Yesterday I joined several hundred other Maine sportsmen in attendance at the Second Annual Down East Sportsmen Cast & Blast in Ellsworth Maine.  I could not have had a better time than the 8 hours I spent there this sunny fall Saturday.

I started this day meeting my friend and co-worker Bill at 8:00 am.  Bill attended last years premiere Cast & Blast event with me as well.  We drove the five miles ride north towards Bangor where we found many folks had arrived early hoping to register for the competitions and prize drawings.  We found several tables being set up to register competitors into any one of four groups and non-competitors into a fifth group.  Nudging our way to the front we found ourselves at the front of the line for group 2 which meant we would start the day participating in the .22 caliber rifle shooting competition.  I managed to take pole position with group 2 being assigned competitor # 201 with Bill assigned # 202.  Group 2 ended up with a total of 30 competitors registered.  I assume the other groups were similarly sized as they all took about the same amount of time to cycle through their stages as the day progressed..  All competitions were scheduled to start at 10:00.

With an hour or so to go before the start of the competitions Bill and I headed to the food tables where I purchased a much appreciated cup of coffee while Bill also grabbed one of the reportedly delicious breakfast sandwiches prepared by the hard working support staff just prior to setting up.  We sipped our coffees while watching the crowd continue to grow as more and more participants arrived filling the parking lot and keeping those getting folks registered busy.

We also took advantage of this time to take a look at the Grand Champion trophy that was on display on one of the registration tables.  Neither of us had any realistic expectation of winning that trophy ourselves but someone would and they would certainly earn it having to achieve the highest overall score for the total of the four events being the .22 rifle competition, skeet shooting, fly casting and archery.  Each stage would also produce a top scorer for that stage who was awarded a $100 gift certificate to Willey’s Sport Center in Ellsworth who provided many of the drawing prizes and materials used to put on the event.

The 2009 Cast & Blast Grand Champion Trophy

So at 10:00 the competitions began and being the first one up in my group I took my position as the first shooter of the day in the .22 rifle competition.  We were each allotted 3 shots at approximately 50 yards.  A bulls-eye earned the shooter 10 points, a hit anywhere in the black earned you 5 points and outside the black or off the paper earned you no points.  The rifles provided were fine bolt action .22’s and to my embarrassment I never did look at them closely to see what make they were, trying instead to focus more on my target and the much appreciated fiber optic sites.  I managed three shots all in the black per the spotter which earned me a total of 15 points for this stage of the competition.

Stage 2: .22 Caliber Rifle Competition

Then Bill steps up.  To his credit Bill put me to shame with a solid bulls-eye hit plus two in the black for a total of 20 points on this stage.  We would find later in the day that this score was the top score for this stage shared by approximately 14 other shooters resulting in a shoot-off to determine the top performer later in the afternoon.

From here we moved on as a group to stage 3 which was the skeet shooting competition.  Again being first up I took my position and after some instruction I was handed a Remington 870 12 Ga. and one shot shell at a time for a total of six shots.  Last year I was very pleased to have gotten 3 out of 6.  This year I repeated my performance getting again 3 out of 6 for a total of another 15 points for this stage giving me a grand total of 30 points for the day thus far.

Stage 3 : Skeet Shooting Competition

Then Bill steps up.  Yet again Bill put me to shame and proved to be the only member of our group to earn a perfect score of 6 out of 6 in skeet shooting earning himself a total of 30 points for this stage and a grand total of 50 points thus far for the day.  Things were looking really good for Bill.

This stage ended around noon when all competitions broke for a gathering in the center of the field where we were entertained by some inspirational and patriotic songs, an inspirational message from a preacher with the gospel group that organized the event immediately followed by drawings for the many prizes offered that day.

The noontime break for the inspirational message

I had my camera out hoping to get a shot of the drawings and snapped a picture of the very first drawing.  To my amazement and shock my name was read as the first prize winner!  I won a Reddington fly rod set and when I went to the stage had the pleasure of drawing the name of the next winner.  The drawings went on in this manner until all prizes had been awarded.  Several firearms were awarded including two Remington 870 shotguns, two .22 caliber rifles, bow sets, another fly rod set, gift certificates and a grand prize of a Remington 700 BDL in 30-06 with a Leupold scope.  When they read the first name for that BDL as William Bill started to get excited!  Unfortunately for Bill the last name was not his but we both clapped in congratulations for the winner just the same.

