2015 Tennessee State Championship

The Regulators Reckoning, Tennessee State Championship is in the books now and I think it was a good one. Preparation for this match started shortly after last years match was finished and I think all the work by everyone involved  paid off.

The match actually started last weekend for 23 of us who shot the workers shoot-thru. We shot in the rain on Saturday making it the 4th year in a row we've shot at least part of the shoot-thru in the rain.

The Side Matches started on Thursday morning to some great weather. We had the usual Speed Matches,added this year were Derringer and Pocket Pistol. We also had Cut The Rope and Long Range as well as Black Powder, Wild Bunch and Warm Up Matches. Again this years Side-Match theme was Are You Tough Enough To Wear Pink and with Mrs. Pleasant's help taking the collection jar around we were able to collect $388 for the American Cancer Society. Thank you to everyone who donated to a worthy cause.

After the Side Matches were finished we had a Man on Man Shoot-off that anyone can enter. We have the only Shoot-off I'm aware of with 3 Categories based on shooting style. We had Traditional, Gunfighter, Duelist and Ladies. Sidekick was Top Traditional, Unpleasant was Top Gunfighter, Randy Saint Eagle was Top Duelist and Shamrock Sadie was the Top Lady. These names went back into the draw for finals and when all shooting was done, Sidekick was the Shoot-Off Top Gun.

The Chili Cook-off was going on at the same time and I think CW Knight's wife Linda won it.

Friday morning started with Whiskey Hayes welcoming the shooters. Papa Dave gave the Safety Meeting, then Whiskey Hayes offered a prayer and led us in the Pledge. Then everyone headed to their stages for the first 5 stages of the match. One reason for a shoot-thru the weekend before is because we use Berm Marshall's to read and explain the scenarios. There were no changes from what the book said so if you had a plan after reading the book you could go with it.

After each posse had finished their first 5 stages we broke for lunch, prepared by Rollin' Chopstix, who also had breakfast available every morning, then we had a Team Match. Everyone who wanted to shoot put their badges in a slop jar (I told everyone it was ok it hadn't been used in awhile), 3 person teams were drawn with 1 shooting 10 pistol, 1 shooting 10 rifle and 1 with 2+ shotgun. We had some light sprinkles during Team Match but they didn't amount to much and didn't last long. The winning Team consisted of Duck River, Sixgun Schwaby and Lead Ringer. Most everyone wanted to shoot some more so we put the badges back in the pot and drew again. This time the Team of Missouri Traveler, Shamrock Sadie and Boben Weev won.

Next we had dinner on the range, again prepared by Rollin' Chopstix. Then we had Side Match Awards and door prizes including 122 bottles of Jack Daniels. Where else but the Tennessee State Championship could you find 122 bottles of Jack Daniels on the prize table?

In the Long Range Matches Wes Outlaw won Single Shot Rifle on bags and on sticks, Lever Action Rifle Caliber on bags and sticks and the Lever Action Pistol Caliber on Sticks. Scattergun Kid won Optical rifle on bags. Dirtwood Dobber won Black Powder Rifle Caliber and Lever Action Pistol Caliber off hand. Duck River won the Lever Action Pistol Caliber off bags.

Wild Bunch Match;
Wild Bunch Modern Ladies, Doc Kay B May
Wild Bunch Traditional Ladies, Cotton Tail
Wild Bunch Traditional Men, Branchwater Jack
Wild Bunch Modern Men, Cotton Tail

Black Powder Match;
Frontier Cartridge Gunfighter, Branchwater Jack
Ladies Frontier Cartridge, Alchemist Belle
Frontier Cartridge, Marshal Hiram Stephens
Ladies Frontier Cartridge Duelist, Apple Annie
Frontier Cartridge Duelist, Amaduelist

Speed Events;
Speed 4 gun, Sidekick, 12.52
Ladies 4 gun, Dew R Dye, 16.98
Pocket Pistol, Bill Carson, 1.47
Derringer, PeDe, .71
'97, Widdermaker Hill, 5.50
Double Barrel, Billy The Avenger, 5.89
Hammered/'87, Shaddai Vaquero, 8.50
Ladies '97, Iron Maiden, 8.10
Ladies Double, Shamrock Sadie, 7.15
Ladies Hammered/'87, Doc Kay B May, 11.19
Speed Pistol Traditional, Prestidigitator, 3.03
Speed Pistol Duelist, Shaddai, 4.83
Speed Pistol Gunfighter, Unpleasant, 3.46
Ladies Speed Pistol Traditional, Shamrock Sadie, 4.68
Ladies Speed Pistol Duelist, Iron Maiden, 8.53
Ladies Speed Pistol Gunfighter, Shamrock Sadie, 6.60
Speed Rifle, Sidekick, 2.99
Ladies Speed Rifle, Shamrock Sadie, 3.90

We had 24 Cowgirls and Cowboys to "Cut The Rope", Last Kiss did it with first shot from a pistol, Keystone, Llew Silverhand and Randy Saint Eagle did it with the first shot with a rifle.

It started raining about half way through the awards and continued off and on through the night but quit early Saturday morning and didn't rain anymore. The good Lord blessed us with a dry match.

Saturday morning brought the start of everyone's final 5 stages. I had to say my goodbyes early to as many as I could as I had to leave to attend the wedding of a niece. I also had to bring the awards to Cumberland Drifter and I'd like to really thank him and PeDe for setting them up at the Banquet Hall.

This years Banquet was at the recently enlarged Bell Buckle Cafe's banquet facility and I'm sure the food was fantastic as always. The Main Match Awards as well as some bigger door prizes were given out at the Banquet.

Dodge City Dixie and Prestidigitator were the Overall State Champions.
Shamrock Sadie and Prestidigitator were the Overall Top Guns.

The Top 10 were Prestidigitator, Lead Ringer, Sidekick, Duke Skywalker, Cumberland Drifter, Shamrock Sadie, Billy The Avenger, Let's Go, Indiana Loose Cannon and Missouri Traveler.

The Ladies Top 10 were Shamrock Sadie, Slick's Sharpshooter, Renegade Roper, Dodge City Dixie, Dew R Dye, Last Kiss, Dixie Pistols, Iron Maiden, Kid Nama and Carolina Girl.

21 Cowgirls and Cowboys shot the match "Clean".

Complete Scores

Pictures by Dodge City Dixie

Videos by Dodge City Dixie

Pictures by Dirty Nerdy

Videos by Dirty Nerdy

Pictures by Pilgrim Joe

Pictures by Daisy Dee

Videos by Randy Saint Eagle

A Few Pictures

Match and Award Photos by HT Terry

A big thank you to everyone who helped put on and run this match, if I try to list everyone I know I'll leave someone out. Most of all to everyone who came to shoot with us and made this a great one. I hope to see you all back next year.

A special Thank You to Joe Sheetz of Bell Buckle, TN who has done a fantastic job on all of our awards for the last several years.

For more information about the Wartrace Regulators always check out our

 website.

Happy Trails until we meet again.

2nd Annual "Lead Mine Valley Shootout"

Cumberland Drifter, Papa Dave and I headed east to Cleveland, TN to the Ocoee Rangers 2nd Annual Lead Mine Valley Shootout. We drove through rain to get there but we ran out of it just past Chattanooga and didn't see any more till we started home. Once there we met up with Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang, Whiskey Hayes, Alchemist Belle, Branchwater Jack, Donald Duke,  Doc Kay B May, TN Missy, Gunbutcher, Grey Horse, Tom Cassidy and Pilgrim Joe.

94 shooters were not deterred by the threat of rain and came out to join in the fun. Ocoee Red welcomed everyone. Then after the Safety Meeting, a prayer and the pledge, they read off the posse assignments and we got started.

Unpleasant wrote some fast and close stages. Everything was very hitable but gave you plenty of opportunity to get over confident and outrun your ability. There was one stage with a zip line rifle target that was fun. Some of the stages were really fast for the top shooters, with some 14, 15 and 16 second stage times posted.

We were on posse 4 which consisted of; Pleasant (Posse Marshall),Unpleasant, Mrs. Pleasant, Papa Dave, Cumberland Drifter, Alchemist Belle, Branchwater Jack, Donald Duke, Possum, Parlor House Pearl, El Camino, Pistoleer, Whiskey Hayes, Randy Saint Eagle, Tom Cassidy, Bama Kid and Dirt Road Dude. I apologize if I have forgotten anyone.

After the match we had hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, slaw and lots of homemade desserts. They gave a way lots of door prizes and then started with the awards.

