2005 Camp Shootout

[Nemo]

The two little Nemo's will be attending Camp Shootout this coming summer. I will be close by all week and maybe will also get to learn something.

Any other BE'ers juniors will be in attendance?

[B.J. Norris]

I'll probably be there again this year, though I'll be trying to help pass on what I've learned instead of outright learning from Jerry and Kay.

[Nemo]

Excellent BJ! Meeting and spending time with high level junior shooters, like yourself, will be great motivation for my boys!

Look forward to meet you there!

[Nemo]

Nelson and Francisco were awarded the Area 6 scholarship for the Camp! WOOHOO!! That's $800 less than planned!!

GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Charles Bond, our Area 6 Director for considering my boys and finally awarding them the scholarship!

Mrs. Nemo is off to Puerto Rico to visit family and the boys and I take off tomorrow to Princeton, LA. Don't tell her, but she thinks we'll be driving the CR-V while her MDX awaits here in the garage. Don't think so!

We'll spend tomorrow night in P-cola (sanity stop) and finish the route early Monday.

Look forward to meet other BE'ers there.

Cheers!

[D.carden]

Nelson,

looks like your gonna need a second job to keep those boys "shootin" and attending major matches. Well worth it though!!

It was a real pleasure to chat with the three of you at A6.

Good luck at Camp Shoot Out.

Dan

[hopalong]

I personally couldn't think of two guys from A-6 that deserve it more !!!!

YOU should have seen Fransico shoot the classifier at A-6 !!!!!(best run of the entire squad)

Nemo, good for you that you get to go too !!!

have fun, good luck !!!

Hopalong

[reneet]

What a great bunch of kids this year!

Sorry that I did not get a chance to get out and shoot with them in the evenings. IT was a pleasure meeting them all.

I was squadded with NEMO and his rugrats for the Saturday End of Camp Match. It was a pleasure gentlemen. Look forward to seeing you again.

Got to meet Shooter's Connection's Chuck B's son, Austin who is the spittin' image of his dad. After talking with C-More's Gayle & Ira Kay's children @ SHOT Show earlier this year, their youngest daughter got to come play and I think had a good time.

I'll get match results and some photos posted on the web site as soon as possible.

Would appreciate anyone that got some great photos (hint-hint : NEMO) sending them in on a CD.

[Nemo]

Camp Shootout 2005

Bunkhouse Dad Log

Sunday, 19 June

Mrs. Nemo’s SUV loaded and ready to go. Each one of my boys with their G22’s and gear ready. Loaded 1100 rounds for each. Should be enough. For sanity sake we’ll make the trip in two legs: JAX-Pcola today / Pcola-Princeton tomorrow. Francisco raided the DVD rack for the trip, brought about 12 movies. They’ll use the laptop as their car TV.

Made it to Pcola in 5.5 hours. Having a TV in the car is a great “Are we there yet?” anxiety control tool. Each of the 2 laptop batteries only good for one movie. Chilled at the hotel pool that night. Recharged ‘puter batts.

Monday, 20 June

Breakfast at Denny’s and off to Princeton. Another movie playing. Got to Mobile in no time and couldn’t get out of there fast enough! North on US49… TOO SLOW!!! Out of Alabama… Head west just before Jackson, MS, not a single cop to be seen. GOOD! Cruise control set at 80 most of the way on I-20. Through Vicksburg, MS and then the BIG OLE MISSISSIPPI RIVER!! Welcome to Louisiana! Been in the car for 4 hours. Puter batts are out. “How much longer, Papi?” “Another 130 miles, about 1.5 hours, son”. And there it was: Exit 38.

Five minutes later we were greeted by Jerry Miculek at his place in the Clark’s ranch. What a beautiful place to live!! With his Louisiana accent Jerry said, “Kay’s out to the airport. It’s really good you are here to stay with the boys!” I didn’t know what I was into. Kay got back from the airport with last the kid getting there all the way from Oregon. Everybody took their stuff to the bunkhouse except for guns and ammo; Jerry keeps that.

Met George, the other bunk dad. Great gentleman from ND! Two for 13, not too bad. Started getting to know the boys; age range 12 to 18. They all seemed to be good kids; things looking good. The three amigos (the two 17 y.o.’s and the 16 y.o.) chose not to stay in the bunkhouse, they took the classroom next to the clays range… Good! The testosterone overflow will be out sight at least at night.

