Buck Dodgers, Tombstone John, Sheriff Frank Canton and I (Randy Saint Eagle) hitched up the covered wagon and planned to head out before daylight Thursday morning to Greenville South Carolina. I say planned because we ended up leaving about an hour later than expected (ask Frank). John brought two boxes of country ham and biscuits so we ate well on our journey.
We rolled onto the grounds of the Greenville Gun Club, home of the Greenville Gunfighters and Manse's Revenge around 2 pm. We checked in, got our badges, unhitched the wagon, unpacked our gear and headed to the Side Matches.
We were treated to the usual speed events, I don't know about Long Range, I didn't notice any signs but since I don't shoot it, I wasn't really looking. Buck had a great run with the rifle, 10 shots alternating on 2 targets in 2.74 seconds. That run held and Buck won the Speed Rifle Plaque.
After the Side Matches we finished setting up our "range camp" and found the "bunkhouse" (Phoenix Inn). After checking we we went in search of a steak, which we found at Outback.
I had to be at the range a little early Friday morning for the Posse Marshall walk thru, so we tore ourselves away from the breakfast buffet at the Pheonix and got to the range about 8 am. This was my first time to be a Posse Marshall at a big match and I want to thank Cowboy Junky for asking me. I now have a new found appreciation for Posse Marshalls.
The opening ceremonies started at 9:30 and after the Pledge, Prayer and Safety meeting we were on our stages and ready to shoot by 10 am. The stages were well thought out with good props, and enough movement to keep it fun. There was only one "Stand and Deliver" stage and it had a pistol knock down to keep it interesting.
Stages 1 and 2 are up on the hill and a pretty good hike from stage 5 but they provided a wagon to haul you and your gear up and back.
They had 2 small posses on the same stage so one worked while the other shot. This worked well and we had a good group of cowboys and cowgirls on posses 7 and 8 including Boozy Creek, Posse Marshall for 8, Sonora Moon, Rounder, Lucky RK, Shamrock Paddy, Dustin Clays, El Carerra, Santa Fe Gal, Abeline Al, Lightning McCoy, Blackwater, Three Cut, Kid Ziggy, Amorous Ali (who had to drop out the second day due to a back injury),Frank, Buck, John and I. I hope I didn't leave out anyone.
We finished the first five stages by about 1:30 and had the rest of the afternoon to check out the vendors and catch a late lunch. For every $20 you spent with a vendor you got a voucher to swap for a raffle ticket. The raffle included two guns, a knife and a holster rig.
Pants A Fire Meyer, Amy and Rocky Walls invited us to their house for a cookout Friday night where we feasted on some fine burgers and all the fixins. We also got to shoot the breeze with them, Dancin' Duelist, Potshot Parker, Harman Hammer and a couple others who's names I can't remember (sorry). We also feasted on some fantastic homemade chocolate chip cookies (thanks Amy).
Saturday brought the last five stages and they were just as good as the first five. I struggled a little on some of these, the stages were fine but I had a few too many "Senior Moments". They had a posse shoot where every posse member armed with 10 rounds in their rifle cut a 2x4 in two, all firing at the same time. Posse 9/10 won with a time of just over 7 seconds.
After all the shooting was over we broke camp and hauled our covered wagon back to the bunkhouse. We stopped on the way for ice cream in honor of Papa Dave since he couldn't make this trip with us.
I'd like to thank Cowboy Junky and all the Greenville Gunfighters for a well done match. This was their first time to host the South Carolina State Championship and it was a good one.
Saturday night was the Awards Banquet and we were treated to some good food and fellowship. Most of the cowboys and cowgirls clean up real nice.
Marshall Harland Wolf was the Top Gun of the Match, followed by Dang It Dan, Red River Ray, Cowboy Junky and Kid Ray rounded out the Top 5.
Sixgun Sally was the Ladies Top Gun, followed by Shamrock Sadie, Ms Jewel, Slick's Sharp Shooter and Carolina Girl rounded out the Ladies Top 5.
Buck Dodgers was the Top Wartrace shooter, along with winning Speed Rifle he was
3rd Wrangler 10th Overall
Randy Saint Eagle 5th Duelist 46th Overall
Tombstone John 4th Silver Senior 54th Overall
Sheriff Frank Canton 7th Senior 88th Overall
Blackwater Desperado 4th Frontier Cartridge Gunfighter 158th Overall.
They had a total of 164 shooters.
For a look at some videos we took click on the link below to my YouTube Channel.
Wartracecowboy's Channel Complete ScoresProfessional photos by Longeye
