This state facility is part of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and we are treated with great honor there, not to mention it has wonderful classroom and an asphalt, concrete, and gravel range (i.e., no mud!).
Eight of the registered 14 shooters spent Friday, June 9 at the Stones River Hunter Education Center in Antioch, Tennessee. On Saturday, one shooter was unable to return and two additional shooters joined us, for a total of 10 for the event. Little Shine and Black Knight made sure that registrations went without a hitch.
The weather forecast was for a fairly mild Friday and hot Saturday, but we found the opposite was the case. Friday was unexpectedly hot and, though warm, Saturday was much cooler than forecast. Pop up canopies helped substantially.
The shooters all demonstrated a teachable attitude and patience which paid great dividends. Of the 10 shooters, we had 3 new Riflemen: Christian, Scott and Christine; and 2 repeat Riflemen: Bernie and David, Sr. Congratulations for being persistent!
There were at least 3 others who I believe will shoot a Rifleman score soon with some practice at home.
We had the great pleasure of officially presenting Black Knight (Dick) with his Blue Hat and Bernie with an Orange Hat! They are both going to be GREAT additions to the cadre in the Tennessee Valley! Also, woodstock16 earned a promotion on his progress to full Instructor!
Old Navy Doc gave the Known Distance presentation on Saturday. Woodstock16 brought three Revolutionary period rifles for demonstration during lunch on Saturday. Nashville Stage, woodstock16, Old Navy Doc and yours truly gave Dangerous Old Men presentations.
The Instructor cadre did a wonderful job jumping in with little direction and cooperated with efficiency and to great effect. Old Navy Doc, woodstock16, Nashville Stage, & Black Knight were on the line both days, Dracomeister joined us Friday, JCluff was there Saturday, and Little Shine helped with registrations. Old Navy Doc is an exemplary Red Hat and each of the IIT's did a great job of presentations and getting down on the mat with the shooters. They all demonstrated the characteristics of IIT's who will be undaunted in achievement of their Instructor rank. In short, they made this inexperienced Green Hat look good.
Photographs can be found at the following link: http://s1339.photobucket.com/user/bluegrasscolonel/library/2017-06-09_10%20Project%20Appleseed-Antioch?sort=4&page=1 (http://s1339.photobucket.com/user/bluegrasscolonel/library/2017-06-09_10%20Project%20Appleseed-Antioch?sort=4&page=1)
What an outstanding facility for an Appleseed event!! TWRA was an excellent host and went out of their way to make us welcome. The weather cooperated and the shooters were like sponges, soaking up all that instruction with true teachable attitudes. Drinking from a firehose did not deter them. Great job by all the new riflemen and the few who were just a bit short. Persistence pays, we'll see you all in July. The Fri/Sat schedule probably contributed to the lower than expected attendance, but we actually had a fellow walk up late Saturday afternoon because he saw the AS sign out on the highway. It was a really fun event and I look forward to working with all the instructors on the crew again. O0
Congrats to the Rifleman! You earned it. It was great to be with all of the students this weekend. Consider coming back for another Appleseed event! We've got one at the same range in July that's selling out fast. For the Rifleman, I also encourage you to sign up for a "KD" (Known Distance) event.
Thanks to the instructors & Bluegrasscolonol for being patient with me while I attempted to slaughter, I mean... recite the instruction & history portions.
Congratulations to the new Riflemen and the new Blue and Orange Hats! I was only able to be there on Friday but I saw so much effort on everyone's part that I knew that we would have more Riflemen by the end of the weekend! The facilities are top notch and the TWRA folks I talked to were happy to have us there. Looking forward to the next event so I can see the rest of the folks earn their badge! :F
This was an amazing gift to the central Tennessee area. The facility is EASY to get to, superbly maintained, fully outfitted classroom, and NO MUD. (sorry, some of my prior Shoot Bosses were rain magnets). I had a ball working with the attentive students and the gifted IIT's. I will DEFINITELY be back.