Wartrace fared pretty well with;

Cumberland Drifter, 1st 49r, 3rd Overall
Dodge City Dixie, 1st Ladies B-Western, 4th Overall, Top Overall Lady.
Papa Dave , 1st Grand Patron, 10th Overall
Reno Mustang, 1st Senior Gunfighter, 14th Overall
Branchwater Jack, 3rd Frontier Cartridge Gunfighter, 17th Overall
Randy Saint Eagle, 1st Senior Duelist, 20th Overall
Whiskey Hayes, 1st Classic Cowboy, 32nd Overall
Gunbutcher, 2nd Cowboy, 33rd Overall
Grey Horse, 5th Senior Gunfighter, 40th Overall
Alchemist Belle, 1st Lady Wrangler, 51st Overall
Tom Cassidy, 4th Elder Statesman, 57th Overall
Pilgrim Joe, 5th Senior, 68th Overall
TN. Missy, 1st Buckarette, 71st Overall
Donald Duke, 2nd Buckaroo, 72nd Overall
Doc Kay B May, 1st Classic Cowgirl, 76th Overall

Hurricane Charly was the Top Gun of the match, followed by Slater, Cumberland Drifter, Dodge City Dixie (Ladies Top Gun), Koda Joe, Purly, Tennessee Tombstone, Barkeep Casey, Unpleasant and Papa Dave rounded out the Top 10.

Dodge City Dixie was the Ladies Top Gun, followed by Last Kiss, Anita Margarita, Two Step Net, Lulu McGoo, Alchemist Belle, Yazoo City Gal, Parlor House Pearl, Roma Jane and Mrs. Pleasant rounded out the Ladies Top 10.

40 shooters shot Clean Matches.

Complete Scores 

Thank you to Purly, Ocoee Red, Unpleasant and everyone involved in putting on a great match. This is a fun 1 day annual match and a huge bargain so don't miss it next year.

Pilgrim Joe took some pictures.

Pilgrim Joe Pictures

Award Pictures by Dodge City Dixie

The next match at Wartrace will be the Tennessee State Championship Oct. 8-10 and it should be another great one.

Happy Trails until we meet again.

U S Open, SASS Central Divisional Championship

Last Thursday morning I hitched up the team, loaded the wagon and headed to Tombstone John's homestead. Once we loaded his gear we headed out to Sparta, Illinois to the first SASS Central Divisional Championship.

We rolled in just after noon and unpacked our gear and ran into Dodge City Dixie and Reno Mustang who had just finished the Warm-Up Match. We  headed to sign in when Mose drove by and said he needed me to go through the Posse Marshall walk thru, so while John checked in I did the walk thru. After finishing I met up with John to shoot some side matches. Mose also had some 5 Stand going on but I didn't make it to that. After the Side Matches were finished we met up with Jailbreak Jake and headed to, I think it was called, Southside Ribs for dinner.

Friday Morning we met up with Dirty Nerdy, Brada Tat Tat, Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang,C W Knight, Garnet Gal and Scrub Oak Willie, for the Opening Ceremonies. All together there were 10 of us from Wartrace and we were split on 3 separate posses. We were treated to a harmonica rendition of the National Anthem and I'm sorry to say I cant remember the Cowboy's name who played it. Mose offered a prayer and we headed to our starting stages.

John and I were on Posse 3 consisting of  Digger Mike, Garnet Gal, Hondo Tucker, Jailbreak Jake, Jimmy Reno, Kid Ziggy, MoBetta, Panhandle Ranger, Randy Saint Eagle, Reno, Scrub Oak Willie, Shadow Kid, Stroud (our Posse Marshal), Tombstone John and Travelin' Kid. There was only 15 of us but we had a great Posse, everyone worked and all jobs got done without any problems.

Our posse shot the first 5 stages on Friday, they were pretty straight forward with a fair amount of movement and one Stand and Deliver stage. I had 2 misses on day 1 and slipped the hammer and had to go all the way around once with a pistol but all in all I felt ok for the day.

 Mose always has something interesting and after the 5 main stages he had a Man on Man where you finished with a dueling tree and a shotgun and as many shells as you wanted to bring. I got beat in the first round but I shot so many times I could hardly touch my shotgun.

Next we had a Team Match where 5 person teams played Horse, if one person made a shot the other teams had to make the same shot or get a letter. The hardest shot I personally had to make was a left handed rifle shot because I can't close my right eye without my left one shutting as well. It was very hard to get my head far enough across the stock to sight with my right eye but I finally did it and made the shot. The most interesting shot was by Shamrock Sadie doing the Annie Oakley shot with a rifle sighting through a mirror. Sadie made the shot but so did Six Gun Schwaby for our team. In the end our team consisting of Six Gun Schwaby, Lead Ringer, Longshot Seth, Blastin' Brad and myself won the Team Match.

Friday night we had a Cowboy Carnival with lots of carnival games to play and corn dogs, curly fries and ice cream to eat. There was a stretch raffle with lots of stuff including several guns.

Saturday morning our posse shot stages 6 thru 10 and some of them had a little more movement but  all were fun. I struggled more on Saturday with a couple of shotgun make-ups, slipped the hammer on 2 shots and had to go around, and jacked out a rifle round on 2 stages with a pistol miss also on one of them. My only good stage was our last stage, 7, and it went well.

Saturday night was the Banquet and awards and we started with some really good turkey, ham and all the fixins. Next were the side match awards and I was lucky enough to win the Speed Shotgun Double Barrel with a 9.28 on 7 targets. There were several more guns given away throughout the night.

Wartrace fared pretty well with Dodge City Dixie being the top Wartrace Regulator.
Dodge City Dixie 1st Ladies B-Western and 22nd Overall
Randy Saint Eagle 1st Senior Duelist
Reno Mustang 3rd Senior Gunfighter
C.W. Knight 3rd  Silver Senior
Jailbreak Jake 2nd Duelist
Tombstone John 5th Silver Senior
Scrub Oak Willie 4th Senior Duelist
Brada Tat Tat 5th Gunfighter and a Clean Match
Dirty Nerdy 4th Ladies Wrangler
Garnet Gal 4th Ladies Senior

This was the first SASS Central Division Championship and Frisco Red was the Men's Champion and Miss Pistol Whipper was the Ladies Champion

Lead Ringer was the Top Gun of the match, followed by Duke Skywalker, Frisco Red, James Samuel Pike, Copperhead Joe, Don Jorge, Quaker Hill Bill, Dusty Darryl, Indiana Loose Cannon and Oklahoma Dee rounded out the Top 10.

Shamrock Sadie was the Ladies Top Gun followed by Appaloosa Amy, Dodge City Dixie, Dew R Dye, El Paso Suzie, Renegade Roper, Miss Pistol Whipper, Snazzy McGee, Posey's Lefty's Lady and Miss Hitem rounded out the Ladies Top 10.

Complete Scores

After everything was over Tombstone John, Dirty Nerdy, Brada Tat Tat, Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang and I had to go to the DQ for ice cream, we missed you Papa Dave.

If you missed this years Central Divisional Championship you may want to start planning for next years now because you missed a good one. Thank you to Mose, Bella and everyone involved in putting on this match.

The Tennessee State Championship, Oct. 8-10 is fast approaching so get your entries in soon if you haven't already. Motel rooms are getting hard to find so contact me if you can't find one.

Tennessee State Championship

The next match at Wartrace will be the Sept.5th Cowboy Match, always check out our website for more info.

Wartrace

Happy Trails until we meet again.

Wartrace Regulators Aug. 15 Cowboy/Wild Bunch Match

27 Cowgirls, Cowboys and Wild Bunch Shooters converged on Wartrace for a great day of shooting. It once again confirms my belief that the Good Lord enjoys a good Cowboy match. It was drizzling rain when I got to the range but quit well before match time, After the match we had time to get guns put away and then it started raining.

Cumberland Drifter and Dodge City Dixie were on fire today with only 8 seconds between them for 1st and 2nd and 17 seconds ahead of 3rd. For the Wild Bunch CW Knight finished 19 seconds ahead of 2nd place.

One thing I was excited to see was that out of the 21 Cowboy shooters a full third, 7, were Cowgirls. It sure is nice to see that number increasing over the years.

Cumberland Drifter was the Top Gun of the day followed by Dodge City Dixie (Top Cowgirl), Reno Mustang, Randy Saint Eagle, Gun Butcher, Pe De, Alchemist Belle, Big Six Henderson, Tombstone John and Brada Tat Tat rounded out the Top 10.

Dodge City Dixie was the Top Cowgirl followed by Alchemist Belle, Dirty Nerdy, TN Missy, Ida Shot'em, Doc Kay B May and Georgia Dew.

CW Knight was the Wild Bunch Top Gun followed by Branchwater Jack, Frank Buckshot, Papa Dave, Demented Frenchman and Tom Horn.

Clean Matches were shot by Blue Wolf (shooting black powder cap and ball) Pilgrim Joe and Ida Shot'em.

Pilgrim Joe took some pictures at the match and here is a link.

Photos by Pilgrim Joe 

Several Wartrace Regulators will be headed to the first ever SASS Central Divisional Championship, The US Open in Sparta Illinois, in a couple of weeks

US Open

The next match at Wartrace will be the Long Range Match 8/22, For more info check out our Website

Don't forget the Tennessee State Championship Oct 8-10 will be here before you know it so get your entries in soon and get your room booked soon the area motels are filling up fast.

