Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, June 14-15 2014

[eert]

I'm looking forward to a great Flag Day/Father's Day weekend with 11 shooters signed up.  Hopefully, our north Idaho weather will cooperate.  I'll be bringing 3 loaner rifles for anyone who may need a substitute/back up.

We'll have three Red Hats (Actineon, Mr. Clean, and Roland) besides myself on Saturday to give all those new shooters lots of one on one time.  What a great Instructor to student ratio, maybe we'll get our Riflemen ratio back up to Fernan standards!

Get a good night's sleep tonight, as you'll surely appreciate it tomorrow!
See you all tomorrow! 

EERT

[eert]

Sorry for the delay in getting this AAR up.  After finishing up yesterday's Shoot, we had to run the boyo back up to his job at Priest Lake. It turned into a rather long day by the time we got back home. 

Well, first off the weather was not very cooperative on Saturday. It was raining so hard I had visions of the Aquaseed in Columbia Falls two years ago. While waiting for the shooters to show up, Roland and I were wondering if any would.  When the first load arrived, they seemed surprised to actually see us there, and questioned if we would hold the clinic or cancel.  My response, if they were willing to give it a go, we would not disappoint, so on we went.  Much to my amazement all pre-registered shooters showed up, and we had a great group of 11 shooters which included 4 returnees. 

We utilized the classroom for the initial Intro and briefing, but as it was really pouring at this point, I decided to go forth with the first strike and hope the rain would die down a bit.  So, 30 minutes later, and with much less rain, we proceeded with the first Red Coat. It rained on and off most of the day after that, but not real hard, and our shooters truly persevered through it.

We worked through the day and even got to two AQT's on Saturday, upon which we had 3 requalified Riflemen, all members of the Walzer clan (Bob II, Bob III, and Emily).  The fourth member of the clan shot her first RM score on the second AQT Sunday and followed that up with a whopping 238!  No chance or luck involved with a score like that!  Congrats to Heather who joins the rest of her family as Riflemen.  This family was also responsible for bringing and introducing two other families to the Appleseed tradition on this weekend.  Thank you Bob II for the sales pitch.  The growth of Appleseed is highly dependent on attendees spreading our word.  I also want to note and thank the Tabbert clan for introducing the Walzer clan to AS.  Thanks TATABS! You are likely the number one recruiter for the Coeur d'Alene Appleseed attendance, and it appears you have a pyramid scheme going.  Please keep it up!

We also had a couple of youth shooters who made significant progress.  Both Dylan (10) and Ms. Clean (10) went up 100 points over the weekend, and their final Redcoats indicated some serious hurt inflicted!  Jonas (12) was probably the safest shooter on the line, his attention to detail and control manipulations was a sight to behold, and I expect him to have his BSA Marksmanship Merit Badge as soon as he can find a Merit Badge counselor .  I particularly enjoyed his standing position, and predict a RM score in his not too distant future.  Jonas and Caleb showed the persistence of a Riflemen as, even when offered scoped 10/22's they wanted to shoot the factory iron sighted 10/22's they had, because "that's the rifle they have".  Can you tell I really enjoyed these youth!  Can't hardly wait to see you guys on the line again!

I don't want to forget the parental units of these youth shooters either.  Thanks Dads for sharing your Father's Day with us.  Jerry, you had to struggle with equipment issues a bit, but your positions improved as did your trigger control, keep it up and your clan will be as effective as your Walzer friends!  Matt, sorry you had to leave early Sunday, but thanks for staying for our lunchtime heritage stories.  There is obviously a RM patch in your future and you are just knocking on the door, as we say.  Gabe, you too are knocking on the door.  All of you showed great improvement and with a little dry fire practice, you'll be shooting Riflemen scores in no time.  Check the Forum for dry fire targets or send me a PM on the Forum with your email and I'll send them out.
 
Other highlights of the weekend- All three of our youngest shooters hitting the 100 yard silhouette at the end of Day 1 Redcoat! Bob II shooting the end of Day 1 RC from Standing and qualifying at the 200 yard mark. 

Instructors, always a pleasure working the line with you.  For a while there, I thought it was going to be a hectic shoot with only Mr. Clean and I signed up.  But Actineon was able to come for Saturday, and Niskibum joined in Sunday.  Roland was also able to join us, as they had so much rain in North Idaho, he'll have to go a long way before he sees any flame with his fire crew this summer.  And I even got to spend Father's Day with my Boyo!  Thanks for helping out Roland, you made the shoot a whole lot more successful.  Oh yeah, Roland also requalified with his new AR.
 
I'll get a few photos up once I figure out how to do that! 

Shooters, it was a real pleasure meeting and seeing some of you again.  Hopefully you can find some more ammo, so you don't have to wait so long for the next time!

Shoot straight!

EERT

[eert]

And now photos!