Twelve shooters came out for the last Southwest Airgunners match of the summer (thank you Scott's wife for taking this one)
From left/back row: Ruger J, Rex J, Ben S, Kent G, Larry F, Steve Q, Bobby C, Sandy C, Scott H, Will, M (front row from left): Cole R, Colben R
This was Ruger's first ever match, although by his score you can tell he's had some trigger time in his life. Will M joined us for his second match. He came for the first time last month and borrowed a gun and was back this time with his own equipment-scoring well right out of the gates too. Larry was also with us for his second match this month, scoring very well too. And finally Scott joined us for the first time, although he's become a regular at the Airgunner's of Arizona club's matches. The rest of us were essentially the same ole diehards that have come to love these Aspen Mtn matches so much. In the future we hope to see more of the newcomers, and anybody else interested for that matter.
Colben and I got to the match site around 3pm on Thursday to find a handful of other campers in various stages of either being done set up and moved on to shooting, or getting their respective campsites ready for a few nights. We had just enough time to get situated before a typical high county summer monsoon thunderstorm came through. It was a beautiful little rainstorm and lasted around 30 minutes. It was more than enough to settle the dust and dropped the temps quite nicely. It blew on through and we had enough time to do a bit a shooting before dinner and dark. Dunno bout the rest of the gang, but Colben and I slept like logs on Thursday night, must have been the brisk temp and clean mountain air.
As previously planned, we woke up on Friday morning and got the course setting out of the way before it got too hot. I think we finished around 1030am. Everybody that was at the site at that point pitched in and helped. Thank you all, many hands make light work and it didn't even feel like work getting the course all ready to go with all that help.
We went ahead with prior plans and set a 15 lane course, 4 shots per lane, total of 60 shots. We had a couple up in trees, under logs, through gaps in the trees, etc. A typically interesting Aspen Mtn field target course. Rex also placed the lanes roughly 40 yards apart so we had a little bit of a walk, but he thought it through enough to put us in the shade for nearly every lane, and so that it made a big loop to keep us from never being too far from camp or where we started. Here is a rough sketch of the campsite and match layout.
Red dots are where each of us were camping. Blue oval was sight-in in and silhouette location and yellow line was the course. Lane 1 left us shooting north/uphill and that rotated around to finish shooting southeast/downhill. It's always interesting to shoot these looping courses as the predominate wind is a little different angle for every lane. Fun stuff.
Here are some pics from the course. I tried a few new things with the phone camera this time, taking pictures through my 6x rangefinder (during setup), down the shooting string (while holding it up to near the camera), and even a couple during the match through my scope. Kinda tricky to hold it there and take a pic but got a few good ones.
To sum up the course, "shoot the gap" would be an appropriate phrase. Lots of squeezing pellets through tight spots.
Black bird on the stump
There's a frog at the end of that string, between the tree gap and under the small fallen tree
Same frog as above, but with 6x rangefinder
Heart target on the ground
We didn't figure up a Troyer but this seemed like one of the more difficult ones to me. I think it was a pdog and on lane 2 or 3. Must have been about 3/4 inch kz out there quite a ways. Memory a bit fuzzy on distance but I'm thinking it was north of 40 yards.
(no zoom)
same as above but with 6x
Kent setting the sandpiper looking bird
Owl target, down the string with as much zoom as my camera can muster
Same owl as above, but with 6x rangefinder
There's a pigeon target behind those rotten pieces of firewood
Squirrel in the flat spot of this oak branch, bout 9 feet up. Had some ants crawling up my legs from that log I was standing on while setting this one, luckily non-biters.
Same squirrel as above, but with some zoom
The ever present side-swinging tree trunk squirrel target, Rex made him a gray squirrel this time around-said he got tired of how hard it was to see when he was brown.
There's a skunk target on the ground in the gap of the logs
Same skunk through the scope (I think 24x on this one)
Scorpion under a deadfall, down the reset string
same scorpion but with 6x
Quail target under that deadfall, follow the string
Same quail with camera zoom, 6x rangefinder, and scope (didn't realize I had so many pics of this target)
And my favorite, the javelina target in the root ball. The joke was made that this javelina identifies as a tree squirrel.
And some macro pics of the cool lichens (moss?) growing on the root ball.
Friday evening we had the silhouette match. Sub 20fpe, shoot from typical field target position. 40, 50, 60 and 70 yards with a ram, turkey, pig, chicken, chicken at each distance. 20 shots per round, two rounds for 40 total shots. 3 shooters per round. 7 minutes to take the 20 shots that comprise a round. Miss one and move to the next animal (one shot per animal). It's fun to see how people deal with the timed situation and the thought process behind it. The shooters with methodical and meticulous routines usually use every last second, other's are wind-waiters, optimistically hoping (and waiting) to pull the trigger for each shot precisely at a time when the wind is doing what they want it to. Than there's myself, crank off the shots nearly as fast as I can. Perhaps it's my pessimistic nature, but I choose to go with the devil I know, shooting in the wind I've got right now with concerns that it could get worse. Nothing wrong with any of the mind-sets, as we've all seen each game plan win it for their utilizer at one time or another.
