We loaded down the covered wagon early Saturday morning June 17th, hitched up Reno's team and Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang, Papa Dave and I (Randy Saint Eagle) headed west toward End of Trail, The SASS World Championship. Tombstone John and Linda hitched up their buckboard and headed west from their ranch as well. We were loaded heavy but Reno drove them hard and we made it to Shawnee Oklahoma the first day.
Day 2 we pulled out early and made it to Moriarty, New Mexico by about 4pm (we gained an hour when we hit New Mexico). We stopped by the bunkhouse and unloaded some of what needed to stay there and headed to Founders Ranch outside of Edgewood New Mexico to sign in. We made it in plenty of time to check in and pick up our packets. We heard Tombstone and Linda had made it and they came out to join us and check out the Stages.
We were pleased to see the set-ups were great and the targets were mostly closer than last year. After checking out the stages we unhitched the wagon and set up our base camp. Reno had prepared for everything and we had a rug for the ground, a shade shelter, chairs and a table to clean our guns on. After set-up we hit the Pizza Barn for some fine grub and headed back to the bunkhouse for the night.
Monday morning we headed out early to shoot 4 Warm-up Stages. They were a lot of fun and very fast stages. We checked out the vendors and spent some time enjoying the special feeling you get when shooting in the High Desert. After stowing our gear we headed to Chili Hills for supper.
Tuesday we shot the mid day Warm-up Stages and some afternoon, it was pretty hot and we decided after 7 stages we'd had enough for the day. Lassiter and Deuce Stevens did a great job as Co-Match Directors. Lassiter, Deuce Stevens and their crew did an excellent job of setting everything up with plenty of choices on how to shoot it, friendly for right or left-handers. The stages were fast and straight forward with ample opportunity to exceed your speed limit.
On Wednesday morning we went to the range to clean guns and get our ammo ready for Thursday. Afterward we headed for Old Town in Albuquerque for some sight seeing. We had a good meal at a Mexican Restaurant but I can't remember the name. After checking out the area we headed back to the bunkhouse to chill out a little before heading back to the range to check out the stages we'd shoot Thursday afternoon. We completely forgot about the Opening Ceremonies and while we were checking out the stages Taco Bell came by and said they called out your name and I thought she was talking to Dixie, she looked at me and said for your Regulator Badge, I was in shock. Seems Dixie and Reno had been working for over a year getting petitions signed and submitting a letter to SASS to get me selected as a Regulator, I was humbled and very surprised. After the shock wore off and we finished checking out the stages we headed to Katrinah's for another good meal.
Thursday afternoon we headed to the Safety Meeting where they warned us to be on our toes, a bear had been spotted close to the Ranch and 2 Rattlesnakes had been spotted in the outhouses. After the rest of the meeting we headed to Stage 5 for our first stage of the Main Match. It was around 100 degrees when we started, hot but low humidity. We were on Posse 29 With Shamrock Sadie as our Posse Marshall, also on the posse was Knot Hardly Dunn, Avery Wade, Misty Rider, Red Johnson, Kathouse Kelli, Jackaroo, Wild Horse John, Trigger Happy Ted, Christian Mortician, Trail Bandit, Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang, Randy Saint Eagle, Papa Dave, Tombstone John, Poncho Sin Lefty and Lucky Boy. Stage 5 was a fast stage with 2 rifle knockdowns and 2 pistol knockdowns. You started at position 3 with rifle in hand, barrel touching table, pistols holstered and shotgun staged at either position 1 or 5. At the beep shoot the rifle 2 on a stationary target, 1 knockdown, 2 on a stationary, then repeat instructions on the next 3 identical rifle targets. Move to position 2 or 4 and shoot 3 pistol targets the same as the rifle targets, then move to the other position either 2 or 4 and repeat on that set of pistol targets, next move to either position 1 or 5 and shoot 2 shotgun knockdown targets, any pistol or rifle knock down targets still standing can be made up by shooting an additional shotgun targets. This was my fastest time of the match with a 16.99 Clean, Tombstone John shot this one in 23.52. On stage 6 we had a moving target with 6 shotgun knockdowns.
Stage 7 was the only "Stand and Deliver" stage in the match with a V shaped target array of 7 combination rifle/ pistol targets and 4 shotgun knockdowns. You started behind a table with rifle and shotgun staged on the table and pistols holstered. With a combination of rifle and pistols shoot the center target and the 3 on the left or right side of the V in a 2-4-6-8 sweep starting from either end. Then shoot the 4 shotgun knockdows in any order. I ran this in a 19.08, Papa Dave shot it in 17.38 and Dixie blazed it in a 15.49. Shamrock Sadie did an excellant job as Posse Marshall and I'd be thrilled to be on a posse with her and Knot Hardly Dunn anytime. After finishing Stage 8 we went back to our base camp, put away our gear and went to check out the stages we would shoot on Friday.
