This weekend at the Cardinal Center in Marengo OH. was an incredibly busy one! Along with an Appleseed event on the schedule it seemed that every trap shooter from the midwest was on-site for a large gathering of shotgun shooters. Thankfully, there was plenty of room at this fabulous facility for everyone involved. (Actually, there were a few open campsites and some available golf carts at the range, so we had room for more!) If you have never been to the Cardinal Center it is worth a visit!
The weather forecast was not ideal for the weekend but we had nine shooters show up Saturday morning. The rain never really materialized Saturday so the firehose of instruction was the only item flooding these shooters on day 1. It was wonderful to have so many youth shooters (5) on the line, and all from different families! My thanks to the parents and grandparents who recognized this opportunity as one so valuable as to spend their precious time this weekend. The instruction of the three pillars of marksmanship was well received by all, as was the history of April 19, 1775.
Sunday dawned with a bit more promise of rain, and the hearty five returning shooters would soon discover what they were about! The Sunday morning Redcoat target was dry, but that would be the only target of the day to remain in that condition. Once we posted the squares targets for review and re-zeroing rifles the rain began. The initial light rain wasn't too bad, so we kept on with the review and squares. The light rain then transitioned to a steady rain. While the shooters were still in high spirits (although fairly soaked by now) we posted the first AQT of the day and started with Stage 4. Once we completed Stage 3 the steady rain became a driving rain. Any piece of clothing, or body part, that wasn't already wet was now completely saturated, along with the AQTs, and the target backers, and the pistol bay range which had rising waters near the target line. After the completion of the AQT those targets were VERY carefully removed from the collapsing backers and then delicately brought to the tables under the canopies which were cleared for this very purpose. Although the scoring did not reveal any new Riflemen there were certainly many targets to be proud of and a marked improvement from the previous day. Considering the conditions I have no doubt that we would have had some Rifleman patches to present, but after looking at the radar with the yellow and orange blobs heading our way it was the unanimous agreement that we end this Appleseed early.
It was a worthwhile trip up from Georgia for this Shoot Boss to meet and mix with the likes of these fine folks from the central OH area, as well as work along side some of the fine Ohio cadre. My thanks to you all for making this time and these miles so worth the effort. And I would do it again if my services are ever needed here once more.
Thank you!!
All of Ohio AS thanks Morpheus for coming up to cover this event. The bad weather was unfortunate as we could have made some new Riflemen with some more time. But, mother nature is always in control. I know that it was bad as on Tuesday when I came up to pick up all the gear, some of it was still wet. Thanks to all the shooters that persisted in spite of the weather on Sunday.
Huzzah!!! Another great Ohio AS.
Corvette
The Cardinal Shooting Center is really a happening place for the shooting world here in Ohio. Since the shoot ended early on Sunday due to the rain I took a small tour of the club house and trap fields and poked my nose into the shops located there. Wow the gear being sold there just to the trap shooters is an eye opener. What a great venue to host the Appleseed trail. Had a great time and wonderful learning experience working this shoot with a shoot boss that rode a motorcycle all the way from Georgia to fill in a gap of personnel here in Ohio. Thank you very much!
Yep, Cardinal is a special place. We are blessed that they support our program and our mission.
Corvette