3 Great Summer Destinations for 2014

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KickBass
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Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:57 am
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Location: Loveland, CO

3 Great Summer Destinations for 2014

Post by KickBass »

Three Great Summer Destinations Involving IHMSA

As a 40-something year old with a family and a modest income, I understand the difficulty of balancing family obligations with my own personal pursuits. For all of us, there is always that critical balance of two of our most valuable personal resources—time & money. In looking at this year’s IHMSA schedule and plotting out my family’s summer plans, I see three tremendous opportunities in which a family could attend a top-notch shooting event which coincides with a great vacation destination.
Incidentally, these U.S. shoots rank as the 3 highest-attended shoots in IHMSA. In identifying requirements for a quality family vacation, each of these events:
A. has affordable local offerings to make for a quality family vacation,
B. can be done somewhat cheaply, with camping available on the range to help substantially save on room and board for those on a budget,
C. is held during the typical “summer vacation” period in which kids aren’t in school, and…
D. feature world-class silhouette competition.

West Coast Championship—Grants Pass, Oregon
June 17-21, 2014

After attending this event for the first time in 2013, and I will make the trip again with my family next time. I had the unique opportunity to go on a “guy trip” as my wife and daughter were on their own trip for 3 weeks. Thus, I decided to utilize this unique opportunity to have my own trip, but I had to do it on the cheap. It became a more than a 3000 mile round trip driving my wife’s economy car from Colorado packed to the roof with guns, ammo, a cooler, and camping equipment, and I loved every minute of it. I stopped off at Idaho Falls to shoot at the Lava Bed on my way there, which conveniently last year had their state shoot held the weekend prior to the beginning of the WCC.
Arriving at Grants Pass kicked off about the most fun 5 days of shooting I have ever had. It seemed that most of the shooters camped at the range, either in tents or RVs. Every night, a different group was providing dinner for the entourage. as well as a great venison steak and egg breakfast one morning. Here I was an “outsider”, but from the first minute I arrived, the camaraderie was like I was one of the group. Richard Slaton, a relatively new IHMSA shooter like myself, had traveled the furthest , coming all the way from Alabama to attend this shoot. Conditions were impeccable each day, as I shot a few personal bests, particularly in my standing events. I forget what Steve Ware said the average wind is there, but it is virtually nothing.
The silhouette range is located at the 300+ acre Josephine County Sportsman’s Association, a county range that looks like a golf course. I told my daughter that it was the first gun range I have been to that has a kids’ playground! There is an abundance of RV hookups, as well as shower facilities and spacious bathrooms with running water.
The only thing I regret about this trip is that I didn’t take in some of the local sights as I would have normally done if I had the family with me. Nearby Crater Lake is something I would like to spend a day at next time I am out there. But to be honest, I had such a great time doing nothing but shooting, talking shooting, and thinking about shooting, I essentially never left the range for the entire time I was there. The level of competition is just about on a par with what you will see at the Internationals, and I probably picked up more tips on shooting from this trip than any other I have experienced. A return trip is already planned, this time with the family, so we can fully absorb the many attractions this area of the country has to offer.

