Sweetwater Rendezvous

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Sweetwater had it's first rendezvous in 1982 on the north side of a small tree grove, across from the Bartell family farm. The rendezvous site snuggled right up to Sweetwater Lake. The event has relocated several times: once to the south side of the tree line, once out on a point south of the farm, back to the north side of the tree line, to the latest current location 1/2 mile northeast of the farm in a small wooded draw.

Over the years the rendezvous has had two of the locations overtaken by high water. The current location provides a wonderful mix of pine trees, high and low camp spots, beautiful sunsets, and a great 'little' 60 yard range.

Sweetwater Rendezvous, September 14-16, 2007

The 26th edition of Sweetwater Rendezvous was held on a cold, but sunny, weekend. The rendezvous started with shoots at noon on Friday and ended with the skillet toss on Sunday morning. Time between was spent enjoying a camp-sponsored breakfast both Saturday and Sunday, lots of prizes given away at the camp meeting, surprise visits from past club members, and old fashioned Rendezvous spirit.

Friday’s first shoot was Yukon’s Q-Tip shoot. At 15 yards, it was tough to hit them little suckers, especially without hitting the log they were stuck in (which was a disqualification). Joe Carda took top prize, with Sue Graves and Nick Hubsch 2nd and 3rd.

The next shoot was Joe’s Gopher Shoot. Five clay pigeons were placed at intervals from 20 yards to 65 yards in various positions on the ground. You had 5 minutes to hit as many as possible, without using speed loaders (assuming you could see all five). Mike Thelen took all five to place 1st, with Joe Carda and Sue Graves rounding out the top 3.

The next shoot was Zach’s Skunk Shoot (following the Skunk theme of the 2007 rendezvous). Don’t hit the skunk’s tail; it’ll cost you points! Griz proved to be the best varmint killer, with Joe Carda and Gayland Weisenburger following behind.

Saturday began with 3-Fangs Archery. While the wind blew arrows randomly and the targets started out more like concrete blocks, the competition was not deterred. John Graves won the 3-way shootout at the top, followed by Mike Thelen and Zach Weisenburger.

Following Archery was Pole-Hugger’s Animal shoot. Again, the wind created havoc when attempting to hit 3-inch targets at 20 yards. Gayland Weisenburger proved to compensate for the wind the best, while Leon Kaiser was able to win the tiebreaker over John Graves for 2nd.

After lunch, shooters divided into teams for the post-cut. With lines painted at the top and bottom of each post, several teams were eliminated, some on the first shot. In the end, John Graves and Terry Grimes were the first to cut their post without disqualifying. Nick Hubsch and Griz took 2nd, with Ralph Jescke and Mike Thelen managing 3rd by not disqualifying, even with gun trouble.

Gayland’s pistol shoot followed, with a few shooters sharing pistols. Griz won with a borrowed pistol, followed by Nick Hubsch and John Graves.

Badger’s Golf Driving Range and Ralph’s Shotgun shoot ran simultaneously to wrap up shooting on Saturday. Joe Carda prefers to use a muzzleloader over a golf club, as he won easily. Sue Graves and John Graves finished 2nd and 3rd. The shotgunners managed to catch a few clay birds in the gusting winds. John Graves, Griz, and Ralph Jescke took top honors.

While the shooters practiced wind evasion techniques, Pete’s Hawk and Knife kept people busy in the valley. Down there, the wind wasn’t blowing and it was a beautiful, warm day. This year, each contestant had to throw 5 times, with at least 2 being the knife. Pete Mattson took top honors in the adult division, followed by Frank Zahn and Zach Weisenburger. For the kids, 1st place went to Tyler Carda, followed by Dacotah Weisenburger and Carter Deyo.

At the camp meeting, “Father DeGross” made a return appearance after a long absence. It just so happened that a new baptism needed to be conducted. Apparently, a long-time ‘skinner tried to burn down his lodge over the weekend. Thus, all in attendance now refer to him as “CloseCall”. He wants a new lodge, but no one’s sure the best way to get one is to burn your old one down…

With the reduced number of camps (mayhap the initial weather reports scared some off!), the rendezvous was able to provide the camp-sponsored breakfast both Saturday and Sunday. With sausage provided by Frohlings Meats this year, the breakfast was a hit both days. Campers enjoyed their fill of Sausage, home-produced eggs and pancakes with syrup and homemade jam.

Following breakfast on Sunday was the traditional Sweetwater Skillet Toss. In the youth division, Kim was the winner, with Caden and Zach placing 2nd and 3rd. The adults, utilizing the “child-skillet-return-system” had lots of fun, with Leon Kaiser winning, followed by Linda Rasmus and John Thelen.

So wrapped the 2007 Sweetwater Rendezvous. It was wonderful having new camps, sad missing some regular camps, and great reminiscing with day-trippers from years past. Hope to see you all (and more!) in September 2008 for our 27th annual event. New pictures are up for 2007.