Bunk dads got first pick at beds. George got there before me and he got the bunkhouse master bedroom, I got the full-sized lower bunk next to the kitchen. Not a bad futon. Francisco got the top. That first night the kids were still getting to know each other and were mostly quiet and shy, except for Lil’ Joe… what a character!! Imagine a 12 year old Larry The Cable Guy! This kid has a voice deeper than mine and a really thick southern drawl; wears only jeans, cowboy boots, button down shirts with sleeves cut off and even sleeps with his DU ball cap on.

Tuesday 21

Every one of them was up at 0600. Breakfast at Jerry & Kay’s (J&K) is not until 0730. “Guys, please it’s still too early!” But no, they were pumped and ready to go… Off to breakfast with them… THESE KIDS CAN EAT!! Then they went to the range and I went back to the bunkhouse to get some work done on the ‘puter. Peace and quiet!!

Lunch time came quick and the school of piranhas raided the tables again… only crumbles left behind. Most of them went to the pool after lunch. They have a 4 hour break between the morning and afternoon sessions. George and I supervised the pool. They can only swim and shoot under adult supervision. Front and back flips off the diving board were the norm. Cody could have a future as a diver if he gets into it… The kid’s really good at it! Spencer, all 240 pounds of him, is the king of the cannonball! MASSIVE DISPLACEMENT!! The older boys were nowhere to be seen… They of course were wherever the girls were showing off and been cool but always under the watchful eye of J&K.

Afternoon shooting starts at 1600. Are all these young people solar powered?! Holy cow! They are still going and going and going and going… I went to the Wally’s at Minden to get some goodies for myself to save camp food for the kids: bread, cold cuts, cheese and milk for my morning coffee. Also got chocolate Quick for my boys’ night snack. Got back in the ranch couple of minutes after dinner and food was almost gone.

By that night I already knew everyone’s names and where they were from.

The Girls

1. Carly A., ND

2. Carly D., AZ

3. Sam, VA

4. Danielle, IN

The Boys

1. Jake, TX

2. Robbie, MD

3. Joe, LA

4. Austin, KY

5. Spencer, KY

6. Cody, AZ

7. Matt, FL

8. David, GA

9. Nick, MA

10. Jacob, TX

11. Nathan, OR

12. Nelson, FL

13. Francisco, FL

After dinner they still had energy to go in the pool for another hour. Bedtime was finally here. This bunk dad didn’t really keep up with what the girls did after lockdown but in the bunkhouse some campers avoided the showers like the plague. “They’ll take a shower in the morning”, I thought, so didn’t say anything. At the end of the first day of shooting in the Louisiana heat it wasn’t too hard to get them to go to bed. J&K and the pool wore them out good and at 2300 everybody was asleep or getting there.

Wednesday 22

“Time to get up guys” whispered Bunkhouse Dad George at 0700… No response… We had ten unresponsive bodies, all neatly wrapped up in their blankets. George went one by one waking them gently. George is a super nice guy. He’s also the father of Carly A., one of the girl campers. Sam, one of the other girls, is the daughter of Ira Kay of C-More fame. Another camper was the son of our very own Bagman. He became immediately famous for his Hawaiian fluorescent yellow with blue flowers boxers, those things seemed to be radiated with tritium…

Same drill: raid the breakfast table and off to shoot. Me; back in the bunkhouse to finish that scope of work I’ve been working on for two weeks.

After lunch to the pool again. Bunkhouse dad had to keep the noodle fights under control. All kids were respectful and complied without much hesitation. Only had to ask one of them if he was giving me attitude, but I guess he didn’t like my face or my tone when I asked, so he proceeded to play by the rules. Got in the water with them and had a blast, besides that pool feels like heaven after a short while under the bayou sun.

For the 1600 shooting I went to the range with them. Gave some pointers to some and helped others with gun problems and with cleaning their guns. Plate rack man vs. man ‘s up; Jerry’s toting and open revo, Kay a LTD STI. The kids shoot against each other and against Jerry and Kay. Jake “Bubba” Hicks, the camp helper, is a 17 y.o. M-class open shooter. THIS KID IS GOOD!! He beat Kay at the plate rack and I think he got Jerry on the only run he missed a plate. Watch out for Bubba! Another surprise was Robbie. He’s really good at steel shooting and hopefully we’ll see some more of him in the future. He’s also funny as hell! I went against Kay at the plate rack only the get my behind handed to me. Then shot against Bubba and made him shoot weak hand only while I shot strong hand only… defeated again.

