Black Gold Shoot Out 2

Thursday morning I saddled my pony and headed to over to Tombstone's John's spread. We loaded his wagon and headed north to The Ponderosa Pines for Copperhead Joe's Black Gold Shoot Out 2. Right after we got through the badlands near Columbia, KY we had to circle the wagon to avoid trouble, but that's another story.

We rolled into Ponderosa Pines in the rain about mid-afternoon. We signed in and headed to the side matches to check out the range and make sure all our guns were ready to go. They offered all the usual side matches plus a few interesting ones. Long range wrong hand pistol and Long range Outlaw pistol for a couple.

After the Side Matches ended we checked out the vendors, visited with old friends and met some new ones. We had dinner at the range and went back to the room to get ammo ready and go over the shooters book.

Friday morning Copperhead Joe welcomed everyone to the range. T-Bone Dooley had a brief safety meeting. We had a little cowgirl sing the National Anthem, followed by the Pledge and a Prayer, then we were off to start shooting. We were blessed with a little rain (it's been pretty dry around most parts) and even more blessed that most of the rain that fell over the weekend was after the shooting was finished and gear put away. The stages were good, targets were big enough, close enough and there were no "P-Traps". After we finished 5 stages we had lunch on the range, visited with more friends before heading to the room to get ready for the night's festivities.

We had dinner at the range, side match awards and and a country band.  In case you haven't noticed the trend, all lunches and dinners were included. Also "Desert Wars" was going on with all money raised going to the SASS Scholarship Fund.

Saturday morning brought the last 5 stages and we were blessed that the rain held off until we were finished.
All the stages had some movement to them, so you didn't get bored, but not so much that you felt like you were at a track meet.

The humidity was high all weekend but they kept water and sports drinks on the range so everyone could stay hydrated. They had several canopies up so you could get in some shade if you weren't working or shooting.

Saturday night brought on more food with a real good Fish Fry. Copperheads family did the cooking all weekend and if you left hungry any day it was your own fault.

Tennessee Tall and her friends passed out door prizes and all shooters present got something. Copperhead, Miss Bo and Ringer gave out the Main Match awards and congratulated all shooters.

Top Gun of the match was Prestidigitator, Sixgun Sallie was the Ladies Top Gun. Second overall was Red River Ray, followed by Lead Ringer, Little Wing, Asleep At The Wheel, Fast Eddie, Boozy Creek, Unpleasant, Missouri Lefty and T-Bone Dooley rounded out the Top 10.

This shoot was the second leg of The Triple Crown and drew some really good shooters and close competition, the top 4 shooters were separated by 3.3 seconds. It drew shooters from 15 states and as far away as Oregon and California.

For complete scores check out their Website .

Then to close out a great weekend Blackwater Desperado and Milkbone played their great Southern Rock.



It's hard to see in the pictures but if you look to the left of some of the award pictures you can see the Rainbow God blessed us with.

Check out my YouYube Channel for some videos I took. Wartracecowboys Channel.

A special thanks to Rose and Boots, Copperhead Joe's parents, because as Joe said without them none of this would have been possible, including Joe.

If you missed this match, I'm sorry. If you're looking for a laid back match for next year check this out and sign up early cause it doubled in size from last year.

Happy Trails and may all your shots "Ring Steel".

Wartrace Regulators July 7 Cowboy Match

31 Cowboys and Cowgirls braved the 100+ degree heat to roll into Wartrace and have some Cowboy Action fun. Whiskey Hayes and Papa Dave for the first time I can remember, decided due to the extreme heat to have a relaxed cowboy dress code. The only requirement was a cowboy hat, I think it was welcomed by everyone.

Whiskey had his usual great stages with a good amount of movement on all but the Corral. But we had two clay tossers and clay birds to shoot, all we were missing was the Texas Star [or better yet 2 stars].

We shot all our stages in town, besides the Corral we shot the Train, Depot, Livery and Jail. There was plenty of ice water on the range to keep folks hydrated.

We had two shooters shooting their first Cowboy Match, Miss Scarlett and Joe Smith (a Buckaroo). I hope they enjoyed it and come back again.

Buck Dodgers was the Top Gun of the day, followed by Duck River, Barkeep, Randy Saint Eagle and Papa Dave rounded out the Top 5.

We had 2 Clean shooters, Cheyenne Thornton and Deadwood Miner, congratulations guys.

We had 7 Alabama shooters come up and join us, hope you pards can make it back often. I'd like to say a special thanks to Lickskillet Charlie for delivering my bullets.

I had to work in the morning and didn't get to the range until Posse 1 was almost finished with their 2nd stage, so I wasn't able to take any pictures. I have to thank both posses for letting me cut in and jump back and forth to catch up.

Scores When Available

A few of us are heading north next week to shoot in Copperhead Joe's  Black Gold Shoot-Out
if you have some time and are looking for a really fun shoot call Joe and come on they'll make room for you.

The next match at Wartrace will be the July 14 Cowboy/Wild Bunch.

Until we meet again, Happy Trails and may all your shots ring steel.