2017 Tennessee State Championship

We started preparation for this years Tennessee State Championship shortly after last years ended but the actual match started last weekend with the Workers Shoot-thru. We have a Shoot-thru because we use Berm Marshals, office personnel and others it takes to be able to run a match like this. Saturday was a pretty good  day but since they were calling for 100% chance of rain on Sunday we decided to shoot all 10 stages on Saturday. It made for a long day but it turned out to be the right choice.

We had so much rain it was Wednesday before we could get back on the range to repaint targets, setup the side matches and put on the finishing touches before the match started on Thursday. There was a lot to be done but we had enough help to make it all work.

Thursday morning the side matches started with the usual Speed Matches including Pocket Pistol, Derringer, Cut The Rope, Long Range (including Pistol), Black Powder, Wild Bunch and Warm-up Match.

 Thursday was also "ARE YOU TOUGH ENOUGH TO WEAR PINK" day, we started doing this a few years ago to raise money for the American Cancer Society and Cowgirls and Cowboys have really stepped up to support this. Last year we were able to collect over $2300 so I was really worried about trying to match that this year but we had a lot of support. Dusty Wilcox donated a custom knife that we raffled off for $250, Klassic Laser Works made pink badges that said Tough Enough To Wear Pink and they donated all the money, $250. Blue Eyed Drifter and Vix-n with Vaqueros along with Widder and Red Knee donated a case of AA shells for the best Pink Cowboy, one for the  Best Pink Cowgirl and another case with the winner drawn from everyone wearing pink. Mrs. Pleasant came up with the idea to have posses collect money with the posse collecting the most getting a free shoot to next years Tennessee State Championship. Then they could decide however they wanted who would get the shoot. Whiskey signed off on it so we put it in motion.

We had several folks try the "Cut The Rope" target, a 1/4" rope 30' away. TN Missy (Squeaky) spent the most time there and cut 8 of them. Several other folks cut them with rifle or  pistol, I cut 2 with a rifle, 1 with a pistol and for the 2nd year I was the only one to cut one with a derringer.

After the regular Side Matches ended we had a Top Gun Shoot-Off with everyone eligible to enter. We have the only one I've heard of that has 3 Categories, Traditional, Gunfighter and Duelist. Sixgun Schwaby was the Duelist winner, Slater won Gunfighter and Prestidigitator won Traditional and Overall.

Thursday night also brought the Chili Cook-off with several entering chili and all of us present were the judges. Chas. B. Wolfson had the winning chili.

Friday Morning started with Whiskey Hayes welcoming everyone, Papa Dave having the Safety Meeting, Pleasant offering a Prayer and leading us in the Pledge. As everyone started to their stages the ladies stopped for a LOCAS (Ladies of Cowboy Action Shooting) picture, best I could tell there were 43 present.

After everyone completed their 1st 5 stages and broke for lunch we had the Team match where we draw 3 person teams out of a box so they are completely random. This years winning team was PeDe, Widowmaker Hill and Christian Mortician. After the team match we had lots of challenge matches including a '97 challenge to Red Knee, Widder and Missouri Traveler by 3 Wild Bunch shooters. The Cowboys started with empty shotguns and the Wild Bunch started with stoked shotguns. Each team had 21 knock down targets and all 6 shooters shot at the same time. The Cowboys won.

Following dinner on the range we had Side Match awards and Blue Eyed Drifter announced the best Pink Cowgirl, Dodge City Dixie and the best Pink Cowboy, Randy Saint Eagle (me), I auctioned off the case of AA's I won and Korupt Karl paid $150 which was added to our Cancer Fund jug. I also won the Long Range Pistol side match.

Whiskey Hayes drew names and every shooter present won a bottle of some type of Jack Daniels (Buckarettes and Buckaroos got alternate prizes) I think around 200 bottles were given out.

Saturday morning  brought out the final 5 stages of the match and the weather was just as great as Thursday and Friday. Klassic Laser Works finished up our awards and Ricochet Ruthie, Ida Shot'em and I headed over to the Bell Buckle Cafe Banquet Hall to get the Awards setup. This year we did it in record time, it only took a couple of hours.

Folks were rolling into the Banquet Hall by 5 to socialize and get ready for dinner.  When we got their we learned that Posse 1 ramrodded by Ocoee Red collected $567 and won the free shoot. We also learned that $3900 had been collected by all methods we had used. This was $1600 more than we collected last year and I was amazed, but it wasn't over. Unpleasant stopped me with a Challenge, if we could get that up to $5000 he would write us a $1000 check. Whiskey made the announcement and I started canvassing the room asking for more money. After a few minutes we were  $267 short and Mrs. Pleasant jumped in to help us collect what we needed. Then we had Unpleasant come up and he handed us a check for $1000 bringing our grand total to $6150.00. I was almost speechless, I never dreamed we would be able to collect that much money. Thank You to all the Cowgirls and Cowboys who donated all this money, hopefully donations like this will help in finding cures.

This year the Jedi Council inducted Shamrock Sadie as the newest Jedi Gunfighter, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving person. Congratulations Sadie and May The Force Be With You.

First thing we always do at the Banquet after eating is recognize the State Champions in each category and I was able to win mine, Senior Duelist. Next we go 5 deep in Category Awards and recognize everyone who shot a "Clean Match", there were 27.

Then we recognize the Overall State Champion Cowgirl, Slick's Sharp Shooter and Overall State Champion Cowboy, Boxx Carr Kid and

 The Overall Top Gun Cowgirl, Shamrock Sadie and Overall Top Gun for the match Prestidigitator (Tator).

Top 20 shooters were:
Tator
Duke Skywalker
Indiana Loose Cannon
Vaquero Jake
Fast Eddie
Boxx Carr Kid
Christian Mortician
Blackhawk Henry
Hurricane Charly
Cumberland Drifter
Billy The Avenger
Mr. Black
Potshot Parker
Slater
Gun-Em-Down
Double Nickle
Shamrock Sadie
Widowmaker Hill
Copperhead Joe
Randy Saint Eagle

The Top 10 Cowgirls were:
Shamrock Sadie
Slick's Sharp Shooter
Renegade Roper
Dixie Pistols
Taco Bell
Dew R Dye
Running Doe
Elpaso Susie
Iron Maiden
Anita Margarita

Complete Scores

We had 210 shooters from 17 states so I think we had a great turnout.

The Wartrace Regulators  want to thank everyone who came to shoot with us, it doesn't matter how much effort we put into preparation without you, the shooters, it would just be a range. Thanks again to everyone and we hope you come back next year.

I'll add pictures and videos when available if anyone has any.

Photos and Videos by Rolan Kraps

The next match at the Wartrace Regulators will be Nov. 4th and don't forget The Southeast Regional in Memphis Nov. 7-11, 2017

Happy Trails, until we meet again.