1/1/07 In the Crosshairs

1/1/07

 

 

The October - December quarter of 2006 was the best yet for FCS!  We had 167 total participants, which was, by far, our best for this quarter ever!  It also blew away what was our average for this quarter (44).  We also had 18 events for this quarter (10 in October alone) - a new record (our old record, set in 2005, was 14).  In addition we had one man join the Club during this quarter.

What a year!  2006 was the best year to date for FCS events attendance with 503 total participants!  This blew away our old record of 407, set in 2005.  We set record attendance for the October - December (as noted above) and the July - September quarters and tied our record attendance for the April - June quarter!  We also set a record with 56 events in 2006!  Our old record, set in 2005, was 41.

Year January - March April – June July - September October - December Total Quarter Average
2006 81 111 144 167 503 126
2005 79 80 137 111 407 102
2004 86 74 118 83 361 90
2003 45 16 117 113 291 73
2002 30 30 81 50 191 48
2001 34 13 59 40 146 37
2000 30 27 14 52 123 31
1999 27 48 95 31 201 50
1998 73 29 70 9 181 45
1997 43 53 130 54 280 70
1996 96 111 135 53 395 99
1995 96 59 104 20 279 70
1994 113 62 56 39 270 67
1993 74 45 41 69 229 57
1992 76 59 75 23 233 56
1991 54 21 42 27 144 36
1990 0 9 12 0 21 5
1989 15 5 6 10 36 9
1988 N/A N/A N/A 9 9 9
Total 1052 852 1436 960 4300  
Averages 58 47 80 51 236 59

As was noted in the 2006 State of the Club Report, we set six attendance records for 2006.  We our highest Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoots yearly total attendance (134 participants, the old mark was 118), Dove Hunts yearly total attendance (93 participants, the old mark was 47), Club Dinners total attendance (48 participants, the old mark was 28), Classes yearly total attendance (21 participants, the old mark was six), Shooting Range Shoots yearly total attendance (17 participants, the old mark was 12), and Quail and Pheasant Hunts yearly total attendance (six participants).  We also tied our highest 24 Hour Sporting Clays Shoots yearly total attendance (10 participants).

We ended the year with our highest number of first time guests (40, the old record, set in 2005 was 33), our highest number of membership renewals (31), and our second highest number of active members (49, the record, set in 2004, was 52).

During Fiscal Year 2006 our income was a record $1087.11 (the old record, set in Fiscal Year 2004 was $974.94)

We met most of my 2006 goals, including:

  1. Gain 25 new members.  (We ended up with 13; we were torpedoed primarily by having to move the Dove Retreat from Dilley to San Angelo)
  2. Have 427 participants. (We ended up with 503)
  3. Implement a Non-Chartered Blast and Cast (Duck Hunt and Fishing Trip), scheduled for 1/27/06 - 1/29/06. (Done)

  4. Implement a Upland Bird Hunt, scheduled for 2/25/06. (Done)

  5. Implement the FCS Classic (Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoots and cookout), scheduled for 3/25/06. (Done on 4/1/06)

  6. Implement a Beyond the Basics: Pistol class, scheduled for 5/27/06. (One was done on 5/20/06 and another was done on 10/14/06)

  7. Implement a FCS Banquet, scheduled for 6/10/06. (A dinner was done on 6/13/06 and a Sportsmen's Banquet was done on 11/9/06)

  8. Implement a Hybrid Bass Fishing Trip, scheduled for 10/7/06. (Done on 6/23/06)

  9. Implement a Chartered Blast and Cast (Duck Hunt and Bay Fishing Trip), scheduled for 12/15/06 - 12/16/06. (Not done due to lack of interest)

  10. Implement a Kid’s Fish with Austin Christian Bass Club. (Not done, this remains a goal)

  11. Implement a Sporting Clays Shoot for teenagers at a local church. (Not done, this has been rescheduled for 3/1/07 - 3/2/07)

  12. Implement a FCS shrimp boil (or similar) for a Men’s Ministry at a local church, which will include a big name speaker. (We assisted  the Men's Ministry of Great Hills Baptist Church with a Sportsmen's Banquet on 11/9/06).

Also as was noted in the 2006 State of the Club Report, the most significant category of events that was down for 2005 was our Fall Dove Retreat.  We had 16 participants in 2006, which was more than the 10 that we had during Hurricane Rita ravaged 2005 but far less than our average of 38.  The following events were also down: Winter Dove Retreat (15 in 2006, down from 19 in 2005), Fishing Trips (11 in 2006, down from 25 in 2005), Duck Hunts (11 in 2006, down from 18 in 2005), Hunting and Gathering Trips (three in 2006, down from nine in 2005), Hog Hunts (21 in 2006, down from 24 in 2005), and Club Meetings (88 in 2006, down from 92 in 2005).