Tennessee State Championship

Happy Trails until we meet again.

Black Gold Shootout

Papa Dave and I headed out Thursday morning to Copperhead Joe's Black Gold Shootout in Manchester Kentucky. While I forgot about crossing into Eastern time when deciding what time to leave we still got there in time for the Side Matches. We met up with Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang, Cumberland Drifter, Georgia Dew, CW Knight , Linda, Dirty Nerdy, Brada Tat Tat and a host of other Cowboys and Cowgirls.

Papa Dave, Drifter and the others headed for the warm up stages and I went on up to the Long Range Pistol events. This is the only place I have been that offers a Long Range Wrong Hand Pistol event. This has to be shot Duelist style and with your weak hand at a 50 yard target. They also had Long Range pistol shot on the same target with any unsupported style and 1911 Long Range pistol also shot on the same target any unsupported style. There were several folks shooting the different classes, you could try as many times as you wanted for the highest number of hits out of a 5 shot string, Then at 4 pm they had the shoot-off  where you got one try to get as many hits as you could with 5 shots.

I got in line with a 1911 first and was able to hit 5 for 5 to make the shoot-off. Next I tried my Vaquero in the standard Long Range event and got on the trigger too hard on the third shot and fired before I was on target and ended up with 4 for 5 on that run. I got back in line, settled down and hit 5 for 5 on the 2nd try making that shoot-off. Next I lined up for the Wrong Hand event, I always shoot Duelist style for anything precision so I felt like I would be fairly comfortable with this as well and I was able to hit 5 of 5 making that shoot-off as well.

I then went over to the warm up stages and joined Drifter, Papa and the others until time for the shoot-offs. I ran through a couple of stages just to get the feel of the stages and then just relaxed a little waiting for 4 pm. When I went for the shoot-off I found out I was the only one to hit 5 for 5 in in Wrong Hand Pistol and 1911 Pistol, so the only shoot-off was in the Long Range Pistol and there were several folks in it. Several folks hit 4 out of 5 but I was the only one to hit 5 of 5 in the shoot-off.

After the Side Matches were over we had the start to the Hillbilly Olympics with a bucket brigade with buckets full of holes so everyone got pretty wet, then a string/ring game and a pot luck dinner.

Friday morning brought the start of the Main Match with Copperhead Joe welcoming everyone, after the Safety Meeting, Prayer and Pledge we headed to the stages to get started. I was on Posse 4 along with Posse Marshall, Big 6 Henderson, Ramblin' Royce, Loco Linda, Papa Dave, Trail Bandit, Shaddai Vaquero, Perfecto Vaquera, Vaquero Jake, Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang, Kid Ray, Sue Render, Captain Grouch, Hoss Blocker, Elm Savannah, CW Knight, Long Shot Seth and Prairie Cole( I hope I haven't forgotten anyone).                                                                                                                                          
They had some good stages set up and Iron Maiden did a lot of nice artwork on them. After shooting our first 5 stages we had a hot dog and fried bologna lunch. Then we had 3 person teams going head to head on a Texas Star for the rifle, plate rack for the pistol and 4 knock downs for the shot gun. You could pick your own teams and each had to have at least one lady shooter on each team. I shot on a team with Jackelope Jasper and Anita Margarita and then on one with Perfecto Vaquera and Kid Ziggy, it was a lot of fun, unfortunately I cannot remember who was on the winning team.

After supper we the Side match awards and a Bluegrass band playing. All I remember about the Side Match Awards was CW Knight won his Category in Wild Bunch and I won the 3 Long Range Pistol events I shot in.

Saturday morning brought out the final 5 stages and they were as good as the first 5 however I didn't shoot them nearly as well. Several of us had more issues on the final 5. The weather forecast was not too good for the match but God blessed us with no rain during shooting times for the entire weekend.
Again lunch was provided and then they had Man on Man Shoot-Offs. Papa Dave and I decided to skip the Shoot-Off and cool off back at the bunk house.

Saturday night was Fish Fry night and it was just as good as it was in 2012 when I was there. The Main Match Awards followed and Wartrace fared very well I think.

Vaquero Jake 1st Cowboy, 2nd Overall
Cumberland Drifter 1st 49'r, 4th Overall
Shaddai Vaquero 1st Duelist, 9th Overall
Papa Dave 1st Grand Patron, 37th Overall
Ben T Iron 1st Classic Cowboy, 39th Overall
Randy Saint Eagle 1st Senior Duelist, 44th Overall
Dodge City Dixie 1st Ladies B-Western, 45th Overall
Perfecto Vaquera 2nd Ladies B-Western, 65th Overall
Reno Mustang 5th Senior Gunfighter,  70th Overall
CW Knight 6th Silver Senior,   73rd Overall
Brada Tat Tat 9th Gunfighter  85th Overall
Dirty Nerdy 3rd Lady Wrangler  113th Overall
Ari Tist  3rd Cowgirl  147th Overall
Blackwater was shooting Outlaw and they scored it separately but I haven't seen scores

Missouri Lefty was the Top Gun of the match followed by Vaquero Jake, Three Cut,                 Cumberland Drifter  and Billy The Avenger rounded out the Top 5.

Ladies Top Gun was Sue Render followed by Dodge City Dixie, Honey B Graceful, Lefty's Lady and Perfecto Vaquero rounded out the Ladies Top 5.

There were 156 total shooters and if I recall correctly there were 44 Clean Shooters, a great percentage for a match.

Complete Scores

A couple of pictures

As always after the awards entertainment was provided by Blackwater and his Fabulous Band, Milkbone.

I have to thank Big 6 Henderson for being our Posse Marshall and thank Copperhead Joe, Miss Bo, Whiskey Creek Johnson, Iron Maiden, Rose and Boots and everyone involved in making this a great match.

The next match I'm planning is the US Open in Sparta Ill.

The next match at Wartrace will be Long Range this weekend 7/25 and the next Cowboy Match will be August 1st. For more info always check out our website.

Wartrace Regulators

Shoot Straight and may all your bangs end with a clang.

Wartrace Regulators Independence Day Shoot

35 Cowgirls and Cowboys descended on Wartrace to celebrate our Country's Independence, and have some Cowboy Action Shooting fun. Papa Dave started us off with a Safety Meeting and next I was able to present Papa Oso with the 2014 Eagle Eye award for shooting the most Clean Matches at Wartrace in 2014. This was Papa Oso's 3rd time to win this award, he shoots lots of Clean Matches, congratulations Papa Oso.

Papa Oso photos

 SASS excepts nominations for a SASS Regulator badge for cowboys and cowgirls who go above and beyond to promote SASS, their home club and Cowboy Action Shooting in general. It takes a lot of signatures on a petition before SASS will recognize someone. We have 1 shooter who has been a big part in our club and in several other clubs before he moved to our area. He has also designed and built products to help cowboy action shooters and is always willing to help anyone getting started or just wanting to get better in Cowboy Action Shooting.

It was a great honor and privilege for me to get to present PAPA DAVE with his Regulator Badge. I'd like to thank Dodge City Dixie for getting the ball rolling on this, Amaduelist for picking up the award at End Of Trail and mailing it to me from New Mexico so I'd be sure to have it this weekend. I'd also like to thank everyone who had a part in making this happen and keeping it a secret from Papa Dave, I think he was really surprised.

Papa Dave photos

This was a day of celebration and Whiskey Hayes also announced today was Blue Boy's 96th birthday, we think he is the oldest active SASS member, Blackwater and Shotgun Schoolmarm brought a cake and we celebrated with cake after the match was over.

Back to the match, after the Safety Meeting Whiskey Hayes offered a prayer and led us in the Pledge. Then the posse lists were read and we got started.

This year like last we had an exploding target to shoot, off the clock, at the Corral. Whiskey Hayes had his 9417 rifle there to shoot it with. That little .17 bullet is very accurate and fast enough to set off the Tannerite. There were a lot of big booms and a few misses but it was all just for fun.

We shot all the stages in the Old Town, Train, Depot, Wagon, Livery and Corral and all except the Wagon were Stand and Deliver. Whiskey Hayes makes sure we don't have a lot of running in the July and August Matches.

God blessed us with another good day of shooting. The weather forecast was for 60% chance of rain and all we had were overcast skies and a light sprinkle that might have lasted 5 minutes.

Cumberland Drifter was the Top Gun of the day followed by Papa Dave, Reno Mustang, Shaddai Vaquero, CW Knight, Ocoee Red, Kid Ziggy, Dodge City Dixie (also Ladies Top Gun), Randy Saint Eagle and Will Reilly rounded out the Top 10.

Dodge City Dixie was the Ladies Top Gun followed by Alchemist Belle, Doc Kay B May and TN Missy.

