AAR Elizabeth, IL 4/18-19/09

[Sheepdog]

This is where you're going to read all about it. Check back. Sheepdog

[longjohn]

Looking forward to it!

[M. Judges.]

One word.  GATOR.

[Hooters Billy]

Aww come on Sheepdog! I'm dyin to find out how things went on the range us "Frozen Chosen" worked so hard to set up.

Hooters Billy

[Garand69]

Ahhhhhh yes, Elizabeth 4/09!!!

Where do you begin? Wetfoot, his cousin Almost A Marine, and I rolled in around 12:15 AM on Saturday. Set up camp quickly and hit the hay. I fell asleep to wonderful music of a pack of Coyote's yipping it up over dinner in a distant field with the words...... "Is that a w-w-w-w-w-wolf?" coming from Wetfoot and Almost a Marine's Tent  and I awoke to the sound of Wild Turkeys discussing their options regarding the hunters in the area with turkey tags in their pockets! Now that is some peaceful Camping in the Great Northwestern Illinois, also known as Camp Sheepdog.

The 25 Attendees rolled in promptly on Saturday morning and they were all ready to shoot. A couple of no-shows and a few walk-ins evened it all out. They received the morning safety briefing, which included several additional warnings to cover this very different Appleseed Range. Once filled in, the trek down the "Trail Of Tears" began, and with the help of the Go Devil (Sheepdogs pet Jeep) and a Gator (which Wetfoot insisted on calling a Croc  ) on loan from the friendly neighbors, we got everyone's gear down to the range, nearly a 1/2 mile away in the woods.

The shooters quickly found a spot to lay down their mats, and shooting gear and they settled in quick. They were indeed ready willing and able to learn how to become a Rifleman. The mix of Rifles included several LTR's a handful of AR's, two M1A's and Moon booming away with his Mosin Nagant!

The weather couldn't have been better on Saturday, and shooters quickly found a safe path up the hill to check their targets. While I was calling the line I threw in a line I stole from The Guy..... SHOOTERS...PROCEED DOWN RANGE AND CHECK YOUR TARGETS....AND THEN DO HANDSTANDS FOR OUR AMUSEMENT.... And believe it or not we had a shooter do a handstand!!! That was a first for me, and not only could our youngest shooter Carla do a handstand, she was also a great shot! Her standing groups rivaled many older shooters on the line and I am sure that with a little practice she will hit Rifleman real soon!

By the end of Saturday, we had one Rifleman and several knocking on the door, but more importantly, everyone was shooting much better than when they walked on, and there was not a single complaint uttered among the shooters, and the majority returned on Sunday. In fact I believe everyone that was signed on for two-days showed up on Sunday, in spite of the fact that Rain was definitely on the schedule for Sunday!


Saturday Night around the Campfire was excellent as always. With our fine Instructor pool and their Yoots. Some excellent Venison provided by DragonFly and his Son was passed around, and then Sheepdog and his Daughter S'moreChick whipped up some Pizzas real quick on the campfire, which was amazing. They even finely crafted some pizza boxes out of birch bark, and it was almost impossible to tell that they were not from the local pizza joint and then of course dessert consisted of S'moreChick's now famous S'mores!

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Well, weatherman can't always be wrong Rain was on and off all day long, sometimes at a pretty good clip as well. This of course turned the freshly cleared woodland range a tad sloppy, and it turned the Trail of Tears into the States largest Slip N' Slide. BUT, RIFLEMAN PERSERVERE!!!! And Persevere they did. While the rain and the mud caused some distraction, the Shooters trudged on and continued to tune in to the Instruction and continued to learn more and more. We didn't have any Rifleman on Sunday unfortunately, but constantly climbing up the hill to check targets and the steady rain really has a way of kicking your butt! And fatigue finally set in an hour or so after lunch for most and scores kind of stagnated a bit. I am sure everyone slept very well when the got home.

A huge Thank You goes out to Shoot Boss Sheepdog for providing the property to host this shoot and of course fellow IIT's, Dragonfly (WI) and Longjohn (IL) for helping us run a solid and safe firing line and providing excellent instruction. and of course the "Frozen Chosen" who dealt with frigid temps this winter to build the range in the first place!!!!!

Congrats go to our only Rifleman and newest IIT1, M.Judges. 

A Huge Thank you goes out to the folks from the Illinois Carry Forum www.illinoiscarry.com Besides helping us promote the event, we got a chance to do some excellent networking!

