2013 – FCS Meetings Reports

Randy Rowley, President, Jim McGee, Vice President, and Ken Miller, Vice President – we have 16 events planned from 12/9/13 until our next meeting on 2/10/14.  See our Calendar and Upcoming Events web pages for details.

Richard Corbin, Membership Director – since 10/10/13 we had one man join the Club, three members renew their memberships, and three first time guests!

Daryl Shipper, Secretary – since 10/10/13 we had seven events with an attendance of 29 people, which is an average of 4.14 people per event.  We would have had nine events, but the following events did not occur: the 11/23/13 Sporting Clays Shoot was rained out and the 12/7/13 Self-guided Duck Hunt was canceled due to projected icy roads.

From 10/10/13 – 12/9/13 we did not have any votes.

Bruce Crockett, Webmaster – On 10/10/13 we had 330,097 hits on our website.  On 12/8/13 we had 368,744  hits, so we’ve had 38,647 hits since 10/10/13. Tentative plans are to update the website to the latest version of WordPress over the Christmas and New Years holidays.

• Richard Corbin, Membership Director – since 6/13/13 we have had one man join the club, one man renew his membership, and four first time guests
• Kevin Wall, Treasurer – since 6/1/13, we have had $139 in income with zero expenses leaving us with a current balance of $2,100.14
• Daryl Shipper, Secretary – since 6/13/13 we have hosted 11 events and had 67 participants with an average of 6.09 participants per event
• Bruce Crockett, Webmaster – since 6/13/13 we have had 31,000 hits on our website
• Randy Rowley, President – Upcoming Events

• Saturday, 8/17/13, 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM – Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoot at Capitol City (RSVP by members requested)
• Sunday, 9/8/13, 12:45 – 3:30 PM – ‘Bill Hughes Open’ Sporting Clays Tournament at Capitol City (RSVP by members and guests requested)
• Saturday, 9/14/13, 9:00 – 11:45 AM – Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoot at Capitol City (RSVP by members requested)
• Sunday, 10/6/13, 12:45 – 4:00 PM – ‘Bob White Open’ Sporting Clays Tournament at Capitol City (RSVP by members and guests requested)
• Capitol City is located at 8707 Lindell Lane, Austin
• Friday, 10/11/13 & Saturday 10/12/13 – Student Instructor/Student Sporting Clays Shoot at the National Shooting Complex (5931 Roft Road, San Antonio; RSVP required)

• Saturday, 8/24/13, 4:00 – 8:00 PM – Promotion at the Outdoor Sportsman’s Expo and Dinner at Fellowship Church (3600 Ranch Road 1869, Liberty Hill; we recommended you buy tickets in advance)

• Sunday, 9/1/13 – Dove Hunt (Central Zone) at Lake Stillhouse Hollow (RSVP requested)
• Saturday, 9/14/13 – Blast and Cast (Dove Hunt and Bass Fishing Trip – Central Zone) on Joel Kirby’s land near Lometa (RSVP required)
• Saturday, 9/14/13 – Guided Teal Hunt with Nick Kissamis near Brookshire (west of Katy) (Deposit required)
• Saturday, 9/21/13 – Self-guided Teal Hunt on either Lake Stillhouse Hollow or Granger Lake
• October (dates TBD) – Dove Retreat (Central Zone) on Frank Hamilton’s ranch near Trickham (RSVP required)

• Thursday, 10/10/13, 7:00 – 9:30 PM – FCS Meeting and Shrimp Boil at Charles Cutchens’ home (2704 Buckeye Trail, Cedar Park; RSVP required)

• Richard Corbin, Membership Director – since the last meeting (4/11/13) we had two men join the Club, two membership renewals, and one first time guest.
• Kevin Wall, Treasurer – since the last meeting we brought in $115 and spent $139 for the service project in May. Our current balance is about $2,000.
• Daryl Shipper, Secretary – since the last meeting we had 12 events with 55 participants, averaging 4.58 participants per event.
• Bruce Crockett, Webmaster – we have had over 259,000 hits to date on the website.
• Randy Rowley, President – upcoming events:

