Boomershoot Equipment AAR (At least most of it)

Where to start? OK, how about sleeping arrangements.

Trib’s has 3 rooms to choose from, but if’n you’re wanting to double occupy a room without actually wanting to sleep in the same bed, this oversized cot is quite handy.

Trib purchased this cot from Sportsman’s Guide for the father and son that lodged there with David and I. The son was 6’5″ and this cot was plenty long enough for the guy and he had no complaints about comfort. I’ve got one on the way. I know that SPG sells some stuff of questionable quality, but this is not one of those items.

Speaking of stuff of questionable quality, our shelter would fit that characterization. It was a constant battle of us and it vs. the winds, with us having to stake, restake and re-restake the thing down. The poles were flimsy, didn’t fit together properly, and as David wrote here, was delivered missing parts. It looked nice, but that was about it.

By the end of Sunday, it was a wreck. After we emptied it of all our stuff and as our neighbors broke down their shelters, the wind actually did take it away, pulling the stakes we purchased in Orofino to supplement the ones it came with, right out of the ground as if they were pounded into sand. Maybe I shouldn’t have named it “The Good Ship LollyPop” since it was always acting like a sail (even with the doors unzipped and tied back).

Shelters like these worked moderately better, though one very poorly set up one did loose it’s cover during the lunch break on Sunday.

Next year, I’m not screwing around and will be buying something along the lines of this one. David and I are each buying multiple spots, so we’ll make it fit.

Both the homemade benches David and I brought worked quite well and got many a passerby asking questions. However, I am going to have to reposition the rear legs so that I can get some decent seating under neath it. I ended up just taking a knee on the ground behind the table. On flat ground, I was OK; but on the downward slope the left rear leg was where I envisioned the chair to be.

Speaking of chairs, stay away from charis with feet. You are shooting from a ridgeline in a field and equipment feet sink into the ground. Even the very popular chairs like these were sinking into the ground by the second day, and this was with no rain.

I found that chairs with legs like this worked best. This looks to be the best model of the bunch as it has pockets for extra boxes of ammo and your shot record book on the side. For the southpaws, the drink holding table would even work at the bench. I’ll be supplementing my couple of chairs with a stool like this one, just in case the arms get in the way.

But for ultimate comfort to sit in while you spot targets would be moon chairs like the ones David brought. They made not actually shooting not so bad.

Notice in the description of the stool that the storage underneath is also a cooler. David brought a cooler like this one to keep his ammo out of the sun and at a constant temperature.

I’ll have another AAR for actual shooting equipment either later today or tomorrow, so watch for that.

In the mean time, enjoy these vids of the Opening Fireball and the post-lunch Anvil Launch.

Fireball

Anvil Launch

I discovered that the spot I chose for the fireball was not ideal as I was too close to get the whole enormity of the thing. Still, quite impressive and I’ll do better next year.

The Anvil Launch was one of the better ones, with the resident mathmatical instructor, Rolf, esitmating around 160-180ft. Me, I just know that it had some excellent hang time. Make sure you watch to the end to see how deep it set itself into the ground. Later on, we were joking that the guys who come in and do the launch had to figure in windage on their anvil.

Google video is taking a while to approve the vid of the Boomer clean up, so it will probably have to wait until tomorrow. See you then!