There were several trying to work toward the Eagle Eye Award this match. Clean Shooters included CW Knight, Deadwood Miner, Frank Buckshot, Papa Dave, Papa Oso and Sheriff Frank Canton.

We had one new shooter, welcome AO Bittles.

Complete Scores  

Blue Boy shooting Stage 1

The next match at Wartrace will be the July 18 Cowboy/ Wild Bunch Match. Some of us will be at

Black Gold Shoot-Out 

If you plan to shoot the Tennessee State Match book your room soon I hear they are getting scarce.

Happy Trails until we meet again.

Wartrace June Cowboy/ Wild Bunch Match and First Ladies Only Shooting Clinic

The forecast all week was pretty bad but obviously God likes a good Cowboy Match as the weather turned out very nice. We had no rain, some cloud cover and a breeze sometimes. 26 Cowgirls, Cowboys and Wild Bunch shooters came out for a good day of shooting.

We shot the Gallows with Ben T Iron posting the fastest time with a 27.80. Randy Saint Eagle shot the Line Shack in 23.57 for the best time. Cumberland Drifter bested Graftons with a time of 17.73. The best time at Wells Fargo Bank was 23.74 by Randy Saint Eagle and Dodge City Dixie had the best time at the Cantina with a 20.90.

Ben T Iron was the Top Gun of the day, followed by Cumberland Drifter, Dodge City Dixie (Ladies Top Gun), Reno Mustang, Randy Saint Eagle, Alchemist Belle, Scrub Oak Willie, Garnet Gal, Grey Horse and Big Six Henderson rounded out the Top 10.

Dodge City Dixie was the Ladies Top Gun, followed by Alchemist Belle, Garnet Gal, Doc Kay B May, TN Missy and Ara Tiest.

For the Wild Bunch Branchwater Jack Had the fastest stage time at the Gallows with 37.69, Graftons 20.03, Wells Fargo 25.27 and the Cantina 33.69. Papa Dave bested the Line Shack with a 21.79.

Branchwater Jack was the Wild Bunch Top Gun, followed by Jagged Rock, Papa Dave, Dirtwood Dobber and Demented Frenchman rounded out the Wild Bunch Top 5.

Complete Scores

The posses were small so I don't think anyone was able to get any pictures or videos.

Dodge City Dixie hosted Wartrace's first Ladies Only Shooting Clinic, with help from Reno Mustang, Cumberland Drifter, Branchwater Jack, Donald Duke and Randy Saint Eagle.

Ladies participating were Alchemist Belle, Garnet Gal(both experienced shooters who also helped) Ara Tiest, Georgia Dew, Sassy Sally, Ricochet Ruthie and Vicki Cothron.

Immediately following the conclusion of the Match we had lunch provided by Dodge City Dixie and Alchemist Belle with help from the other ladies, Ara Tiest made some really cool cookies shaped like guns, cowboy boots and cowboy hats. While in the air conditioning we touched on Safety and Sight Alignment. Then we moved to the Livery Stable for the shooting portion of the clinic.

We started by having everyone shoot a stage and thanks to Papa Dave for loaning us his printing timer. Everyone got a print out of their stage time. After some discussion on stance, grip, sight picture and hold we worked on some 1 shot drills with pistols and rifle. Here is where I must apologize to Vicki for not realizing sooner the problem she was having with the rifle was due to the fact she is left eye dominant and right handed. Thanks to Branchwater Jack for the loan of his shooting glasses with the left lens taped over. With those she was able to hit her targets with no problem. Next time we'll remember to check eye dominance before we begin the shooting portion.

After the 1 shot drills and some discussion on transitions everyone shot the same stage again and I think most everyone shot a faster time with some cutting their time more than in half. It was really great to see the smiles when they shot so must faster at the end of the clinic.

I hope all the ladies enjoyed this as much as Dixie, Reno and I did. Hopefully we can have a slightly more advanced Clinic next time and be able to spend more time on gun handling and transitions.

Thank you to Dixie for thinking of this and asking me to be involved, also to everyone who helped and especially to the Ladies who participated.

It's too late to get there now but the World Championship is going on this week.

End Of Trail 

The next travel match I'm planning to go to is Copperhead Joe's

Black Gold Shootout

The next match at Wartrace will be the June 27th Long Range. The next Cowboy Match will be July 4th and we'll also be celebrating Blue Boy's 96th Birthday, come on out and help us celebrate.
For more info always check out our website.

Wartrace

Happy Trails until we meet again.

North Carolina State Championship

Lannie Oakley and I headed over to visit our youngest daughter and her family and I was able to shoot the North Carolina State Match while we were there.

Side match day started out a little rough for me, they do all the speed events in one bay so you can load pistols, rifle and carry your shotgun and do all three back to back. Rifle and pistols went ok but when I loaded my shotgun it refused to go bang. I thought maybe I had pulled the trigger after I opened it so I started over, still no bang. Fortunately I had my back-up shotgun and it worked fine.

I ran across Widder, Slater, Rounder,Purly, Two-Step Net, Three Cut, Key Hay and a slew of other folks we I first got there. After a few runs Iron Maiden and Whiskey Creek Johnson came up and Iron Maiden and I decided to try the couples match. We thought they need at least one all duelist couple to try it. It was a lot of fun and we had what I though was a real good run. Time rolled around pretty quickly for the 4 stage warm-up match and I met up with Dodge City Dixie and Reno Mustang on my way to that bay.

They have big bays and set up 2 stages in each bay. I think the 4 stage warm-up was shot in bays 5 and 6. I've shot at places where they did this and it was sometimes confusing but here they do it right. They typically have 1 type of common targets but 1 stage starts on targets on the left and the next starts on completely different targets on the right. It works out real well and saves a lot of walking over the course of a day. Most of us were hoping we got all the gremlins out during the warm-up match. On the last stage my back-up shotgun failed to fire the second barrel on the first 2 targets but worked ok after that.

The entire week prior to this, the match weather forecast was terrible, but it just goes to show the Good Lord enjoys a good Cowboy match as the weather turned out great.

Here they shoot 2 posses together, I was on 17 with Ramblin' Royce, Loco Linda, RJ Ricochet, Nunn Faster, Reno Mustang, Dodge City Dixie and Cherokee Maddog. We were shooting with posse 18, Barbwire Ben, Hoss Blocker, Swift Stoney, Kid Nama, Tom Bullweed, Ridgeback Jack, Dollar Bill Newman, Whiskey Creek Johnson and Iron Maiden. One posse would work while the other shot and it worked out well, we had a great group.

I started the the day with a miss with my left pistol but managed to shoot the rest of the day pretty good for me. I even managed to shoot stage 9 with 10 pistol, 10 rifle and 4 shotgun, with pistols and rifle shot from one location and shotgun from another, in under 20 seconds. I managed to finish the first day with a 23 second average. We shot the afternoon wave so it warmed up quite a bit before we finished but it was a nice day.

Saturday morning we shot the early wave and the weather was warm early so I'm sure the afternoon posses had a scorcher. Elm Savannah came out Saturday and helped with our posse all day, keeping the score sheet and taking videos, thanks Elm for all your help.

I started the first stage of the day jacking out a rifle round and jacked out I think 4 before the day was over. I've had better days. After Saturday my  average went up to 27 seconds. We had some really good shooters on our posse, Dodge City Dixie and Swift Stoney both shoot really good matches.

I really enjoyed being able to shoot a match and spend lots of time with family so I can't say how the banquet was but I hear it was really good.

Christian Mortician was the Top Gun of the Match, followed by Red River Ray, Three Cut, Swift Stoney, Doc Pill Filler, Linden Kid, Sixgun Sallie (also the Ladies Top Gun), Earl E. Bird, High Noon Henry and Big Whiskey rounded out the Top 10.

Sixgun Sallie was the Ladies Top Gun followed by Shamrock Sadie, Dodge City Dixie, Ms. Jewell and Kid Nama rounded out the Ladies Top 5.

Complete Scores

As I mentioned earlier Elm Savannah took lots of videos on Saturday and here is a link to them.

Videos

I don't have all of them linked yet but I'll try to have them done in a few days.

Here are videos from the Shoot-off from Dodge City Dixie and Reno Mustang.

Shoot-Off

From Wartrace, Dodge City Dixie was 1st Ladies B-Western won the Ladies Shooting Costume award and made the shoot-off, Reno Mustang was 3rd Senior Gunfighter and I was 1st Senior Duelist and won the Speed Pistol Duelist side match.

I have to thank JM Brown and all the crew for putting on a great match and I plan to return next year.
Hopefully Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang and I will bring some more Wartrace Regulators with us next year.

Next travel match on my agenda is the Black Gold Shootout I'm sure it will be another great one.

Black Gold

If you are planning to shoot the Tennessee State I suggest you book your hotel room soon, I hear they are filling up fast.

Tennessee State Championship

Happy Trails until we meet again.