• Saturday, 6/15/13, 9:00 – 11:45 AM – Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoot
• Saturday, 7/20/13, 9:00 – 11:45 AM – Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoot
• Sunday, 6/23/13, 12:45 – 3:45 PM – Sporting Clays Tournament
• Sunday, 7/21/13, 12:45 – 3:45 PM – Sporting Clays Tournament

• Saturday, 8/3/13, 7:00 PM – dark (PENDING ANOTHER INVITATION FROM LEGACY OUTFITTERS, THE DATE IS TENTATIVE AND IS OUR BEST GUESS) – Clay Target Shoot with Legacy Outfitters at a ranch near Georgetown
• Thursday, 8/8/13 and Friday, 8/9/13, 6:00 AM – 6:30 PM (both days) (THE DATES HAVE NOT BEEN SET YET AND ARE OUR BEST GUESS) – Student Instructor/Student Sporting Clays Shoot at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio

• Wednesday, 7/17/13, 6:30 – 8:30 PM – FCS Dinner at Texas Road House (13435 US Highway 183 North, Bldg. 7, Austin, 512-336-7427)

• Monday, 8/12/13, 7:00 – 9:30 PM – FCS Meeting and Steak Dinner at Mike Coppedge’s home (3920 Crest Lane, Round Rock)

1. Should we continue to have a “business meeting” (discussion on upcoming events, purchasing caps, ongoing supporting members votes, etc.) during FCS meetings? If so, how should they be done? The officers revisited the history of our meetings. Randy Rowley noted that the original officers decided at either the first Club meeting on 2/28/91 or at their first officers meeting on 5/23/91 to have a business meeting at every Club meeting and to use parliamentary procedure. However, neither of those decisions were put into the Club bylaws. The officers unanimously agreed that the Club should continue to have a short (no longer than 15 minute) “business meeting” at FCS meeitngs. The officers discussed moving the business meeting to the beginning of future meetings but decided against it as preparing the meal would conflict with them.
2. Should we continue to have Bible studies/devotionals at FCS meetings (either led by one of us or a video that is facilitated by one of us)? If so what should they look like? Randy Rowley noted that Derrich Pollock (Vice President of Ministries at the time) and he decided to start having devotionals at Club meetings. The first meeting where we implemented a devotional was on 4/4/02. Prior to this we only had devotionals at Dove Retreats. This decision was never put into the Club bylaws. Randy noted that the FCS bylaws state:
II. Statement of Purpose:
A. FCS is a non-denominational, non-political, non-profit sportsmen’s organization, founded in Austin, Texas in 1988 by a group of Christian sportsmen. FCS is a religion organization that has not applied for tax exempt status because our gross receipts do not exceed $5,000 annually. FCS is a ministry to the hunting and fishing world. We exist to:
1. Share the joy and experience of hunting, shooting, and fishing with other Christian Sportsmen.
2. Provide Christian fellowship opportunities for people who like to hunt, shoot, and fish.
3. Challenge men and women to establish and maintain a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
4. Encourage serving the Lord Jesus.
5. Encourage fellowship in a local church.
Randy noted that Derrich and him considered that the best ways to implement #’s 3, 4, and 5 were to have devotionals at meetings and Dove Retreats, take prayer requests at meetings and then pray for those requests, and to bear each other’s burdens (as our bylaws regarding conduct state). Bearing each others burdens could mean, but was not limited to, helping others move, helping others with home improvement projects, etc. A couple of years ago Randy decided to no longer take prayer requests at meetings as people could e-mail prayer requests to him at any time and it was taking up too much of a meeting’s time. Randy noted that over the years service/ministry projects occurred with less frequency. The Club has not had one since 1/96. Randy noted that the ways that we implement #’s 3, 4, and 5 today are via devotionals at meetings, most sporting clays shoots, and most multiple day events and by encouraging members to pray for the prayer requests on our prayer request pages. The officers unanimously agreed that the Club should continue to have short (no longer than 15 minute) Bible studies/devotionals at FCS meeitngs. The officers discussed moving the Bible studies/devotionals to the beginning of future meetings but decided against it as preparing the meal would conflict with them.
3. Should the business meetings and Bible studies/devotionals at meetings be optional or should the only opt out option be to leave? The officers unanimously agreed that business meetings and Bible studies/devotionals at meetings should not be be optional. If a member or guest does not want to listen to a business meeting and/or Bible study/devotional he or she can leave.

