By: Bears Butt

It’s hard to believe that we have been gathering now for 31 years and we must be having a good time or we would never had made it this long.  Switchback and Natalie did a stupendous job at pulling off this rendezvous!  We thank you dearly for everything you did.  Of course it doesn’t all fall on a couple of people, Bones did an excellent job with the range masters, targets, packets etc.  And of course the range masters who volunteered were excellent at keeping things safe and orderly.  Anchor with the hawk throws did an outstanding job as usual and the entire Gyllenskog family needs praising for the kids lympics, bb gun shooting and the adult lympics.  Fat Duck pulled off an almost impossible shotgun shoot, with some crazy “in the shooters face” bird throwing.  And last but not least were the volunteers who kept the kids occupied with face painting, games, an obstacle course and making sure they were tired by days end.

It’s really hard to say who had the most fun at the event.  I know I was dead beat by the time I went to bed every night.  And by looking into the eyes of many the next morning it was very obvious they had a very fun evening as well (some evenings longer than others).

Our weather was nearly perfect with just one day being what I call, very hot.  I loved the overcast days and the light rain during the sleeping hours was a nice refreshing breath of fresh air.

In order to have a fun and enjoyable rendezvous there is always a TON of hard work that goes into setting everything up.  We all know that shooting our rifles and pistols is a must at our rendezvous.  Years ago, that was all we did during the day, but because of the younger people in camp, our activities have spread to other fun things.  Setting up the shooting range doesn’t take a lot of work, but it sure takes some time and man/woman power.

The “A” frame and cross member range is made of angle iron and the cardboard is attached using wire ties at the top and then again onto a cable run along the bottom.  If we could find another medium to attach out targets to it sure would be a nice improvement, as when the wind blows it doesn’t take a lot of wind to knock the stand down.  We make do with what we have.  The range was set up on Wednesday afternoon and the cardboard was attached early on Thursday, just in time for the first day of shooting to take place.  Some folks have other obligations and must complete their shooting before the Saturday Noon deadline.  So basically we have 2 and 1/2 days of shooting.  The range must be manned/womanned with range masters covering both ends of the shooting line.  For future events, two range master should be employed, one on either end of the shooting line for improved safety.  Not that we had any real issues this year, just because we could use the extra safety.

The Firing line is back 20 yards from the target stand and there is plenty of visibility to see incoming and exiting participants in order to shut down the shooting and allowing the travelers to continue through to and away from the camping area.

With the range all set to go, the shooters began showing up to shoot the targets found in their packets.

Seeing Edjukateer sitting at a shooting table does not mean we allow a rest to be used during the competition.  All competition shots must be done standing off hand.  Here he is making sure his rifle can “digest” the 20 grain limit of powder we have imposed upon ourselves for safety.  We are blessed to have a police force that allows us to shoot withing the city limits and don’t want anyone hurt in the event of a “flier” shot that doesn’t hit the backdrop to our range.

How is that for a Perfect center of the target shot?  Good shooting Winemaker!!!!

Pistols and rifles are all shot from the 20 yard line.

Of course you can’t have a bunch of different targets to shoot at with out having some “stinking rules”, here Switchback is reading up on what is do be done with each target.  Some are only one shot targets, while others may have as many as 5 to be shot.  Scoring of each target varies as well, some full ball rules, some half ball rules and others a line break will score big points.  Remember the one with the highest score gets first pick of a prize off the donated prize blanket!  The one with the lowest score gets whatever is left on the blanket!  Everyone wins!

Those aren’t very big targets from 20 yards back are they?  Gittem Bones!

Young and old alike, women and men, all compete on an equal basis.  We don’t discriminate and when it comes to handing out some heckling and harassment, if you give it out, expect to get some back!  If you can’t take it, keep your mouth shut!

When we get together it is always meant to be a fun time and we have yet to fail in that regard.  By the time the end of the rendezvous comes around, I usually have a very sore throat from yelling and laughing and of course my trade mark side ache from all the hard laughing that has gone on for 3 or 4 days and nights.

