1/1/25 State of the Club Report
By
Fellow FCS members and guests,
2024 was a good year for FCS. It was very similar, but not quite as good attendance-wise, as 2023.
Attendance Highlights:
- Our attendance was 400 people, seven less people than in 2023, and our sixteenth best.
- We had 68 events, the same as 2023, and tied for our fifth best.
- We averaged 5.88 participants/event, .11 participant/event worse than 2023, and our thirty third best. This is not a significant concern, as we can only have limited numbers of participants for our self-guided duck hunts, blasts and casts, self-chartered bay fishing trips, and self-chartered freshwater fishing trips due to the number of people that we can safely fit in our boats. Such events account for more than 1/3 of our events.
- The 12/14/24 Self-guided Duck Hunt had the most participants with nine.
- The 8/30/24 Duck Spot Drawing and Scouting Trip had the most participants with seven.
- The 5/19/24 Student Sporting Clays Shoot tied for the most participants (14).
- The 3/30/24 Sporting Clays Tournament tied for the most participants (seven).
- The 9/14/24 Self-guided Teal Hunt tied for the most participants (five).
- The 8/27/24, 8/4/24, 7/27/24, and 4/6/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trips tied for the most participants (four).
- Our self-chartered freshwater fishing trips had our second best number of participants with 51.
- Our chartered freshwater fishing trips tied for the second best number of participants with 16.
- Our duck hunting spot scouting trips had the best average number of participants per scouting trip (5.50).
- Our self-guided duck hunts had the best average number of participants per hunt (5.17).
- Our self-guided teal hunt tied for the best average number of participants per hunt (5.00).
- We surpassed 12,000 attendees of FCS events with 12,253.
- We surpassed 1,500 events with 1,521.
- (For a year-by-year comparison, see our Events Statistics page.)
Unfortunately, the Bartlett season dove leave yet again proved to be good only on opening day. I will not in good conscience promote it for the coming season. If FCS members or guests want to get on the lease for the coming season, I will give them Brett Harbers phone number and they can negotiate with him. We will offer at least five dove day hunts during the coming season.
| Events Summary | |
| Events | Number |
| Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trips | 15 |
| Sporting Clays Tournaments | 12 |
| FCS Sporting Clays Shoots | 6 |
| Meetings | 6 |
| Self-guided Duck Hunts | 6 |
| Chartered Freshwater Fishing Trips | 5 |
| Semi-guided Dove Hunts | 4 |
| Duck Hunting Spots Scouting Trips/Hunting Spot Drawing | 2 |
| Guided Duck Hunts | 2 |
| Ministry Events (Dinners) | 2 |
| Self-chartered Bay Fishing Trips | 2 |
| Family Celebration Banquet | 1 |
| Guided Prairie Dog Shoot | 1 |
| Guided Upland Bird Hunt | 1 |
| Self-guided/chartered Blast and Cast | 1 |
| Self-guided Teal Hunt | 1 |
| Student Sporting Clays Shoot | 1 |
| Grand Total | 68 |
| Category Summary | |
| Events | Number |
| Fishing Trips | 22 |
| Sporting Clays Shoots and Tournaments | 19 |
| Hunting Trips | 16 |
| Meetings | 6 |
| Duck Hunting Spot Scouting Trips/Hunting Spot Drawing | 2 |
| Ministry Events (Dinners) | 2 |
| Family Celebration Banquet | 1 |
| Grand Total | 68 |
Membership Highlights:
- We had 10 people join the club (tying our eleventh best; the record is 32). For a year-by-year comparison, see our New Members page.
- We had 27 members renew their memberships (our ninth best; the record is 52 since we have been keeping records in this category). For a year-by-year comparison (since 2006), see our Membership Renewals page.
- We ended the year with 84 supporting members (our fourth best; the record is 105 since we have been keeping records in this category). For a year-by-year comparison (since 2002), see our Supporting Members Summary page.
- We had 24 first-time guests/members (our twelfth best; the record is 50 since we have been keeping records in this category). For a year-by-year comparison (since 2002), see our First-Time Guests/Members page.
Here is our Attendance and Membership Information Rankings in table form.
