The morning began on Saturday with the sun just beginning to crest over the beautiful landscape in the great state of North Carolina and twelve Patriots signed in to the Pitt County Wildlife Club to attend one of the first Appleseeds to be held there in quite some time. We began the shoot as we always do with our first Hits Count Target. We had one shooter (Simon), who knew very much what he was about, clear it becoming the second one in the state to earn the brand new, coveted NC Appleseed Silhouette only given to those who clear this target. While he was the first, he would not be the last during the weekend as we had several students clear the target. As Saturday progressed, the heat rose and the gnats came out in force! But these two things did not deter our dedicated group of shooters as they settled into their Rifleman's Bubble and used the skills taught to great effect. We ended the first day with a few new Rifleman and a few that were very close to achieving that lofty goal.
Sunday proved to be a perfect day for putting into use what our Founding Fathers fought for so bravely. Since we were not allowed to shoot until 12:30, the wildlife club allowed us to use their phenomenal classroom. It provided a perfect venue to review. The shooters showed the effectiveness of the previous day's instruction because when asked questions as part of the TPI process, they spit out the answers as fast as the instructors could ask. Bulldog14 and Recon82 taught target detection and range estimation in their continued quest to earn the prestigious green hat of the Shoot Boss and according to all that were there did a phenomenal job. UpACreek gave the best class on Making the Shot that you can find anywhere in the nation rounding out the Known Distance instruction. Once the classroom portion was complete, the shooters were itching to continue the successes they had the previous day and wasted no time getting their equipment together and rifles made safe to shoot the day's first Hits Count Target. Several shooters cleared it! The afternoon proved to be a hotbed for success as we minted new riflemen every AQT we fired. Larry decided he was getting a little too hot so he shot a 210 earning himself a Rifleman Patch as well as getting bathed in the cool waters of the North Bridge. LadyJ had the highest score of the weekend with a 241 and earned her first Distinguished Rifle Score patch. Her husband Steve agreed to accept an Orange hat in his quest to become an Appleseed Instructor. Welcome to the team Hawk!!! What a great accomplishment! This was one of the best group of shooters seen in a long time as well as some fine Instructors. This will be a weekend to remember and we cannot wait to do it again. A big thanks to LadyJ and MissusGage for being the local boots on ground and coordinating with the Pitt County Wildlife Club to allow us to use this range. Huge thanks to the Pitt County Wildlife Club for allowing us to use their great facilities! We hope they will have us back again soon.
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What a great event! Thanks to all the shooters and instructors who came together to bring Project Appleseed back to Greenville, NC!