Bakersfield, CA Oct 17-18-09 AAR

[bob 210]

First of all, let me tell you that 5 Dogs Range is a truly outstanding range complex! A special thank you to David, the range owner, for hosting this first ever Appleseed in Bakersfield and to Kyle for setting it all up and getting the word out.

One of the most outstanding things about this Appleseed was the pairs of father and sons at this shoot. It was great to have Jim and Alex  and  Kyle and Dillon. We also had Cheryl there on Saturday and she showed great improvement during the day. Kevin and Kris were Sunday attendees only and represented the local Fire Dept very well!

We did not have any Rifleman scores, but everyone showed improvement and our countries Heritage was shared with them all. We did have quite a few folks drop by the Appleseed during the two days we were there and I look forward to having a big turn out for the next Appleseed held at this great location......did I mention we were asked to come back!

Congratulations go to Kyle for stepping forward to claim the Orange Hat of an Instructor in Training! Welcome aboard!

[Sleeps In Prone]

What a fantastic time this was!!  This was my second Appleseed, and for those who have only been to 1, let me suggest going back ASAP.  I personally gained leaps and bounds of understanding in the heap of information given.  (it might of helped that there was a lot of 1 on 1 instruction)  Like Bob says "it's kind of like trying to drink from a fire hose."  But I am proud to add Bakersfield to the growing list of "regulars" and look forward to wearing my orange hat in my home town.  I am very excited to be more involved in this program and meeting more great people.  Thank you so much Bob and Cal 7.62.  See you all soon

[Sleeps In Prone]

here's more pics

[Sleeps In Prone]

and more

[V]

Hey Bakersfield,

Was it word leaking out about the pink name tags that kept everyone away 

I'd always heard that Bakersfield was tougher than that...

The range looks great - looks like all the sand has been sifted to remove all the uncomfortable rocks and stones. Whats not to like.

Great job folks.

Cheers
V

[Cal 7.62]

Finally had time to post. Although the quantity of shooters was small, the quality of these shooters was great. They perservered through the onslaught of stinkbugs that were everywhere on the range. These folks had a great time drinking from the firehose. Cheryl made the trek down from Porterville to shoot with us and shoot she did! From barely hitting the 1st Redcoat to some good groups later on, she had a riflemans heart. We missed you on Sun. Cheryl. Hope you weren't too sore.  The father and son team of Jim and Alex had planned on going to an AS in Fresno but things didn't work out. Well it seems fate was on their side as Appleseed came to Bakersfield. Alex was off to good start,  but once Jim got in the swing of things they were doing their best to beat each others scores. Kyle (sleeps in prone) our local BOTG, was no stranger to AS, having attended the 1st Fresno Appleseed with his son Dylan. With true rifleman perserverance, he helped us bring an AS to Bakersfield. Kyle and Dylan showed remarkable improvement throughout the weekend. Only 8 yrs old Dylan sucked up the heritage like a sponge. Even though he had to deal with equipment issues, in the true rifleman spirit he persisted till the end. It warms my heart to see fine young americans like this.  Our two walkons Sun were Kevin and Kris from the Bakersfield Fire Dept.  Their schedule prevented them from coming on Sat. Once we got them up to speed they hung in there with our other shooters and improved their marksmanship skills as well.  They too walked away from this weekend with a deeper appreciation of the riflemans heritage the sacrifices the founders made for our freedom. I know all these fine Americans will be speading the Applseed "gospel"  in Buck Owens/Merle Haggard ville. Although I had passed out lots of Bako flyers at the Bako gunshow, with only 5 preregs I was a little disappointed thinking that my efforts had been fruitless. It probably didn't help that the first Edwards AFB airshow (with free admission) in 3 years was being held that same weekend. But my faith was renewed by some of the folks who stopped by to let us know that they had heard of AS and thought it was next weekend or thought that they had missed it already. We let them know that, (to paraphrase a certain governor) "We'll be back"!