Mantua UT, 19-20 July 2013

[lbsnake925]

With every Appleseed Project event, Utah becomes a better and better place
to live.

The Friday and Saturday shoot was exciting. This was the inaugural
shoot at the Box Elder Wildlife Mantua Shooting Range which is about 45
minutes North of Kaysville UT where all previous Northern UT Appleseed
Project events have occurred in the past. It was a small intimate group of 9
shooters which included a father/daughter team from California and a number
of new Appleseed participants from Cache and Box Elder counties.

Day one, we had 8 participants and one Blue Hat on the line. The weather
forecast was hot and dry and that is what we got with a capital H.  Both
days saw the weather in the 100's with a light breeze occasionally felt. The
sun was cooking and Kevin L. literally burned his finger on his trigger even
though the rifles were covered during times of non-use. As an Instructor the
shade under the awning was like a magnet, I was drawn to it and had to
continually tell myself that if the shooters must endure the heat and sun, I
will too.

Instructors  MorrisNK, lbsnake925, and SIMX took the participants through
the paces attempting to use a course of fire format more strictly based on
the Instructor Manual COF example. The changes included more dry practice, a
way of teaching the pillars, and including more advanced rifle skills
introduction. Day one was tough with the heat cooking the line and the
shooters, but there was not one complaint about the heat and the
participants toughed it out, persevering to the end of the day.

Day two was saw marked improvement in the rifle skills of the participants.
Kevin L. and his daughter Mikayla, age 16, from California were awesome.
Kevin saw great improvement after getting some rest after driving all night
to be at the range on Friday. He improved greatly  shooting squares and
worked to master the transitions and the AQT. Mikayla was cooked from the
day before wisely spent some periods of time in the shade resting.  Kassidy
B., age 13, was a real natural and went from never handling a rifle to
demonstrating great improvement by the end of day 2.  David O. and Tyler N.
persisted the entire day focusing on the basics and made great strides
towards becoming a Riflemen.   Tyler S brought his 8 year old son Lewis and
they had a great family experience. It was their second Appleseed shoot and
they threatened to return to become Rifleman another day. Mark A came to the
range with a ton of experience and proved it by shooting an Expert score
just before lunch on day 2.   Wyatt B our Blue Hat spent some time on the
line as well and pulled down a 191, just short of Expert. He will get it
done one of these times, that will be a good day.

During lunch we had to leave the range because the local community was
holding a .22 family shoot.  We made a caravan to a local park and sat on the
grass under the shade of a tree while the legacy of the founders was shared
by the instructors and the hearts of the everyone felt the spirit of the
American Revolution, the principles of individual liberty, burn brighter.
It was nice being away from the noise of the range and in a comfortable
setting for the history and benediction.

Overall it was a great shoot for Utah. Mark A is our first Utah Riflemen in
Cache County as far as we know, and we hope to get the program going strong
and have Box Elder and Cache County instructors running the program there
some day.  As always spread the work and invite someone new to the next
Appleseed Project event!

A special thanks to Al S., President of the Box Elder Wildlife Foundation,
who allowed us to use the range and of course a special thanks to the
instructors and Apple Core volunteers. It is awfully lonely going at it
alone, so I appreciate your help and dedication.

Your humble servant in liberty, lbsnake925

PICS in Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/sh/spspsf91c0do4xe/cm5muLEGI0