doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Great Norther SxS was great!

Shot the Great Northern in Medford WI this weekend. What a wonderful time! I was amazed at this large, well tended sporting clay club in the middle of Wisconsin. We shot super sporting, sporting clays, pigeon ring and super pigeon. The dinner Saturday night was great. This shoot had excellent vendors - I know of no other event in the Midwest where you can see guns such as were for sale here. I also enjoyed seeing other SxS aficionados shooting their beautiful guns - even in the drizzle. That is what they are for. If you get a chance this shoot is well worth a trip to Wisconsin. I'm going back next year.
Regards,
Jeff

I agree with Jeff, it was a great shoot. I didn't go last year since it was the first year and taking over for the UP shoot which I have been to for seven or so years, I didn't think they could do it, but they did and they hit a Home Run it was great and all of the people were great. Could not ask for a better run shoot. Eric

I was squadded with four Michiganders and we had a great time! Looking forward to next year!

No pictures? Did not happen

Great to hear you "first timers" (but UP Shoot veterans) enjoyed it. I also thought the changes they made--dropping the flurry as part of the "program" (although still available as a side event) and replacing with super sporting and super pigeon worked well. The Medford guys would appreciate any comments you have: what you liked, anything you didn't like, etc. Just shoot them an email.

It is THE side by side event in the Midwest, just as it was when it was held in the UP. One of the Medford organizers asked what attracted people from all over to come to "Podunk" Medford for a shoot. I told him that you can only SEE the end of the world from Medford. Channing, on the other hand, pretty much IS the end of the world--but they flocked there for the UP Shoot for a lot of years.

This is my second Great Northern Shoot & I attended 8 of the UP Shoots.

I think this year's Great Northern was improved by the revised shooting venues & the availability of cart rental which the UP Shoot didn't have is a plus for older shooters.

I & all of my squad enjoyed the shoot & got to see some familiars faces & we will likely be back next year

That said, I think it still falls behind the UP Shoot (at least when Steve Atkinson was ramroding the UP Shoot) in the following areas:

Lack of a central area with cover & seating for socialization with other participants as the Sagola facility had.

No grand prize drawing gun (in fairness the UP Shoot didn't have one the final 2 years either). The chance to win a painting is nice but the UP Grand Prize gun was a much better deal.

Fewer vendors than the UP Shoot normally had.

IMO lesser quality of the Lewis Class prize guns & raffle prizes than was the norm at the UP Shoot (didn't impact me as I won nothing @ either of the Great Northern Shoots).

I attended all the UP shoots but the first, and thought that the prize guns this year, as a group, were as good as they've ever been. The grand prize gun was a deal between Jack Jansma and the UP Shoot. Only guessing, but I think what happened there is that inflation made that prize gun too expensive--even with the club getting a good deal on it.

mrcsportsmansclub@yahoo.com
I had a great time, the club is looking always looking for ways to improve, Please send them your thoughts. Looking forward to seeing everyone again next year. Larry

No shoot is perfect. I really enjoyed the UP shoot-went for 6 years in a row. Stopped going when I wound up in the hospital half dead and could not make the UP shoot. Contacted good old Steve a week before the shoot and said I was sick and asked for my $$ back as I pif the year before. He told me to f**k off and that was too bad. He kept all my money and the $50 for my wife's banquet ticket. Never went back. The Medford shoot is pretty spendy. Yes, they give guns away, but only to 7 people. The other 110 of us get little to nothing extra. Problem is there is no where else to do and see this stuff. This is why I started my 16 Gauge shoot- relatively inexpensive and all about shooting, the guns and camaraderie.
Regards,
Jeff

I had attended the UP shoot for over 10yrs in fact it was a big reason I bought at house at the end of the world in Channing. This was my first Great Northern but not my last. I liked all the venues and have thought of some different ways to shoot it. I shoot for fun and on a lot of the stations we shot true pairs just for grins. I think the Super pigeon Ring would be a hoot with true pairs. A friend was going to go also for the first time but a family emergency kept him away. I had E-Mailed the club about the possibility of a refund but got no reply. When I registered I explained the situation and was given a full refund and an adjustment on the cart rental as we went from a 4 person cart to a 2 person. The people couldn't have been nicer. I thought the lunch at the clubhouse a bit spendy but other than that everything was first rate. I would like to see some target variation for next year, 4 report pair is a little boring so some true pairs would be nice.