This was the second weekend in a row for an event at this venue and we had another great group of shooters on the line at Quail Creek! There were lots of new faces on Saturday morning with a few familiars sprinkled in who were ready for another chance to earn their patches. Some great instructors volunteered their weekend, several of whom made a long drive to help staff this event. Thank you, Chuck and Kirby for making the trek.
We started Saturday morning with a welcome/introduction and presented Zach "TheSheepdog" with his well-earned Red Hat. Congratulations to "theSheepDog"!!! Aggie, Master_Chief, and Floyd were with us also, and all did a fantastic job running the line and giving instruction throughout the weekend. Jeremy "RemyLD0351" made the decision to take up an instructor hat as well this weekend and traded in his Blue hat for an Orange one. Thank you Jeremy! You will be a great asset to the program.
After the safety-briefing we shot our morning redcoat and moved into our core blocks of instruction.
1) Sling usage and building a solid and stable shooting position
2) Six Steps of firing the shot (who can give me step #1?) ;)
3) Checking natural point of aim and moving NPOA on target
Floyd gave a great First Strike over lunch where we learned about what lead up to the events of the day and what transpired on Lexington Green. As Floyd pointed out, the town of Lexington wasn't that big. Everyone knew everyone else and in many cases they were related by either blood or marriage. Here's an interesting link I came across the other day from a descendent of the Monroe family of Lexington. http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/cousins-at-battle-of-lexington.html
We were soon back on the firing line ready to put more lead on target. The afternoon progressed well and we continued to see improvement by all throughout the day. Carmel, a first time shooter, impressed everyone on her end of the line. She went from barely on paper in the morning to drilling out those little 4moa squares. Awesome work, Everyone.
Scuzzy gave a compelling Second Strike during our afternoon break and we learned about what happened at Concord, the North Bridge, and how Isaac Davis and his men came from a neighboring town to help others in distress. http://www.historynet.com/american-revolutionary-war-minuteman-isaac-davis-was-shot-during-the-battle-of-concord.htm
We then continued with instruction by refining and building upon the fundamentals we learned earlier in the day. We finished off the day with Chuck "Reddot" giving the Third Strike and we learned about Meriam's Corner -- that little known place where the Revolutionary War actually took off and continued for 8 more years. http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=18057 (http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=18057)
Sunday brought new shooters to the line, many of whom had been to previous events and wanted to come back and work on earning their patches. We reviewed slings, positions, NPOA and around lunch time we started shooting AQT's. Three new Rifleman did indeed emerge in the afternoon. Rod and Mike both shot 214's and Chris rounded it out with a 223. Congratulations all!!! :~
Ten-year-old Rayna was there with her dad and let me tell you, although she had very limited time behind a rifle, this young lady was a trooper. She did very well with her safety and you should have seen the number of holes she put in that redcoat target. Quite impressive! She did so well that at the end of the day, she received a youth patch for her efforts. Rayna, I hope you come back and see us. ...and when your younger siblings are old enough to come I hope you bring them with you as well.
That goes for all the shooters we had out this weekend. You all did a great job, and I hope that you will continue your quest to improve your marksmanship. Also, I hope the telling of the three strikes and our heritage created a small spark in you to learn more about these people and this day in history. They laid it all the line for us, their posterity. I personally feel that the least I can do is to remember their names and remember what they did so that future generations would have the chance to live free. I hope you feel the same. It is, after all, up to us, "We the People.." to pay it forward.
If you took pictures during the event, please feel free to share them here and on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/appleseedtexas
An all around great shoot! Congrats to the OTHER Zach on his red hat! Soon enough I'll have mine and we can continue to cause mass confusion :)
I'll be posting tons of pictures on the Appleseed Texas facebook page tonight.
A few pics
I would like to thank Kirk (Spitstickler) on pointing me to the instructor path,,,, and congratulate him on an awesome shoot this week end :bow:. Congrats Zach on the Red Hat. O0 I hope to get there soon. I can't wait to work another shoot with you guys. I loved meeting all the instructors that drove a LONG way to get there, and congratulate them for a successful shoot and for being so supportive when I received my Orange Hat.
Ya'll didn't shoot up that old orange hat??? I shoot up mine this past weekend in Amite 3 shots standing at 100 yrds with the Ishapore =3 holes in hat