For the first MD Appleseed of Spring, we had 12 students show up with teachable attitudes, the desire to learn about our heritage and the goal of becoming Riflemen. As usual, our DAR host range - Anne Arundel Fish & Game - provided a fantastic venue for the students. Saturday provided great weather in the 60s but it cooled off quite a bit on Sunday and dropped to the 40s.
The students worked very hard. Without a doubt, this class wins my award for "Most Improved Appleseed" class after evaluating their skill level at the start and finish. Great job by all of the students.
Congrats to John H. for putting up a Rifleman score 3 times (211, 211 and 217). John also did the greatest deed by bringing both his son and daughter to the event. Thanks!!!!!
Congrats to TheTopher for re-qualifying as a Rifleman and sweeping the Redcoat target. He also earned the Maryland Distinguished Shooter patch. He then topped this off by accepting an orange hat. I know he will be an asset to the program as this was his third Appleseed and he always brings additional students. Welcome!!!!
Stay tuned for more to come for Maryland Appleseed. Next month we add a new range and are shooting at Bowie, Maryland in addition to our normal shoot in Annapolis.
I'd just like to give a shout-out to Amanda and Ray, a couple of first time shooters I worked with over the weekend. The Appleseed firing line can be a challenging place to be handed a rifle for the first time and told "now shoot those redcoats!". But they both stuck with it, and did great! Amanda quickly mastered safely and correctly operating the 10/22 (with all of its idiosyncrasies), and showed constant, steady improvement as she learned the fundamentals of rifle shooting- a huge amount of information to take in and skills to learn. Ray finished the first day shooting a 169, performing as well or better than many shooters with years more experience.
Looking forward to seeing both of them on the line again soon!