This year brought in a new twist as we allowed bowmen to shoot in the competition as well and their scoring was right with the rifle and pistol shooters.  They shot the same targets with the same scoring and with some targets they took their chances on ruining some very expensive arrows.

OUCH!  Arrows hitting 1/4 inch thick steel don’t have much of a chance to survive.

HEY!  What am I seeing down range?  It looks like a candle in a can and it appears to be lit.

YO!  What happened to the flame?

WOW!  Good shooting!  That is a solid 10 point target right there!  Shoot at the flame, put a hole in the can and puff out the flame without hitting the wax of the candle!  Shooting like this will get you some good prizes for sure!  And if you only think something like this can only happen once in a great while, think again.  We had more puffed out candles at this rendezvous than not and that is saying something with 49 shooters competing against each other.  Check out this husband and wife team!

Great shooting Bullseye and Tommy boy!

Just to clarify some things.  Here we have three guys signing up to compete in the shooting.  Not only do they sign up, they also sign a waiver of liability and they present to the Range Master their blanket prize.  Remember I said “everyone wins”, well every shooter brings to the table a gift, either hand crafted or purchased, that is worth around $20 and it must be in good “mixed company and mixed age” taste.  No competitive shooting without the prize.  This keeps everything above board and everyone is happy in the end.

As the days of shooting go on, there is more and more happy times being had by all.  If you aren’t having any fun, it’s your own fault.

It’s all about having fun!

At any shooting event like this someone is likely to have issues with their weapons.  Sometimes (and more often than you would think), you get to “BS’n” and forget to load powder into your rifle  and then you push down a patched round ball and have to go through some hoops to get the ball and patch out.  Well it can happen with pistols too.

Fat Duck was not very happy when I took this picture of him trying to shoot his pistol.  The caps are going off just fine, but the powder charge just won’t ignite and send the ball down range.  He is cussing something awful as 5 of the 6 cylinders have not fired.  He is ready to do with this pistol what he threatened to do on a limited entry buck deer hunt in the Crawfords several years back “IF I HAD A CRICK, I’D CHUCK THIS S.O.B. OF A GUN RIGHT IN IT”!  Well , he knows very well there is a crick right behind him at this range and he can make the toss from where he is right now.  But, let’s take the gun back to the loading area and check to see what the problem might be.

YEP!  Just what I figured…it wasn’t loaded!  That is funny right there Fat Duck!

Let’s tally the scores judges!

But you know, it isn’t all about the shooting anymore!

I’ve already told you about signing in for the shooting.  Well the Booshway (person in charge) and the Segundo (second in command) have been working very hard to get this rendezvous ready for this year.  Among the things needed and to provide everyone with a Memoir, a receipt for you is made and handed to you when you arrive, whether a visitor or a participant.

If you attended this event and didn’t get a receipt for some reason, let me know and I’ll see if I can round you one up.  A lot of hard work and expense goes into making receipts and every year they are different!  Thanks for all the work on these Pat and the Gyllenskog family!  Nice job!

So, let’s think for a minute.  Shooting, kids activities, adult activities…let’s see some of those events!

Kids flint and steel starting event.  The winner of this will compete with the adult winner on Sunday night for a great prize.

The adults usually have to help the kids get ready and encourage them to do their best.  But it is up to the kids to start the fire.

And once Gavin gets a good spark to land on his char, he produces a very nice counsel fire for the nights activities!

During the day and as the shooters are down at the range, a bunch of things are going on back in the camp area.  However, I was down at the range and didn’t get to see the kids activities.  But I know there was face painting and bingo along with some other activities to keep them entertained, but once the “organized” kids things were done, the kids themselves were quick to find entertainment.

They caught some big crawfish as well, but I wasn’t quick enough to get pictures of them before they were turned loose.  One thing is for sure, kids can entertain themselves better than adults can for them.

Well, we did have an organized event for the kids all lined up…the “Young Peoples Lympics”!  These kids were broken up into teams of 4 to 5 and each team had to toss a frying pan for accuracy, start a fire and burn a string, drink up some root beer and a few other things.  The team with the fasted time to do all these things won a great prize for each team member.  Yours truly, Bears Butt, was set up to be the bar tender and dish out the root beer.

