JMHO, but the big issue is no one wants to put in the work.This here.
I have not competed at all any shooting contest. I have had to shoot in a test for a commission to carry a firearm on duty. And more recently, shoot to have an LTC. But that is not this.
I have not competed in any long range or PRS matches. I get the problem, though. It is becoming more about equipment and what the winners are getting good at is bagging a 30 lb rifle with the smallest recoil. Which is only good for that contest. And then, no one is offering the idea, even, to "grow the sport" by offering training pathways to get new people into the sport. And those new people may not have a lot of money. Therefore, they might very well arrive with a Ruger Precision Rifle or something they could afford and getting laughed at by the gucci purse swingers is just going to piss them off.
So, for me, how useful is the positional shooting at distance? Obviously, it has a military use for snipers in the Marines, Rangers, SF, SEALs.
Excluding much of the sneaky bastard work, at least set up shots where you have a hide and are rested. And then the next stage is hump a distance and up some stairs or a ladder to an elevated platform and be a DM and you need to make a shot within a time limit. And that would definitely require training. You could spend 10k on a rig and it won't help a bit if you don't have the mechanical ability to operate the system.
I don't begrudge bench rest or even cut-and-paste barricade PRS shooting. It beats selling crack cocaine.
How about improvised positions one might find while hunting if we cannot train as something similar to SOTIC in the Rangers?
I know I am just spitballing. I am still the stupidest guy here and that does not bother me. And I may misunderstood the OP post.
Anyone can correct me and I will not be bothered by it.
Our club matches have a lot of variety in positions, but it takes time and work to build out those positions. Even at our club, shooters comment on wanting something new, but when I call for help....everyone is busy. So there I am, a slightly disabled person, swinging a pickaxe and a shovel, diggin positions, filling sandbags, lining pits with plastic and sandbags, and filling with water hauled in on a SxS using a water bladder bought off amazon. Or digging and building a bunker of sandbags on the back side of a berm. Or laying paths between trees, and setting up a position under an overhanging tree. Lasing targets, and setting up stage CoF's. It all takes time. And work. Hard, physical work.
Don't get me wrong, I love it, seeing shooters trying to figure out the stages (I love messing with them by using defilade shots; both positive and negative), and eyeball the CoF/stage. Makes for a lot of enjoyment by all. But it takes time and work, and after a while you kinda get tired of being the one that puts in all the work building the positions, while everyone else is "busy". I kinda have a day job too, but somehow manage to make it work....
Then you have the shooters that drop out of the match the night before, because they heard (or were warned) that their gear is going to get muddy/dirty ("Bring a towel for your ride home, you're going to get dirty tomorrow"). Sorts out the wheat from the chaff though....