This was one of the most interesting Appleseeds I have seen in my four years with the program. We had a full line of scoped rifles, and a majority using bolt actions. All first-time Appleseeders, except for Eli, and we saw some impressive scores from the experienced shooters.
We had four youth shooters, ages 5-11. All of these young people worked hard on their six steps of firing the shot, with some help in the support department from bipods and sandbags. Nathan and Jace will be able to move on to a sling soon, since they've clearly figured out sight alignment and sight picture (Nathan shot a 231 on his AQT; no patch for a bipod, but impressive for his first Appleseed). Katelynn and Natalie's parents helped us out by making sure these young ladies kept their sights on target, and I hope we'll see them all at future events.
Eli had previously qualified with a 10/22, so decided to move on to a Browning bolt action .22 for this event. He turned in a 212 on Saturday and a 223 on Sunday, and knows very well what he is about. Jason was consistently shooting in the upper 180s, and would've had a 211 if we counted stage 4 as 3, 3, 2, 2 (oops). Randy improved to a 196 on Sunday, using a bolt action .22 with a hasty sling. They will easily earn that Rifleman patch with a bit of work on the timed stages.
Thank you all for your patience and good humor with a short-staffed event and a sleep-deprived shoot boss! Lewis-Clark Wildlife Club was very accommodating and a great place to hold an event.