Interesting Day

[sabotloader]

Well, this past saturday I went to my first ever Rendezvous... It was in Troy, Oregon - probably 100 miles from here. Troy, OR is located in the canyon on the Grande Ronde River... It is a really neat hole in the ground. The road I had to drive from Lewiston to Troy was a real highlight... After you leave the Snake River on the Washington side in a the small community of Asotin, Wa you start the immediate climb up to a high prarrie across the parrie (with a great view of everything) then back down into the canyon where the Grande Ronde exists... all of this means nothing to most - but all along the way are signs indicating this is the "Old Nez Pierce Trail" - well let me tell you - I really do not think there has been much improvement in the trail since the Nee Mee Poo used and created the trail - they were crazy winding their way up and winding there way down and I say this with all the respect in the world to them and the people that must use it today - but I am quite sure OSHA?? would never approve of this route - but it was beautiful scenery and a very interesting drive - but do not make any mistakes...

Anyway I had a great time - I had gone done specifically just to shoot... I really did not know that you also needed to shoot pistol, and throw a hawk & knife as part of the competition. I just wanted to shoot the rifle(s). When I signed up I told them I was a newbie and was only going to shoot rifle. They nice lady told me that I could not win the competition unless I did all of the events and I told here that was OK I was just interested in shooting - she offered to loan me a pistol and hawk & knifle but I passed... Next problem "what is your name" I told her Mike and she says no "I mean your Rende name" - "I do not have one" I say and the guy behind me says "choose your own or somebody will choose on for you and they are not always what you might like" - so my immediate reaction was "sabotloader" - that brought a pain to many faces... so I said spell "saeboeloader" and nobody would be the wiser... Well it got posted a "SabotLoader" and I got good natured grief all day.

It did not take me long to figure out the JSG-3f was not going to cut it - so I started making the rounds of the tradesmens looking for some BP - What a difference GOEX -3f makes... So I made the switch and shot a few rounds from both Renegades - figured out I was sighted in with 90 grains of JSG and if I dropped the the GOEX down to about 70 - they were close....

It was great day... we stated off shooting paper targets - 5 shots then to the walking trail with 24 stations... Well that was a suprise - I thought I was going to be shooting "gongs" the first target was a buffalo - 200 yards up the wall of the canyon - at least a 60% up slope shot... Thought that surely would be the toughest shot on the course - not even close - it was the longest - but certainly not the most difficult.

It was a great day and I really had a lot of fun - even you could tell I was an outsider... The lady at the scoring tent told me that when I got back - she congratulated me on my scores but then says I can not give you the extra style points because you are not dressed properly... darn

I can only think of Arnold's most famous words - "I'll be baaack"

[Indiana SmokePole]

Sabotloader

Sounds like you had a heck of a time , I am planning on going to one in june it is held in Friendship IN.
they say it is a great time and pepole come from all over the US to compete! Congrats on your first Round.

Ron

[Semisane]

Sounds like a fun day. I really envy you. Nothing like that goes on down here in bayou country.

[cayugad]

Rendezvous are a great time and an excellent learning experience until they become so large that they turn into a money trap like some of them now in Wisconsin. I became so disgusted with them that I refuse to even go. Yours on the other hand sounds like an excellent time. Some of those targets must have been a real challenge.

Goex is a nice powder. Especially the 3f. Also the Whites like it, so you can always shoot it off... Good luck on the next one. You're going to need a set of skins..

[yeoman]

SL - sounds like you had a blast! So....... will you be practicing your hawk and knife tossing for the next event?

[sabotloader]

yeoman

It really was a lot of fun and I totally enjoyed the outing - crap I just love to shoot...

B4 I went home yesterday I did borrow a hawk & knife and did do some practice. It is going to take a lot of practice 4 I am ready for that one...

But one thing they were doing that I might try is - shooting clay pigeons with shot guns... If I could get that 56 smooth bore a lady offered me that might be fun to do also since I shoot normal trap anyway..

Gee Whiz there is just a lot of things to do...

Dave - this was a small local get together it was just right for me.... there were just under a 100 shooters (men, women, and children) and once you shot your competition round ($10 for the club) you could go out on your own and shoot all you wanted to. Needless to say I shot my fair share. Don't think I could do the skins - it would take to many animals to make a set for me...

[yeoman]

Sabotloader - you wouldn't have to make it out of "peeper" skins!

[sabotloader]

yeoman

Ya u r right - but I do shoot my share of them... thats coming up pretty soon also.... Gotta get Cdad to come over for that - he wants to shoot them with his NEF 223... I'll stick to the 17 but if he gits to competive I'll bring out the Sako 222...