Two new sections of the 2006 State of the Club Report are the URL’s with the Highest Numbers of Hits (From the Top 30 URL’s Website Statistics 1/1/06– 12/31/06) and the URL Hits Summary (From the Top 30 URL’s Website Statistics 1/1/06 – 12/31/06).  I encourage you to read both pages.  These statistics were taken from our web host (Aplus.net).  Among the many statistics that they compile is the Top 30 URL's (the 30 pages that were visited the most often on a monthly basis).  I took their monthly statistics and added them together for 2006.  I was very pleased to discover that our Prayer Requests and Praises page was the most visited.  That means that our members make prayer a top priority.  Some pages that scored very high, such as "Choosing a Rifle," Choosing a Shotgun," and "Choosing a Shotshell Recipe" at first glance seem to be errors.  However, if you go to Alta Vista and type "Choosing a Shotshell Recipe" you'll find that the article that I wrote comes up as their top URL.  "Choosing a Rifle" and "Choosing a Shotgun" are also highly ranked.  This means that a lot of non-FCS members are typing in "Choosing a Rifle" in search engines and then reading my article.  The pages that scored high that surprised me the most include: Guests Directory, Boats, Recipes, Trucks, Target Shoots, Target Bans Salvation Army, and RVs.  The pages that scored high that did not surprise me include: Guns, E-mail Directory, Membership Directory, Classified Ads, Upcoming Events, Photo Gallery, Past Events, Apparel, Links, and the Hog Hunt Rotation.  I was surprised that the following pages did not score higher: Hunting and Fishing Stories, In the Crosshairs, Statistics, and the Treasurer's Reports.  One interesting fact is 91% of members who responded to the 2006 Website Evaluation stated that they visited the Proposed Events page.  However, the statistics from Aplus.net do not show it ever reaching the Top 30 visited pages.  The good news is there will be no further need to do Website usage questionnaires, as I'll get the data that I need from Aplus.net.  The other good news is this will help me to concentrate on creating pages that will get visited the most.  Classified Ads and Articles were run away winners (when all pages that were hit were combined).  That means that if you have a classified ad posted it's a good bet that people are reading it.  I have several articles that are in the works and will write several more.  I encourage members to submit articles and product reviews to me.  You'll be helping to expose the public to the Club.

We had seven officer votes and four active Club member votes during the fourth quarter of 2006.

The next quarter promises to be an exciting one for FCS members and guests.  We have 12 events planned.  We’ll have our 14th Annual Winter Dove Hunt on 12/30/06 – 1/1/07; Hog Hunts on 1/12/07 - 1/14/07, 2/2/07 - 2/4/07, 2/16/07 - 2/18/07, 3/9/07 - 3/11/07, and 3/23/07 - 3/25/07; Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoots on 1/20/07, 2/10/07, and 3/1/07 - 3/2/07 (Father/Child Shoot and Campout); our Annual Non-Chartered Blast and Cast (Duck Hunt and Bay Fishing Trip) on 1/26/07 – 1/28/07; a Club Meeting on 2/1/07 that will feature homemade chili, and our Annual Upland Game Bird Hunt on 2/24/07.

We have 62 events scheduled for 2007!

The FCS - Great Hills Baptist Church (GHBC) Bible Life (Sunday School) Class is scheduled to begin on Sunday, 2/4/07 at 11:00 AM in a room to be announced.  We were hoping to start on 1/7/07, however, the books that we ordered will not arrive until after that date and we felt that it would be unwise to start the class without it being promoted by the church.  The department will have a men's class and a ladies class.  I will teach the men, and my wife, Chris, will teach the ladies.  The men will begin with the study of "Wild at Heart" and the "Wild at Heart Field Manual," both by John Eldridge.  The ladies will begin with the study of "Captivating" and the "Captivating Guidebook," both by Stasi Eldridge.  The following people have expressed interest in the department:

Daryl and Leanne Shipper

Jeff and Stephanie Reece

Bill and Teresa Smith

Kevin Wall

Ronnie Ross

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you plan to attend the department.

We purchased 24 more T-shirts.  See the Apparel page for our present inventory.

For 2007 I have seven goals:

  1. Gain 25 new members.
  2. Have 550 participants.

  3. Implement an Advanced Training Pistol class on a date to be announced.

  4. Implement a Non-Chartered Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Amistad, scheduled for 5/4/07 - 5/6/07.

  5. Implement a Kid’s Fish with the Austin Christian Bass Club on a date to be announced.

  6. Implement a Father/Child Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoot and Campout, scheduled for 3/1/07 - 3/2/07.

  7. Implement a FCS shrimp boil (or similar) for a Men’s Ministry at a local church, which will include a big name speaker.

I hope to see you at an FCS event soon and hope that our Lord blesses you and yours richly throughout this New Year.

Following His trail,

 

Randy Rowley

FCS President

 

 

 

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