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Blasting out of the daily grind

12:58 PM PST on Thursday, January 24, 2008

By NORTHWEST BACKROADS

Have you ever had one of those days at work when you just want to blow something up to blow off some steam? Shoot your computer with a high-caliber rifle? You're not alone.

Where the Clearwater River wanders through the hillsides, you'll find Joe Huffman planting his father's fields with a thousand pounds of explosives.

One weekend a year, the quiet of rural Idaho is blown to smithereens by gun-toting, target-shooting, explosion-loving folks

They're teachers, physical therapists, and stock traders. They come from as far as Alaska and Florida for the chance to fire at targets that explode when you hit them.

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Boomershoot, as it's named, blasts them out of the daily grind.

Kevin Wagner, a software engineer from Seattle and a first-timer at Boomershoot, found out that hitting targets nearly 400 yards away isn't easy.

Stephanie Sailor ran two longshot cyber-campaigns for Congress with her laptop. They've been through a lot together and she could think of no better way to put it out of its misery than with explosives on the screen and good aim.

But anything is fair game and after a good day of blowing things up, these folks find it easier to return to their various jobs.

Boomershoot organizers are happy to report that no one has ever gotten shot, blown up or anything like that. They say they are very serious about safety.

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