Wartrace May 2 Cowboy Match

What a Great day for a Cowboy Action Match, I don't think you could have asked for better weather.

59 Cowgirls and Cowboys rode into Wartrace to enjoy this beautiful day and help stop an Indian uprising, capture a killer, stop a train robber and stop a crooked gambler.

As is our custom we started with the Safety Meeting given by Papa Dave and Whiskey Hayes welcomed everyone including at least 4 new shooters, Pilgrim Joe, Tic Toc, Yankee Gal and Nash Vegas. Whiskey also told us that most of the Motel rooms in Tullahoma are booked, there are some in Manchester and Shelbyville with the ones in Shelbyville being closer to the range and Banquet facility. If you're planning to shoot the State Championship you better book your room soon.

Motels

State Match Application

We had a Prayer and Pledge and headed to our starting stages and got to shooting.

I was on Posse 3 with Sheriff Frank Canton, Buxom Boo, Dirtwood Dobber, Elk Creek Le Mieux, Fort Knox, Cody Kid, Echota Kidd, Tyrel Cody, Stones, Raildog Pete, Jagged Rock, Grey Horse, Tic Toc and Demented Frenchman.

We started at the wagon where we single tapped the 2 outside targets, double tapped the 3 inside targets and single tapped the 2 outside targets, grabbed the shotgun and shot the 4 shotgun knock downs, placed the shotgun on the down range hay bales and shot the targets with pistols, same as we did with the rifle.

At the Livery we started in the doorway with rifle staged on either barrel, pistols holstered and shotgun staged on the center table gun order was shooters choice.  At the beep rifle shot from staged location engage the center target with 6 rounds then single tap the other 4 rifle targets. Shotgun from the center table 4 KD's in any order. Pistols are shot with same instructions as the rifle.

The Corral was a shotgun only stage with shotgun staged on trough shooter standing at trough. At the beep you alternate single taps between the 2 Texas Stars, there were only a couple on our posse that did it with only 10 shots.

Next we headed to the Train where you began standing in the coal car with hands at low surrender, pistols holstered, rifle staged on the coal car or engine shelf and shotgun staged on the other, gun order was shooters choice. At the beep pistols shot from any location, double tap P1, 6 on P2 and double tap P3. Rifle shot from staged location same sequence as pistols. Shotgun from staged location shoot the 4 KD's in any order.

We finished up at the Depot where gun order was again shooters choice, pistols holstered, rifle staged inside or outside of Depot with shotgun staged at opposite location. Begin standing in side door facing downrange with hands on door facing, at the beep Nevada sweep the 4 rifle targets, shoot 4 shotgun KD's and Nevada sweep the 4 pistol targets.

The stages were fun and and easy enough but with ample opportunity to screw up it you weren't paying attention.

5 shooters were able to shoot the match "Clean" including Hatchie Kid, Marshall Too Tall (who did it shooting Outlaw), Purly, Sgt Jasper and Tabasco Jot.

Cumberland Drifter was the Top Gun of the day followed by Hurricane Charly, Purly, Ocoee Red, Tabasco Jot, Sgt Jasper, Will Reilly, Papa Dave, Duck River and Vaquero Jake rounded out the Top 10.

Complete Scores

This is the season to travel to some annual matches and here are a few I'm looking at.

Georgia State 

North Carolina State

Black Gold Shootout

US Open

Alabama State

Tennessee State

If you've never traveled to an annual match I highly recommend  you try it. It is an opportunity to see lots of vendors and some great shooters and have lots of fun.

Don't forget the Tennessee State Match has filled up the last few years so get your application in early, see the link above for application.

The next match at Wartrace will be the May 16 Cowboy/ Wild Bunch match, so even if you like shooting them new-fangled 1911's you can come out and join us. If you have any questions about any shooting discipline check this link.

Shooting Disciplines 

So until we meet again shoot straight and may all your bangs end with a clang.

Wartrace Regulators April 4 Cowboy Match.

50 Cowgirls and Cowboys rolled into Wartrace to help out the Sacketts and make it a safer place.

Papa Dave started us off with a Safety Meeting and Whiskey Hayes updated us on the passing of Blue Boy's wife and Imis Twohofon's mother, please keep these cowboys in your prayers.

Jagged Rock offered a prayer and we recited the Pledge before the posse lists were read and we headed out to start shooting. We had 3 posses today.

At the Cantina we started standing at the center table with hands on holstered pistol butts, rifle staged on table and shotgun staged in either window. At the beep pistols shot from the table, alternate single taps on the 2 outside targets for 5 rounds and dump the remaining 5 rounds on the center target. Move to the shotgun and shoot 2 knock downs, move back to the center and shoot the rifle with the same sequence as the pistols, then move to the other window and shoot the remaining 2 shotgun kd's. On this stage I thought it would be better to dump 5 on the center rifle target and the alternate the 2nd 5 shots. The spotters thought that was such a good idea they gave me an extra 10 seconds added to my time for thinking of it.

At the Jersey Lilly we started at the center window with pistols holstered, shotgun staged at this window and rifle staged in either end window. Pistols shot from the center window in a 4-1-1-4 sweep, rifle shot from where staged in a 4-1-1-4 sweep and then move back to the center window for 2 shotgun kd's. This was my best stage, I didn't try to rewrite it.

The Fort was a stand and deliver stage where we started with pistols holstered, rifle and shotgun staged on the center table and hands touching the table. Gun order is shooters choice except rifle can't be shot last. With rifle engage the 2 rifle targets with 5 rounds each, shotgun 4 kd's in any order and pistols single tap the 6 pistol targets with 10 rounds engaging each target at least once.

In the Jail pistols are holstered, shotgun is staged in the office window and rifle staged in the cell window. You could start at the office or cell window with gun order shooters choice, rifle not last. With shotgun from staged location shoot the 4 kd's in any order, rifle from staged location shoot a 9 shot Nevada sweep on the 3 rifle targets and with pistols from the cell window shoot a 5 shot Nevada sweep on 3 targets and repeat instructions with the final 5 shots.

At the Mine Shaft we started standing between the posts with rifle and shotgun staged on the center table. You could start pistols or rifle, shotgun had to be last. Pistols shot from left table triple tap the center target and single tap each outside target, repeat instructions with 2nd 5 shots. Rifle from center table shoot rifle targets with same instructions as pistols.With shotgun engage 4 kd's from the center table then move to the left table and engage the last 2 kd's.

It was good to see so many shooters including some I hadn't seen in a while like Cherohala Chase and Will Reilly.

Hikes Point Hank was the Top Gun of the day and this is the first time I can remember a Gunfighter being the Top Gun, in fact there were 3 Gunfighters in the Top 10. Hurricane Charly was 2nd followed by Cumberland Drifter, Purly, Dead Lee Shooter, Ben T Iron, Randy Saint Eagle, Pleasant, Will Reilly and Black Jack Lee rounded out the Top 10.

9 shooters shot the match "Clean" including Ben T Iron, Buxom Boo, Dirtwood Dobber, Frank Buckshot, Hikes Point Hank, Nantahala Ned, Pleasant, Reno Mustang and Whiskey Hayes.

Complete Scores

It turned out to be a great day and a fun match even though I struggled on all but 1 stage.

If anyone got any videos or pictures and will send me a link I'll add them to this blog.

Here are some videos;

Black Jack Lee and Dead Lee Shooter's videos.

Reno Mustang Videos

Our next match at Wartrace will be the April 18 Cowboy/ Wild Bunch Match and Papa Dave announced that the Wild Bunch will be shooting lots of ammo. Also after the match there will be a Side match at the Corral shooting playing cards. For more info always check out our website.

Wartrace Regulators

It's time to plan some travel Matches and the Georgia State Match is coming up May 14-16.

There was some question about a call yesterday and the TO made the correct call but I thought I'd address it to help clear up any confusion. Shooter finished shotgun, grounded it and drew pistol, TO yelled hull as there was an empty not fully out. Shooter hesitated then completed course of fire, reached down and removed empty hull. Minor Safety was called, some thought a no call because hull was removed before shotgun was set down at the unloading table, I wanted to add this from Shooters Handbook for clarity.

17. Long guns will be discarded with their actions left open and the actions/magazines/barrels empty at the conclusion of each shooting string. A 10-second minor safety penalty will be assessed if the firearm is not cleared and opened. This condition may be corrected prior to the next round being fired. If the long gun is the last firearm used, it must be cleared prior to it leaving the shooters hand(s) at the unloading table. This does not apply to guns shot out of sequence, made “safe” and then restaged. If the action of a long gun closes after being discarded open and empty, the shooter will, at the conclusion of the stage, show it to be clear to the TO or a spotter. Appropriate penalties will be applied if it is not clear. No one other than the competitor may handle the gun in question. See RO-I for further clarification.

This is from the RO 1 course.

Minor Safety Penalties
 • Not leaving a long gun action open at the end of the shooting string or before the next firearm is fired.
 • Leaving empty or live rounds in magazine or carrier of the long gun in which it was loaded.

