fastfletch, i agree that there needs to be trophies awarded, but, we use the 1 place for every 5 shooters with a max of 5 places.

we have in the past hosted qualifier shoots, and only charge what the ibo charges us for the entry fee, which is normally $10, but we bump to $15 for the qualifier. i can see your point if you are shooting a class without a lot of participation, and i understand that your club may be getting a little extra, in THAT case, i would assume they give back liberally on trophies.

most clubs do barely squeak by as bluejacket stated. by the time they pay operating expenses, target replacement/wear and tear, a place to shoot, trophies, grounds maintenance etc there is usually little left at the end of a year. i know one trophy sounds like a big deal to you, but it is also a big deal to the host clubs to buy them for every class that is available in the ibo, and rely on those classes being filled at the shoot to offset the cost of buying them, only to have them unclaimed, or enough shooters in a class to pay for the trophies. believe me we kept track of the classes as you stated and we knew which ones would fill up and which ones would maybe have a couple of shooters, so we always ordered trophies accordingly. sounds like to me the club in question did their homework and got it right on the money, with one trophy for a class with 3 shooters..........