This was an incredible weekend spent with a truly wonderful group of Americans! Cool mornings with generous amounts of sunshine and pleasant afternoon temperatures were ideal for shooting. We had seventeen shooters each day, a few of which were back for their second Appleseed.
The Buckeye Trapper started the history presentations in the morning with a little pre-history of what led up to the Revolution. One of the little known facts that makes the Piqua area of interest to history buffs, is that the opening battle of the French and Indian War occurred at the village of Pickawillany, on the banks of the Great Miami River, just a mile and a half from the range.
From the beginning this group showed the promise of great things to come, with eleven shooters proficient at the 100 yard Redcoat and three scored a hit on Morgan's shingle. We then spent the morning sorting out minor equipment issues while zeroing rifles and going over all the basic Appleseed marksmanship instruction; we spent plenty of time to get everyone on track, which paid off throughout the rest of the weekend.
On Sunday morning's redcoat, all 16 shooters were proficient at the 100-yard silhouette, twelve at the 200, seven at the 300, four at the 400, and ten shooters hit the shingle!! Two redcoats were cleared.
By afternoon nearly every shooter on the line was turning in AQT's that were close to scoring rifleman, but four put it all together to have their names added to the ranks of Appleseed Riflemen; Andrew scored an impressive 226 (then reconfirmed on the next AQT with a 214), Greg shot a 214, Beckley scored a 220, and 10 year-old Haley Beth got her Rifleman's patch with a score of 212. Congratulations to all!
A team pumpkin shoot was held Sunday afternoon. Shooters were divided into teams of four with twenty rounds each and given fifty seconds to do as much damage as possible. The team with the least amount of pumpkin left was the winner, congratulations to team one.
Thanks go to the instructors of the event, The Buckeye Trapper, Coyote 217, Texas T, Charley and Yankee. It was great to have Texas T drive over from Pennsylvania to help; he gave an awesome presentation of the story of David Lamson. Congratulations to Charley, who was presented with her red hat Sunday afternoon; we greatly appreciate your dedication and commitment to the program.
Thanks so much to all who attended; we hope to see you back on the line again next year.
Piqua Photos
More photos.
A beautiful fall day in Ohio. The day dawned a little on the chilly side and started with some instruction. Shooters tried to grab a few rays of sun to stay warm...
After covering the basics, it was time for the Saturday morning Redcoat...
Back to trying to grab a little more sun and covering steady hold and NPOA...
Putting some of the instruction into practice...
Putting additional skills into practice...
It didn't get much warmer on Saturday, but we had the chance to learn and try out the standing position...
Sunday was a little warmer and, after a review of safety, steady hold factors and NPOA, it was back to the line...
Checking targets and receiving feedback. Targets don't lie...
What a great group of shooters.
Thanks to everyone for coming out and enjoying the day, and thanks to Piqua Fish and Game Protective Association for allowing the use of the range. O0 O0
Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah,
Hailey's got her patch. Look at proud papa grinning in the picture. Did I miss the pictures of the Orange hat presentation?
Hailey, great work young lady. When you cleared the first Red Coat at Marion earlier this year, I knew the patch was coming soon. Congrats, job well done.
Corvette
Sounds like I missed an awesome Appleseed. Looking forward to the next piqua event. Congrats Haley!