I hope this helps, here is a link to the rule books if anyone would like to check them out.

SASS Handbooks

Happy Trails until we meet again.

Wartrace March 21 Cowboy/ Wild Bunch Match

This was the best match day we've had this year and 34 Cowgirls, Cowboys and Wild Bunch Shooters came out to enjoy it. Papa Dave started us off with our Safety Meeting, Jagged Rock offered a prayer and we recited the Pledge.

We had 2 posses and shot the same stages as the Main March Cowboy Match, Papa Dave modified them as needed for the Wild Bunch folks. Posse 1 started at Grafton's where we started at either window holding a whiskey bottle in both hands. Rifle staged in either window, shotgun staged in opposite window, pistols holstered. Gun order was shooters choice, rifle not last. At the beep with rifle shoot 3 rifle targets in a 3-4-3 sweep, pistols shot per rifle instructions and 2 shotgun kd's. This was my best stage.

Next at the Outlaw Cabin we staged rifle and shotgun on the center gun shelf and had pistols holstered. We started standing in the doorway with hands touching the door frame. At the beep we moved to the center and shot the rifle in a 4 target progressive sweep, 1-2-3-4. Then 4 shotgun kd's and finished with pistols shot same as rifle. This is a sweep I really like but it was my worst stage.

At the Gallows we staged staged the rifle on one shelf  and shotgun staged on the other and pistols holstered, gun order shooters choice, rifle not last. Start standing beside either shelf with hands on hat and at the beep shoot the rifle in a 1-2-4-2-1 sweep on 3 targets, pistols were shot in the same sequence as the rifle and 2 shotgun kd's.

Next at Wells Fargo rifle and shotgun were staged on the center gun shelf, pistols holstered. Begin standing in either doorway hands on door frame, gun order shooters choice rifle not last. At the beep with pistols shoot a 5 shot Nevada Sweep on 3 targets and dump the second 5 shoots on the center target, rifle shot same as pistols and 4 shotgun kd's.

Last at the Cantina we staged the shotgun in either window, rifle in center doorway, pistols holstered. Start standing at the doorway with rifle or pistols shot first from the doorway then the other in two 1-3-1 sweeps from the same direction. Move to the shotgun and shoot 2 kd's from each window.

Papa Dave was the Wild Bunch Top Gun followed by Branchwater Jack, CW Knight, Sunflower Kid and Dirtwood Dobber rounded out the Top 5 Wild Bunch.

Dirtwood Dobber and Papa Oso shot the Wild Bunch Match "Clean'.

Cumberland Drifter was the Cowboy Top Gun followed by Buck Dodgers, Hikes Point Hank, Dodge City Dixie (Ladies Top Gun), Randy Saint Eagle, Black Jack Lee, Reno Mustang, Jailbreak Jake, Scrub Oak Willie and Brada Tat Tat rounded out the Cowboy Top 10.

Dodge City Dixie was the Ladies Top Gun followed by Garnet Gal, Alchemist Belle, Dirty Nerdy and Ida Shot'em rounded out the Ladies Top 5.

Cumberland Drifter, Ida Shot'em and Jailbreak Jake shot the Cowboy Match "Clean".

Complete Cowboy Scores 

Complete Wild Bunch Scores

Dirty Nerdy took some good videos.

Dirty Nerdy Videos

If anyone else will send me a link to videos from the match I'll add them to the blog.

The next matches at Wartrace will be the March 28 Long Range and the April 4 Cowboy Match.

For more info always check out our website.

Wartrace Regulators.

Happy Trails until we meet again.

Wartrace Regulators March 7 Cowboy Match

Whiskey Hayes made a good call and pushed back the starting time 1 hour, giving time to scrape some ice away from the stages, pavilion floor and hills on the range road. By starting time it was pretty easy to get around.

32 Cowgirls and Cowboys took advantage of a good forecast and came out to join us. Along with some of our usual pards we had some good shooters come in from East Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia. It was good to see some folks who haven't shot with us for a while like Marshall WD, Clancy O'Conall, Buck D Law, Hikes Point Hank and Knob Creek Drover.

Buck Dodgers, Papa Dave, Tombstone John and Wes Outlaw had just gotten back from Winter Range and said they had a great time. Papa Dave won the National Championship in the Grand Patron Category, Congratulations Papa Dave.

We started with Papa Dave doing the Safety Meeting reminding us that whatever you do, if you'll watch the 170 degree rule anything bad that happens should  be in a safe direction. Whiskey Hayes welcomed everyone, then we had a prayer and pledge.

We had 2 posses and shot the Cantina, Wells Fargo, Graftons, Line Shack and the Gallows where it looked like a small creek flowing by the loading table as things thawed. For safety sake Whiskey changed Graftons to a Stand and Deliver stage but we were able to shoot all others as written.

Cumberland Drifter was the Top Gun of the day followed by Marshall WD, Hikes Point Hank, Randy Saint Eagle, Sean Clancy O;Conall, Buck D Law, Knob Creek Drover, Duck River, Buck Dodgers and Branchwater Jack rounded out the Top 10. The top 4 shooters all had sub 100 second matches.

Dodge City Dixie was the Ladies Top Gun followed by Dirty Nerdy, Doc K B May and TN. Missy.

9 Shooters were able to keep it all together and shoot "Clean Matches", they are; Brada Tat Tat, Branchwater Jack, Buck D Law, Doc K B May, Grey Horse, Marshall WD, Randy Saint Eagle, Sean Clancy O'Conall and Whiskey Hayes.

Complete Scores

The next match at Wartrace will be the March 21 Cowboy/Wild Bunch Match. For more info always check out our

 Website.

Hopefully this cold and ice is about over with and we can have some nice weather. Thanks to Daylight Savings time being back in effect, hopefully we can get in a little practice.

The Tennessee State Match this year will be back to the 2nd weekend in October, 8th, 9th and 10th.

State Match

The date in the Cowboy Chronicle article this month is wrong.

If you're looking to schedule your yearly travel matches is may help but just remember the TN. State Match Dates are wrong in this as well.

SASS Sanctioned Match Booklet

Happy Trails until we meet again and hopefully we'll meet at a match somewhere.

Jan. 17 Cowboy/Wild Bunch Match

Hopefully our weather luck has changed, the good Lord blessed us with a good day for a match. The morning started out cool but the sun was shining. We had a breeze all day that kept the temp down but unlike 2 weeks ago we were dry all day, Yee Haw.

We had 27 Cowgirls and Cowboys and 5 Wild Bunch shooters come out to join us. Papa Dave started us out with the Safety meeting, I was still in the office when the prayer was started but I think it was Sawyer that offered the prayer, then we had the pledge. Lick Skillet Charlie was with us to celebrate his 65th birthday. We had some new members today, Blue Belly and  his wife Suzanne and Yankee Girl.

We had 2 shooters shooting their first match at Wartrace, Echota Kidd and Stones. May Lillie and Montana Ray were back for the first time since we'd added the new stages.

Whiskey Hayes wrote some Fast and Furious stages for the Cowboys and Papa Dave modified them for Wild Bunch. Those of us who shot the first of the month had lots of practice at the livery stable where we alternated double taps on 2 pistol and 2 rifle targets and had 4 shotgun KD's. Next at the jail we shot quad tap, quad tap, single tap, single tap on 2 pistol and 2 rifle targets from the cell and 4 shotgun KD's from the office.  Gun order was shooters choice, rifle not shot last on every stage.

At the Jersey Lilly pistols were holstered, shotgun was staged at the center window, you started at either right or left window with the rifle pointed downrange. At the beep triple tap R1, quad tap R2, triple tap R3, move to the center window and shoot the pistols the same as the rifle sequence and 2 shotgun KD's. This was my best stage and the fastest time I've ever shot a stage in.

At the Line Shack the rifle and shotgun were staged on the center shelf , you started at the door. Rifle and pistols were shot on their respective targets with single taps, on targets 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,2,3,  and 4 shotgun KD's. At the Gallows you started beside either gun shelf with rifle staged on one and shotgun staged on opposite, with the rifle and pistols you dump the first 5 shots on the center target then starting on either end, Nevada sweep the 3 targets with the next 5 shots  and 2 shotgun KD's. this was my worst stage where I managed to blow a clean match by missing a pistol shot on the biggest target on the range. I guess you really are supposed to look at that thing on the end of the barrel.

Randy Saint Eagle was the Top Gun of the day, followed by Ben T. Iron, Papa Dave, Lead Bone, Dodge City Dixie ( Ladies Top Gun), Dead Lee Shooter, Brada Tat Tat, Reno Mustang, Stones and Two Clicks rounded out the Top 10.

Dodge City Dixie was the Ladies Top Gun, followed by Dirty Nerdy and May Lillie.

