Both the archery/crossbow shoot and .22 rifle shoot were held at the Youngwood Sportsmen’s Association, which was a truly great facility. Huntinggrandma (Sharon) and I (Zos41) arrived a day early and helped Gutshot (Tom) set up the archery targets for the shoot. This course had not been used in some time, and needed some TLC, but it was a great setup.

Huntinggrandma was the official scorekeeper for the shoot, and WVWhitetail and I walked to the targets and scored the shots. The first post was a stand around 15 feet high with three targets ranging from 20 to 32 yards. BeaglePup (Luanne) had the honor of the first shot and proceeded to break the string on her crossbow and cut her finger. After she looked at her finger, she had Chainman (Harry) take her to a local medical facility where she had 10 stitches put in; she did manage 1 point on her first and only shot which left her firmly in last place among all shooters.

The second post started approximately 20 yards from post 1 with a total of six shoots ranging from 40 yards to 15 yards. The shooters moved up 5 yards after each shot was taken. The highlights of this post included DLR (Dave) losing an arrow; however we did find part of his fletching later. We moved approximately 30 yards further down the course and found post three which was uphill at right angles. The range was about 30 yards. Post four and our final post was a bit beyond post 3 along the trail. This post had a target with 4 stickers; one shot was taken at each of the four stickers. The best shot of the day was made by our new member Switchy (Amy) with a perfect bull’s-eye on the upper left target with the family crossbow. The bull’s-eye was approximately the size of the arrow shaft, and she centered it perfectly. Switchy was the last to shoot so we presented her the target with her bolt still on it.

When we had completed the archery course, we all returned downhill and rested from the climb and then moved to the .22 Rifle Range which was located between the Center Fire Range and the Muzzleloader Range. There was also a Pistol Range and a Trap Range on the grounds. Gutshot explained the rules of the range, introduced the Range Master for the shoot who turned out to be our new member huntinhaley (Randy), who is Gutshot’s son. Some time was taken to be sure that all riffles were sighted in and then the official shooting began. Each shooter got five shots at a metal target where the 4 bottom targets would flip up when hit. The fifth shot was taken at the top target which if hit would reset the target for the next shooter. Missing your last shot quickly became labeled as the "walk of shame" as you had to walk the 35 yards to the target and reset it by hand for the next shooter. The official scorekeeper for the rifle shoot was WVWhitetail. Everyone who participated in both events had a great time.

C. Lee Warriner, Zos41