On the morning of Saturday 11-1, 20 enthusiastic shooters gathered in the balmy 19 degree weather ready to show our guest Shoot Boss, George Hacker, what Alaska is all about!
We began the morning with our introduction and safety briefing and started things off right with some early history to whet the appetites of our students.
Our first Red Coat gave us most of our students qualifying at some distance, but we had our work cut out for us!
We began quickly instructing on Sling use, Prone Steady Hold factors, the Six Steps of Firing, Natural Point of Aim, Talking Targets, Inches-Minutes-Clicks, Standing steady hold factors, Seated/kneeling steady hold factors, and transitions.
As we only had one day, we skipped the fire hose and threw our students into the lake, but they proved to be up to the task.
As the day warmed up to a tropical 30 degrees, we got to hear fisherdawg, Medicus and Pete! tell the three strikes of the match to the eager crowd.
Finally, in the afternoon, it was time to shoot our AQTs! By the end of the day, 2 rounds of AQTs showed 3 new Riflemen!!!
Dale (237), Jeremy (213), and Graham (215) earned the coveted Winterseed patch, and returning shooters Jordan (210) and Clayton (225) requalified and took their Orange hats! Littlejohn220 had a chance to shoot and also joined the ranks of the Winterseeders with a 215!
The final Red Coat showed nearly all of our students qualifying at some distance.
A big thank you goes out to all of our students. You were all wonderful and stuck it out beautifully. I hope to see you all on our line again in the spring.
Thank you, as always, to Birchwood. You're always wonderful hosts, and this time you turned the heat on AND spared Dale!
And, last but certainly not least, a humongous thank you to George Hacker for coming up and letting us freeze you. On behalf of the Alaska Cadre, I hope you can come up again soon!
Photos at https://www.facebook.com/sean.ryan.9237/media_set?set=a.4788641130654.1073741847.1734627251&type=1. Too many to try to fit on the forum. Privacy is set to "Public" so anyone on FB should be able to see them.
Wow, what an excellent Winterseed event. We had cold temperatures, but a very warm Alaskan reception.
Congratulations to the three new riflemen (one under 12, excellent job Graham) and the three repeat riflemen (one under 12, well done Little John). Two new orange hats stepped up and two new blue hats. Wonderful things are happening in the great white north.
The shooters were very attentive. Their final redcoat scores showed marked improvement. Despite the cold, everyone was cheerful and had a great time. We only had one father leave with his young daughter because of the cold. The temperature was in the high teens in the morning and never got above freezing.
Practice what you learned. Work with your rifles in the comfort of your home (ammo in another room, of course). Build the muscle memory for transitions, the positions, and manipulation of your rifle. The best marksmen dry practice.
Instructors and Applecore, it was a pleasure working with you all. You made me feel welcome as a border-raiding shoot boss. fisherdawg, you were supposed to get some trigger time, but it seems you couldn't help yourself and you got in the dirt with the shooters. Thank you for your help. Taka222, thank you for your shoot boss in training help.
Civilian rifle marksmanship is an American thing. As Thomas Jefferson once wrote to his nephew, "A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprize, and independance to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks." Indeed, rifle marksmanship is the only sport endorsed by the framers.
Hope we meet again on the Appleseed Trail!
George
From the hog blog.
http://hogfamilyalaska.blogspot.com/2014/11/winterseed-marksmanship-clinic.html
Well done, all! ^:)^