The shoot that almost wasn't:
This shoot almost wasn't. I was a very anxious 8 hours away from canceling this shoot. I had two shooters and four Instructors, and was fixing to lose my butt in range fees. Long story made short: 2 shooters and 4 Instructors became 11 shooters and 6 "hats" in the last 8 hrs. Game on.
This was literally 3 degrees F away from a becoming a Winterseed.
Tough, heartening, very Alaskan. Should I expect anything else?
A wonderful weekend clinic progressed. The students were without exception, new to Appleseed and were of varying skill levels; from experienced shooters to, "never touched a rifle". Literally,, NEVER touched a rifle.
The N****** clan ruled the line, 3 Riflemen and 2 next generation soon-gunna-be's. They were awesome to work with. How do you top that?
I know,,
What If:
An 11 year old girl who has never touched a rifle, and who was scared sh*tless on the first course of fire. Serious,, almost to tears. What if we put her on sandbags. What if, instead of worrying on a lot of other stuff, we keep her on the bags and let her worry only about the basics. That if, we do just that.
And she shoots a 228 off sandbags. Folks, I'm impressed.
The same little girl shows up on Sunday because " IT WAS AMAZING". So,, Sunday progresses to the point where as Appleseed Master Instructor Itsansks is briefing KD,, and I am talking a stoked 9 year old and her STOKED Mom thru building 2 LTRs,, a little at a time, over the winter,, ready to rock come spring, for Both of them.
I will submit that: THAT is Appleseed, BOTH are Appleseed. One family already on course, another family wanting to learn how.
We had two other shooters, Steve (Alaska Rifleman 128) who came prepared and muscled thru to get repeated Rifleman scores and pick up an Orange Hat,, HUZZAH. And Dean who showed with a new rifle and would be welcome on any of my shooting lines to get those few last points.
Beats the h*ll out of a cancel,, either that or I'm wrong.
--Fourfans
More pix
And one very special young lady, with two youths who were also great to be around and work with. This is the face of Appleseed
--FF
O0
THAT's what Appleseed is about. Spreading the word and getting people interested and involved. Great job to the team from the far north.
And special thanks to Alaska Rifleman 128 for stepping forward. That's how we all got started. Hope to catch up with you down the trail.
HUZZAH!
FourFans ran a great event!
It was an honor to play a small part among a group of great Americans.