Six officers, six members, three guests (one time guest) and two sons (17 total participants) had a great time at the 4/11/13 FCS meeting at Mr. Charlie Batts’ home. The meal was our annual Catfish Fry! Thanks to Charlie for sharing his home and to Ken Miller, Ron Denison, and Richard Corbin for assisting with the cooking. The second session (Behind Enemy Lines) of Close Encounters A Fair Chase Venture into the Heart of God DVD was shown. The following upcoming events were discussed:

Shoots and Tournaments

• Saturday, 4/20/13, 9:00 – 11:30 AM – Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoot at the Capitol City Trap & Skeet Club (8707 Lindell Lane, Austin, 512-272-4707).
• Sunday, 4/21/13, 12:45 – 3:45 PM – ‘South X Southwest’ Sporting Clays Tournament at the Capitol City Trap & Skeet Club (8707 Lindell Lane, Austin, 512-272-4707).
• Saturday, 4/27/13, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM – Shooting Range Shoot at the Eagle Peak Shooting Range (20026 Lindeman Lane, Leander; near Jonestown).
• Saturday, 5/18/13, 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM – ‘FCS Open’ (Two Rounds of Sporting Clays) at the Capitol City Trap & Skeet Club (8707 Lindell Lane, Austin, 512-272-4707) followed by lunch at the 290 Café in Manor.
• Sunday, 5/19/13, 12:45 – 3:30 PM – ‘The Emerald Open’ Sporting Clays Tournament at the Capitol City Trap & Skeet Club (8707 Lindell Lane, Austin, 512-272-4707).

Fishing Trips

• Monday, 5/6/13, 3:30 – 9:00 PM – Chartered Hybrid Bass Catching Trip with Jay Garrett on Lake Belton.
• Friday, 5/31/13 through Sunday, 6/2/13 – Self-Chartered Bay Fishing Trip near Port O’Connor.

Ministry Event

• Thursday, 5/9/13, 6:30 – 8:00 PM – Wild Game Dinner (Ministry Event) at St. George’s Court (1443 Coronado Hills Drive, Austin).

Meeting

• Thursday, 6/13/13, 7:00 – 9:30 PM – FCS Meeting and Fajita Dinner at Larry Dowden’s home (905 Cashew Lane, Cedar Park, 512-259-2490 – Home, 512-507-5894 – Cell).

Five officers, four members, two guests (one first time guest and one who joined the Club), and two sons (13 total participants) had a great time at the 2/11/13 FCS meeting at Ron Denison’s home. The meal was our annual Chili Cookoff! Thanks to Ron for sharing his home and to Ken Miller, Daryl Shipper, John Murray, Jose Primera for bringing chili and Jeff Cates for bringing a 12 bean soup! We watched the first session (Life in the Zone) of Close Encounters A Fair Chase Venture into the Heart of God DVD. The following upcoming events were discussed:

Hunts

• Saturday, 2/16/13 – Guided Upland Bird Hunt with Schumann Brothers Outdoors near Dime Box
• Sunday, 4/7/13 through Tuesday, 4/9/13 – Semi-Guided Hog Hunt on the Wild Hog Hunting Ranch near Gonzales

