brush
piles, you know, the day beforea registered event.
So he's, he's all in.
So neat, neat little thingslike that happen in in Texas
that we want to highlight andpromote.
And you know, keep on goingdown the list, anyone listening
that's in Texas.
I would encourage you to reachout to myself or somebody else
(42:07):
and say hey, I'm, I'm in, I wantto.
I want to partner, and becausewe have nothing set for 2025.
So opportunities are out there.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yeah, there's 40 of you out there.
Yeah exactly, you know so.
So, exactly what are you doinglike when, when your terms up
here, which is this you know,what are you going to?
Speaker 3 (42:30):
do so, I'm act.
So we'll have a new president,which directors are elected by
the membership and then theofficers are elected by the
board of directors in our firstmeeting, which is May after the
(42:51):
state championship.
So whomever is the newpresident, I will stay on the
board as the immediate pastpresident.
Hopefully many of those videocalls I can stay on mute, but
you know my job's always just tobe there and give a little
historical house and wise.
We did the things that we didand, for right or for wrong, at
(43:13):
least provide a little context.
But I've I've had a fewinteresting conversations.
I love shooting sporting clays,I mean I you know there's a lot
worse things that you could dowith your time.
I would, I would like to keep,I would like to keep going, I'd
(43:33):
like to be involved, kind of theat the national level, because
I think we've done a good job togrow some things here in Texas
and and I'm not, I don't thinkthat we could, I don't think we
need to go in and turneverything upside down, but I
think that there's, you know,some some people who love the
port love the competition, havesome ideas, have a little bit of
(43:55):
business sense, you know, canat least, you know, put some
input so that we can keep takingbaby steps in the right
direction.
There's, there is no one sizefits all, and and I don't envy
really anyone that has to makethe hard, hard calls Because
even on the whole class thing,like we talked about earlier,
there is not, there's not aperfect way to do it, but there
(44:18):
are incremental improvementsthat can improve the game and
when we look back in five oryears or 10 years, you know,
ideally we're in a better spotthan we are currently.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
So yeah, sounds like you got going on down there in.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
Texas.
Well, yeah, I, whenever myfriends invite me to do
something, I say, oh, I got asporting place thing.
They always joke and say, oh,you've got to go be the mayor.
And I say yeah, yeah, but I butI love it, I love the shooting,
I love the people.
My cheesy joke is that I'm farbetter at collecting shotguns
than I am shooting shotguns.
So you know.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
I collect nothing, I'd rather do.
What now?
And what do you shoot?
What kind of gun do?
Speaker 3 (44:59):
you shoot One of everything.
Is that a correct answer?
That's why I said you said yougot to collect the collection,
yes, yes.
So I, by hook, by crook, byaccident, ended up with one of
the launch edition SL twos andJim Green would just restock
that for me and it is absolutelygorgeous.
(45:21):
I like it a lot so.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
I know three people, with one now.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Well.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Anthony, and I think Mike Deonda has one.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
Well, and I shot with Christian Crawford at one of
the regionals last year andChristian has.
Christian was shooting one.
I said, oh gosh, what was it?
Louisiana, we were shooting inLouisiana.
So, yeah, there's a, there's afew sneaking around out there.
It's neat, it's different.
I have a stable full ofburritos.
(45:53):
I love to mess with them.
I take them apart Like I'm not.
I'm not scared to knock everyspring and roll pin out of one
of those dudes.
And a big shout out to ClaytonNance.
Clayton polished a DT 11, doubleE, double L, like mirror white
and then said you know, it'd bereally cool if somebody would
(46:15):
deal C coat one.
So I was like, oh, here, watchthis buddy.
And so I did.
I I'd knocked every pin out.
I had them in an egg crate andyou know, folks were like, gosh,
weren't you worried that youcouldn't put it back together?
And I was like, no, not really.
So I DLC coated it.
So that's neat, just a neatproject.
(46:35):
Jim Greenwood's restocked Kreg,often parrotsies and all kinds
of stuff.
There's always a good reason.
There's always a good reason tohave a cool new gun, and so
yeah, why not?
Life's too short to let yourfriends shoot ugly guns.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
I know one thing you got.
You got every single color vestthey make Well I guess I well
that.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
a huge shout out to the rodents and Bear Pelt.
I have full disclosure.
I've maybe given away as manyvests as I've purchased for
myself.
They're super people and proudto represent them and be on the
on the Bear Pelt Pro staff teamand it's just too fun to write
(47:22):
the whole sports too fun.
So so it's too fun not to haveyou know your logo, or?
I've enjoyed, I've reallyenjoyed, wearing the state logo
on a vest that says president,not because I'm, you know,
trying to brag about, you know,leading a conference call every
month, but because I want peopleto come up to me and ask me the
(47:43):
questions because you don'tknow.
You don't know until you ask.
And so you know, find somebodyand ask, because there's so many
perceptions and I don't do alot of social media anymore, but
you know, the things that youread on social media that
somebody assumes is absolutefact and turns out couldn't be
farther from the truth.
