Punkin Chunkin' Anyone?

Vaughn McMillan

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Went out Saturday to Estancia, NM (about 50 miles from here) to the Punkin Chunkin' contest. This was the 18th annual meet, and the winner of this competition goes to the World Championships in Delaware next month. I was actually prodded into going by Nate Davey, but I was late getting there and Nate had already left by the time I got there. Still, I had a good time with my sister and her husband.

This event was pretty small, with only nine or ten chunkin' devices. There was only one trebuchet, and the rest were air cannons, but it was still very cool to watch these folks shoot a pumpkin over half a mile. :D The longest distance we heard announced was 2900 feet and change. There were also a few food vendors, but the whole thing had a very small town feel to it. (Especially in comparison to the Balloon Fiesta, which was going on the last two weekends. The Balloon Fiesta had tens of thousands of people daily.)

Here are a few quick photos...

The entire line-up of chunkers:

Punkin%20Chunkin%202013%20%2001%20-%20800.jpg


A couple of the smaller cannons:

Punkin%20Chunkin%202013%20%2002%20-%20800.jpg


A few bigger ones...The "Oh Deere" cannon was being towed by a John Deere tractor. The pink and black one was called "Bedazzled", and it was 'manned' by a bunch of women. And "The Judge" was shaped like a six-shooter:

Punkin%20Chunkin%202013%20%2003%20-%20800.jpg


And the big boys:

Punkin%20Chunkin%202013%20%2004%20-%20800.jpg


This shot of the guys loading "El Launcho Grande" gives a pretty good idea of the scale of these things:

Punkin%20Chunkin%202013%20%2009%20-%20800.jpg


The high-tech scoreboard:

Punkin%20Chunkin%202013%20%2005%20-%20800.jpg


And the food offerings at one of the vendors:

Punkin%20Chunkin%202013%20%2007%20-%20800.jpg


And in case you're wondering what a "Navajo Taco" is, it's a piece of Indian fry bread topped with meat, beans, green and/or red chile, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. Good stuff:

Punkin%20Chunkin%202013%20%2008%20-%20800.jpg


And here's a panorama shot showing everything in MUCH closer detail. (This is a big file and may take a few moments to load on your computer.) Click on the picture after it's displayed to see the full sized version.

http://tg3k.com/images/punkin chunkin 2013/Punkin Chunkin Pano Full.jpg

All in all, it was a fun way to spend the afternoon.
 
Looks like great fun. Last time I was visiting my Grandson we took him to a pumpkin patch. We just missed them dropping some great big pumpkins (over 100 lbs.) from a helicopter. They had a car as a target, boy, did they make a mess if the car. Smashed it pretty flat.
 
The fall on the trebuchet is interesting. You get a little more draw out of the curve, effectively its a "recurve" of trebuchets. I "just" (well 4-5 months ago) finished reading "the traditional bowyer" series (interesting for some things if you're not into bows/archery..) and I thought it was interesting to see the design pattern echoed here.

Personally, although I understand that you'll never win the distance with them, the more old fashioned throwers are more interesting. The distance champs are clearly the air guns and the more air you can pack into it and the closer the pumpkin fit with the longer barrel wins. The physics there are pretty straight forward. Sure it would be fun to make/fire one.. but my heart is with the other designs.
 
The fall on the trebuchet is interesting. You get a little more draw out of the curve, effectively its a "recurve" of trebuchets. I "just" (well 4-5 months ago) finished reading "the traditional bowyer" series (interesting for some things if you're not into bows/archery..) and I thought it was interesting to see the design pattern echoed here.

Personally, although I understand that you'll never win the distance with them, the more old fashioned throwers are more interesting. The distance champs are clearly the air guns and the more air you can pack into it and the closer the pumpkin fit with the longer barrel wins. The physics there are pretty straight forward. Sure it would be fun to make/fire one.. but my heart is with the other designs.

I agree on the trebuchet...I was hoping there would be more of them at this event.

After the competition was over, they were offering to let spectators fire any of the guns they wanted. $5.00 for two pumpkins, or $10 for five. I would have liked to have done it, but we needed to get back to town
 
Had I only known I would have been there with bells on. I'll drive a long ways for funnel cake, pumpkin funnel cake sounds even more killer!

I favor the old style stuff too. I have seen the national or world event on TV with three or more types of throwers and it was way cool to watch. If I ever had nothing but time and money I'd have to plant a pumpkin patch just for practice ammo. Maybe combine a trebuchet with a Rube Goldberg device. Wonder if I could two stage it, maybe three or four stage it. I'm thinking Fred Flintstone's version of a rail gun . . .

Hu
 
Man Vaughn u get up to such cool things. Here i thought i had a great weekend going to a rodeo. ;)

I have to put this event on my bucket list.



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Man Vaughn u get up to such cool things. Here i thought i had a great weekend going to a rodeo. ;) ...

Hey, rodeos are fun, too. I went to one of those a few weeks ago. :)

As I mentioned earlier, I blame Nate Davey for talking (or more precisely, goading) me into going. I had other plans that I cancelled so I could attend this event. I don't usually share this kind of thing, but here's the PM exchange from a couple of nights ago:

Nate: Estancia Punkin Chunkin tomorrow?

Me: Aw man, sounds fun but I've already committed to other stuff.

Nate: It's Punkin Chunkin, Vaughn.

Me: LOL, what time does it start and end?

Who could say no to an argument like that? :D
 
...I favor the old style stuff too. I have seen the national or world event on TV with three or more types of throwers and it was way cool to watch. If I ever had nothing but time and money I'd have to plant a pumpkin patch just for practice ammo. Maybe combine a trebuchet with a Rube Goldberg device. Wonder if I could two stage it, maybe three or four stage it. I'm thinking Fred Flintstone's version of a rail gun . . .

Hu

I suspect one of the reasons why the cannons were more prevalent at this event is because the parts are more available and the fabrication is a lot simpler. A trebuchet or catapult requires a strong frame, heavy axles, and overall beefiness in order to withstand the stresses. Lots of steel stock and welding. A cannon can be made from parts that are often laying around the farm or ranch...a few sections of irrigation pipe, an old LPG or fertilizer tank, a big compressor, and a big ball valve are really all you need. I noticed some of the guns Saturday incorporated the steel wheels from rolling sprinkler systems.

I was wondering how much air pressure the cannons were using. According to this article, they only use about 100 psi:

http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2010-01/air-cannon-sends-pumpkins-3700-feet
 
I have never attended one of these events but they fascinate me. They seem to be just the right mix of red neck fun and scientific innovation. I like the idea of chunkin' a pumpkin a half mile just because you can.

The food looks wonderful but I am really hungry this morning. Well, I am hungry every morning but the food still looks good.
 
Don't care much about the Punkin Chunkin... but that Navajo Taco looks like my kind of eating... had one similar on the res in Tucson out near the White Cathedral... was it ever DEEEEELICIOUS....
 
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