North Carolina Appleseed Strategy 2010, Part One - Current Shoot Locations

[Stimey]

Since I took over the SC job earlier this month, I have been considering our state's situation versus our moral responsibilities to the Appleseed program nationwide.  As an Instructor, I only concerned myself with being a good instructor of rifle marksmanship, a good steward of the history, and an upstanding example of our program.  However, as State Coordinator, I have to focus on expanding on our already existent standards of excellence.  In other words, I need to come up with ways to grow this program in terms of numbers of attendees, instructors, and locations statewide.  In considering this, I have gathered a number of facts that present a coherent picture of where we are right now in terms of numbers of shoots, instructors, etc. versus where I would like to see us next year.  

By the way, I am going to present the facts as I see them as they relate to the mission of growing the program without any prejudice or agenda.  We must always appreciate the efforts our hosts extend to us and on our behalf, and the effort of our participants and instructor cadre.  What I am considering is whether these locations, persons, or events will help our program grow at the pace that is necessary for reaching our target audience with our message of civic responsibility and heritage of liberty in sufficient numbers to ensure the success of our Mission.  I mean no disrespect to any person, business or location in the comments that follow.  I'm just trying to grow the program.

This will be the first of three posts on the state of the North Carolina Appleseed program, entitled Current Shoot Locations, Current Personnel Roster, and Future Plans.  For this post, I will introduce the current shoot locations and discuss the highlights and problems of each venue.  

Part One:  Current Shoot Locations

There are now three Appleseed locations in North Carolina.  These are Ramseur, Yanceyville, and Kill Devil Hills.  KDH was the only new location added this year.  We can, and will, add more next year.  I'll have more on that later.  For now, let's check our productivity at these locations.  These numbers should be considered to be approximate, but they reflect the information available on the forum.  Please bear in mind that these numbers also represent a baseline to grow from in terms of shoots and attendees and do NOT represent our goals for 2010.  No, next year we should be striving to do much better.  I'll tell you how we're going to do that in Part Three of this Strategy.

Ramseur hosted four Rifleman Boot Camps in 2009.  There were 43 attendees to these events.  Ramseur also hosted 11 Appleseed Shoots, with one more still scheduled in 2009.  These events served 355 shooters.  

Ramseur serves as a good example of what we should aspire to for a shoot location in terms of numbers.  It hosts one event per month, serves an average of about 33 shooters per event, has good camping facilities and a classroom, covered ranges, a team of local instructors, and has a Known Distance range.  Now, it's not fair to compare other ranges not featuring a KD to Ramseur, but here's what we can do.  Let's get the shooters at the other locations hooked with the 25-meter stuff, and then encourage them to use Ramseur as the graduate school, making sure to highlight our Field Shoots.  We can hold Ramseur up as our proving ground, our own version of Camp Perry for Advanced Rifleman Studies, not only for North Carolina, but for the entire country.  There is, after all, one Home Range.  It's here.  Let's make the Home Range be a place held in our community with the same regard as Camp Perry is held by the shooting community at large.  That is my only recommendation for this location at this time, but I would be very remiss if I did not mention Operation Ranch Hand, which took place earlier this year.  Kudos to Wildman for organizing this, and this should continue.

The next location is Yanceyville.  This location hosted six events with one event still scheduled in 2009.  These events served 49 shooters.

Yanceyville is a location which shows much promise.  It is a small location, only able to support about 20-25 attendees on a 25-yard range, but features both luxury cabins and tent camping.  Additionally, the proprietors believe very strongly in the Appleseed mission and have been very supportive of our efforts, including providing lodging at greatly reduced rates and free breakfast to Appleseed instructors.  In short, this is a dream location for Shoot Bosses and instructors, and offers wonderful opportunities for training IIT's due to its low student-instructor ratio.

I see a couple of problems with Yanceyville.  First, there was a large time gap during the summer between Appleseed events.  I do not know why this occurred.  Whatever the case, that appears to have been resolved, but I would like to see events occur on a more regular basis.  Second, many of the attendees that presently go to Yanceyville are not from there.  That is probably a promotion effort problem, one which will be partly my responsibility to rectify.  However, the third problem is that there is a problem with raising local instructors.  In other words, I (and Instructor Scheduling) have had to look far and wide to staff this shoot.  For all shoot locations, part of the effort of Appleseed must be to raise a local instructor cadre.  As things stand now, I don't think this location will be able to raise instructors in sufficient numbers for the goals I have for it (meaning self-sufficient with regard to instructors), or for the state program as a whole, by mid-2010.  Yanceyville is not a large population center, although the Virginia cities of Martinsville, South Boston, and Danville (as well as the North Carolina cities of Durham, Burlington, and Greensboro) are certainly within driving distance.  Certainly, a promotional effort is warranted here.  However, due to these problems, and due to some other projects I want to launch ASAP, I cannot personally make this a priority until late 2010.  However, if someone would be willing to take this project and run with it, I will extend every means of assistance I can offer as State Coordinator.

The last location is Kill Devil Hills.  This location hosted its first event in 2009.  This event served 9 shooters.  A quick note:  the range itself is not in Kill Devil Hills, but just south of Manns Harbor.  Check directions before you go.

The Outer Banks Gun Range has a 25-meter range that will accommodate around 30-35 shooters, and the proprietors are again very supportive of the Appleseed mission.  Also, the ranges are covered and there is a picnic area with pavilion and a small classroom that can be used for Appleseed purposes.

This location has many of the same problems as Yanceyville.  There are no large populations nearby except during the summer months on the Outer Banks, which will probably not furnish many instructors.  However, Redwolf and I live close and are capable of keeping this location going for the foreseeable future without assistance.  Also, tent camping is permitted, but I would not recommend it.  There are bears.  I've seen the tracks.  I've been told that there is a dump within half a mile of this location upon which over thirty adult bears feed nightly.  On the other hand, there are many very nice hotels on the Outer Banks, many of which offer off-season rates that are quite affordable.  The bottom line is that this is a good location, entirely adequate by Appleseed standards, which will probably remain small for the near future.  At this time, I expect to see about four events there next year.  

The next installment of this North Carolina Appleseed Strategy for 2010 will be about us, the people of Appleseed in North Carolina.  I will collect a roster that includes all forum members in North Carolina, plus all instructors that participated in events in North Carolina, regardless of their state of residence.  Also, be ready to face the numbers in terms of our involvement in Appleseed Shoots, RBC's, and our SB Cadre.