The following principles represent some things I have learned over the past couple of years.  Some, for safety's sake, should be strictly followed.  I have those in RED.  Others are just suggestions, or good ideas.

1.  Our Pistol targets (16" round) are smaller than the SASS recommended 16" square.  In fact, at 128 square inches, they are HALF the area of a 16 x 16 (256 sq. inches).  Set Pistol targets at 5 to 7 paces from the shooting position, not the SASS recommended 7 to 10 paces.

2.  ONLY use new, unblemished targets for Pistol targets.  Dimples and concavity or convexity cause ricochets and dangerous bounce back.

3.  Never stage or re-stage a long gun horizontally and then have the shooter move forward in front of it.  Using the horses for restaging allows the stage designer to force the long gun to be re-staged in a safe direction.

4.  It is not a good idea to have someone shoot over guns.  This is okay standing at a table holding the guns, but not good when the table and guns are far enough forward of a shooting position that the guns might be shot accidentally.

5.  Writing a stage that calls for the shooter to move UP range, away from the targets, is always a bad idea.  This can cause the shooter to point a gun at spectators.

6.  Try to avoid procedural traps, such as:

      a)   Complex rifle and pistol patterns that are different from each other on the same stage.

      b)   One bad one that I made was with the shooter standing at a table, with the shotgun on the table.  Rifle was shot first, and set down next to the shotgun.  Then PISTOL.  So many shooters set the rifle down, then picked up the shotgun.

7.  Try to create scenarios that:

     a)   All the stages in a match take approximately the same amount of time for a shooter to complete - and take into account the time needed to reset targets, clays, the buffalo, etc.  That way one Posse is unlikely to back up behind another.

     b)   In a single day's shoot, try to begin and end stages with different guns - but do not end a stage with a Rifle.  The timer may not record the time of a Rifle shot.

R - P - P - SG     R - P - SG - P     R - SG - P - P     SG - R - P - P     SG - P - R - P     P - R - SG - P     P - R - P - SG     P - SG - R - P     P - P - R - SG

8.  Specify round count and where guns are staged.  Double check round count against actual stages.

9.  Specify the shooter's starting position, and where the shooter's hands should be: raised, on a door frame, etc.

10.  During set up, have someone who did not write the stage shadow shoot the scenario as the stage instructions are read verbatim.

We are in the entertainment business, not the "let's see who can shoot a shotgun hull off a stump at 50 yards" business.  A mix of easy and more difficult is good.  Fun "starting lines" are good.  Variety is the spice of life!

Buena suerte,

eGG