Fastfletch, all the numbers, food etc you mention are all debatable, what I don' t think is that hasn' t been brought up is manpower.

I believe the IBO itself is very small in terms of manpower. when a shoot of this size is put on, it is not setup, taken down and run (check in/out, rangers etc) by the IBO, this is done by a " host club" . These folks are the workhorses behind any shoot.

If the IBO went down the path you suggest, which is worth hashing out a bit I believe, but shy towards Buffy' s opinion), manpower would be a huge issue, who will cut the trails, set up targets, mark the trails, put out water, patrol the ranges, man check in/out tents, tear down and clean up the course. all this is currently done outside the IBO personel.

A huge part of hosting the shoot is finding someone to host it, I believe this is why snowshoe still has it, when the first 3 years where up, nobody wanted to host it.

--Bob