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Smithmoor Winter Series Finale

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 12:44 pm
by jackrabbit
Smithmoor Shooters, Friends, and Supporters, April 14, 2019

I can't help but get a little sentimental thinking about how nervous I was 5 years ago as we prepared for our fist winter series finale. So much has happened, so many friendships made, and so many great memories have been created here. Although you may not have seen it, Coralee and I were a little unsure of what we were doing, and more so in the question of whether we were doing the right thing in general. I can assure all of you that through all of the encouragement, support, understanding and help that you have built this range as much as we have. Thank you all for everything you have done for the range so that we may have a great place to shoot and hold matches.

Our fifth winter 22 BPCR season drew to a close yesterday with our Winter Season Finale and Coralee and I were very pleased with how it all went. I hope the shooters enjoyed it as much as we did. This time of year the weather is always a worry, but we were blessed with a decent day. It was cooler and overcast with some stiff, switchy winds, but it was not a blizzard like it could have been. We had the wood stove burning hot and the diesel fired heater going, so the shooters stayed fairly comfortable in coats. The winds also kept spotters on their toes and gave us some good challenges.

Coralee really put a lot of effort into this year's match and as usual the food and organization was super. Pulled pork sandwiches were the main course and Momma Lorraine, Beverly, and Amber Sauer helped out with some super desserts and sides. I thought it was really good.

We were also blessed with some great sponsors this year. The big news was Buckaroo Motors in Torrington, Wyoming sponsored our buckles. We had some really nice custom buckles made for all of our class winners and the overall winner. I thought they were extra cool and hopefully they will all hold a special place in our shooter's collection of trophies. A giant thank you goes out to Buckaroo Motors and the Cecil and Amber Sauer family!! Buffalo Arms also stepped up and sent some great prizes. Among them were a bunch of cork spotting boards. They made great class prizes and will all be put to good use. Lots of shooters either didn't have one, or theirs was plum worn out. Thank you to Buffalo Arms! As always, our workhorses that we always depend on to support our range and matches were there too. Wyoming Sight Drifter, Cat's Shooting Sticks, and SPG Sales have shown so much generosity and given us so much help this last season I don't think thank you is quite enough, but it's the best I've got, so Thank You!!

Our thoughts on prizes here at Smithmoor is that they mean more when they are actually won through shooting good scores rather than as door prizes or through random drawings. I thought we were able to put together a great selection of prizes from both our generous sponsors and through the match entry fees. In general, the class winners received a custom belt buckle, 2nd place got a Smithmoor Range RTIC water jug, and third place earned a spotting board. We try to give at least half of each class a prize, so in master and AAA that had more entries, 4th and 5th received a variety of goodies.

As you can see, there were lots of awards, so I may not mention them all here, but be sure and check out our facebook page or www.SmithmoorRange.com for lots of great pictures and other details. I did want to hit the highlights, however, and brag on a few individuals. Keith Kelly was our A/B Class Champion and we were glad to see him win. Keith has been an enthusiastic helper and supporter of our range and we appreciate him very much. In AA Class, Caleb Sauer came out on top with a 26 and was all smiles when he received the beautiful belt buckle. Good shooting Caleb! AAA had several entries and as always, was a real horse race. Tom Reed was quite pleased to clean the prone targets and smack 2 chickens to be the AAA Champion. Tom has struggled most of the season and it was good to see him get it all together for a great score. Veteran rifleman Joe Kapler shot a good score of 31 to be 2nd. Master class is always super competitive. Right out of the gate, Jim Rodebaugh and Mark Pachares smacked a bunch of chickens and they were then neck and neck till the last animal. Mark was able to pull ahead at the last and won master class with a super 33. Jim came in 2nd with a 32. These two are also great friends and shooting partners and it was fun watching them be ultra competitive but still supportive of each other and doing everything possible to help the other one shoot well, even when they are tied for a win. Great shooting fellas, and thanks for setting a great example! A similar thing happened in our Grand Master class with Jack Odor and Michael Rix. They had to settle it in a shootoff, and Michael was able to prevail to be Champion Grand Master. I was quite pleased to get 7 chickens early in the match and then manage to keep it together for a good score of 35 to earn the Match Winner Buckle.

