AAR Cynthiana Ky

[brdholman]

 With snow falling on the hills of central Ky several hearty Americans arrived to learn about history and marksmanship. A few were looking for a challenge, and I think they found it. All the shooters arrived with a smile and the most important thing you can bring to an Appleseed, a teachable attitude.
Despite the cold weather and snow hardly a complaint was heard. The shooters practiced the finer points of the prone postion while laying in snow and smiling. These folks kept the great attitudes all weekend while fighting to see the targets and get a frozen sling around their arm. People like this are what make the instructors keep doing what they do. I was very happy to see that almost half of the firing line was female. Way to go ladies, show those men what shooting like a girl really means.
Thanks to Josh and his family for not only providing us with a place for an event, but also a warm room for history and instruction. The hot food and coffee was much appreciated as well.
Hopefully pictures will follow. The weather was hard on electronics and batteries.

[kentuckyjam]

It was cooooooold   but such a cool weekend with the students.  I was surprised we had 5 women on the line.  We normally don't have that many and under the conditions, didn't think we'd have any.  Like Brad said, noone complained, everyone gave it their all and had a wonderful weekend.  For those that couldn't get back on Sunday, the weather was better believe it or not.  We didn't get wet so were able to stay warm.  
To let you know how good the attitudes were, I talked to Lydia Sunday night and she said the weather didn't matter.  She wouldn't have traded that day for anything.  Next time she's brigning her husband and son.  This was her 'mother's day out' with a buddy and she chose to come to Appleseed.  What a Patriot!

Kudos to Jake (11 yrs old) who braved it all day Saturday and didn't say anything when his sling was frozen solid.  
Kudos to Unbridled Liberty and Mark for earning the well deserved Winterseed Rifleman patch!!  These were definitely adverse conditions and you guys hung in there to reach your goal!  

Thank you to Josh and his family for the accomodations.  I love that heater.  
Thank you to your mom for all the hot food and warm welcome.  My belly also thanks you.
Thanks to the instructors for working a Winterseed.  I believe I'm the only one who grumbled come Sunday morning envisioning the wetness again.  

Our camera and phones let us know they did not like the cold and went caput.  Betsy and Unbridled have some pics, I believe Lydia as well.

See you guys in the spring!!

[keppy]

It was really cold and wet on saturday.  Didn't really impact me until the final time we went out to shoot and the wind started blowing. Our instructions were fantastic and took time out with eat of us when they could.  I couldn't have asked for a better group to be out with my first time - BIG THANK YOU. Took a long time to thaw out - pretty much the whole ride home (over 1 hr).  But it was my first time out and I had a great time.  I'm looking forward to going out and shooting again when the weather is a bit warmer.

Josh's Farm was great we had visits from the horses before we started and cows wondering what all the action was.  His mom provided hot food at lunchtime and hot water all day (thank you so much) and lots and lots of goodies to much on when we weren't shooting.  

[son of liberty]

Great group and all of them braved the worst of conditions to come out and shoot, I salute you all!

Jake..... What can I say man, You are a trooper! Late the first day his sling was frozen so solid you could use it as an axe handle! Never once did he complain or make a single comment about it.........he has grit!

[BUFF_dragon]

Here is the folder on my website that has the pictures that I took.  I am currently uploading videos of the shoot to Youtube so I can post them.

http://hughesfirearms.com/images/12-04-10%20Appleseed/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrNdatYisQI
You can search for "12-4-10 Appleseed Project" on Youtube and find the other video as soon as its uploaded, it says that it will take another 75+ minutes to upload.

I want to thank all that came out to the shoot, you all were terrific to talk with and I am impressed with the amount of grit that you all had.  I still find it amazing that my cattle came to the sounds of gunfire, I guess that happens when they're used to hearing it.  I was nervous about the weather situation before the shoot as the range is a cattle pasture and tends to get muddy and slick where its not jagged and rocky.  I think everything turned out great overall and it will be a delight to have any and all of you back to shoot or just talk.  Once again I thank you all for coming out!

[Mudcat]

Wow looks like it was a beautiful weekend!! Seriously it looks cold but later on it will be one to talk about around the campfire. "This isn't cold you should have been at the inaugural shoot at the Hughes farm back in 2010 now that was cold".  Sounds like everyone had a good time and congratulations to the new Riflemen and those now on their way to Rifleman. I sure wanted to come down but it was my 20th anniversary and I could not talk the wife into spending it on a firing line for some reason.
Everyone who was there persisting through the adverse weather conditions instructors and shooters alike pat yourselves on the back for a job well down in doing something you can be proud of. Anyone can get off the couch in the nice weather, it takes someone special to do it when the times aren't so good. 

[jmeister]

I want to thank everyone again for the fun weekend.  This was my first Appleseed, err Winterseed, and wasn't really sure what I was in for. The instruction was great. I'd never really used the sling before, at least not properly, very rarely shoot seated, and I'm pretty sure that was the first time I'd shot prone. Still gotta work on my transitions.
The history was a very interesting aspect of the weekend, I enjoyed that beyond the warming up factor.  I'm actually old enough to have been taught that in grade school and high school but never appreciated it at the time. Have some books in mind to read now.
Thank you Josh for hosting and thank you instructors for volunteering your time and patience. Seems we had nice friendly group of like minded attendees.  Oh, and the lady rocking the PTR91 all weekend... something to be said about an older gal putting 300+ rounds of .308 downrange in 2 days.  I'll be back when it warms up some and hopefully bring the girlfriend (I think she's more interested in the history).

Mark

[BUFF_dragon]

Jenn was absolutely amazing shooting that thing all weekend!!  I honestly dont think I could have done it physically, not to mention the price of ammo..... 

I am just so glad to have met all the folks that came, I feel so honored to have shared my farm with all of you.

[GarandFan]

What a great weekend.  It was 70 degrees with mild wind and clear skies -IN FLORIDA.  Here in Ky it was cold, it was windy, it was snowing, and it was wet.  It was a WINTERSEED.  I would like to thank all that attended for keeping such a great and teachable attitude even in the adverse conditions.  I hope to see all of you again at future appleseeds.  A special thanks goes to josh and his family for giving us a place to shoot, keeping us warm, and keeping us fed.  I think these things kept the weather conditions bearable.  I apologize to all for only being able to attend Saturday.  This should be my first and last 1 day weekend.  Congratulations to those who earned their winterseed patch.  I'm sure everyone who attended had a weekend to remember.  I know I did.