May 21, 2011 – Camp Verde, AZ

Actually the above heading could read “Steve Timarac, aka TIMARAC the MAGNIFICENT Wins AOA monthly FT match”.  I know this because of an email sent to me last night after the match to make sure I spelled his name right.  I asked him what his secret to success was, and he stated that a recent procedure, known as a Steve-ectomy really tightened his grip and forced him to focus, not to mention deepening his voice, but more on that later.

If you look at the above picture, Steve is the big guy standing on the right holding the trophy; you will also see that there are 26 people shown there.  That is quite a good turnout for a monthly match and has become somewhat of a trend with our club.  We were back up in Camp Verde at Bobby and Sandy’s place, and what a day we had for shooting field target.  At the start of the match, the sky was clear and bright with a temperature of 64 degrees, and would warm to the low 80’s (welcome to Arizona) with partially cloudy skies.  It was perfect shooting weather for the 21 competitors who braved the windless conditions.  This should have resulted in 21 perfect scores except for one factor: Bobby Corcorran!

You see, Bobby just got back from the annual Temecula Challenge at LD’s place the week prior and was inspired to go one better.  We had some really small kill zones at some rather long distances in some rather unusual positions with lots of obstacles in the way.  To top that off, Bobby had the assistance of his next-door neighbor, Joe, who helped “decorate” some of these targets.  Club member Larry Nelson arrived a day early to also help plan and set up this devious course layout.  The bird targets actually had feathers and the furry critters were sporting, well…fur!  These guys took full advantage for making some of the targets “come to life”!

We had 7 new shooters this month, so we must be doing something  right.  Rick & Klaudia Malanowski, Dr. Carl Shrader (placing 3rd), and Jessie Janes all shot open class.  James Stringer (placing 3rd) with son Justin, and Scott Muller (placing 2nd) shot hunter class.  All had a great time and we welcomed them to our growing group of airgunaholics.

Even with the difficulty factor built into the course, there were some pretty good scores being posted.  Timarac the Magnificent shot a blazing 36 out of 40.  Steve, in addition to having a dog and cat, has several birds (parrots and macaws) that he has taught how to somersault, and could be a headliner at one of the Vegas casino’s with an act called “Flipping the Bird”, which is what he is probably doing to me right at this moment.

Steve Montgomery decided to shoot piston class this month and very quietly posted a very good 24.  I prevailed in HFT to win with a 23 despite loosing my cheat sheet, which could be buried here on my desk somewhere.

Here are the scores: 

After we finished shooting, and mercifully there were no shoot-offs this month, we were spoiled once again by Sandy’s culinary expertise.  She grilled chicken breasts, brats, and sausages, and had salad, potato salad, brownies, cookies, and those incredibly wonderful cream cheese squares.  Those are unbelievably delicious!  I went to take pictures of the targets after the match finished and the pictures of the food tables show what was left when I got back.

We were also treated to the arrival of Mary Anne and Scott Rogers with their new-born twins; the newest members of Airgunners of Arizona.  It was good to see them after some time away from the group.  Greg Frostad also traveled from New Mexico with his boys to be part of the festivities, but did not shoot in competition this time.  All in all it was a wonderful day and was hard to say goodbye to make the trek home to Phoenix.

Next month we will be back up at Mormon Lake shooting in the cool  pines as the weather starts to warm up here in the valley.  We will shoot the 2nd Saturday, June 11 instead of our usual 3rd Saturday due to a scheduling conflict with the Boy Scouts for the site that we use.  Refer to the club website, www.airgunsofarizona.com/Airgunners for more information, or email me if in need of additional information.

Many thanks go to Bobby and Sandy Corcorran for their wonderful hospitality and for opening their home to our motley crew.  You guys always go above and beyond the call of duty and we are very appreciative.  Thanks go to Joe Gramont & Larry Nelson for assisting with course set up.  Thanks also to Greg Frostad and Pam Tlapa for attending to photographic duties.  A BIG thank you to Steve Timarac for being such a good sport and enduring my sense of humor.  Your emails DO give me a lot of material to work with…LOL

Until next month, practice, practice, practice.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Kauffman
Secretary, Airgunners of Arizona