Cowboy Stages

The Wild Bunch Top Gun was C W Knight, followed by Jagged Rock, Frank Buckshot, Deadwood Miner and Papa Oso rounded out the Wild Bunch Top 5.

Wild Bunch Stages

Ben T. Iron, Dirtwood Dobber, Montana Ray and Reno Mustang all shot "Clean Matches".

Complete Scores

Videos by Dirty Nerdy

I hope everyone had a good time today and I hope to see you all back next month and I hope the good Lord blesses us with another good day of shooting.

The next match at Wartrace will be Long Range next weekend and the next Cowboy match will be Feb. 7. For more info always check out our website.

Wartrace Regulators

Happy Trails until we meet again.

First Wartrace Regulators Cowboy Match Of The Year

20 Cowgirls and Cowboys ignored the 100% chance of rain in the forecast and came to Wartrace for the first Cowboy  Match of the year. Papa Dave started with a brief Safety Meeting and Jagged Rock offered a prayer and led us in the Pledge. We were trying to get as early a start as possible to try to beat some of the rain, it didn't work.

Stage 1 was the Livery Stable and before we finished it the rain was coming down. Whiskey Hayes made a good decision due to the rain and we shot all 5 stages under the cover of the Livery Stable. We shot 5 different scenarios on the same targets. It's amazing how many different ways you can shoot 2 pistol, 2 rifle and 4 shotgun targets.

First we alternated double taps; shot 4-1-1-4; alternated single taps; shot 1st pistol 2-3 on rifle targets from near the left barrel, moved to the center window for 2-3 on the pistol targets, back to the left barrel for 2-3 twice with the rifle, then across the stage to the right barrel for the 4 shotgun kd's, last we started at the right barrel with the shotgun, moved to the left barrel and shot the rifle 3-4-3, then shot the pistols 3-4-3 on the rifle targets.

By shooting all 5 stages at the Livery we stayed mostly dry and had a great day. I think everyone was glad they came out to shoot. We were glad to welcome Sgt. Jasper back, he was shooting at Wartrace when I started in 2005 but stopped soon after. Now after a few years in the Air Force he is back with us. He had rifle problems and left after the 2nd stage, hopefully he'll have it straightened out by the mid-month match.

Randy Saint Eagle was the  Top Gun of the day (I like to write that once in a while), followed by Papa Dave, Frank Buckshot, Grey Horse, Reno Mustang, Gunbutcher, Sunflower Kid, Sheriff Frank Canton, Deadwood Miner and Jagged Rock rounded out the Top 10.

Doc Kay B May was the Ladies Top Gun followed by TN. Missy.

Fort Knox and Doc Kay B May shot the only "Clean" Matches.

Complete scores when available

The next Match at Wartrace will be the Cowboy/Wild Bunch Match Jan. 17.

Don't forget if you're a Regulator it's time to pay your dues.

Member Information

Membership Renewal

Individual Fee - $80.00
Family Fee - $100.00

Please print off this Membership/Renewal Application & Waiver and send in with payment.

Wartrace Regulators membership dues are due on Jan. 1st. All new members will pay a $50 initiation fee along with a prorated membership fee. Existing members that have let their membership lapse, will not have to pay the initiation fee and their membership fee will not be prorated, On March 1st the gate combinations will be changed and the new combination will be e-mailed to all paid up members. After that date anyone who has not paid their dues will have to pay the non-member match fee.

You are welcome to bring your dues to the next monthly match or mail them to:

Papa Dave

952 Williams Road

Manchester, TN 37355

For more info always check out our website

Wartrace Regulators

Happy Trails until we meet again.

Gunfight at Givhans Ferry

Dodge City Dixie and Reno Mustang packed up their covered wagon and headed to my homestead last Tuesday. After throwing in my gear (we left most of my Garage Papa Dave) we headed to Ridgeville South Carolina for the SASS Southeast Regional Match. We rolled in on Wednesday in time to set up camp and find and check out the range. This was our first trip there and we were happy to find a very nice range. We checked out the stages and they looked good, targets were reasonable sized and close enough to easily hit, or miss if you decide to run too fast.

Thursday morning we got to the range early and while Dixie attended the Doily Gang Clinic Reno and I had some great omelets from Crazy Lady Cafe'. He told us when we ordered the loaded omelets that they don't do small and they don't do normal and I'd say their 4 egg omelets were not normal and certainly not small. We shot a few of the Speed Side Matches and I learned a long time ago if you're not a fast shooter shoot early and you can still get your name in the book. At 1 pm the 3 of us shot the 3 stage Blast Match to get a feel for the stages.

Friday we shot the afternoon wave starting with the Safety Meeting at noon. We were on Posse 16 with;

 Bill Bonney FL
Chicken Scratch FL
Did I Get 'um NJ
Dodge City Dixie TN
Medicine Bow FL
Peddler Jack NY
Randy Saint Eagle TN
Renegade Roper NY
Reno Mustang TN
Saddle Burr Jack NC
Sidekick Chick FL
Sixgun Schwaby NY
Three Cut NC
Wendover Kid NC Posse Marshal

We started with Stage 6, Givhan's Ferry, where you started with shotgun in had, pistols holstered and rifle staged on a downrange table. You shot 2 shotgun knock downs each from 3 locations, then placed your shotgun on the table, then with the rifle and pistols put at least 3 rounds each on 6 targets. 1, 3 and 4 were square targets and 2, 5 and 6 were rectangles. It was one of my favorite stages. The first day went really well for me, good for Reno and Dixie had a bit of a train wreck.

Saturday we shot the Morning wave and it was pretty cool when we got to the range, still some frost in the shade. We shot the first 5 stages and I started with a pistol miss. I blame it on a loose nut behind the trigger. I think all 3 of us had some great stages and some that didn't go so well. I've learned that no matter how good the stages are I can manage to mess up a few of them.

With only 14 on our Posse we didn't have time to take any shooting pictures but I was able to shoot with some folks I'd never met and now I like to think I have several new friends. After we finished and checked out the vendors we went for ice cream, then headed back to our camp to prepare for the banquet. The banquet had some really good food including pulled pork, chicken, smoked sausage and some really big shrimp. They also had side match awards and a good cowboy singer.

Sunday morning we headed back to the range for the Awards Ceremony and a touching tribute to our Veterans. Santa Fe River Stan was the "Top Gun" of the match followed by Blackhawk Henry, Cowboy Junky, Morgan Dollar and Bulls Head Bill rounded out the Top 5.

Shamrock Sadie was the "Ladies Top Gun" followed by Sue Render, Sixgun Sallie, Hawkeye Gin and Maggie Darlin' rounded out the Ladies Top 5.

Wartrace shooters fared well, Garnet Gal was 1st Ladies Senior and shot a "clean" match,
 Scrub Oak Willie, 4th Silver Senior Duelist.
Reno Mustang, 1st Senior Gunfighter.
Dodge City Dixie, 2nd Ladies B-Western.
Randy Saint Eagle, 1st Senior Duelist.

Complete Scores

If you haven't been to Givhan's Ferry you should put it on you're list to try out. Thanks to Shamrock Sadie, Knot Hardly Dunn, JM Brown, Doc Kemm and all involved in putting on this match.

This was my last big match of the year and I have to say a big Thank You to Dixie and Reno for making is a fun trip.

Pictures

Happy Trails, until we meet again.

2014 Tennessee State Championship, The Regulators Reckoning

The 2014 Tennessee State Championship is in the record books and I for one think it was our best one yet. It started a little iffy weather wise with lots of rain leading up to the match. In fact it didn't stop until early Thursday morning. It was overcast and cool on Thursday for Side-Matches but the rain was gone and we were blessed with great weather for the match.

Thursday started with a Black Powder Match and a Warm Up Match, then the normal Speed events, Long Range, and Cut The Rope. Blackfish Kid managed to cut it with the first shot with his rifle and Lefty's Lady cut it with her rifle in 2 shots. In the afternoon we had a Wild Bunch Match. This is the 2nd year we've had "Are You Tough Enough To Wear Pink" on Thursday to raise money for the American Cancer Society and this year thanks to a huge $1000.00 check, from a great shooting couple who I'm sure would not want to be mentioned we raised $1141.00. Hopefully next year a few more folks will donate as well.

 This year for the first time we had a Shoot-Off that everyone could enter. We had this on Thursday right after the Side-Matches ended. We offered 3 Categories based on shooting style, Traditional, Gunfighter and Duelist with these winners shooting for Overall. Prestidigitator won Traditional, Fast Harley won Gunfighter and Shaddai Vaquero won Duelist. The final round had Shaddai going against Tator with Tator being the Shoot-Off Top Gun. With the participation and number of spectators we had I'm sure this will be an annual event. Dodge City Dixie took 20 Videos of the shoot-off.

Dixie's Videos

During the Shoot-Off we also had a Chili Cook-Off going on with plenty of chili and fixings for everyone to feast on. I didn't hear who won the chili contest, but all of us who stayed to eat it were definitely winners.

