Cresco, IA - AAR August 13-14 2022

[Ames]

Project Appleseed found a new location to reach our fellow Americans with Heritage, Liberty and Marksmanship - Cresco, Iowa!  The Cresco Wildlife Club hosted their first Appleseed rifle marksmanship clinic ever on August 13 & 14.  They also provided great weather for Iowa in August - temps were in the very comfortable range of mid-seventies all weekend.  (Quite a welcome change from the previous Appleseed I attended just 150 miles south the week before when it reached 97!)

We had a great class of shooters with a wide range of prior shooting experience.  We saw great improvement from everyone.  Congratulations to our new rifleman, Todd and new riflewoman, Linda!  Also congrats to Mike and Shannon for requalifying!

The class learned their steady hold factors, steps to firing a shot and natural point of aim.  They honed in on NPOA as the instructors coached each student with the carding the sights exercise.  The students also learned about the effects on bullet ballistics at distance and techniques for target detection and range estimation.  It was a lot to pack into a weekend, but everyone did a great job absorbing it all.  Best of all, we talked at length about liberty and heritage and the importance of America's countryman continue to keep the flame of liberty alive.

[Burnett]

This was a great shoot! I had a really good time. Experience ranged from not much at all to quite experienced. If I remember correctly, 2.5 shooters had attended events in the past. 4 adult shooters that participate in NRL22 type matches. 3 youth shooters ages 10, 11, and 12.

The range is owned by a wildlife club but is pretty much run by a married couple that are members, Terri and Scott. They shoot regularly in NRL, but this was a whole new discipline for them. Terri has commented on FB that they were both quite surprised by the aches and pains they had. Unfortunately, they were only able to attend on Saturday, but I do know that they'll be back.

Another shooter (Todd) is an officer in the club and quite enthusiastically wants Appleseed back. Once, he got into the Appleseed AQT groove, he shot the score on Saturday and then 5 more times on Sunday. He'd be a good one to target for recruitment into the fold.

Another Scott was there Saturday and also unable to attend Sunday. He really shot quite well. Didn't get the score, but I'm sure he'll be back as well and get it when he does.

Down on the left end were Mike and his granddaughter, Ava. Ava was the 11-year-old. Cute little twerp and a pretty good shooter. She's a righty but shot left-handed because of eye dominance and so she struggled a bit, mostly with left-handed rifle manipulation. But she did well. Impressive young lady. Grandpa Mike requalified a couple of times, then managed a distinguished score on Sunday.

Then we have Malichi and Simeon; 10- and 12-year-old brothers. Simeon had been to an event before, and he did OK. I felt he progressed throughout the weekend. Malichi was kind of a handful, but I think he too will get there one day.

It was kind of interesting seeing the difference between how Ava handled herself and how the boys handled themselves.

Finally, Linda. They boy's mother. Yeah. Simeon had been to another shoot. His dad brought him Saturday and Linda brought him Sunday. Shoot boss there talked her into trying some shooting. She'd never even HANDLED a rifle. Her instruction amounted mostly to watching the steady hold factor reviews. As she wasn't registered and they didn't have her do transitions, it wasn't official, but she managed a 212 on one of the AQTs. Flash forward to Cresco, she brought a new 10/22/scope combo, 1200 rounds of ammo, and two of her kids. I predicted that she'd be our first to shoot rifleman. I'm not sure she was actually first, but she shot a 220 on Saturday. Either a natural, a testament to Appleseed instruction, or both.

The two red hats... great guys. Ames provided the jocular banter with singing and dancing and Rhysling, well, he's just flat-out eye candy. Seriously, they pulled off a great event.

I think Ames got some pictures; I took not a single one. Maybe he'll post some up.

[Captain]

Sounds like another fantastic Iowa event! Congratulations to the new Riflemen.