The drawing for the Remington 700 BDL 30-06 w/ Leupold Scope

Following another trip to the food tables for a cheeseburger lunch and a Sprite our group moved on to stage 4, the Fly Casting competition.  First of all I must mention that neither Bill nor myself had ever touched a fly rod before this day.  Maybe it’s fortuitous that I won a fly rod set because it quickly became clear I need extensive practice if I am ever to attempt that competition again.  The goal was to successfully land the fly into any one of three plastic kid’s pools set out at different distances before us.  The closest pool would earn you 3 points, the middle pool 5 points and the furthest out would give you 10 points.  I failed miserably missing the pool with each attempt.  Frankly I am amazed that I didn’t leave that stage with a new experience of body piercing with a fly embedded in some part of my person.  We were also allowed the opportunity to try the same course with a spin-cast setup but as I tried to make up for my shortcomings with the fly rod I aimed all three shots at the furthest pool.   It seems close doesn’t count in a casting competition.

Stage 4 : The Casting competition

Then Bill steps up.  I think Bill may have been trying to make me feel a little better after my embarrassing debut of fly fishing inadequacy as he performed a little better but with some closer hits but no splashes in the pools and thus no points earned at this stage.  Our performance seemed to be fairly common with a small handful of participants standing out with clear skill and form and two members of group 2 actually achieving 10 point hits in the furthest pool!  Note to self: No more public fly fishing displays without further practice.

After this we moved on to our final stage which was stage 1, the archery competition.  Yet again this involved a skill set that I had no experience with.  So competitor #201 stepped up and took hold of a compound bow for the first time in his life.  After sharing this with the expert overseeing and instructing this stage I was given a short but exceptionally patient and informative explanation of how to do what needed to be done.  In fact when it came to this stage I would clearly have earned some points if a shot to the knee was considered to be a hit ….. but I’ll let it suffice to say that although I enjoyed the experience greatly I earned no additional points from this stage.

Stage 1 : The Archery competition

Then Bill steps up.  Bill had like myself had never used a bow before.  He is also left handed and unfortunately had to try to use a right handed bow.  This didn’t give him much of a chance with this stage but he clearly enjoyed the experience and like myself learned a great deal from it.  I can’t say enough about how great the instructor was for this stage.  The patience and willingness he demonstrated to help us through it was incredible and greatly appreciated.

So after the wonderful learning and character building experiences of the fly fishing and archery competitions Bill was one of the names called back to the .22 rifle stage and then the skeet shooting stage for a shoot off competition amongst those who tied for top scores in those stages.  In the .22 rifle stage there were 14 or 15 shooters tied for the top spot and Bill did not make the cut for the final winner.

For the skeet shooting shoot off however Bill was one of four for the day who had achieved a perfect score of 6 out of 6.  One of those four had left which left only three still in competition.  Those three took part in a best of 10 showdown.  Bill went first getting a score of 8 out of 10.  The second shooter also got 8 out of 10 and the final shooter got 6 out of 10.  This required an additional shoot-off between Bill and his only other competition for this stage.  It was agreed that the two of them would take part in a best  of 5.

Bill again went first successfully blasting 3 of the 5 clays.  The second shooter then stepped up and fired an amazing perfect set of 5 out of 5.  Several handshakes and congratulatory comments were shared following that  outstanding shoot-off to all who took part.

So while Bill was in the running for two of four $100 gift certificates for his performance in the competition stages he ended the day going home with no prizes.  He did go home with the knowledge that amongst all the shooters that day that he was the #2 skeet competitor out of a probable 150 shooters which is an amazing job in my book.  Especially for a man who claims to have not touched a shotgun since last year’s event.

I ended up missing the name of the overall Champion who was awarded the trophy but did catch that he had an overall score for the day of 63 or 64 points.

This 2009 Cast & Blast proved to be an incredible day of fellowship, of competition, of learning and a celebration of our freedoms and our love of the outdoors.  It definitely added fuel to my own spiritual fires already burning in anticipation of the coming deer season and to next year’s Third Annual Cast & Blast!  My thanks and appreciation to everyone involved with this event whether you were an organizer, a volunteer, a member of the support staff, a supplier of materials or prizes or if you were a participant like myself and my friend Bill, thank you very much for a wonderful time!

Jeff Cash