Well, I'll try to give a short run down on the past week and a half.
I arrived on site on the 4th of July, and the work party had been busy. Most of the shooting ranges were already set up, toilets were in place and covered over, and trails had been cut through the small trees. The landowner told us to cut down anything we wanted to, that a cow coudn't eat, as this was on a working cattle ranch.B
y Saturday, we had around 350 camps, with a final count of around 420. The camp stretched for about a mile and a half.
On July 6th, one of our club members arrived in camp in very poor health. He passed away in the night, so we had the sherrif and coroner in to attend to things. He knew he was dying, and wanted to go while among his brothers. Rest in peace, John Brahaney.
The shooting program began on Monday, and I worked as range officer for the first three days of competition. I did manage to get in a little shooting, but not as much as I would have liked. I ran the smoothbore competition, and blanket shoots were held for pistol, and a squirrel walk.
Jack Simms ran the archery range, and was busy for most of the week. He had set up a great hunters course, and had overwhelming response.
There were various primitive technology seminars during the week, lots of eating, a fair amount of drinking, and some great music.
The only real gripes we heard, was the ground wasn't perfectly level. Our response, deal with it, this is the rocky Mountains. There was the usual complaint that there were not enough toilets. Not true, you just had to walk a fair distance to get to some, depending on where you camped. When setting up, there is no way to know where the camps will concentrate. best bet, bring a porta-potty, and make a trip in the evenings to dump it.
We had a few brief thunderstorms move through ,just enough to settle the dust. Temperatures reached the low 100's. The area was green enough, as to not have any real fire concerns.
It is impossible to tell all that happens at one of these, and the only way to know, is to attend one. It would be like describing an elephant to a blind man.
More to come, most likely.
Here are a few pictures. I would have given some descriptions, but the computer is smarter than I am, and I couldn't figure out how to do it. I can tell you, that the two men, with the kids and the rifles, were the booshways. The kids were the winners of the youth rifle give away.
The picture right next to that, is myself, and Bear Lange from Minnesota.
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