Just a quick update, as the tide is rising and winds a howlin.
Friday was wonderful. Between the Prelim, a couple of sub-gauge rounds, the Challenge Qualifier, and the Trap Shoot, our group sent about three hundred rounds each down range. Saturday was pretty wet at times, but not a wash-out by any means, and Lizard and I bagged Sunday entirely due to storm related concerns back in VA Beach.
Team Parker won the Challenge with a score of 101 to Team LC Smiths 90.
Super target setting, and the word "Challenge" was not used lightly!
I've not been able to find the official results posted yet, but I believe that Team LC won the Trap Shoot. Great shooting by all, and Ricks venue and staff were, as usual, awesome.
As soon as the dust settles, I'll send some great pictures to Mr. Suponski....but for now I've got bilges to pump.
John

I'm not really sure why I'm posting and not sleeping after driving all night (arrived home at 2:00am)to get home before the storm. Deb and I had a great time and enjoyed seeing and shooting with so many of our friends from all over the country. It was especially nice to see and visit with our old friend Harry Collins who has not been able to make these events the last few years.

With out a doubt Backwoods Quail Club has to be one of the finest shooting venues in the entire country. The grounds are immaculate and they have more equipment there than you could possibly imagine. The targets were great and the staff couldn't have been more accommodating. We had showers for part of the day on Saturday but the rest of the time it was just a little windy which added a little challenge to the already challenging targets.

The Annual Meeting went great and the display of A grade Parkers was nothing short of amazing. Our member/friend Mike Smith from NC took a bunch of professional quality photo's of all the guns and I'm sure some will end up posted here and also in the next couple of issues of Parker Pages.

One last note, Dean Romig as usual did a great job introducing this years recipients of the Distinguish Service Awards to Mr. Mark Conrad and Mr. Art Wheaton. I will let Dean speak more about that when he gets home later today.

Danny,Edgar Spencer and myself arrived home yesterday about 2 pm. It was a disappointment to have to leave early but with the approaching storm it seemed the prudent thing to do.

I have wanted to shoot Backwoods for a long while and we were not disappointed. As Larry said the venue is wonderful and the targets were great fun. This is certainly a first class venue all the way. There were ample vendors displaying their wares. The annual meeting went off without a hitch and the display of A grade guns was nothing short of amazing.

Also it was great to meet Mr. Collins and other members that attended for the first time. As soon as I recieve some pictures I will post them up. I was very lax in picture taking as our camera never left my bag....:banghead: so we will have to wait for others to help us out here.

I would like to thank Dave Dwyer and Tom Carter for all the work they did setting this whole event up. They did a tremendous amount of work for the PGCA and it showed. Thanks guy's....:bowdown:

Also I would like to thank Bill Mullins and Josh Lowenstiener for being great MC's at the annual meeting. And a very special "Thank You" to all those fine members that brought or had someone bring those wonderful A grade guns for all to enjoy!

And last but certainly not least Deb Frey,Kathy Romig and Marge Bishop who did a fantastic job with the silent auction and set-up. These gal's are great!

Julia and I had a great time all weekend and are sorry it is over. Three cheers to all who pitched in and made the weekend the success it was. It was good to meet a lot of you and I hope to meet the rest of you at future events.:cheers:

I'm glad you guys all made it home safely, and I'm sure you'll keep us updated on how you weather the storm. I wish you could have stayed and shot the course yesterday. The target presentations were unique and challenging every day, but the Sunday portion of the main event was my favorite. Lots of true pair stations, Battues, Rabbits, and even Trampolines! Throwing clays into the face of a large trampoline, which then sprung the target out and up in a variety of directions was a new one for me. As others have said, the venue was First Class, the Banquet and Silent Auction were great, and best of all, I came home with a new Parker!

Mike

Come on Mike we need pictures! And tell us about this new Parker that followed you home.

yeah lets see em.
And how come a new parker didn't follow me home? Oh yeah, my wife came down.

What are you complaining about? She bought you that nice cigar cutter.
A new Parker tried to follow me home, but we traded it for 15 gallons of gas, two coffees and a bag of beef jerky. Sorry George.

I got home yesterday evening, and got as far as downloading the pictures to my computer, but I haven't even had a chance to go through them yet. I'll try to work through them tonight and get some posted.

As for the Parker, I bought Harry's 1902 10ga DH Hammerless with 32" Damascus tubes. It has great patterning on the barrels, perfect shiny bores, Pistol Grip Stock, Original Skeleton Butt, and good modern shooting dimensions. And, it came with a 32" Leg O Mutton Case to boot. I've always wanted a 10 bore. Once I get through the pics from this weekend, I'll try to take some of this gun and post them as well.

Mike

Good for you. That is a fine gun and I was just sitting here wishing I had bought it.