Region 8—Pringle, South Dakota
July 3-6, 2014

Located in the famed Black Hills of southwest South Dakota, this is my family’s favorite shoot. As a new change to the schedule this year, the four-day Region 8 shoot has now been moved to the 4th of July holiday. Attendance at the Region 8 shoot has typically been in the 200-250 entry range, and I would expect that to rise even further with it now being in the heart of summer.
It’s hard to imagine a better place to celebrate our nation’s birthday, as well as just having a fantastic vacation. You can’t beat the weather there in the summer, and the amount of things to do in this area is virtually endless. Mount Rushmore is a definite must if you have not ever been there. For nature lovers, there are numerous caves, the large buffalo herd at Custer State Park, and the Badlands. History buffs might appreciate a trip up to Deadwood, which has gambling but isn’t overrun with casinos—they do an admirable job of holding onto the true Wild West era. There is the 1880 steam train that travels from Keystone to Hill City, providing history lessons and scenery along the ride. Mining history is also abundant, for those who may want to tour a mine or try gold panning. Or if you prefer commercial attractions, Evan’s Plunge is an affordable way to spend a good part of a day swimming with the kids in a warm natural spring, or Reptile Gardens in Rapid City is one of the most intriguing animal-themed attractions I have ever witnessed—we went there expecting to spend an hour, and ended up spending most of the day.
The silhouette range in Pringle is a treat within itself. This is a privately owned range, located on land that was homesteaded by the family over a century ago. With the automatic reset targets and 40 round matches, a person can get in a lot of entries in four days—my personal best is 21 entries. There is always a large contingency of campers and tents, with electric hookups, as well as water available. While permanent shower facilities are not available on site, there are always at least a couple of people with portable camp showers, including us, which by kindly asking, are always available to others. Otherwise, hotels can be found in nearby Custer or Hot Springs.
Just like at the WCC, nobody has ever went hungry at this shoot. Evening cook-outs fill the dinner hour on Friday and Saturday nights, with flatiron steaks being brought in by the Nebraskans and pot luck always providing a fantastic variety of culinary favorites. Neil always provides a sausage and egg breakfast on one of the mornings. Pretty much at this event, if you aren’t shooting, you’re eating and socializing.
The last couple of years, IHMSA President Nancy LaCroix and husband Ken have made the trip, as well as fellow Minnesotans Steve Martens and John Richards, which definitely elevates the level of competition having these multiple time World Champions in attendance. Shooters from at least 6 states as well as Canada routinely attend this shoot, developing a welcoming sense of community over the years. This shoot also seems to have a larger number of children and teenagers in attendance than other events I have attended. Located off an isolated dirt road, the kids routinely group together and explore cowboy town, take people’s dogs for walks, and make many trips throughout the day to pet the horses that are just across the fence. All of these factors combined with the fact that the owner/range officer is about the most personable individual you will ever meet make this an attractive option for anyone wanting to get out to the Rocky Mountain West.

World Championship—Oklahoma City, OK
July 18-25, 2014

For any IHMSA shooter who has thought about attending a World Championship but just hasn’t done it yet for whatever reason, I strongly encourage them to consider putting this on their “to do list”.
Oklahoma City presents a fantastic opportunity to make it your first World Championship. It is about as centrally located in the U.S. as you can get. The range is absolutely fantastic, with auto-reset targets, an expansive firing line, and beautiful setting at the expansive OKC Gun Club. Camping is available on the range with water and electric hookups, an RV dump station, and shower facilities in two different locations.
Hotels are a few miles away, located just off the interstate, and you don’t have to drive through city traffic to get to the range. Yet, the city life isn’t far away, and OKC has a surprising number of offerings of things to do in the city. A boat ride through “Bricktown”, the downtown river walk, is highly recommended. Another favorite has to be child-friendly “Pops”, located a couple of miles from the gun range in the small town of Arcadia. Pops is a soda-pop themed attraction on Route 66, with hundreds of types of soda pop available. The OKC National Memorial to the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is a most somber experience, particularly when viewing the Reflecting Pool and the Field of Empty Chairs honoring the 168 who died.
OKC hosted the World Championship for the first time in 2012, and the number of entries shot there almost doubled last year’s total. IHMSA legend Jim Fields led the charge to get automatic resets installed in time for that Internationals. They have truly created a first-class silhouette range there. The one thing that may be a distraction for some shooters who have never shot there before is that the majority of the Oklahoma shooters use the Fields flop position, which requires the use of a muzzle break. If you are unaware of this position, I would encourage you to talk to Jim Fields (who developed the position and then went on to shatter the world record for consecutive shots made)—it is a great story.
But as for the muzzle breaks, there will be more of them than one may be accustomed to. However, since that 2012 event, they have since built portable wooden barriers that can be placed between yourself and a muzzle break shooter, thus substantially limiting the blast from a nearby shooter.

As for any shooters out there who have considered going to their first Internationals, here are a couple of thoughts from somebody who is only in his 7th year of competitive shooting, and has just gone to three Internationals. Prior to going to my first in 2011, there was certainly an intimidation factor having never attended one before—“God help me from doing something stupid!” and “I hope I don’t get totally embarrassed by my inferior shooting!” were two thoughts that continually went through my mind. I soon found out while many of the top shooters in IHMSA are at the World Championship, there are also shooters of all abilities there. I also quickly learned that these most accomplished shooters also among the most outgoing people I have met in IHMSA. Spending multiple days at one shoot, learning and absorbing abundant information relative to competing in this sport, combined with the ability to focus on one’s own shooting and improvement for several days in a row, is the most valuable experience I have encountered in this sport.
There are certainly other great destinations out there to incorporate shooting within your family itinerary. I hope to one day to make it to the East Coast Championship, as well as having international travel added to my annual summer shooting schedule. For those with a family, the summer break from school certainly influences the planning of large vacations. If you are in that situation, I hope one of these three events may be within your grasp both financially and geographically, and can add a quality IHMSA experience to your family travels.
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