Hello Members, We had a good turnout for our early summer shoot in New Meadows this year, both with volunteers to help with set up and take down, and shooters and families enjoying the courses and beautiful area. Bill and I and Dave and Lisa Hall arrived on Wednesday and were treated to a rollicking thunderstorm and intense rain during the early evening. Thursday dawned with the moisture in the air quickly evaporating as the warm sun shone on the site. Darrell Robinson and Christopher Blessing arrived and offered to set up two moving targets for our shoot, a rabbit and a carp. They provided all the manpower and equipment necessary to install targets on pulleys and cables. Thanks so much, guys! Also a big thank you to Christopher Blessing for donating a Sasquatch metal target with a foam core. As Scott Nevil would say…”there is no metal, just the foam”! Focus! Folks began arriving to set up their camps and help with unpacking the target trailer. John Warford arrived with the second wall tent and we went to work getting it set up. It’s a beauty! We put in tables and totes for the registration, raffle and blanket shoot into the two wall tents. Don Schroeder arrived with his trailer to set the bowhunter challenge stakes. Friday brought in more campers and volunteers to set the target courses, which took most of the day, but we were ready to go in time for the evening flashlight shoot.
A group of about 25 adults and kids gathered in the dusk to team up in groups of 4-5 people and venture out in search of the lighted glow rings marking the shooting stake and the ten spot on the targets. Some groups turned back in dismay after losing arrows, but the majority of the folks made it to the end of the ten target course. The winner was Jolie Jantz from Hadyen, Idaho, with a score of 62! Great job Jolie!
Saturday morning was busy with registration for the courses, Bowhunter Challenge and the Blanket shoot. The weather was beautiful, perfect for shooting! The novelty shoots happened Saturday afternoon, starting with a speed shoot in which Kirk Skovlin won first place and Dave Hall was a close second. Next came the great potato shoot with a moving potato suspended on a cable. The shoot off between Scott Nevil and Aiden Cogan was won by a decisive shot through the potato by Aiden Cogan, age 11. Nice shooting, Aiden! The kids then got a chance at about 30 balloons pinned onto straw bales. They lined up together at 20′ and shot until all arrows had been launched and retrieved and shot again and again. The adults then stood up to finish off the final remaining two balloons! Nice shooting everyone! Matt Garner then took the long distance shooters down to the lower pasture to fling arrows 125 yards at a big caribou target. Sam Sanchez was the winner on that one. The day was finished out by a few groups playing blind doubles, others shooting the course in the cool of the evening, and of course…eating, drinking and fireside chats into the starry night.
Sunday dawned cool and beautiful and shooters went out to finish the scoring for the Bowhunter Challenge and the Blanket shoot or to just enjoy the wonderful 3D course without worrying about scoring. All cards for the shoots were turned in by noon and tallies were checked by Lisa, Mike Schlegel and John Warford. At 2pm the awards ceremony began and the Kid’s Competition medals were handed out:
PeeWees: 1st Banks Love, 2nd Eliza Floyd
Cubs: 1st Leo Meacham, 2nd Landon Carman, 3rd Barrett Garner
Youth: 1st Wyatt Garner, 2nd Quinn Carman, 3rd Aiden Cogan
Young Adult: Brooklyn (Ralph Grieninger granddaughter).
Kudos to the kids for great shooting on the 40 targets! The Bowhunter Challenge event was won by Jason Christianson in first place overall and Jolie Jantz in first place for the women. Jason’s award was a beautiful handcrafted arrow mounted on a wooden plaque done by Jack Wassard, and Jolie won a “Heidi Schroeder creation” of a painted wine box with a painted wine cork. Thank you, Jack and Heidi for your gifts to the club. Sam and Aiden had to leave before the awards, so they got the prizes early, Sam got some cash, and Aiden got a very cool trophy made by Pat Lopez and Jack Wassard of a paper mache potato pierced by one of Pat’s arrows mounted on a plaque. Thank you Pat and Jack for using your creative energy on behalf of the club! At the end of the awards ceremony two targets were auctioned off: the big buffalo going home with Don Schroeder and a little broken badger going to Thom Tash.
After the awards the big job of cleaning up, pulling targets, pulling stakes, taking down tents, packing totes, breaking camp, and loading the target trailer began, with faithful volunteers present to work hard in the warm afternoon sun to get it done. Thank you all so much to those who stayed and generously gave your time and energy for the final wrap up. You are appreciated, so much!!!
Lastly, a special word of gratitude from all of us to our retiring secretary-treasurer, Lisa Hall, who is now free to pursue her dreams of travel, dancing, making quilts and grandma time. Thanks for your dedication and conscientious attention to the operations of our club. You have been such a blessing! May you be blessed!
Coming up, we’ll be having a Zoom meeting on the second Thursday, June 11, which will have the financial report for the shoot and ideas for the future of our club. Of first attention is the overloaded target trailer and what’s to be done about it, so be thinking of some solutions. We have been in contact with the trailer repair people about the possibility of beefing up the springs or replacing the axles to better handle the weight safely.
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87546586054
Happy Trails and good Hunting!
Janet Houlihan
