Match Results

On Valentine’s Day, 23 shooters gathered to compete in our February monthly match. It was a fun day and I am very appreciative of all the partners at home who supported their loved ones to attend on such a day. The weather was quite warm for a Wyoming February with breezes that bumped into the high 20’s at times. The winds were enough to be challenging. Coralee and Grace had ham and beans with homemade corn bread for lunch. As usual, it was super! We were also blessed with Michael Jackson Jr., bringing several boxes of his favorite donuts to share, and Ed Himelhoch brought a bunch of super cupcakes to help celebrate several birthdays that occurred close to the match. Thank you, Ed and Michael!

We have lost a couple of members of our shooting community in the last year or so and they have been in our hearts lately. Beth Himeloch passed a year ago in February, and she is missed by all that knew her. Keith Kelly passed about 1½ years ago and his presence at the matches, as well as his friendship, will always be missed. Coralee made up a couple of photos of each of them and had them framed to show everyone. We will be hanging them up in the shooting shed. What a blessing it was to have known both of them.

Speaking of Coralee…is that woman ever amazing! She was up early yesterday morning getting her daily chores done before getting everything organized for the match, starting lunch so it would be ready at noon, making the memorials for Beth and Keith, and then making it out to the shooting shed. She hasn’t shot much over the last year mostly because she has been overwhelmed with our new ice cream business. She enjoys the people and the matches and doesn’t feel like she has to shoot in them to enjoy them. Sometimes for her, shooting in the match just adds undue stress. Anyway, she felt like shooting the match yesterday; boy, did she ever! She cleaned the prone and smacked six chickens to easily be the match winner. Great shooting, Coralee! Everyone there was really pleased to see her do so well. Anyone that ever shoots at Smithmoor has a pretty good idea of the enormous amount of work she does for all of us. Thank you, Coralee, we all appreciate it!

Michael Rix helped us with our fifth station this month and it was fantastic. I received more positive comments on it than I have any other fifth station. As I am sure most of you know, the winter Olympics is going on and Michael’s favorite event is the Biathlon. I’ve watched it a few times myself and I am just totally amazed at what those athletes can do. Michael replicated the targets that they use on tagboard for us and we shot them at 50 meters, which is the distance the Olympians shoot them at. We allowed unlimited sighters and then there were five shots prone for score and five shots offhand. The smaller center scored two points and the larger black scored one point. It was tough shooting and we didn’t have to ski several miles before we shot or take a penalty lap for missing! It was a lot of fun and we appreciated learning a little about this great Olympic event. Thank you, Michael. Steve Anderson and Bryan Norman both scored 16 on their targets. The jury ruled that Bryan’s was the better target and he was awarded the 1st place certificate for GM/M class. AAA/AA/A class went Dave Bieber with a great score of 14. 

For the silhouette match, Asa Smith was pleased to shoot a solid 24 to be our AA/A class winner. Emily Anderson shot a good 24 to be AAA, while JD Farmer cleaned the prone and killed one chicken to be 1st Master Class. Dan Womer also cleaned the prone and killed four chickens for a very good 34 to be 1st Grand Master. “Super Woman” Coralee was our Match Winner this month with a clean prone and six chickens. Great shooting everyone! 

Thank you everyone for all of the support and friendship,

Cody Smith

Equipment List:

• Match Winner

Coralee Smith: 36/40 - Stevens 414 rifle with Shilen ratchet rifle barrel, MVA scope, Lapau Center X ammo.

• 1st Overall

Dan Womer: 34/40 - CPA rifle, MVA 10x scope, Normal Extreme ammo.

• 2nd Overall

Cody Smith: 33/40 - Original Winchester single trigger Highwall with 28-inch Bartlein barrel, MVA Schuetzen rear sight, Baldwin aperture front sight, Eley Tenex ammo.