Again, it’s all about having fun!

During all of this, we constantly have visitors coming and going from the camp.  Some have been here as participants in the past and are now coming to visit with old friends because of other obligations that have kept them from coming to “play”, but they are all welcome.

Wanna Pee and 3 Forks.

Hagaarr and Broken Hawk.

Twister.

Dancing Ramrod (hurt his back while cleaning up for the rendezvous…some things are just not fair).

And as for some of the folks who may not have ever attending an event like this, our friends Bob Cat and Rose!  Welcome!

It’s always nice to see new faces and hope those people return in the future to enjoy more of the activities.

Speaking of which, I was involved in the adult “Mountain Man Lympics” and so I did not get any pictures of that event, but as things have a way of happening, Bob Cat was on the winning team and won himself a nice gift certificate of $25!  I’m certain his involvement on his team will have him talking about it for years and years to come!  Good going!

Sunday morning, bright and early, Fat Duck pulled off his shotgun shoot, one which he coined “Angry Birds”.  His event had himself in harms way down range and hiding behind our POS trailer in order not to get splattered with shot.  In the meantime, the shooter was standing “in harms way” as well, as the birds were fired to come directly at the shooter.  I liked to think that the shot was in direct correlation to “self protection”…..

MISS!!!

Nice shot!

Smoked it!

Now on to the men and womens hawk throw (remember, real mountain men throw knives….they don’t always stick the knife, but they throw it very well).

Look closely, as Bullseye is throwing, Bones (in the background) has her hawk firmely planted in the log!

And when it’s all over, the judges add up the scores!  In this event, the women and men’s divisions are separated and for a good reason too, the ladies almost always out do the guys!

Well, we need an adult flint and steel fire starting contest!

Now these guys are serious!  And who will compete against Gavin in tomorrow nights contest?  As it turns out Wapiti Dung will try his best at beating Gavin.  As I was still trying to get a flame from my attempt at this contest, Wapiti had finished, made his celebration and disappeared before I could grab my camera.

Good times, stories, lots of heckling and of course some old pictures are generally brought out and shared around the camp:

That looks like a “pick on the Dry Dog” picture.

Well, as you can quickly see, there are a lot of fun things happening at the rendezvous, but along with that, it does not come free.  There has to be some fund raising going on as well.  Raffle tickets are sold and the prizes are great.  Prizes for kids are separated from adult type prizes and when their names are called they generally get to pick from the lot of prizes.  This goes on until they are all gone.

(Opps…I don’t have any pictures of the prizes!  Dang it!)

These prizes on the blanket are the gifts the shooters put down.  There are some prizes there that I KNOW cost more than $20 and to be the first one to choose it is not an easy thing to decide what to pick up.  Everything there is good.  I had my eye on a prize and lucky for me, when it was time for me to go up and pick up my prize, it was still there!  That is not always the case.

Most rendezvous going folks have a name they have earned in some way or other, to name a few in our group are No Grimace, Wapiti Dung, Tracker, Bones, Edjukateer, Weasel, Fat Duck, Flying Feathers, Winemaker, Explorer, Hunter, Dew Drop and the list goes on and on.  And as things came to be during this years rendezvous there was a new name given to one of the young members.  Cody Zundel, please come forward!

“AND FROM NOW ON, WHERE EVER MOUNTAIN MEN SHALL MEET, YOU SHALL BE KNOWN AS ‘SQUIRREL'”!!!!

Well, the rendezvous comes and goes very quickly.  Maybe not so quickly for the Booshway and Segundo, but certainly for the rest of us.  This time last week I was busily getting ready for it, and now it’s over and my mind is quickly turning to the Muzzleloader deer hunt.

Our American Flag stands tall, our list of Willow Creek Free Trappers who have gone on ahead of us, waves proudly in the breeze.  Our Beaver Sharn stand protects the camp from evil doings and bids us good luck on all the events of the camp.

But it does come to an end and for Switchback and Natalie, you two did a wonderful job!  Thank you very much!

Next year will be the charge of “Slicker and The Misses”!  We are here to help you guys in any way we can!

Bears Butt

September 2, 2014