Georgia State Championship

Tombstone John rode over to my spread bright and early Thursday morning. We loaded down the wagon, hitched up the team and headed to Covington, Georgia for the

Georgia State Championship.

We had an uneventful trip until the new fangled map (GPS) tried to put us in downtown Atlanta. We rolled into South River Gun Club in time to check in and McKenzie River Drifter took us for a ride in his buckboard to show us where the long range was. I'm glad he took us for a ride because he told us Long Range didn't start till 1pm and I had planned to start there first to try the Long Range Pistol, he saved us a lot of walking.

We unloaded and headed down the hill to the range in time to shoot a few Side Matches before the Warm Up Match. We got down to 2 shooters left and it started to rain but we covered our guns and got through it. We stood under a canopy for a BS session while waiting for the rain to stop. At 4pm I had to go to the Posse Marshall walk thru and after that we met up with Dodge City Dixie and Reno Mustang and went over the next days stages. Later we all met up with Alchemist Belle, Donald Duke and Branchwater Jack for Dinner.

Friday after the Safety Meeting, a prayer and the pledge we headed to Stage 9 to meet up with our Posse. Posse 9 consisted of Regulator Rude, Badlands Barry, Reno Mustang, Dodge City Dixie, Pilgrim Joe, Hopalong Mac, El Viejo Lobo, Laredo Lou, Pe De, Alchemist Belle, Donald Duke, Branchwater Jack, Tombstone John, Rider in the Sky and Randy Saint Eagle. I have to say we had a Great Posse, everyone worked and made it a very enjoyable weekend.

Stage 9 started with the rifle and shotgun staged at position 1, pistols holstered. Starting position was SASS default, at the beep you shot a Progressive Sweep with the rifle, shot 4 knock downs with the shotgun anywhere between position 1 and position 2 where you made the shotgun safe. You finished with a Progressive Sweep with the pistols. This was my best stage and I think I was so excited it went well, when I got to stage 10 I missed a rifle target. Stage 10 had 4 shooting positions and 6 shotgun KD's. We shot stages 9, 10, 1 (3 positions), 2 (4 positions), 3 (3 positions) and 4 (the only Stand and Deliver stage in the match). I really enjoyed the movement on the stages. God blessed us with a mostly dry day that was much better than the forecast.

After the Main Match stages they had a Couples Match and a Team Match but we decided to stow our gear and eat some lunch instead of shooting any more. 6 stages in a day is about all I want to shoot most days.

Saturday morning we finished up the final 4 stages starting on Stage 5 (3 shooting positions), 6 (2 positions), 7 (2 positions) and 8 (4 positions) so we had plenty of movement on the last day as well. After the shooting was finished we went down to check out the vendors and found a freezer full of Dilly bars thanks to DQ (Dairy Queen) Jones. The afternoon was time for the Man on Man (or Woman) Shoot-Off. Due to threatening rain we decided to eat lunch it the Club House and share some lies with Tombstone John, Hopalong Mac, El Viejo Lobo, Dodge City Dixie and Reno Mustang. I found out that Hopalong was smoking me on one stage right up until he had a squib load (that Lobo loaded), that's his story and he's sticking to it.

Videos by Dodge City Dixie

Videos by Pilgrim Joe

Photos by Pilgrim Joe

Videos by Krazy Kajun

The Awards Banquet Saturday night was at the Georgia Horse Park and it was a real nice facility.

Banquet

Wartrace Regulators faired well,

Donald Duke, 2nd Buckaroo
Hopalong Mac, 10 Senior Duelist
El Viejo Lobo,  9th Elder Statesman
Pilgrim Joe, 12th Senior
Tombstone John, 6th Elder Statesman
Pe De, 9th Cowboy
Alchemist Belle, 3rd Lady Wrangler
Branchwater Jack, 1st Frontier Cartridge Gunfighter
Reno Mustang, 1st Senior Gunfighter
Randy Saint Eagle, 1st Senior Duelist
Dodge City Dixie, 1st Ladies Senior

Top Gun of the match was Prestidigitator, followed by Santa Fe River Stan, Wabash Valley Slim, Dang-It Dan, Ozark Azz, Christian Mortician, Blackhawk Henry, Fast Eddie, Cowboy Junky and Kid Ray rounded out the Top 10.

Slick's Sharp Shooter was the Ladies Top Gun, followed by Shamrock Sadie, Dodge City Dixie, Renegade Roper, Maggie Darlin', Dixie Pistols, Hawkeye Gin, Sue Render, Witch Doctor and Alchemist Belle rounded out the Ladies Top 10.

Complete Scores

I want to thank Fast Eddie and all  involved in putting on this great match. Tombstone John and I had plenty of good things to reminisce about on the way home.

 Don't forget to get your entries in for Tennessee State Championship October 6-8  it should be another great one. For more information about activities with the Wartrace Regulators always check out our   Website

Happy Trails and may all your shots ring steel.