Finances Highlights:
| During Fiscal Year 2024 (9/1/23 – 8/31/24) we took in $1,708.59 in membership dues which is for single | |||||
| and multiple year renewals of 2, 3, and 5 years. | |||||
| Allocated 2024 membership revenue is $1,840.06. We spent $1,920.14, for a net loss of $80.08. | |||||
| For the ministry fund, we took in $523.87 and spent $565.48, for a net loss of $41.61. | |||||
| Finances Summary | |||||
| Year | Income | Expenditures | Profit or loss | ||
| Checking (for budgeted items) | |||||
| FY 2024 | $1,840.06 | $1,920.14 | ($80.08) | ||
| FY 2023 | $1,903.31 | $1,155.36 | $747.95 | ||
| FY 2022 | $1,557.34 | $974.62 | $582.72 | ||
| FY 2021 | $1,232.94 | $1,032.79 | $200.15 | ||
| FY 2020 | $1,142.04 | $1,204.17 | ($62.13) | ||
| FY 2019 | $1,142.05 | $1,135.93 | $6.12 | ||
| Savings (for the ministry fund) | |||||
| FY 2024 | $523.87 | $565.48 | ($41.61) | Due to purchase in July 2024 of ordering the bulk | |
| of next year’s Banquet awards – eight Fishouflage | |||||
| caps – $176. | |||||
| FY 2023 | $386.75 | $253.01 | $133.74 | ||
| FY 2022 | $496.53 | $553.48 | ($56.95) | ||
| FY 2021 | $86.77 | $791.21 | ($704.44) | ||
| FY 2020 | $60.46 | $164.28 | ($103.82) | ||
| FY 2019 | $565.58 | $282.30 | $283.28 | ||
Website Highlights:
The website is stable and there are no issues.
Facebook Page Highlights:
We now have 495 members of our FCS Facebook group. There are no issues.
Officers:
I’d be happy for someone to take over as the Chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip Czar, Semi-guided Hog Hunt Czar, Guided Upland Bird Hunt Czar, and Secretary from me. For general officer expectations and the Event Coordinators’ and Secretary’s job descriptions, see Section IV. Officers in the Bylaws. Many hands make light work.
2025:
We have 73 events planned this year. See our Calendar for details, including the list of officers overseeing events.
| Events Summary | |
| Events | Number |
| Self-guided Duck Hunts | 10 |
| Sporting Clays Tournaments | 10 |
| FCS Sporting Clays Shoots | 9 |
| Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trips | 9 |
| Meetings | 6 |
| Semi-guided Dove Hunts | 5 |
| Chartered Freshwater Fishing Trips | 5 |
| Self-chartered Bay Fishing Trips | 3 |
| Self-guided Teal Hunts | 3 |
| Ministry Events (Dinners) | 2 |
| Blind Spot Drawing/Scouting Trip | 1 |
| Chartered Bay Fishing Trip | 1 |
| Family Celebration Banquet | 1 |
| Guided Duck Hunt | 1 |
| Guided Prairie Dog Shoot | 1 |
| Guided Teal Hunt | 1 |
| Guided Upland Bird Hunt | 1 |
| Officers Meeting | 1 |
| Self-guided/chartered Blast and Cast | 1 |
| Semi-guided Hog Hunt | 1 |
| Student Sporting Clays Shoot | 1 |
| Grand Total | 73 |
| Category Summary | |
| Events | Number |
| Hunting Trips | 24 |
| Sporting Clays Shoots and Tournaments | 20 |
| Fishing Trips | 18 |
| Meetings | 7 |
| Ministry Events (Dinners) | 2 |
| Blind Spot Drawing/ Scouting Trip | 1 |
| Family Celebration Banquet | 1 |
| Grand Total | 73 |
The Calendar isn’t as ambitious as 2024’s (we had 81 events planned initially). Historically we’ve never been able to pull off the number of events that we planned for a variety of factors such as a lack of interest, a lack of game, Capital City Clays cancelling sporting clays tournaments, unforeseen personal conflicts, etc.
I hope to see you at an FCS event in 2025.
Pursuing God’s way,
Randy Rowley
President
The Fellowship of Christian Sportsmen