Well, hopefully our Journal Editor can make out better than me with the pictures! Here's a written rundown for those still interested after all my failed attempts at document/picture posting.
The entire weekend was wonderful. Rick Hemingway and his merry band always put on a great shoot, and this was no exception. The weather was spectacular and the courses were thoughtfully set with challenging targets.
Last years turn-out was a little slight, so this years vendors turn out was a little slight also. Shoot attendance was up this year with what I believe was the best turn-out yet, so the vendors that did make it appeared pleased.
Both Big Bore and Small Bore events were held on the same stations this year, which had me thinking that we'd be spending a bit of time waiting in line. Not so, as my gang of 4 to 6 shooters never waited more than a minute or so at any station over the three days that we shot the course. One nice benefit of the single station/all gauges set up was that we could all shoot together the entire weekend, without being split up between the large bore and sub gauge courses. I should add that each station had 4 traps. 2 traps for large bore and a separate two traps for small bore shooters. I never heard a single complaint all weekend.
As those who read the latest Journal will recall, we operated the LC Smith Parker Challenge under a different set of rules this year. There were a couple of hick-ups, but nothing that wasn't handled quickly on site. The result was a great challenge that I'm sure will continue in the Fall each year at Backwoods. The atmosphere was a little more relaxed that what we've come to expect at the Spring Challenge in Sanford, NC, and the Special Slot (Concurrent) shooters who may not have otherwise had an opportunity to shoot for our team really did their part to make the event fun and interesting. A warm welcome to this years Lady Shooter, Hailey Johnson, who made the team and shot well at her very first Side By Side event. Also congratulations to Jon Britton, who as our Junior shooter qualified with a score of 17, despite shooting a 12 gauge choked Cylinder and Cylinder. Between qualifying and the shoot-off, Jon and his dad purchased a full choked 30 inch field grade gun, and Jon shot even better in the shoot-off than he did in the qualifying round, Pretty Work. Our Super Senior slot was filled by John DiGiglia.Believe it or not, John and his direct opponent on Team Parker,Carl Calandra, shot the highest scores of anyone in the challenge. John hit 28 of 30, and Carl hit a smokin 29 of 30. Hope I shoot as well as them when I grow up! Over all, as I've mentioned previously, Team Parker bested us with a score in the 5-stand challenge of 247 to 220.
The trap challenge was made up of the top three scores recorded by both Team Elsie and Team Parker. As I previously mentioned, we ended up in a draw, with both teams scoring 147/150. Team Elsie's Tom McCoy shot our 50, John DiGiglia shot our 49, and Tom Cutler shot our 48. A great display of shooting by both teams, and Team LC Smith won the Tie Breaker with a long forward run of 17 to Team Parkers 3.
Lots more will be said of the weekend in an upcoming Journal Article, hopefully with pictures!
Next years event has already been confirmed for the exact same weekend, so mark your calendars now and plan to join us if you can. There's a few small rules changes in the works for the challenge based of what we saw work well this year, and a couple of venue changes for the course events that will only make the weekend even better than it was this year.