Shoots and Tournaments

• Saturday, 2/16/13, 9:00 AM – 11:45 AM –Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoot at the Capitol City Trap & Skeet Club (8707 Lindell Lane, Austin, 512-272-4707)
• Saturday, 3/23/13, 9:00 AM – 11:45 AM – Sporting Clays and Skeet Shoot at the Capitol City Trap & Skeet Club (8707 Lindell Lane, Austin, 512-272-4707)
• Saturday, 4/6/13, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM – Shooting Range Shoot at the Eagle Peak Shooting Range (20026 Lindeman Lane, Leander; near Jonestown)
• Sunday, 4/7/13, 12:45 – 3:30 PM – ‘South by Southwest’ Open Sporting Clays Tournament at the Capitol City Trap & Skeet Club (8707 Lindell Lane, Austin, 512-272-4707)
• Friday, 4/12/13 through Saturday, 4/13/13 – 24-hour Sporting Clays Shoot at the 74 Ranch near Campbellton

Ministry Event

• Date and time TBD – Wild Game Dinner (Ministry Event) at St. George’s Court (1443 Coronado Hills Drive, Austin)

Meeting

• Thursday, 4/11/13, 7:00 – 9:30 PM – FCS Meeting and Catfish Fry at Mr. Charlie Batts’ home (9706 Bordeaux La., Austin, 512-258-8773 – Home, 512-750-2225 – Cell)

Seven officers attended the 2/7/13 Officers Meeting at Mighty Fine Burgers. Daryl Shipper led us in prayer. The following issues were discussed:

1. Events Attendance Report – Daryl Shipper conveyed that we are doing well in all event categories. We had 452 attendees for the year (which was out fifth best year to date), hosted 63 events (which was our second best year to date), had 11 more events than we did in 2011, and set one event category attendance record for 2012 – duck hunts (27; the old mark was 21). See the statistics page for more details.
2. Membership Report – Richard Corbin conveyed that we are doing well in all categories. We ended the year with our fifth highest number of first time guests (39; the record is 50), our seventh highest number of membership renewals (28; the record is 52), tying our eight highest number of active members (48; the record is 81), and our eleventh highest number of new members (5; the record is 32). See the statistics page for more details. Richard noted that we gained five new supporting members but lost three, for a net gain of two. He broke the first time guests down by events as follows:
   17 attended clay target shoots
   6 attended a range shoot
   5 attended a hog hunt
   4 attended a youth 5-stand and skeet shoot
   3 attended dove hunts
   2 attended a blast and cast (dove hunt and bass fishing trip)
   1 attended a ministry event
   1 attended a club meeting
   He broke the membership renewals down as follows:
   17 – one-year renewals
   11 multi-year renewals
   There are 21 renewals due in 2013
   We have had one new member so far in 2013
3. Treasurer’s Report – Kevin Wall conveyed that we are doing well in all categories. See the finances page and the statistics page for more details.
4. Website update – Bruce Crockett reported that the website is running smoothly with no problems reported and 187,000 hits in 10 months. That’s 613 hits a day!
5. Wild Game Dinner – the officers discussed whether to have the wild game dinner at the St. George’s Court apartments (which house people who are elderly and/or disabled and have low incomes) again or the participate in next year’s wild game dinner at Hill Country Bible Church (HCBC). Randy Rowley noted that we have $463.55 in our ministry fund. We spent $325.66 on last year’s St. George’s Court wild game dinner and the cooks at the HCBC wild game dinner spent around $120. The officers decided to do both events, but to cut the amount that we spend on the St. George’s Court wild game dinner by 1/3. We will push for more donations (money and wild game) to make this happen.
6. Women joining the club who are not related to a man who is a member – a single woman recently indicated that she plans to join the club soon, so the officers revisited our membership bylaws regarding women joining the club. On 9/29/03, the supporting Club members unanimously approved allowing a members wife and adult female relatives to join the Club (but not women as a whole). On 11/22/07, the supporting Club members unanimously approved allowing any woman to join the Club. Some members expressed a concern that women would try to take over the club and fundamentally change it. This has not come to past. Since 9/29/03 only five women have joined the club (2 1/2% of the 238 members). They have not tried to change anything. The officers agreed that the above decisions were correct and no changes should be made.