Friday morning we started shooting at 10:30 so we got to the range early to do a little gun cleaning and get our ammo ready. We started on Stage 9 (a saloon) where you stage the shotgun on either of the 2 bars and the rifle on either bar, pistols holstered. At the beep you shoot the 4 rifle targets in a circular clockwise or counter-clockwise sweepstarting on any target. Next engage 2 shotgun knockdowns from each bar and from the center between the bars engage the 4 pistol targets the same as the rifle targets, I shot this in a 19.12. Stage 10 had a rifle reload, you started, you started at position 3 with the rifle and shotgun staged at either position 2 or 4. Start with pistol in hand, at the beep shoot a progressive sweep on 4 targets, 1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3 and 4 on 4, then move to the 2 rifle targets and put 5 on 1 and 6 on the other (you could load the 11th round in the rifle anytime after the pistols were shot. Then move to position 1 or 5 and shoot the 4 shotgun knockdowns. I shot this in 23.39, Reno ran this one in a 22.05 and Dixie had a really fast 20.94. After we finished Stage 12 we did the Posse Shoot where all but one on the posse lined up with their rifles to try to cut a 4x4 in to. It was set horizontally and turned diamond shaped so you were lookig at the sharp edge of it. At the beep everyone started shooting and when we cut it into and it hit the ground Christian Mortician knocked down 2 shotgun targets to stop the clock. Apparently everyone aimed and Christian was fast with the shotgun because we did it in 5.35 seconds (which proved to be the winning time. Afterwards we cleaned guns and got our ammo ready for the final 4 stages on Saturday. We hat to start at 7:30 Saturday morning so we had to get everything ready Friday night. Then we walked the last 4 stages to see how we wanted to shoot them.
Next we headed to Pizza Barn for supper, Dixie, Reno, Papa Dave and I had been twice but John and Linda hadn't been and we wanted them to see how good it was. I don't think we got back and settled into our room any earlier than 11 any night.
Saturday morning we started shooting at 7:30 and Papa Dave and I were "Clean" going into the last day so I was pretty nervous. We started on Stage 1 where you had rifle and shotgun stage on the shelf in the Church, pistols holstered. You started outside the Church either on the left or right behind the hay bales with hands on fully holstered pistols. At the beep you shot the pistols at 4 pistol targets with 3 on each outside target and 2 on each inside target in any order. Move inside and shoot the rifle same as pistols then shoot 6 shotgun knockdowns in any order. I shot this in a 22.87. After looking back at the scores I saw that my fastest time each day was the 1st stage of the day. When I practice with PeDe and Tennessee Williams I always try to shoot a stage cold before we do anything else, looks like it might have paid off.
Stage 3 had a swinging target but it wasn't bad. On Thursday we had a moving target that came toward you so 2 out of 3 days we had moving targets. Papa Dave and I finished the match "Clean" but I shot the last stage pretty slow, 27.41, it was my slowest of the whole match, Dixie shot this in 20.16, Papa was 23.72, Reno was 26.36 and Tombstone John was 27.50. After we finished we headed back to the trailer and Reno cleaned Dixie's guns a little and Dixie got her ammo together because we were pretty sure she would make the Sweet 16 Shoot-Off. We then had some lunch on the range and checked out the vendors one last time. We went back to the Motel to chill out before supper and heading back to the range to see the Shoot-Off Top 16 and Sweet 16 announced, Dixie made it as we expected.
Sunday morning we headed back to the ranch to get ready for the Shoot-offs. They started with the Wild Bunch Top 8 Ladies and Top 8 Men, then they went to the Sweet 16. Dixie was doing well but was 1 shotshell short of winning the first round, there's always next year. I think Texas Tiger was the Shoot-Off Winner for the Ladies. I don't remember who won for the Men.
Next we went to the Award Ceremony and this year they had it in a big air conditioned text and it sure was nice to have a place to sit down. That was just one of the many improvements since last year, Misty Moonshine and crew are doing a fantastic job. The most exciting thing about the Awards was when they called Papa Dave as Grand Patron World Champion. I have to admit the second most exciting thing for me was when the called my name as Senior Duelist World Champion, my second. I was also excited because this was our 3rd trip to EOT and my 3rd "Clean" EOT.
There were 600 Registered shooter and The Wartarce Regulators represented themselves well at EOT and I'll list them from the highest place Overall finish down.
Vaquero Jake, 2nd Gunfighter, 13th Overall, "Clean"
Dodge City Dixie, 2nd Ladies Senior, 105th Overall
Randy Saint Eagle, World Champion Senior Duelist, 114th Overall, "Clean"
Papa Dave, World Champion Grand Patron, 190th Overall "Clean"
Shaddai Vaquero, World Champion Frontiersman, 204th Overall
Reno Mustang, 5th Senior Gunfighter, 226th Overall
Tombstone John, 25th Elder Statesman, 363rd Overall
Complete scores
This is the report given by Reno Mustang at the Wartrace Regulators Match this weekend.
Reno Report
I found these videos by Jokers Wild, I hope he doesn't mind. Videos by Jokers Wild
This was our best trip to EOT in my opinion and I hope we can make more. For more info on the
Wartrace Regulators click this link.
Happy Trails until we meet again.