This time it was Steve Qs game plan that had the winning score. He shot a perfect score of 40! Nice shooting Steve. Those 70 yard chickens with 20fpe are harder than you realize til you shoot this event. Little tiny winds can and WILL get ya. It's rare to not need to hold completely off the chicken for the 70 yarders, and sometimes even the 60 yarders.
Sandy and I were tied at one miss each. I foolishly challenged her to a shoot off. We placed 4 chickens at 70 yards for each of us. I missed 2 of my 4 and she got all four. I should know better. That truth was reinforced Fri evening as she calmly knocked em all down, cool as a cucumber. Typical Sandy. She won a shoot off last month to take home one of the JD's Custom scope wheel packages. Quite the sharpshooter she is, and consistently so.
Saturday morning and we had a couple more come in for a total of 12 shooters for the FT match. I figured with only 12 shooters (6 "squads") that it'd be easy to get pics of everybody at the lanes but with the looping course layout, and the distance, I didn't even SEE two of the 6 squads during the entire match. they were on the low end while I was on the high end, and vice versa. Kinda cool effect, almost felt like shooting out in the woods in solitude.
Here are some of the shooters, some of these pics were taken by Scott, (thanks Scott).
Bobby and Scott
Bobby dialing the turret
Colben
Colben and me
Ruger and Rex
Bobby and Scott
Scott sighting in in the early morning sun
And the results and equipment info:
Congrats to Kent. Shot like a house on fire! Very impressive showing. His two misses were splits too, so he only missed a perfectly clean match by millimeters. Him and that Huntsman/Athlon rig are a deadly combo. As for the rest of us, overall a lot of really good scores! I was surprised, as it seemed like we had a harder course than the scores represented. Kinda wish I had the data for Troyer.
(I was smart enough this time around to not challenge Sandy for a shoot off for the tie for 1st in Open class.)
Thank you to Rex and Steve Q for putting on these matches. The Aspen Mtn summer matches are some of my favorite airgun competitions. I schedule time off work a year in advance to be able to attend. Thanks for all the behind the scenes work of painting and maintaining targets, printing score cards, etc. And thank you to all those who attend, and for all the help in setting and tear-down of the courses.
It's 10ish months away, but I'm already looking forward to the May match next summer.
For anyone interested, Rex puts these matches on in May, June, and July. All and welcome and invited to attend. PM me, or respond here if you'd like more info for next year.
From left/back row: Ruger J, Rex J, Ben S, Kent G, Larry F, Steve Q, Bobby C, Sandy C, Scott H, Will, M (front row from left): Cole R, Colben R
This was Ruger's first ever match, although by his score you can tell he's had some trigger time in his life. Will M joined us for his second match. He came for the first time last month and borrowed a gun and was back this time with his own equipment-scoring well right out of the gates too. Larry was also with us for his second match this month, scoring very well too. And finally Scott joined us for the first time, although he's become a regular at the Airgunner's of Arizona club's matches. The rest of us were essentially the same ole diehards that have come to love these Aspen Mtn matches so much. In the future we hope to see more of the newcomers, and anybody else interested for that matter.
Colben and I got to the match site around 3pm on Thursday to find a handful of other campers in various stages of either being done set up and moved on to shooting, or getting their respective campsites ready for a few nights. We had just enough time to get situated before a typical high county summer monsoon thunderstorm came through. It was a beautiful little rainstorm and lasted around 30 minutes. It was more than enough to settle the dust and dropped the temps quite nicely. It blew on through and we had enough time to do a bit a shooting before dinner and dark. Dunno bout the rest of the gang, but Colben and I slept like logs on Thursday night, must have been the brisk temp and clean mountain air.
As previously planned, we woke up on Friday morning and got the course setting out of the way before it got too hot. I think we finished around 1030am. Everybody that was at the site at that point pitched in and helped. Thank you all, many hands make light work and it didn't even feel like work getting the course all ready to go with all that help.
We went ahead with prior plans and set a 15 lane course, 4 shots per lane, total of 60 shots. We had a couple up in trees, under logs, through gaps in the trees, etc. A typically interesting Aspen Mtn field target course. Rex also placed the lanes roughly 40 yards apart so we had a little bit of a walk, but he thought it through enough to put us in the shade for nearly every lane, and so that it made a big loop to keep us from never being too far from camp or where we started. Here is a rough sketch of the campsite and match layout.
Red dots are where each of us were camping. Blue oval was sight-in in and silhouette location and yellow line was the course. Lane 1 left us shooting north/uphill and that rotated around to finish shooting southeast/downhill. It's always interesting to shoot these looping courses as the predominate wind is a little different angle for every lane. Fun stuff.
Here are some pics from the course. I tried a few new things with the phone camera this time, taking pictures through my 6x rangefinder (during setup), down the shooting string (while holding it up to near the camera), and even a couple during the match through my scope. Kinda tricky to hold it there and take a pic but got a few good ones.
