Rising Fawn, Ga May 22-23 mid week shoot

[Ramblin' Wreck]

On Target at Fox Mountain's first-ever mid-week shoot is history, but what a great event it turned out to
be! WriteOnTarget and I had been toying with the idea of a mid-week shoot for about a year. I'm retired
and she's variously a homeschool mom, contract technical writer, writing teacher, and cook (despite the
fact that she's also a Rifleman - don't get her started on that one). So, we were available to pull this off
along with our offspring, Arwen, the homeschool student, who is also available whenever the
homeschool mom says she is. What we didn't know was who else, instructor and shooter, would be
available to attend. Throwing caution to the wind, I scheduled the shoot for a Wednesday and Thursday
to find out. Initially, sign-ups were low. However, about one week out, the slots began to fill. A few days
before the shoot, we were up to 20 shooters. When all was said and done, we had 22 pre-registered
shooters and 3 walk-ons.


Even more surprising, if possible, was the instructor response. I was prepared to run the shoot with my
able-bodied Orange Hats, WriteOnTarget and Arwen, if need be. That was not necessary. In addition to
the On Target crew, we had Regulator, OverMountain Man, Rusty, Bowditch, Lt.K, 4x4Shooter, and
SureShotSpartan. Tellico and JEB, who had to work those days, were also able to show up in the
afternoon and help out. Several of the Orange Hats are well on the way to a Red Hat promotion. Our
good friend and fellow Orange Hat instructor, DAG, who broke a vertebrae earlier this year and has been
unable to participate for several months while he recuperated, heard the shots across the interstate and
joined us for the final afternoon of shooting. Needless to say, we were thrilled to have him "back" with
us. I have been working on building a local cadre of instructors and based on the turnout of those who
live near us, we are really putting together quite a team. In addition to the three of us, Tellico, Bowditch,
4x4Shooter, JEB, SureShotSpartan, and DAG all live within about 30 minutes of the range, some much
closer. Several others live within a not unreasonable driving distance as well.


We watched the weather for about 10 days prior to the shoot and were somewhat disappointed that
the forecast was calling for 40% chance of showers on Wednesday. Our two previous shoots had been
wet and cold. One was a Winterseed and the other was a Rainseed (more like a "Floodseed" actually with
4" of rain in 24 hours). In both of those events, the shooters were real troopers and continued shooting
despite the miserable conditions.  Several of the shooters who attended the first May shoot,  returned for a
"rain check" shoot. The shooters were all enthusiastic and ready to learn and to shoot. We had several families of
homeschoolers shooting together along with some single shooters. The entire Tate family showed up, as
either shooters or instructors, along with their friends, the three Morris grandchildren. Mama Tate was
trying to squeeze in a little more shooting before producing the 9th child Tate sometime in August. Wife
of Lt.K, Cynthia K. shot, while her daughter enjoyed the  bonny weather and the company of the Tate
children. According to Patrick N., this was the first Appleseed for he and Aidan, Chloe, and Evan, but it
would not be their last. A good friend, Mike G., came to watch and see what Appleseed was all about,
attending both days and heartily enjoying the event. Fortuitously, a light wind blew most of the day,
since otherwise it was mostly sunny and quite warm. In order to squeeze in more instruction and
shooting before any rain fell, we jumped right into instruction and shooting and held off on the history
until lunch. SureShotSpartan gave a soul-rending presentation of the First Strike followed by
RamblinWreck, who picked up the story and related the heart-stopping events of the Second Strike. At
the afternoon break, we listened to Rusty as he took us back to events of the Third Strike. Happily, the
weather held until late in the afternoon of the first day. A light but steady rain began to fall as we shot
the final position on the second AQT. We skipped the end-of-the-day  Redcoat so that everyone could
store their rifles in the dry. Just as everything was safely stowed, the sun made an appearance again and
we wrapped up with the benediction.


Our second day started out a little cooler than the first, but there was no chance of rain. A few shooters
were unable to attend the second day, but the father and son team of Tim and Aaron G. joined the
group to continue working on skills they had learned at a previous shoot. After some review of the
basics, both instruction and shooting, we settled into the AQT grind. Shooters, who had paid attention
on the first day and, some, at previous Appleseeds, were able to improve their shooting as the day
progressed. One shooter, Sandra C., improved so much, that she was able to obtain a Rifleman's score of
222 on her first shooting Appleseed (she and her husband, James, had brought their children, Grace and
Gus, on the first weekend of May and had enjoyed it so much they bought their own rifles and joined
their kids on the line). Another shooter, Gary P., also breached the magic number and, with a score of
212, earned his Rifleman's patch earlier in the day at his first Appleseed. Several shooters were knock-
knock-knockin' on Rifleman's door. Jared C., on his first-ever Appleseed, shot a 206, and returning
shooter Bill K., attending his with son, Matthew, shot a perfect score in standing. Huzzah!!!  Everyone,
regardless of how well they shot, worked hard at understanding and incorporating marksmanship skills
into their shooting. At lunchtime, we had a special treat when Regulator presented the story of the
battle of Alamance, the spark that preceeded the three strikes, in which the Regulators stood up against
the state church of North Carolina to defend their religious freedom. OverMountain Man followed with the
Battle of King's Mountain, a hard-won victory for the Colonists over colonial Loyalists, led by British officers.
SureShotSpartan ended our lunch break by telling his favorite Dangerous Old Man story, Hezekiah Wyman,
and WriteOnTarget's favorite, Samuel Whittemore.