Again, dinner after the shooting. After dinner we shot some pool and played ping-pong at J&K’s game room, then to the pool. Supplies in the bunkhouse fridge are disappearing fast. During my morning break I had located a bottle of Pine-Sol and a garden hose and proceeded to bring them into the bunkhouse laundry room. Before bedtime, looking at those that had not showered since getting there on Monday, I asked if they had seen the household cleaner and the hose in the laundry room… Proceeded to indicate that if they didn’t shower this night they would wake up to a bucketful of pine oil water and a hose down. After this bunkhouse dad advice all showered regularly. Still they manage to make up to the lack of sweaty teenager smell by either not flushing or not aiming… ARRGH!

Thursday 23

George’s mild wake-up call didn’t work this time. I had to go bed by bed pulling blankets. Get the coffee going and SURPRISE! No milk left. Also gone were the Oreos and Fig Newtons; at least there was still some bread, ham and cheese. The bologna was MIA.

After the morning shooting J&K did an ammo count. Some kids were running low on ammo. So there was only voluntary steel shooting for this afternoon. Most of the kids just went to the pool to chill and ate. They had a super time at the pool this afternoon. Bunkhouse George showed them some more of his 1-1/2 from the springboard. Awesome!!

I was in dire need of peace and quiet for dinner, thus I sat with J&K and the other bunkhouse dads. Jerry smiled and nodded in understanding. Besides being a world champion shooter Kay is also a heck of a pool player. She’s got an unorthodox cue hold but gets the job done very good… Basically, she kicked my but at pool too! That night after dinner and some more pool, ping-pong and swimming we were all chilling in the bunkhouse. George had told them repeatedly to shut the door but the door kept staying open. This was the only occasion in which I had to use my loudest and deepest voice to indicate them to “SHUT THE DOOR!!” Later on Francisco was up on his bunk watching a DVD in my laptop. George had retreated to his bed and put on his AM-FM walkman. He was so into his music that he didn’t notice the stealth entry of the attackers through the back door… Suddenly there they were Jake and Robbie with super soakers in hand, squirting as soon as they entered the Bunkhouse’s living room. I was petrified, could only think about the computer. However, by use of good tactics they immediately noticed that the bunk where Francisco and I were was a no-shoot… Good job! We all had a laugh but I knew that retaliation from the younger ones will be coming. The anxiety of the attack had provoked a serious case of the munchies on the youngens but the bunkhouse fridge was empty. Bunkhouse dads put some $$ together and I drove to the nearby truck stop and bought some more goodies for these termites, as Jerry called them.

Friday 24

Due to the low ammo quantity left the morning session was short. Jerry tells me “Don’t worry we’ll wear them out for you later today.” So they did, Friday afternoon was range cleaning time, brass pick up and sorting. Luckily I got most my of kids brass back home with me. Some of the kids didn’t want their brass back but some were expert range chickens. One that shot a 9mm production gun was picking up all the nickel 45 for his dad, another that shot 9Major was picking up 40’s and 38SC’s. That got some of the others kinda’ mad but nothing happened.

Another gun cleaning session and wait for tomorrow’s match. More pool, ping pong and swimming. Dinner again… Robbie almost died of clogged arteries after 6 pieces of fried chicken, but his youth and strength helped him through. Time to be inside… The youngens got their hands on Jerry’s training super soakers and planned their revenge. When the older teens went to bed in the classroom the attack took place. I don’t know what happened but they returned to the bunkhouse on a triumphant mode, however spent the rest of the night watching out the windows. The third attack never happened.

Although I asked them to save one Pepsi from the 12-pack that I bought the night before when I went to the fridge to have my soda, it was gone as well as the 12-pack of Dr. Pepper.

Saturday 25 – LAST DAY

Final match day. Breakfast was scheduled for 0700 so again I had to wake each one of them individually. For the ones in the classroom the wake-up call was a full swing of a furring strip to the side of the metal building… Yeah, they were up after that. After breakfast it was off to the range. I squadded with my boys, ReneeT, Tonda and Ken Hicks (Area 4 Director and Jake’s dad). Super cool bunch! Clear sky and temperature rising… When match was over I could probable squeeze 12 to 16 ounces of sweat from my family uniform shirt. BTW, I got beat by Renee in limited.

