***Advice wanted: Missouri VFW Hall: Building an Archery and 3D Range

[USN_Sam1385]

Hello all,

I am a member at the VFW Post 8828 in Troy, Missouri. We are a non-profit organization that gives a lot back to the community.

Our post is located on approximately 7 acres, and we have a 6000 Sq. Ft. VFW hall with a seating capacity of 250 persons, and a large outdoor metal building. We also have a very large parking lot capable of holding approximately 60-70 vehicles.

We have a kitchen, full restroom facilities, pool table, Direct TV,and large flat screen TV. We have $1,000,000 in liability insurance, and a liquor license to include selling liquor on Sundays.  

We are always looking for various ways to raise more revenue. We donate a lot of money to the community through scholarships, community projects, and Veteran assistance.

Naturally; we have costs associated with the Post, ie: repair bills, replacing the roof, the lawn mower for the 7 acres and the maintenance on it, etc. etc.

Myself and another member of the VFW hall have proposed that we build an archery range on the property, along with a professional 3D archery course. We propose that we will build a square course with 10 bag targets spaced evenly apart, and then build a professional 3d archery course in a horse shoe shape on a seperate part of the property.

We understand that the initial investment will run roughly 3-5k, but think that we can raise quite a bit of money through Tournament shoots, summer leages, archery range fees for the public to shoot, etc.

Currently our largest source of revenue is through our Bingo operation, and a large amount of the revenue from Bingo goes straight back to the state of Missouri to pay for being able to run the operation.

The Post is very excited about this idea, and I have opted to help co-head the operation. We want to start small and simple, get the operation up and running, and learn all of the specifics of hosting events, judging, scoring, etc.

Eventually, our goal is to be able to host large outdoor 3d tournaments and competitive shoots for prizes to include bows, cash prizes, etc. Additionally, we would be able to sell food and drink during the shoots, and sell beer to non-shooters or to those wanting to drink a couple after the tournament is over.  

So my questions for you all are:

1. Is there a strong demand for something like this?

2. What types of shoots would you like to see? More target or 3d?

3. What prizes would motivate you the most? The change to win a bow, or cash prizes?
*We are thinking of taking 50% of the cash from the registration fees and making it the prize for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Ie: If we charge 40 shooters $25 each and make $1000, the Post would take $500, and then we would use the other $500 for cash prizes for top 3 shooters.

4. We have 7 and a half acres and a large building. Would this location be suitable for camping for a trad meet or event? Would vendors ever be interested in utilizing the space for a swap meet, etc??

5. What is a fair price to charge for a tournament.

6. What types of different shooting divisions would you like to see? ie: youth, trad vs. compound, womens, mens, kids, etc?

7. Does the fact that we would be able to serve food and drink, and have ample restroom facilities appeal to you?

8. Would it be reasonable to have one day per week that we opened the range up to the public for lets say, $10 per person for a 2 hour shoot on the course?

9. What is the best type of material for the bag targets that will last the longest? Should we build them out of 2x4 and construct some kind of foam backstop or would pit targets with sand be better?

10. Would the demand be high enough for "Trad" archery that we could start with just Trad until we got the hang of it, or should we bring the wheelie guys in right off the bat?

11. Do we need special insurance aside from the huge policy that we already have?

Any and all advice is appreciated and I will bring it back to the Post. I know there are several Missouri guys on here and would love to hear from you as well.

We have already made steps toward buying our first 5 professional targets and hope to be fully set up within about 60 days.

[subsonic]

Those are all good questions.

1) I think that would depend on the area.  I would like to have something like this available to me.

2) 3D

3) Cash

4) It would depend on the size of the event.  If there are additional camping venues/hotels etc nearby that would help.

5) I think it would decide largely on what the locals would tolerate depending on the local economy.  Personally, I would drop $20 on almost any shoot and up to $50 for a good shoot.

6) Traditional and compounds womens and kids.

7) Yes!  A nice place to cool off, a clean restroom and decent food and drink is a huge benefit to me and my family.

8) Sounds reasonable to me.

9) Up to you as long as they look good and are serviceable.

10) You would have to bring compound shooters in to make it profitable around where I live,  Not enough trad shooters to make it profitable.  Not sure about your area.

11) Contact your agent to review your policy and how it would respond to this type of exposure.  I would imagine that you would need some additional coverage since this is outside the realm of what a typical VFW would do.  I would also recommend that you have a commercial umbrella policy to increase your liability limits since you are opening up the Post to a large group of non members.

[macbow]

You are in a great location to draw,in plenty of shooters.
I' consider a money sorta pro shoot a couple of times a year with big payouts.
At least monthly have just a good old 3D shoot no money paid out just some sort of trophy.
Try out the Traditional only shoot thrown in between the others. Traditional shooters are,easier on targets.

Consider the cost of maintaining the 3D targets. As they get worn but still in decent condition set some out to,sell to the folks that come through to turn over your targets.
You'll probably need 3 to 4 thousand just for targets.

Good idea having open practice through the week. One price for targets and one,for 3D practice.

During the summer could have 3d leagues where teams compete.

The shape of the range . A shoot and,return where there is a hub of targets with a common path allows walking either direction  to shoot targets. This way no one ends up behind the targets,when walking.

If possible a,pit so there is a,backstop sort of. To keep from looking for arrows as much.
On shoots the angle and distance can be changed by the shooting spot.

Having the food and drink,available in a nice area is a big plus.

It does take a lot of insurance. Might check with the NFAA if your course is set to there specs and you join insurance is part of it.

[BAK]

Be particular about your targets.  With todays compounds and crossbows celsor bales will NOT hold up.  They were the standard and work fine for trad only areas but I saw our range shot to pieces in one fall preseason period of two weeks by the mechanical crowd.  You have to buy targets that will hold up to that.

[Bud B.]

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