Well my friends, another great Shoot is behind us;
This time out it was Mardi Gras for a theme , and we had a great Cajun time! The weather was absolutely perfect, and dry, with the scent of oranges from the nearby groves on the wind, the nicest week you could ask for, and the facility, as always, was excellent, with everything we needed right on site-camping, showers, all of the shooting areas, meals- a unique place that makes our time there so much fun....
The fun started on Wednesday, with a small group at the campsite, finishing the setup and then going into town for a nice dinner before ending the night around the fire.
Thursday the full crew arrived, and we did a little lounging, and then got down to business, first doing some sight in time on the 450 yard range, and then trying our hand at trap/skeet; (Venom secured a nice electric clay thrower, which made this activity both fun and easy, a Big Thanks to Venom for bringing trap and skeet to the Shoot! )
For dinner it was a reserved table at the Log Cabin BBQ, a crowd favorite; after that it was off to WalMart to buy every box of clay pigeons they had and a bunch of ammo (We purchased the ammo through the self-checkout, Florida is a great state!) and then it was off to camp for some time around the fire...
Friday it was a quick grab-n-go breakfast and coffee and then it was time for the competitions; First up was the Combat Marksman event, which had the shooters going to four different positions to shoot- into a culvert pipe, through a cutout on a V-Tac wall, from inside the trunk of a car with just a small opening to shoot from, and finally from the bow of a rocking "boat" , all at a single steel target from250 to about 175 yards, for time; 7.62Rebel and his home-built M-4 took the prize (shooting with irons!) by about .2 seconds , narrowly edging out RWS31 for the win.... Next up was the 450 long range rifle event, which pitted open class unlimited rifles and their shooters against each other; the only catch was, the rifle had to be shot from a classic rifleman position, with no rest of any kind, making the stillness and the skill of the marksman paramount. That skill and attention to detail made the difference, and Rocketvapor ever a tough competitor, took the gold with a stellar performance; After that it a was nice lunch of grilled burgers and hot dogs, and then we opened up the skeet range , the 50 yard pistol range, and the 230 yard rifle range, giving everyone plenty to do, or the ability to just hang around camp, take a nap, or a nice walk under the shady oaks....at 6:30 it was time for dinner, a wonderful Cajun gumbo loaded with fresh shrimp, Cajun sausage, and vegetables, with French bread on the side before retiring to the camp fire.
Saturday dawned with not a cloud in the sky, and we did a range briefing and then a nice pancake breakfast before heading over to the rifle and pistol ranges for a while; we broke for lunch around 11:30 and had freshly made shrimp Po'boys and Muffaletta sandwiches, in true Louisiana Mardi Gras spirit.... After lunch it was time for more shooting events; first up was the SKS competition, with Rocketvapor again taking the win over RWS31 , detonating not only his own target, but that of RWS31 as well (it was
heck of a boom, thanks to yours truly making up a particularly hot batch of Tannerite ) ; Then it was on to the Vintage Rifle, in which every competitor used a Mosin-Nagant 91-30 this time. Timkett took the win, detonating his target (the targets were really far apart this time) before fellow finalist Rocketvapor could get his. Lastly it was pistol event, a run and gun challenge featuring 13 different reactive targets and a variety of shooting positions, and which was won handily by our guest and newcomer Everett. We then opened the ranges back up, as well as the trap and skeet range, and finished out the shooting day .....
All that running around and shooting and blowing things up worked up our appetites, and it was time for the big Mardi Gras Feast! We dined under the oaks on a classic Louisiana crawfish boil- crawfish, mussels, shrimp, corn, potatoes and endue suasage, as well as bourbon chicken on the grill and Rocketvapor's famous Cajun red beans and rice; for dessert we had fresh beignets , Mardi Gras pudding shots (soooooo good) and Hurricane jello shots ; We sat at the fire, the awards were presented , door prizes were given , and we talked and laughed (a lot!) and drank long into the night......
Sunday we slept in, and then had a huge country breakfast- biscuits and sausage gravy, bacon and eggs, the works- before everyone pitched in to clean up and pack the whole camp away until next time....
Everyone had a great time, and we can't wait til October!
Thanks to everyone who came and contributed, and a very special thank you to Chef Eric (Heimdhal) and his crew for coming up with such great food ideas and for giving the event it's unique flavor; we eat WAY better than folks eat at any sort of shooting /camping event, and Eric and Meg make it look easy, even operating from a makeshift portable outdoor kitchen.
Thanks to all of our friends, both old and new, for making the Shoot so great, and for the folks that couldn't come, look for us in October; We believe that life is about going out and making great memories, The Shoot events are a great opportunity for doing just that.
My friends, I will see you all soon!
Ranger PS- Rocketvapor took a bunch of great pics and video, as did a few other folks, and they will be posting them as soon as they can, so check back for pics!
