I will try not to whine...
After 5 years of competing, 2 GC and a few walks, I have learnd it is some luck of the judges, but if you are not consistant and bring your "A" game you will not be sucsessful! We did not bring our "A" game to Boulder City so the results are not shocking!
I would not recommend using Prairie Fresh BB's. My sister won 2nd at the Autry 6 weeks ago in chicken, she got 23rd, she was the frist to say the chicken was not good. 19th in ribs, second time outside the Royal in 2003 I was not in the top 10 in ribs, not a good direction to be going! Got the 4th in butt. Brisket 20th. We can improve chicken, ribs and butt, I have no idea what to do on brisket, I have tried everything! It was as easy as pulling a napkin apart and one judge still gives me a 4 in tenderness! Did get up at 6:45 am to find the one Traeger at 85*, frist time I have ever decide to sleep through a contest and it cost me. Looked in the unit and there were about 3-4 lbs of uncooked pellets! Put them back in the hopper and started it back up, obviously did not hurt the butt, but you have to wonder about the brisket.
I will say, you sure get a better view of your product when you get home and look at the pictures up close, ribs are cut uneven and brisket is just jagged! One thing I will say, I think my sisters got hosed on apperence scores by a couple of the judges, I would like to ask them what more she could have done to make the apperence better! Fricken it's a red, white and blue dessert, and it Memorial Day weekend...get it!
Well, Victorville is in 2 weeks, we shall see! Hope I did not rant to much!