Dana & Moon, Keep those Rifles clean lubed and ready, and the same goes for your Cameras!!! Let's see if we can put some PR tools together!! <

And then there is poor Lil' Wetfoot, so close yet so far away. Back in November he scored a Rifleman score in E-Ville.....but he forgot to transition in the Rapid-fire Prone Stage....no Patch.

Then this weekend, during an exercise we learned from The Guy, the one on the Green Classification Target where you shoot the 100yd Standing Stage and 200yd Sitting Stage from the Standing position, then the 300yd Prone from Sitting, and the 400 yd Prone as Prone........Well he scored a 236 on that target. When we told him that we didn't offer a patch for that exercise target because, even though it is harder due to using smaller targets for each stage, there was no transitions......no Patch.  He said we were mean  . But he did shoot a 209 on the Full QDAQT, to bad he needed a 210 

For the rest of you Shooters, Thanks for coming out! You folks were great and remember, you were shooting up hill in the mud! a sunny day on level ground, many of you would have hit Rifleman, but that would be the easy way! See you all on the trail soon, keep an eye on that Schedule!!!

PICTURES TO FOLLOW!!!!!!!

[Mudcat]

Hang in there Wetfoot, keep digging you will blow through it soon enough.

Mud in IL. too? I just don't understand it. I thought it was an IN. thing.

[Bill 3]

Sounds like that range got put to good use.  Need to try that slip and slide sometime soon.....  WTG on the first Elizabeth shoot.  Congrats to the new Rifleman/IIT.  I can imagine Wetfoot's reaction when told no patch.  It's got to be maddening.  Kick him around a little for me, would ya...

- WRWIII

[Hooters Billy]

LOL! Sounds so far like you had a crazy fun time. Wish I could have been there. A true challenge: Handling Camp Sheepdogs Trail of Tears in the rain.

Funny thing. I have the TV show "Tougher in Alaska" on right now. I watched all the hard work goin on in those extreme conditions and I'm sitting here thinking to myself " Sweet! It sure would be nice to take a vacation from all the hard work of Camp Sheepdog and do something easy like on this TV show."  I have a special place in my heart for that place and all the fellow brave souls who I got to work with over there. It put's a big smile on my face to see there where 25 shooters take up the challenge of enjoying the hardy range for it's first Appleseed shoot.

HB

[Chris]

Thank you everyone for a great time this weekend, there was a lot I learned and hope to improve on.

Chris from IllinoisCarry.com

[M. Judges.]

I honestly think that the slip and slide would have been a great idea, minus one (several for that matter) stumps that were strategically placed in all the wrong places.  I was lucky enough to make it to the latter portion of Saturdays shoot in time to hear about the First Strike.  After that the range went hot, and in a couple of hours I was happy to see I shot a 215 on the AQT.  I now need a USMC shooting coat to go with it.  Sheepdog was nice enough to ask if I was interested in becoming and instructor, which I happily accepted.  Sunday mornings wake up found me in the turkey woods a few mines away from Camp Sheepdog. An unlucky turkey (wearing a British Officers uniform no less) came by before 0630, and I got to see that you can employ the sitting postion rather effectively with a shotgun.  Not long after a dry walk down the Trail of Tears, it began to rain, and rain it did.  I believe I still have 5 pounds of mud and water on my shooting mat.  Shoot we did though, through the rain.  For my first Appleseed I was more then impressed.  I was lucky enough to talk with my next door shooting partner Dana a lot, as well as absorbing as much information from Garand69, Dragonfly, and LongJohn as possible.  Sadly, this is the only picture I had from the two days.  Hopefully Garand69 and Dana can add a few more.

Matt.

[dragonfly]

Congratulations to M. Judges our 1st. Rifleman at Elizabeth and thanks for excepting the orange hat.
Thanks to all you Appleseeder's for bringing a great attitude and a willingness to learn I know I could see lots of improvement and watching those groups shrink and those scores climb your on the road to becoming Rifle(wo)men. Practice and persistence will pay off.
Thanks to Sheepdog for opening his range for Appleseed, good job.
Thanks to MJ for the Croc. I can't imagine what it would have been like without it.
Thanks to the guy's from IllinoisCarry.com and thanks Kenny for the MULE it made things alot easier.
A very special thanks to S'moresChick for the really good I mean  reeeeally good s'mores on sat. night.
See you all on the trail,
dragonfly

[dragonfly]

more pics. at Elizabeth;
dragonfly

[Pappy]

Hello Group; It looks like all the (Team) building events have a way of drawing folks in to a tight (knot). I hope you let the folks push the Jeep around just a little to limber them up. Were there any Campers other than the Cadre Corps? How did the Jeep/Go Devil like her new shoe`s aka chains?    Looks like a great time was had by all,
Welcome aboard Matt, grab a bucket < Pappy

[colycat]

It's not fair that I can't be at more shoots than only

one!

