There is an old computer saying, “Garbage in, Garbage out.” (I can’t believe I just said “old” in reference to a computer.) Now you may be asking me how this applies to shooting sports and I will get to that. First, let’s talk about what this saying means or at least my interpretation. What this is saying to me is in order to get a meaningful output from a computer, something of value or significance must be put in. 

You can’t expect a computer to be able to balance your books just by sitting down at it and saying, “Balance my books.” This requires a piece of software, that was written by someone or many people that took many hours to create, test, rewrite, test, rewrite, test, and so on until you get a final product that can operate to balance you books. In addition to this it requires you to input the meaningful data about “your books” to allow the software to achieve the final outcome of “balancing”. This process still requires some input from you. If you put in good information you can get good information out. Not to say that you will like the number that you get out, but it should be accurate.  

If you want to be good at shooting, this “old” saying applies to any of the sports.  To start with, you must have a good working instrument, which went through the same process to design and develop as the above software. You then have to be in the right position, have the correct hold, breath correctly, have the correct finger placement, Release or fire correctly and have the proper follow through. You also have to have a target and be aligned to it, and the proper ammunition or projectile. These are the necessary inputs to a shooting evolution that should allow you to get an accurate output. Again, you might not like the numbers or the score of the target, but by putting something in you will be able to get something out. 

If you would like to improve those numbers, either from your books or from the target, you will need to talk to a trained individual to help you. For the shooting sports, that is an instructor and it can be hard to get in touch with one of those. Luckily, the Shooting Sports Committee has taken steps to make that process easier! 

We have created a survey through the Black Pug site in order to collect the names and contact information of everyone in the Council that is Certified to provide this instruction. Now, we are asking for relevant, meaningful data input so that we can, when asked by someone requesting an instructor, give out relevant, meaningful direction.  

We’ve had this issue identified for a while now but struggled to find the best solution to gathering instructor information quickly and efficiently. We believe this tool will help extend the enjoyment of shooting sports to much more of our Scouting community. We hope that everyone can appreciate the sport of shooting as much as we on the committee do. 

Visit the following webpage to share your information with us. And if you would like to become an instructor, please give us that information as well. 

https://247scouting.com/forms/form.php?OrgKey=BSA606&id=1213 

I hope to see you all at the range enjoying all that these sports have to offer! 

Paul Visocky 

Mount Baker Council Shooting Sports Committee Chair