Our friend, Dick Hennebry, is planning some fun and competitive mid range matches this year at the Cheyenne Rifle and Pistol club. In order to put a little bait out there, Dick sponsored our paper target matches this winter. Hopefully some shooters enjoyed it and will be interested in trying the matches at Cheyenne this summer. Besides giving prizes for winning this match's high paper target , we also tracked the scores over the season and awarded nice prizes donated by Dick to the season winners. Saturday's paper target was the 600 yard target reduced to be shot at 100 yards. The Sauer family dominated and shot some really amazing scores. Cecil was high master/AAA class with a 100-5X and Caleb was high A/AA with a 100-2X, while Cole shot nothing short of a freaking amazing 100-6X to be high overall paper target. Let me tell you, that was some SUPER shooting!! For the season, Dick Farmer was high A/AA with a 277-1X, AAA/Master was Jim Rodebaugh with a 296-13X, and Coralee knocked one out of the park with a 300-11X to be the season paper champion! Wow that's a great score!

We awarded season silhouette champions based on the best 4 of the 6 possible winter scores. Winners received a Smithmoor RTIC water jug. Chase Sauer was High A/B with a 79, Dick Farmer was high AA with a 102, Tom Reed was high AAA with a 118, Mark Pachares was high master with a 133, and I ended up high grand master with a 137. We gave a very nice High Season Junior prize donated by Versatile Ag Systems Well Service this year. Cole Sauer shot a super season score of 108 and received a Nikon spotting scope and tripod. I am sure he will be putting it to good use and we'll see him kicking some more butt next year. Great shooting Cole and thank you for coming to shoot with us!

I wanted to let everyone know that Dick Hennebry's wife is doing ok. Dick had to run out of the match early due to a call from the hospital. Polly has had some blood clot issues, but is expected to be able to go home early next week. Dick and Polly wanted to make sure everyone knows how much they appreciate the concerns and especially the prayers. We are so glad everything turned out ok.

I hope everyone has a great summer and we are already planning and looking forward to our Rocky Mountain Regional matches held over Memorial Weekend May 25-27th and the Wyoming State Matches to be held the third weekend in August. Our Winter Series matches will start up again in November, and we hope to have some improvements to the range and shooting shed to show off.

Take care my friends,
Cody

Shooter Paper Chicken Pig Turkey Ram Total Place
Grand Master
Jack Odor (iron) 94-1X 5 10 9 9 33 2nd
Michael Rix 97-1X 5 10 8 10 33 1st
Cody Smith (iron) 95-2X 7 10 9 9 35 MW

Master
Bill Acklin 99 0 8 10 8 26
Steve Anderson 90 2 10 8 7 27
Robert Garibay (iron) 93-1X 2 10 8 10 30 4th
Mark Pachares 95-2X 4 10 9 10 33 1st
Travis Purdum (iron) 96-1X 1 10 10 9 30 5th
Jim Rodebaugh 98-5X 5 10 10 7 32 2nd
Cecil Sauer 100-5X 4 10 8 8 30 1st AAA/Master Paper
Coralee Smith 100-4X 2 10 10 10 32 3rd and Clean Prone
Gary Smith 96 1 10 9 8 28
Kenny Wasserburger 97-1X 1 10 9 10 30

AAA
Greg Bybee 97-2X 0 10 9 8 27
JD Farmer 94-2X 1 10 7 8 27
Joe Kapler 100-4X 4 9 9 9 31 2nd
Tom Reed 99-4X 2 10 10 10 32 1st and Clean Prone
Weston Rix (iron) 85 2 10 5 9 26 2nd Junior
Cole Sauer 100-6X 1 10 7 9 27 1st Jr and High Paper
Mike Venard -- 3 9 8 8 28 4th
Jeff Woodring 96-3X 2 10 8 10 30 3rd

AA
Dick Farmer (iron) 88 0 7 9 8 24 2nd and season paper winner
Pete Romanik -- 2 10 0 5 17
Caleb Sauer 100-2X 0 10 8 8 26 1st AA/A paper and 3rd Jr

A/B
Ruthann Holmes 82 0 7 2 4 13 3rd
Keith Kelly -- 0 9 4 6 19 1st
Mike Roduner 74 0 8 2 2 12
Chase Sauer 85 0 8 2 7 17 2nd

Re: Smithmoor Winter Series Finale

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 6:35 am
by stevewhr
It was a good match and nice to see some of the guys that normally appear. I believe I've been to all the season finale since day one and this was no different, well run, excellent facility, good bunch of shooters and good food. Hard to imagine anyone going to as much trouble or having a better match. Thanks for everything.