Rifleman Sandra getting her patch from the instructor who helped her the most.



Rifleman Gary gets his patch. I predict an orange hat in Gary's future.


Since this mid-week Appleseed was such a success, we hope to follow up with more. Thanks to all of the
instructors who made time in their busy weekday schedules to attend and give of themselves to further
the cause of liberty. No less important than the instructors are the shooters who also gave up precious
hours to learn rifle marksmanship and hear about the glorious history and heritage of our country. We
hope to see all of them at future Appleseeds, at some point wearing a conspicuously colored hat. At this
time, we already have a September weekend shoot scheduled, but we may be able to squeeze in
another one before the summer ends. Check our range website www.ontargetfoxmtn.com for details.
Also, remember, instructors and shooters: continue to spread the message of Liberty! everywhere you
go! Huzzah!

[connibear]

glad to hear you had such a great turnout, shooters and instructors, especially being the middle of the week. Look forward to the pics.  Congrats to the new riflemen

Ben

[Maximum Ordinate]

It was great time and it was a pleasure to meet the new Appleseeders and even a couple of fellow beekeepers.   


I have to admit, I might be getting too old to do 25m sprints in boots racing against teenagers.  (Of course, not one of them beat me!)

[Ramblin' Wreck]

After all the shooters had left it was trigger time for instructors. We went from 25 meters to 100 yards and finally to 520 yards on the steel silhouette.  Staying for extra credit time was yours truly, Red Hat Tellico, his orange hat son Bowditch, orange hat Sureshotspartan and the father son orange hat team of Regulator and Overmountain man.







Nathan H. (SureShotSpartan) shooting Regulator's Garand





Regulator shooting steel at 520 yards.



Orange hat DAG getting in some trigger time on Tellico's Remington.





Probably the most impressive long distance shooting of the day was by 14 year old Overmountain Man, Regulator's son. Shooting an A1 model
AR15 that belonged to his grandfather he consistently rang the 20"x40" steel silhouette at 520 yards from prone and then standing. This young man can shoot and he's a great instructor.





Overmountain Man going 10/16 at 520 yards from the standing position. Huzzah!


You can go to this link to see the last 4 shots from standing where he went 10/16.


Great event!


Ramblinwreck

[Overmountain Man]

This ranks as one of the top Appleseed events I've experienced so far! I really appreciate the instructors who took time off work to be at a mid-week shoot as well as the folks who came to shoot. The shooters for this event were a great bunch of patriots! The Tate clan had a blast!

[SureShotSpartan]

At every event I attend, and this was one was certainly no exception, I'm "blown away" by the people that are present, both Instructors and participants. I'm continually humbled to be in the presence of so many fine Americans. It literally rends my soul!

To my FAMILY of Instructors, thank you for your faithfulness to the mission and your passion for awakening sleeping Americans. As we stay the course, I'm confident we can reclaim our glorious heritage and save our great Nation.

To all that have attended an Appleseed event, thank you for allowing us to join you on the line. You could have done A LOT of things instead, but you didn't. That alone speaks to your desire for change. Please consider joining us again!

LIBERTY IS RISING!!

[Pain Killer]

Looks like a great event!! We should look into doing more mid-week shoots, especially during the summer. It might be easier to get range time!

[DrJohn]

Heartiest congratulations to Ramblinwreck and the gallant group of Appleseed instructors and students who made this event such an outstanding success. Rising Fawn is turning out to be quite an impressive venue for teaching rifle marksmanship and the glorious story of our country's birth. It was especially impressive that there was such a large turnout during the middle of the week, both students and instructors. The group at Rising Fawn has done an especially impressive job in promotion, hitting all the right notes in just the right way. Well done, all, and huzza!

[Ramblin' Wreck]

We were stunned at the turnout. Some shooters were "rain check" returnees from the event 3 weeks before where we got 4" of rain but over half were not. I think you'll find your turnout of home school shooters will be higher regardless of the time of year you have it.  Two instructors took time off from work to attend just to get in a PC signoff on the road to Red Hat. We serve with some dedicated folks up here. 


'Wreck

Looks like a great event!! We should look into doing more mid-week shoots, especially during the summer. It might be easier to get range time!

[tncolonel]

Congrats - Looks like you had a fantastic event