A winterseed it was, particularly on the Feb 25th. The wind blew virtually all day, and the temperature wasn't much above freezing, but our Riflemen persisted, and the result was six Riflemen scores, three on each day. On the 18th, the weather was cool but bearable. We got a little behind schedule, but only because we spent extra time covering the topics that Fred has insisted need to be covered thoroughly. The result: two Riflemen on the very first AQT, and the third on the second AQT. Chad seemed to be the most experienced shooter had a score of 220. He was shooting good groups from the beginning. Jamison, my nephew, had only been shooting about 5 times in his life, but he put it all together to score a 211. Clayton, my son, has had lots of experience shooting and had attended a Wyoming Appleseed with my family about 4 years ago. That makes all three of my sons who have achieved Rifleman.
So Feb. 25th dawned cold and got colder as the day wore on. Andrew, who drove with his mother and sister from Idaho to Utah to attend a Winterseed in slightly milder weather that Idaho usually permits, scored a 211 to be awarded a Winterseed patch. He'd been to several Appleseeds with his family. His mother, Jennifer, may be interested in joining the ranks of instructor in Idaho. Brothers Mason and Mccall scored Rifleman on this second day too, and were awarded Winterseed patches. As you'll see from the pics below, the wind was strong enough to keep the flags horizontal most of the day. It even broke the tie straps that held the flags to the poles on several flags. The weather service showed the windchill to be about 22 degrees F and it was rare for the sun to peek through. We had to duct tape the target backers to the metal stands to keep the target backers from blowing out. One stand actually blew over because of the wind. So I have to say I was very impressed that all the shooters stuck it out despite the cold and wind. On day 1 in particular, there was significant improvement in the Red Coat targets. 400 yards went from 1 to 3, 300 yards went from 0 to 3, 400 yards went from 3 to 4, 100 yards went from 1 to 1, and the 250 yard head shot improved from 2 to 6.
Many thanks to stareyedfirechild, buzz, lbsnake925, and morrisnk for all of their help running this shoot, especially the second day when I was way under the weather. And thanks to Wahsatch Shooters Association for the use of the range and for building a cover to provide some shelter. Congratulations again to the participants. Some of them are knocking at the door of Rifleman, and I'm certain will get it with continued persistence.
Rifleman2000
Great to see the Utah folks having fun... and experimenting too! This is their first Appleseed "weekend" run on two successive Saturdays. Is that an Appleseed first or have others tried that elsewhere? Sounds like it went well.
And is that a new covered line on the far range? Good to see a range investing in facilities and growing.
Congratulations and thanks to all the instructors. Don't forget, have fun on the trail.
Cheers
V
The split AS worked well. It is a good option since Dave lives 3 minutes from the range. The weather on Day 2 was cold. Wind chill made it brutal, many of the shooters did not wear gloves during the shooting and a few of them persisted until the very end. Thomas was knocking on the door of a 200 and kept us shooting until Sharpeyefirechild told him his ride was leaving without him if he kept shooting. SEFC was his ride, so he packed it in.
Utah is a better place to live with 5 more Utah RM on the streets.
YEAH ANDREW!!! Glad to see Jen made it to the southern border of Idaho as well -although we'd love to see you back up north ;) Congrats on the high percentage of riflemen for one shoot (even spread over two weekends) Glad it worked out so well! Just curious, was there more remedial instruction on the second weekend than you would have normally done on the Sun (Sat in UT case) morning? Congrats to all and great job to AS instructor crew!