After the blast of the little match the campers were assigned tear down of the stages. Since we were going out for pizza after, I went straight to the shower. The cold shower felt like heaven and the clean clothes even better. After some tear down it was off to the pizzeria. I took 6 campers in my car… Ooooff! These guys really smell!! Guess I could notice it because I had showered ;-) I don’t know how many pizzas the bunch ate, but it was a lot of them. Renee, Tonda and Ken had lunch with us. During lunch Kay handed out to every camper their camp completion certificate together with a signed picture of Jerry and a little present courtesy of Bang, Inc. I was really surprised when she presented each of the bunkhouse dads with a Streamlight Scorpion flashlight in appreciation for keeping the kids company all week.

Back to the Clark’s after lunch. It was the last night together for the kids. They played, laughed and had a good time together. A lot of pictures were taken and phone numbers exchanged. All the campers were excited of going back home but at the same time sad because they were leaving behind all their new friends. Walking back to the bunkhouse from J&K’s, Francisco with tears hanging from his eyes confessed to me that he didn’t want the camp to end. They were allowed to stay up later than normal that night. “Guys, first flight out of Shreveport is at 0600, Jerry will be here at 0400 to wake us up. Go to bed!”- I said at 2430.

Sunday 26

As punctual as the IRS, 0400 Jerry’s banging on the door. Although he wasn’t going to the airport, Francisco was already up. At 0445 between smiles and tears we were all saying our goodbyes. I thanked Jerry and Kay for the opportunity they gave me to be there and for their hospitality and attentions. We would be gone before they came back from the airport. George gave me a big North Dakota hug that had “We Survived It!” all over it. My boys and I stood there waiving and watching the cars drive away. While walking back to the bunkhouse Francisco (yes, he’s the one that always says what he thinks) told me that we could go now that they were gone. We drove out of the Clark’s property at around 0600.

We met kids from almost all of the USPSA areas and spent a whole week shooting with some of the top shooters of the country and the world. Many of us, not just champions or grandmasters, could learn a big lesson in humility from Kay and Jerry Miculek and their family. I wish someday I could give back to the sport as they do with the camp effort and in the same spirit. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to give this experience to my sons, to have met ReneeT and Ken Hicks and to spend a whole week with the Miculek’s. A big THANK YOU to Jerry and Kay again, to Justin for the excellent meals and to the USPSA, especially Area 6 Director Charles Bond, for helping me make this one come true.

Nemo - Out

[shred]

great story.. Makes me want to go back to camp.

btw, those $15 cigarette-lighter AC inverters work pretty well at keeping laptop batteries alive in the car.

[Austin Bradley]

Heya Nemo, loved reading the story... made me wish I was back there. I am looking forward to all the pics you took down there. I think you got my email to send em all too. Look forward to seeing you at some more matches, hopefully Area 5.

Austin

[Nick Weidhaas]

Nemo,

Great report. My son Nick was there at camp with you all. He had a great time. Thanks for giving us all the day to day time line.

Best,

Nick Sr.

[Nemo]

Shredster, the laptop is property of my office. I solved the CarTV situation by buying an El Cheapo Wallyworld dvd sytstem for the trip back. It works.

Austin The photos are way too big for emails. I'll mail to you a CD with the pics, I already mailed one to Renee.

Nick Sr, having your son there was a pleasure. Great lil' gentleman. However, I had to keep telling him to shut up... Just kidding, Nick is a very quiet kid. I don't think he articulated more than 50 words during the whole week. PM or email me you mailing address, I'll send Lil' Nick a copy of the pics too.

[Daude]

A great write up on the junior camp. My son was the younger Jakob from Texas and he had a blast at the camp. I drove him up to Shreeveport but did not do the bunk dad thing. Wish that I had now. Kay invited to come back for the Sat. morning match with the kids and the wife and I left early to make it on time. That was a great deal of fun and I was glad that I got to shoot with them. I have not seen the match scores but I think that I had my hat handed to me by several of the youngsters and I could see that Jake had learned a lot in that week. The best thing about the camp my my point of view is that while Jake learned a lot there he also got to spend a week with kids his own age who shared his passion about shooting. Nemo was not kidding about how much they could eat. They had the pizza devoured in short order Sat. afternoon. Hats off to the bunk dads who put up with the smell of the great unwashed for so long and thanks to Ken at Area 4 for helping to fund two young shooters for camp this year. Plus my son presented me with a huge bag of shiny silver .45 cases

Darrell Daude

[reneet]

Link to Saturday match results.Junior Camp Match Results