This was an incredible Appleseed event at a new range. The members of the Watauga Gun Club really know how to make you feel welcome. They were so extremely helpful at this first event, that it felt like we have been doing them here for years. I just can't thank them enough. As you will see later in the pictures, this is a beautiful range!
I don't know if we keep stats on this or not, but I think we broke a record for the highest percentage of Riflemen at a first event at a range. We had 43% of the participants score rifleman! This was a very attentive group that followed the safety rules very well and were able to successfully drink from the fire hose of information we threw at them. I don't think I have ever seen a group so responsive to the history either. I can't say enough about the participants!
As for the particulars, we started off the morning on Saturday with 23 shooters and some strong winds to deal with. However, our hosts jumped into action and found some weights for the targets and the shoot mats. My awesome group of instructors worked very hard to secure the rifles and personal items of the shooters during the heavy gusts. Pelon and Dakota even climbed a small mountain to retrieve some of our backers. Thai Fighter told the first strike extremely well as usual captivating the audience with the emotion he puts forth. Pelon told the 2nd strike for the first time ever as if he had done it many times before. By the end of the first day, we had 2 riflemen. William W. scored a 230 and 16 year old Graham R. scored a 235, Huzzah!
Sunday started off a little chilly, but less wind and turned out to be a beautiful day! Thai Fighter told the 3rd strike even better than he told the 1st and Fox4 and Polonius captivated the audience with several DOM stories. However, I have to say I never get tired of hearing Lawrence tell the stories of David Lamson with such humor and Timothy Murphy with such raw emotion that I get choked up every time I hear it. We must have done our job well or got lucky, but either way we had 2 participants volunteer to be orange hats and another that wishes to don the orange after he attends his next and 2nd Appleseed. Thanks to Tim T., James H. and Michel T. HUZZAH! The day ended with 8 more rifleman, 3 of which showed their perseverance and scored rifleman on the last AQT of the day. Kevin H. - 225, Tim T. - 228, Paul I.- 223, James H. - 216, Marshal R. (12 years old) - 215 and the final three of the day, Bryan W. - 217, Fred O. - 214 and Ivan R. (who couldn't let his two boys show him up )- 225. Congratulations to all our shooters for vast improvements with their marksmanship!
A special thanks to my wonderful Instructor Corp, including my father Flyfisher who turned 75 this year! I will be smiling about this Appleseed for a while!
PK
More pics! Some didn't come out very well, so I was unable to post all the riflemen. I do apologize. If anyone else has any pictures or comments, please post them here.
Thanks,
PK
O0 O0 O0 O0
Great job ya'll! :bow: I hope you had enough Rifleman patches.
I'm sorry I missed that one.
Salty
I've been anxiously awaiting this AAR, and it didn't disappoint! It brings me great joy to see that area hosting an event.
Great job to all!
A well run event, Kudos to you Sir...
It certainly helped that we had a FANTASTIC group of shooters to work with...
Must be something in the water up thar in Boone. O0
Spartan
It was hard to put into words how much I enjoyed this event! If you can make it to Boone at a future event, please do. You won't be disappointed! We are trying to get one on the schedule during the winter so we can have a Winterseed.
PK