5th Annual NWI INGO/Winamac DNR Youth Day - Photos

[Libertarian01]

I would love to attend next year. Give me the date and I'll try to lock it in.

On a personal note I polled a few people as they were leaving and asked what their favorite part was. At the top of the list for many was the archery and crossbow. Next came the shotgun. So I think a lot of folks appreciated the diversity of their options.

Last year I helped Jack with the food. This year I was at the safety table. Talking to Jack on the way home we think he needs someone to help him full time. If nothing more than directing people to the food, putting out new plates, cutting the bacon, etc. He got overwhelmed with the little things interfering with the cooking part.

My shirt is PERFECT! I will be certain to wear it next year!!!

On the plate side I brought 175 plates. None came home.

We also need to consider what Jedi brought up as knowing our limitations. There is only so much space and without more manpower we are hitting our limits, although I think everyone I saw did a damn fine job.

Regards,

Doug

 

[sadclownwp]

No its small spray green bottles.
I gave all my paper targets to larry any left over?

I have the paper targets that the DNR gave me. I don't know if they are yours, but i will bring them to the next Meet and Shoot.

 

[actaeon277]

My dad, brother, and I had fun. All of us enjoy teaching guns and safety.

Everyone worked hard.
Jedi, without you organizing this, it wouldn't happen.
Usmarine, great job on the shirts.
And everyone else, too many to list.
All the hard work done, so that people can learn and experience, for free.
Makes me glad to be part of INGO.

 

[2A_Tom]

Capping the event to 140 participates due to capacity

I do not know about other stations, but on the fifty yard range we could handle a lot more than 140.

• The main problem is that we have so many that get in line time and again.
• Someone mentioned giving tickets at thr sign in table.
• A ticket or two for each station, with the option to purchace more tickets.
• IlSRA runs an event each summer and sells tickets for the ranges they charge $1 for 10 rounds of .22, $3 for 5 rounds of CF pistol and $5 for 5 rounds of CF rifle ammo.

 

[sadclownwp]

I think the people who waited the longest waited for the AR/AK. We may need 2 AR/AK stations for next year.

 

[2A_Tom]

Most of thr AR/AK shooters were going through several times.

 

[jedi]

I have been to the iisra event in kankakee il and that is where this idea was born from. However as ours is a state sponsored event on state property NO selling of stuff can be done. Thus why everything is free and if someone tries to give us we treat it as a donation to get the plywood or brooms.

We dont have an issue of not enough ammo. We have the issue of not enough instructors plus not even room to shoot.
I dont want to see the "disney model" of the wait time to shoot at this bench is 2hrs. nor do i want to limit these little ones or our first time shooter moms to xyz rds.

The goal is to have them shoot as much as possible, to remove that fear that this is dangerous that they cant do it that all gums are evils. We want them to take this expwrience and thwn go further and go buy a rifle, go going a club, come,back get on ingo if need be.

 

[d.kaufman]

Im definitely in for helping again next year. We definitely had kids running through the lines multiple times, i know i had several shooters that came thru 3-4 times at my station alone, so im sure they were elsewhere as well. We definitely need more volunteers, just so we could be able to get a break and grab some lunch
I believe everyone at the 50 ate once the event was over. I think more help cooking is a necessity also, when a few of us went to finally eat around 12:15 we still had to wait about 20 minutes. All around very successful and I personally had a great time. We just need some more volunteers and we would have no problem handling a larger capacity crowd

 

[Libertarian01]

Jack can grill six (6) burgers at a time, so he can generally do well if he doesn't fall behind. That said, he admitted to slacking off once he had a head start and that that was a mistake.

I bought especially strong plastic plates to handle food carried to the folks on the range for their orders, but as there was no waiter-on-the-range it didn't matter much, plus it pushed everyone to run for food when the shoot was over.

So I think next year when we bring the bacon cheeseburgers we'll need someone assigned to help Jack. He even said his daughter Alina could have helped with the simple stuff that would have made things a lot easier for him, so perhaps if someone wants to "volunteer" a 12 year old that would work...? If nothing else I can go back to helping there, I have no problem with that.

As far as wait times to shoot I think 5 - 10 minutes is fine. We aren't a drive through. That said, over 15 minutes would start to push things a tad. This is just personal taste though.

With kids going through the line multiple times I don't blame them. They want to have fun and do it over and over again. I used to have a video tape of Puff The Magic Dragon. My friend brought his little girls over and we watched it, and we watched it again, and again.... and again. I think we watched that thing 20 times in a row. Kids can keep going and going. Maybe if we can come up with some sort of "activity and/or display" () table for them to do something at it could distract a few at a time to create a natural pause for them. I could bring my collection of C&R American rifles. I could put out an M1903, M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and M16 replica(CR-15). If I could get an M1911 (original), M1911a1, a replica Tommy Gun, and an M14 (replica) rifle we would have most of the firearms from WWI and WWII for them to look at and hold. This is just a thought that could be tweaked or thrown out.

Just some thoughts for now.

