Newsletter

The rain has been hitting us hard lately, along with the cold weather. It has slowed down business at USI and the cold has kept shooters away. The fields are absorbing the rain, come out and support your club and U.S.I. Always dress in layers as the weather can and will change quickly.

Shooting Ranges: (Repeat) U.S.I.s received more shotgun ammo and has lifted the limits on the number of boxes a customer can buy. 

(Repeat) The 5-Stand has a new controller card system.  You now can buy a “shoot card” instead of tokens (which you can reload with more “tokens”).  The new card is works both at the 5-Stand and Trap Field #9. 

Volunteers:  (Repeat) The Volunteer R.O. program NEEDS MORE VOLUNTERS.  U.S.I. does not yet have enough to cover all shifts, with the weekends being particularly difficult to staff.  There are approximately 60 members who have signed up for the program, but a few of them have dropped out, with some that have never taken a shift.  I was told that U.S.I. is scheduling only 4 “paid staff” at any given time on the R/P range, and is relying on volunteers to cover the rest of the staffing.  Much appreciation and thanks to those who are contributing their time supporting the range. This is a great way to help out and absorb the cost of shooting. Please consider volunteering if you can.   Email: volunteer@unitedsportsmen.com.

Walnut Creek is also looking for volunteers to run Walnut Creek shoots. We have skeet, trap, 5 stand and 2 birds landing sporting clays shoots per year. Maybe interested in running certain shoots instead all all? If interested let me know s.m.oconnell13@gmail.com

Message from U.S.I. President Larry Hood: USI President’s update as of 3-3-2023
USI Club Members and Friends:
We certainly hope that spring is on the way. The rain is welcome but problematic for a shooting range in the winter. We had a loss of about $14,000 in January due to several days of range closures and low turnout on all ranges. We believe we will show a small profit again in February.
The board approved the purchase of several traps from The Family Club who recently ceased operations. Steve Balma, Ed Mena and Tomm Heath are hard at work setting up a 150-bird registered 5-
stand shoot for April 16. This will be the first one ever at USI. Jonathan Marquez, Ed Collins and others are working hard on repairing and repainting the skeet fields for the upcoming Kolar US Open shoot.
We are also hosting our first CYSSA shoots on March 25 and April 22 for about 125 youth shooters from 8 clubs. We have lots of new things going on for all sorts of interests here at USI.
We have also started working with several professional trainers, the Coast Guard, the Navy, Customs and Border Protection to train here. We believe that this will provide valuable income for USI and allow us to further improve our facilities and offerings to the members.
Chris Lawrence is leading the MPR fence committee to replace the barriers at MPR. It appears that HESCO type earth filled units will be the safest and least expensive way to protect the range. Walnut Creek has generously offered to fund this major improvement for which we are all grateful.
We are seeing customer traffic improving and appreciate everyone’s efforts to help out at USI. We have a project list posted in the Clubhouse for anyone interested in helping out. Find a project and dig in if you can.
Great thanks to Bruce Brandt for all his work on the Volunteer RSO program and promoting USI at the local gun shows. We always need additional volunteers to become Range Safety Officers at the public and shotgun ranges. Want to help?
Email: volunteer@unitedsportsmen.com.
As always, please contact me directly with any questions or offer to help keep our club alive and healthy.
Larry Hood
President
president@unitedsportsmen.com

Maintenance: (REPEAT) Volunteers from the clubs are painting the skeet houses and fields. U.S.I. will purchase the paint.  Power washing prep has revealed some minor dry rot which needs to be taken care of. The work will begin as soon as the weather improves.  W.C.S.C. has agreed to sponsor some funding to repair the MPR (Multi purpose range). Hopefully soon after repairs are done members can go back to shooting rifles and not just air guns. There are members working on the best way to repair the walls and get MPR up and running for all members. Things are looking better at U.S.I. with some of the deferred maintenance being taken care of. With just a little help from everyone we can have our club strong and running at 100% soon.

Shoots: News Flash!  U.S.I. has been selected as the host site for the N.S.S.A. Kolar U.S. Open to be held June 23-25 2023.  Look for coming details!

Social/Meeting: We will have a Social this month (March 14) always the second Tuesday of the month. Bring your entrée to put in the oven or BBQ and a side dish/dessert to share with others. Skeet/trap should be open but remember to bring tokens and ammo as the USI clubhouse is not open.

Shoot well & be safe.

Steve O

Walnut Creek Sportsmen’s Club