To sum up the course, "shoot the gap" would be an appropriate phrase. Lots of squeezing pellets through tight spots.
Black bird on the stump
There's a frog at the end of that string, between the tree gap and under the small fallen tree
Same frog as above, but with 6x rangefinder
Heart target on the ground
We didn't figure up a Troyer but this seemed like one of the more difficult ones to me. I think it was a pdog and on lane 2 or 3. Must have been about 3/4 inch kz out there quite a ways. Memory a bit fuzzy on distance but I'm thinking it was north of 40 yards.
(no zoom)
same as above but with 6x
Kent setting the sandpiper looking bird
Owl target, down the string with as much zoom as my camera can muster
Same owl as above, but with 6x rangefinder
There's a pigeon target behind those rotten pieces of firewood
Squirrel in the flat spot of this oak branch, bout 9 feet up. Had some ants crawling up my legs from that log I was standing on while setting this one, luckily non-biters.
Same squirrel as above, but with some zoom
The ever present side-swinging tree trunk squirrel target, Rex made him a gray squirrel this time around-said he got tired of how hard it was to see when he was brown.
There's a skunk target on the ground in the gap of the logs
Same skunk through the scope (I think 24x on this one)
Scorpion under a deadfall, down the reset string
same scorpion but with 6x
Quail target under that deadfall, follow the string
Same quail with camera zoom, 6x rangefinder, and scope (didn't realize I had so many pics of this target)
And my favorite, the javelina target in the root ball. The joke was made that this javelina identifies as a tree squirrel.
And some macro pics of the cool lichens (moss?) growing on the root ball.
Friday evening we had the silhouette match. Sub 20fpe, shoot from typical field target position. 40, 50, 60 and 70 yards with a ram, turkey, pig, chicken, chicken at each distance. 20 shots per round, two rounds for 40 total shots. 3 shooters per round. 7 minutes to take the 20 shots that comprise a round. Miss one and move to the next animal (one shot per animal). It's fun to see how people deal with the timed situation and the thought process behind it. The shooters with methodical and meticulous routines usually use every last second, other's are wind-waiters, optimistically hoping (and waiting) to pull the trigger for each shot precisely at a time when the wind is doing what they want it to. Than there's myself, crank off the shots nearly as fast as I can. Perhaps it's my pessimistic nature, but I choose to go with the devil I know, shooting in the wind I've got right now with concerns that it could get worse. Nothing wrong with any of the mind-sets, as we've all seen each game plan win it for their utilizer at one time or another.
This time it was Steve Qs game plan that had the winning score. He shot a perfect score of 40! Nice shooting Steve. Those 70 yard chickens with 20fpe are harder than you realize til you shoot this event. Little tiny winds can and WILL get ya. It's rare to not need to hold completely off the chicken for the 70 yarders, and sometimes even the 60 yarders.
Sandy and I were tied at one miss each. I foolishly challenged her to a shoot off. We placed 4 chickens at 70 yards for each of us. I missed 2 of my 4 and she got all four. I should know better. That truth was reinforced Fri evening as she calmly knocked em all down, cool as a cucumber. Typical Sandy. She won a shoot off last month to take home one of the JD's Custom scope wheel packages. Quite the sharpshooter she is, and consistently so.
Saturday morning and we had a couple more come in for a total of 12 shooters for the FT match. I figured with only 12 shooters (6 "squads") that it'd be easy to get pics of everybody at the lanes but with the looping course layout, and the distance, I didn't even SEE two of the 6 squads during the entire match. they were on the low end while I was on the high end, and vice versa. Kinda cool effect, almost felt like shooting out in the woods in solitude.
Here are some of the shooters, some of these pics were taken by Scott, (thanks Scott).
Bobby and Scott
Bobby dialing the turret
Colben
Colben and me
Ruger and Rex
Bobby and Scott
Scott sighting in in the early morning sun
And the results and equipment info:
Congrats to Kent. Shot like a house on fire! Very impressive showing. His two misses were splits too, so he only missed a perfectly clean match by millimeters. Him and that Huntsman/Athlon rig are a deadly combo. As for the rest of us, overall a lot of really good scores! I was surprised, as it seemed like we had a harder course than the scores represented. Kinda wish I had the data for Troyer.
(I was smart enough this time around to not challenge Sandy for a shoot off for the tie for 1st in Open class.)
Thank you to Rex and Steve Q for putting on these matches. The Aspen Mtn summer matches are some of my favorite airgun competitions. I schedule time off work a year in advance to be able to attend. Thanks for all the behind the scenes work of painting and maintaining targets, printing score cards, etc. And thank you to all those who attend, and for all the help in setting and tear-down of the courses.
It's 10ish months away, but I'm already looking forward to the May match next summer.
For anyone interested, Rex puts these matches on in May, June, and July. All and welcome and invited to attend. PM me, or respond here if you'd like more info for next year.