Your Say

Ok for some time now the forum has been running with very few contributors and lots and lots of lookers. Not that this is a problem but to keep the focus on our site and also our sport, we need to continually value add to this section of the site. Over the break of December and January i intend to consult with Anthony, Belly and myself who contribute to the site and see if we need to re vamp this site and identify if we need to change anything.

This is where you come in, as fly shooters you all like the site the information the dates of the shoots posted etc etc but what is your contributing element, what would you like to see on the forum. There are ranges that have monthly fly shooting events (club) why are these not posted as  an interest element it keeps shooters focused on the fly and what it is about.

There is certainly a down turn in shooters at all events and we are all to blame a little. Many of us don't try other sports and other sports don't try our shooting. We have managed to  get some of the F Class shooters to come along and have a go which is tremendous but we should be encouraging as many shooters to try fly shooting as possible.

I have been fortunate enough to shoot nearly every shooting sport this country has to offer and none of the other shooting sports has the friendly and welcoming spirit this one has.

think about what you would like on the site post it up, get some debate going and we will look at making changes to support you...........

Hi les

I spend a lot of time on other forums and one thing I think would help this site out if you had a section on the forum that users could sell stuff for free, and be user maintained . eg dies, scopes etc.

The oz flcass site is a prime example of pickin up quality gear related to our sport at good prices.

I am sure there are fly guys with loads of stuff that could be dug out of cupboards and sold to newer shooters or even established shooters who may be chasing a caliber change and need dies, brass etc.

Also maybe some more how to guides with diagrams or even videos.

Wind reading would be my biggest area I would like to learn more about.
The ones we have now are not very detailed.


Just my thoughts

Cameron

Hi Les,

Yes, I agree that we need to continue to push the sport forward in all areas including shooter participation, corporate sponsorship to generate prizes, Hall of Fame recognition and at the same time acknowledge and grow the great heritage and prestige that is Bench Rest Fly.

I like Cameron's idea of a user generated and managed for sale / swap section.  Of course it will have to follow legal guidelines for firearms etc, but I believe that we can accommodate that in the structure of the current site.....

With other clubs.....I know that facebook is effectively covering a lot of that domain.... but I am happy to accommodate discussion rooms for any club that feels it would benefit from that......is their own open forum where they can display results and dates etc.

I also feel that we should re look at the Shooter Of The Year programme and get something like the top ten places displayed on the web site, updated after each shoot.....

Lets hear any other suggestions and we can work to make them happen..

Cheers

Anthony

Hi all,

Along with the top ten places I would like to see an equipment list of component's used by the top ten guys from actions, barrels,  triggers, stocks and scopes to brass, powder and prodgies etc.

Cheers

Jason  

hi Guys
yeah I like all the info I get off the forum and seeing what the results are from other clubs, a for sale section for small stuff sounds great
maybe something Jason and myself can do is to start posting up our scores from our weekend shoots maybe? so you guys can see what we are doing over this side

but I must say I have heard of a few people giving shooting away atm not just fly because of the cost involved now (from fees to reloading to not being able to get gear in the 1st place) and the way shooters are betrayed in the media these days and all the crap about guns,  and the lack of SSAA help unless your a target shooter (that's all they seem to care about...this I just what I hear)
these are the guys who start out as hunters and then come into the target game.

hi mate yep equipment lists are important and we will ensure they are collated in the future, it is a requirement for short range benchrest too and it certainly gives folks the opportunity to see what the front runners are using.

cheers Les

My main discipline is F Class, and I am a regular contributor to the ozfclass.com website that is literally the heart and soul of F Class. I have been shooting 500m Fly, and 1000 yd BR in Brisbane, where Vince Vaina is the passionate organizer of both.
A number of F Class shooters are shooting Fly in Brisbane, and we are often somewhere near the pointy end in monthly competitions.
As you know, the Harry Madden event has just been run, and Vince was in good enough form to take out both events. I am a fairly regular contributor on ozfclass.com forums, along with a hidden SE Qld F Class community FB page.
I posted a story and some photos on my own FB page, and was gobsmacked for that post to get well over 100 likes, and a hell of a lot of congratulatory posts  , from folks congratulating Vince on his great double win.
This is the first post that I have ever made on this site, and have been a member for probably two years or so.
I love the sport, and tried 500 Fly in the first place because my good mates Matt Paroz and Rod Davies both recommended it highly, praising the "cross training" benefits as well as the fun.
To get more participation on this forum, you need to somehow harness the value of social media, as well as other successful forums. The fact that over 100 people "Liked" my story about Vince's win at the Harry Madden event and many also posted, must surely show that the are plenty of interested people , who are reading about either themselves, or people they know, and how they went in competition. I don't know the vast majority of the people who "Liked", and posted. They were picking it up because they knew Vince, and a reasonable percentage had to also be shooters.
I would suggest that if you could get two or three people to post something on FB, naming the winners etc after each and every event, and to also include a link to this website/forum , that you would get a lot of traffic to at least visit the site. The website then needs to be user friendly enough to get first time visitors to actually have a browse around.....but I think the 110 + likes and probably 30 or 40 posts on a simple little FB post of mine congratulating Vince on his win, proves that the potential is there.
You don't have to be a journalist !! Just get involved a little bit, name as many people as you possibly can(everyone likes reading their own name in any sort of non-negative fashion) in forum posts and Facebook posts, and keep providing a link to this website in every thing that you post.
Ozfclass.com is a good example of a website that is effectively dedicated to a SMALL sport, in a participatory numbers sense, but yet gets a very strong contribution base. Our guys and gals won the World Championship of F Class Teams in 2013, and yet we probably only have 250-300 serious competitors nationally. The vast majority of them post on the ozfclass website.
Equipment Lists, which is something that I personally make a big effort to compile at our major Queens level events, are always very popular posts that get a lot of readers. We also have a lot of genuine sharing of technical ideas and  knowledge that is freely shared . The is a particularly strong level of camaraderie , particularly in F Open, and where a heap of people are good mates, it seems to work out that they are all then very willing to chime in to multiple points of discussion. All of the ago.d Medallist team members from the 2013 F Class World Championships are regular contributors to Forum discussions, and that is certainly one of its strengths.
It is surely up to individual Fly shooters to "get off their a##es" and contribute by posting sensible comments. You can't just leave it to Les , Anthony and just a handful of others to carry the whole load of promoting our sport. Get involved. pst stories on your own FB pages and other forums. Name as many people as you possibly can.....in a positive sense...or at least not in a negative sense. Give links to this website. You KNOW it's a great sport......get involved and help to promote it.
Tony Berry
Brisbane Fly shooter