Regards,

Doug

 

[actaeon277]

Maybe I can interest my mom in helping at the food tables.
She doesn't come, because she's not a big "gun person". But, if there's something she can do, she may show.

 

[bigretic]

Like I said, fast lane (or just the understanding) food option for the volunteers would be great to keep the stations staffed. Ya gotta eat! Waiter would be even better! (oh yeah, no food on the line...) Thanks Jedi for thowing while I stuffed a burger down my throat!

We also had multiple visits at the shotgun station from the same kids - I didn't think anything of it. While nobody said anything about limits, I did cut a few adults off politely. There was a dad that I think would have just stood there and blown off 100 rounds if I let him. Everyone else either tired out sub 25 rounds or was courteous to know there were people waiting behind them. Or shot one box and just figured that was their turn. (I did have extra 20g in the truck in case, but DNR did come by one time and ask if we had enough shells, so I think they had more to put out if need be.) Station 1 had more volume than us i'm sure since it was closer. My wife's 391 got more rounds through it than it has since I got it for her. That was cool. I was pretty sure I saw the red laminate 10/22 I brought getting used also. FWIW on the 22's Glen park has 5 marlin bolt action 22 rifles for kid shoots that I could bring next year.
As for the shotgun stations themselves, the short field setup sucks. Beginning shooters cant get on a target that fast before they fall into the trees. My opinion. We cranked the thrower up and got them higher after tossing some doubles for a grandpa to try and hit, but then the little kids were contorted skyward because the targets were so high. Not that they noticed or cared, just me looking at target quality from a trapper standpoint. Not sure what if any solution there is to that facility wise.
I had a great time. Nice work everyone!

 

[2A_Tom]

A couple of more things would be realy nice:

• A 2x3 glossy cardstock INGO card, with article 32 and the 2A on the back.
• An cartoon illustrated $ rules card for the kids.
• A sticker that says "I shot a rifle at the DNR INGO Family Day"

 

[2A_Tom]

A couple of more things would be realy nice:

• A 2x3 glossy cardstock INGO card, with article 32 and the 2A on the back.
• An cartoon illustrated 4 rules card for the kids.
• A sticker that says "I shot a rifle at the DNR INGO Family Day"

 

[actaeon277]

article 32?

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

I had a great time, and will happily volunteer for next year. Maybe I could get my daughter to help with the food, she's 10 and a great help. I like the idea of tickets for each station, as I saw a few come through a few times, that seemed to hold up the line. Maybe give the ticket holders preference and let the others go to the back of the line.

I'll also remember to bring my spotting scope. I can't see .22 hits like I used to.

 

[2A_Tom]

Sorry Article 1 Section 32

 

[Piobair]

I love that one with the girl's little painted nails hands loading a magazine.

Jedi

Thanks. That one was my favorite too.

 

[repeter1977]

Looks like you all did a great job again

 

[repeter1977]

Great job all. Looks like another successful year.

 

[1775usmarine]

Like I said, fast lane (or just the understanding) food option for the volunteers would be great to keep the stations staffed. Ya gotta eat! Waiter would be even better! (oh yeah, no food on the line...) Thanks Jedi for thowing while I stuffed a burger down my throat!

We also had multiple visits at the shotgun station from the same kids - I didn't think anything of it. While nobody said anything about limits, I did cut a few adults off politely. There was a dad that I think would have just stood there and blown off 100 rounds if I let him. Everyone else either tired out sub 25 rounds or was courteous to know there were people waiting behind them. Or shot one box and just figured that was their turn. (I did have extra 20g in the truck in case, but DNR did come by one time and ask if we had enough shells, so I think they had more to put out if need be.) Station 1 had more volume than us i'm sure since it was closer. My wife's 391 got more rounds through it than it has since I got it for her. That was cool. I was pretty sure I saw the red laminate 10/22 I brought getting used also. FWIW on the 22's Glen park has 5 marlin bolt action 22 rifles for kid shoots that I could bring next year.
As for the shotgun stations themselves, the short field setup sucks. Beginning shooters cant get on a target that fast before they fall into the trees. My opinion. We cranked the thrower up and got them higher after tossing some doubles for a grandpa to try and hit, but then the little kids were contorted skyward because the targets were so high. Not that they noticed or cared, just me looking at target quality from a trapper standpoint. Not sure what if any solution there is to that facility wise.
I had a great time. Nice work everyone!

My wife said the kids enjoyed my bolt action marlin 80 which I have brought with the last 2 years. Yeah it was starting to get a bit dirty it was still going when my 10/22 went down for a bit.


As for the number of kids increasing, maybe we'll have to make it a day long thing. We'll just need more people to help, and if we can get people to lock in ahead of time so we can have more time to raise money for shirts. Shirts have been running us around 450 a year. I could check around somewhere local to see if we can get it done cheaper, but Printcraft is an INGO member so I'll leave it up to the majority. I really prefer the Gildan brand of shirts as they are a bit looser than some others when it comes to real size, and they are fairly heavy duty and will last several years before wearing out.