Thursday, August 02, 2007

Thunder Valley Newsletter – July 2007

Howdy Cowfolks,

Our July 21 Main Match was blessed with one of the best weather conditions for this year. An unbelievable day for the middle of July. It was 83 degrees, sunny to partly cloudy, very low humidity, and a slight breeze for the entire day. 54 shooters attended the match, and 83% of them achieved their rifle bonus shot at 50 yards. Sixteen classes were represented. Several new shooters and faces were present, and all had a great experience in the CAS family for the day.

Congratulations to Black Tom for his awesome total time of 99.85. He has broken the previous club total time record of 110.00 set by Vaquero Hayes. Congratulations to Black Tom, Nomore Slim, Buffalo Bud Harden, and Redneck Rebel for their “Clean Match” for the day.

Happy July Birthdays to High Sierra Rose, Indy Kid, Pee Wee, Redneck Rebel, Rosedale Kid, and Sadie Jo.

Our newly completed parking area, behind the Long Distance lane, at range level was welcomed, and provided a much easier exit for those individuals that parked there. We were able to get 16 full size vehicles in the lot. Several folks parked their gun carts at Long Distance at the end of the day, and then drove down to the new parking area, loaded their equipment, and then attended the awards presentation. Our recently implemented scoring sheet procedure has greatly reduced the time required to provide scores at the end of the day, and has made collection of scores at lunch a much easier task.

Upcoming events are the Regional Match, at Big Irons, Middletown, Ohio on August 9, 10, 11, & 12, and the Indian State Match, at Deer Creek, Marion, In, September 21, 22, 23. Even if you don’t shoot one of these matches, it is an educational and fun experience to simply observe. One can learn a great deal about equipment, accessories, gun cart styles, shooting techniques, and all related CAS issues just by watching. Lots of good deals on firearms, equipment, etc.

The September 15 match at Thunder Valley will provide our regular six stage main match, and will also have long distance & all side matches available, before & after the match, for practice and preparation for the Indiana State.

A big “Thank You” to everyone for showing up to shoot each month. Each match this year has exceeded 50 shooters, and our April match had 68 Cowfolks present. Looks like we are well on the way to setting a new record for attendance this year. We’ve implemented several improvements this year. Some new targets and stands have been installed, the storage shed for range equipment has been erected, and the new parking area is complete. The old mower for the range died last month, and has been replaced with a new John Deere. Your continued participation each month and membership support will provide the funds to continue making improvements and offer a well maintained and efficient shooting facility. If you have any suggestions for improvements or changes to our operation, please do not hesitate to bring them to our attention. All suggestions will be considered, and any reasonable/workable suggestion will be implemented.

The season standings for Top Cowboy, Top Cowgirl, and Top Shooter in each class will be posted at each match for the remainder of the year. We will also send those standings out by email each month. It will be interesting to see how the rankings change as folks are able to drop their lower scores after the completion of six matches. If you are planning on competing for one of the Top Shooter positions, you must complete six matches in the same category, and then you can drop the lowest scores of the year for your final average time per stage. All Top Shooter awards will be presented at our December 1st Main Match.

The monthly Cowboy Reading, “Women Who Lived as they Pleased,” provided by Fighting Eagle, is attached to this newsletter.

See ya at the firing line

Redneck Rebel

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