You know, I think that's whatwhether it's podcasts like, like
(48:08):
this one, or just boots on theground, I think that's what you
know we need some more of is howdo you reach as many people as
possible, put a gun in theirhand, develop a passion for the
things that we like to do andthen make sure that they know
where to go ask and to not bescared to ask I, you know.
(48:28):
The first time I saw I don'tknow Zach or Corey or somebody
like that, you know, in the wild, I was still a little
starstruck, you know.
And slowly but surely yourealize, hey, you know what.
These are real people that youcan go up to and ask questions.
And believe me, I'm I am notanywhere near them when it comes
to pointing a shotgun, butplease, somebody come ask me
(48:50):
what?
What do we do?
You know I it's always neat toget a call or a message from
somebody in another state thatsays hey, I heard Texas is doing
this, you know, and so, yeah, Iwould love to help Anybody have
a better program.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
So yeah, because that just means more shooting.
That's right Means you get totake all work more right.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
Yes, yes, well, so yeah, anytime it looks like you
know we're having too much fun.
You never see the you never seesitting in a hotel room at one
o'clock in the morning with youriPad open Typing away like a
maniac.
So you know these things happen.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Well, uh, you got anything else?
Then, before I get on, no, dude, that man.
Speaker 3 (49:31):
I can't thank you enough.
This was a cool opportunity andand I would encourage everybody
to Check out the stuff thatwe've got going on here in Texas
.
I know we, we have, I, I knowwe have 25 or 30 states already
represented when you look at thebreakdown, and I think seven
(49:52):
countries.
So you know, by all means, cometo Texas, make this, make this
your people talk about the, theclay vacation that is the
Florida swing.
You know I'm headed to Jacklinks tomorrow I think you are
yeah, also later in the week.
But make, make Texas a Coolswing, just like Florida, or are
(50:14):
?
Speaker 2 (50:14):
some of the West Coast stuff.
Now the thing about Texas youhave to wear boots and cowboy
hat and all that stuff when youcome down there.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
After your shooting.
After your shooting, come onnow.
If you wear cowboy boots whereyou're shooting, you know they
got those heels on them you loseyour ankle mobility.
So if I ever get in a shoot offwith somebody at a charity
event, they're wearing cowboyboots.
I just, you know, I just assumethey're not gonna be able to
turn very well, so they're gonnabe too much of their hands.
Yeah, yeah, all hands, allhands.
(50:43):
No, after the fact well, andthat's why we go big with the
parties on every night here atthe at the Texas state.
So we do it right, yeah, wellthere you go.
Speaker 2 (50:55):
Everyone listen and go check them out.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
Well, how do?
Speaker 2 (50:57):
they find out more information about the just
everything.
The organization, yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (51:02):
So.
So the Texas Sporting ClaysAssociation website is
txclayscom.
If you click, there's severaldrop downs across the top.
You can click the ones forevents and it'll show you the
events we've got going on.
That's where you can find ourboard of directors meetings that
we hold on the first Tuesday.
I encourage anyone interested,raise your hand.
(51:26):
I think we'll have a few boardseats Turning over this next
year from just people that arerotating off, though you know
there are opportunities to serveand and we're not gonna throw
you in the fire on day one youknow, come, get on the board of
directors, learn what makes theworld go around, learn about the
sport and find a way that youfeel comfortable helping and
volunteering.
(51:46):
And then you know, let's, let's,let's make it work.
My contact info, personalcontact info, is on that website
, so you can always get ahold ofme that way.
And then you know we've really,I think most of our shoots have
kind of consolidated.
We've got a few clubs thatstill use iClays, but nearly
everything's consolidated onscore chaser.
(52:07):
So whenever I'm looking for ashoot, I go to score chaser, I
go to the upper right handcorner and in the search bar if
you just type TX and hit enter,it will just bring up Texas only
clubs, and I'm always lookingfor a you know a place to a
place to shoot Maybe there'svery few that I hadn't been to
anymore after after being thepresident for four years.
(52:28):
So you know that's all of ourTexas clubs are represented
there one way or the other.
Speaker 2 (52:36):
Sounds like it's in line.
So you know, I hope the turnoutfor the shoot's good and I'm
sure it will be like you said.
Speaker 3 (52:43):
Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
Oh yes, you know it sounds like it'll be fun and a
lot of money to win.
So yeah all you.
They got kicked back down aclass.
You might want to go out hereand try to win some of this
money.
Have your masterclass pen back.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (52:57):
Yeah what?
You might as well have a hatfull in that.
What in that, what Gary said?
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, four different ones.
Speaker 3 (53:05):
Absolutely so well, last but not least, browning
Riley, can't think those guysenough long range.
Blaser, lincoln, white flyer,jg industrial, wsl, cedar
Gapwell management TSA.
Those are.
I'm forgive me if I've left oneoff, but those are some of the
(53:28):
sponsors that that have workedto make this a sweet event.
So one last shout out to them.
And I don't know man, let'scall it a night.
Speaker 2 (53:35):
Oh, I'm the Texas coming Texas, but first go to
Florida, jack, I'll see youthere.
Speaker 3 (53:41):
I'll see you there, you.
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