Sounds like you guys did everything right. You are going to have to get of some of those stinkin tree's though.

And what's with all the Guy stuff?  He abandoned you all!  For Oh, I think.

CC

[MeanStreaker]

And what's with all the Guy stuff?  He abandoned you all!  For Oh, I think.

You know it, Coly.   

This looks like a great shoot in Elizabeth.  Well done, everyone!

[Dreadi]

Hey gang,

Appleseed was great and I'll be a regular.....or should I say, a member of the militia?  As frustrating as the conditions could have been, they couldn't have been better for such great memories.  Coming from Florida to Illinois, was a not so gun friendly culture shock and I'm glad to have met all of you.  All of you who are looking out for yourself, preserving our heritage and doing your part to save America.

Moon and I have been talking through some ideas to do our part for PR and I'm looking forward to making somethings happen in the near future.

I would have taken more pictures but I was quite focused on working and learning. I came to earn Rifleman and will do so, sooner then later.






Dana

[dragonfly]

Nice picture's, now thats a working shoot boss notice the mud on the right knee and thats just from saturday. Hope to see you all on the Appleseed trail soon.
dragonfly

[Sheepdog]

Hello Appleseed. Just got back last night. It was hard to leave and come home...sort of. Building memories, friendships, changing attitudes, sharing information all on that ridge in JoDaviees Co.

Thanks to everyone that made this a successful shoot! I mean before, during and after. This sucess can only be attributed to a collective (i hate that word) effort beginning in December, sustaining through hard work in January and Feburary, and culminating this weekend in a successful shoot. This is a true example of Appleseededness.

Saturday we had 25 and Sunday there were 12. Saturday it did not rain. Sunday it did. There was a difficulty level at this remote and rustic range. Pack in pack out. Build your nest amoung the stumps and uneven ground of the forest floor. Find a shooting lane between the trees. Walk back and forth, up hill to the target line, and don't forget to trip on a stump, root, or bush trying to grow. All character building exercises.

Dragonfly and G69 were scheduled and we had a surprise when Longjohn joined us. So, what to do with all these IITs? Put them to work. I couldn't have had a better group. Each was up to snuff in all areas and you could see the shooters soaking it all in. Line operations were safe and everything went down in Appleseed form.

We were blessed with 3- 4wd vehicles that could shuttle the gear and shooters up and down the hill. Anyone that walked did so voluntarily. Even the Jeep sporting its new chains lived up to the name 'go devil' and never got stuck. That needs repeating...the Jeep never got stuck!

Our shooters worked hard. We had two Saturday shooters wo were just shy of making Rifleman. You could see the desire to come back but schedules are schedules.

Looks like the Rockford area has some potential to become an Appleseed stronghold. Lots of praise for the program, many mention Fred and following SGN just for his column.

All in all, a great effort. Thanks to all of you who made it happen. Good luck to Matt our newest IIT and Rifleman. Now to unpack...

Sheepdog out.

[dragonfly]

One more for you Sheepdog; SmoresChic smiling for dad.

dragonfly

[Garand69]

Finally picked up the pics I took, what a slacker. Here they are, hope you enjoy!!



Sheepdog just discovering the "fine print" regarding Shoot Boss duties




Saturday Morning at the trail head




The Trail of Tears begins




Saturday's Firing Line





Hey, where's my bullet holes...shortly followed by.....Hey, why does my target have so many holes




Sheepdog cranking out the First Strike followed by the explanation of why that particular tree was spared





Line from the right




Some History in the rain





Kenny and Sheepdog going over the rules for the first ever Appleseed Hillclimb race, but alas it never happened. Despite Sheepdog removing the doors for weight and adding chains to the Go Devil, Kenny's Gator was lighter and had a winch so Longjohn was trying to talk Sheepdog out of it, and then Dragonfly refused to officiate the first ever Appleseed Hillclimb, due to lack of Appleseedness.




I'm calling PITA!!! Gator abuse was rampant. M.Judges and S'moreChick after a quick (for an old Gator) blast up the Trail of Tears

[M. Judges.]

I love how the black duct tape brings out the green of the gator.  You G69, are a wizard with the camera sir.

[Dreadi]

Awesome pics!

What is the name of the winery near Sheepdogs Place?

[M. Judges.]

Earth, the one right down the road is Rocky Waters Vinyard I believe.

[Sheepdog]

Lewis please send me a PM with your addy, again. Looks like I did something bad with it. Thanks Sheepdog.