Friday started with Whiskey Hayes welcoming all our shooters. Papa Dave had our Safety Meeting, Whiskey offered a prayer and lead us in the Pledge. Everyone headed to their respective stages to start the match. We use Stage Drivers to explain the stages so that every Posse gets the same instructions and this system has always worked well for us.

Whiskey Hayes always writes some really good stages and these were no exception. They were all straight forward with no "P-Traps" and you could run right on the edge but you had to be careful not to run off. Several were shooters choice (rifle not last) for the gun order and some had a choice as to where you staged them. This year's stages were The Train, Depot, Wagon, Livery, Mine, Fort Sweeney, Cantina, Wells Fargo, Grafton's and the Line Shack.

After the first 5 stages were finished we had our Team Match. This year we had 11 3 person teams starting on stools, the rifle or pistol shooter ran to the staged location and fired their 10 rounds then re-staged guns and went back and tagged the next shooter. Rifle shooter had a Texas Star and a plate rack, Pistol shooter had a plate rack and 5 knock downs, Shotgun had 6 knock downs plus anything left standing. I think everyone enjoyed it.

After the Team Match we had dinner on the range, again cooked by Rolling Chopstix,  Side-Match Awards and several door prizes, including lots of Jack Daniels and several free entries to shoots. Chickamauga Slim had Karaoke going and had several folks singing different songs. Those singing including Slim, Bluff, Donald Duke, Whiskey Hayes and I'm sure others I missed.

Saturday brought on the last 5 stages of the match and another day of great fall weather. Everyone finished up in time to clean up and get ready for the banquet which was in Shelbyville this year at the Blue Ribbon Circle on the Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration grounds. The Bell Buckle Cafe catered the meal again this year and a couple we sat with from Texas said it was the best Banquet food they had ever had. Awards set-up at banquet.

One milestone we celebrated was surpassing 200 shooters for the first time. Tennessee Missy, a Buckarette was our 200th registered shooter and Dodge City Dixie prepared a couple of really nice shirts to present to her. We ended up with 227 registered and  220 to actually shoot the match. This match was also the final leg of the Triple Crown.

The awards started with recognizing Category State Champions with State Champion buckles. Then it was turned over to Mose and Bella Spencer to give awards to all of the Triple Crown Champions. They also presented a gun cart, donated by Ruger to Georgia Slick, the only shooter to shoot all 3 Triple Crown matches "Clean". Ruger also donated a gun to be given away to a lucky Triple Crown shooter.

Next we recognized the 21 shooters who shot our match "Clean". We had 2 pistols donated by Ruger, a Henry .22 donated by Franklin Gun Shop, a Holligan Wagon gun cart donated by Papa Dave and a really big Bowie Knife donated by Brada Tat Tat and Dirty Nerdy, that were given away during the awards. Then we recognized the top 5 in each category.

Unpleasant was the Overall Men's State Champion and Dew R Dye was the Overall Ladies State Champion.

Lead Ringer was the Top Gun of the match, followed by Sidekick, Missouri Lefty, Fast Eddie and Unpleasant rounded out the top 5.

Slick's Sharp Shooter was the Ladies Top Gun, followed by Shamrock Sadie, Dew R Dye, Dodge City Dixie and Maggie Darlin' rounded out the Ladies top 5.

Complete Scores

DB Pro Photo was there taking Posse, Action and Banquet photos.

Gringo Gordo usually take pictures for the Cowboy Chronicle report but was out of town so HT Terry took range photos and ToyBoy Bandito took Banquet photos. They used Gringo's camera so as soon as he gets back I'll add a link to his album.

HT Terry, ToyBoy Bandito & Gringo Gordo Photos

Slideshow

I want to thank all my old friends and the new ones I just met for helping to make this the Biggest and I think the Best,  Regulators Reckoning ever. I hope you will all be back next year.

Starting with our Nov. 1st Cowboy Match Wartrace will be back on our regular schedule until next years State Match.

For more info about our club always check out our website.

Wartrace Regulators

Happy Trails until we meet again.

End Of Trail The Cowboy Action Shooting World Championship

Dodge City Dixie and Reno Mustang hitched up their wagon  and drove it to my ranch early on June 21st. After getting my gear loaded we pointed the wagon west and headed to Edgewood, New Mexico and EOT. We stopped just outside of Oklahoma City that night and headed on toward Moriarty, New Mexico the next morning. We rolled into Moriarty Sunday evening and decided to check out the range even though everything was over for the day. We looked on the SASS website and saw the address 215 Cowboy Way, Edgewood. NM, only to find out that the office is not at the range. After going to the directions tab we found the range and it was impressive. We were in awe walking the range for the first time, the scenery is fantastic and the range looked great.

Monday morning we headed back to the range to sign in and check out the vendors and the stages. Everyone we talked to was really helpful and tried to make us feel at home. The shooters packet came with chap stick and everyone said us it and don't wait until you're thirsty to drink water. I think I averaged about 10 bottles a day the whole time we were there.

While walking the stages we met T.A. Chance, the Match Director, and discussed the stages with him. He was a pleasure to talk to and all the stages were fast and fun, with one moving target each day. One stage had pistol and rifle knockdowns but T.A. included a stationary target where you could make up any pistol or rifle KD misses with a shotgun. If a target didn't go down you could still end up with a clean stage.

I ran into Split Rail and he said to use sinus rinse before you end up with bleeding sinuses and that was some of the best advice along with Mose and Bella telling us to drink Pedialite. Sheriff Frank Canton from home had told us to use Shot Bloc's which helped as well.

We decided to pace ourselves and try to get used to the altitude, nearly 7000 feet above sea level, so we didn't shoot on Monday.

Tuesday morning we shot a 4 stage Warm Up Match and if you haven't been there you wouldn't believe how winded you are after a 25 second stage. After lunch we checked out the vendors and just hung out.

Wednesday was Side Match day and we shot a little and got to see some amazing shooters. I shot the speed rifle in 3.43 seconds and that is about as good as I can do. Waterloo came up and shot a 1.84 and I thought no one could beat that, until Matt Black came up on the first run and shot a 1.80. It was amazing to watch him shoot that fast and I heard he came back later and beat that time.

Reno and Dixie went to Albuquerque to meet Papa Dave's flight and I stayed and worked the Long Range Side Match for a couple of hours. When they got back Papa signed in and we went to the Opening Ceremonies, Which included a flag presentation from every country represented and a big welcome from all involved with the match We were warned to be careful where you walked, especially at night, see my pictures. We decided to walk the first days stages for the Main Match. In the process we happened upon a party at Hot Tamale's Stage where we spun the prize wheel and somehow I ended up with a margarita.

Thursday was the first day of the main match and we shot the late wave. We had a 12:30 Safety Meeting and then headed to the Posse shoot where the entire posse lined up with pistols and rifle. One person shot a plate rack, one was designated to put the last shot on a clay bird the rest lined up to shoot a 4x4 in to. We did it in about 16 seconds but the winning team did it in under 6 I think. We really had a great posse including Amaduelist (Posse Marshall), Deadly Sharpshooter (Assistant Posse Marshall), Calhoun Kid, Dixie Rebel, Dodge City Dixie, Estancia Kid, Hotshot Harley, Irish Leadslinger, Kalamity Kae, Kansas City Sneed, Oklahoma Dee, Papa Dave, Posey County Lefty, Posey's Lefty's Lady, Purdy Sharp, Randy Saint Eagle, Reno Mustang, Smokey Shane and Sundown Tex.

After finishing the day stages we headed back to the bunkhouse to clean up and hit the road for Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque. It is a fantastic ride up to 10,378 feet above sea level and High Finance  restaurant. The view is really nice and the food is really good, thanks Papa Dave.

Friday we shot the mid-day wave and stages 1-4, including the swinger on stage 3 and pistol and rifle knock downs on stage 4. After the days stages Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang and I were still clean so the pressure was on.

In the afternoon we were able to watch "Badlands Bill" Ogelsby, Exhibition Shooter and it was a great show. He shot 2 balloons with a single action revolver that sounded like 1 shot. He also show how to shoot like the movie cowboys, slinging the bullets out to get extra velocity. He told jokes and my favorite shot was the mirror shot where he split a bullet on a knife blade and busted 2 balloons, did I mention he did this in about a 20 mph wind. If you ever get the opportunity to see him I think you'll enjoy it.

Saturday morning we shot the middle stages on the morning wave and after being clean for 2 days I was really nervous. Stage 8 we shot a combined pistol and rifle progressive sweep on 6 targets, which required a rifle reload, then 4 shotgun KD's. When we got to the final stage Reno shot first and finished with a Clean Match. Dixie shot third and also finished with a Clean Match so now the pressure was really on. I was watching the loading table and was a nervous wreck by the time someone relieved me so I could shoot. I shot the stage in slow motion and was so happy when the last pistol shot hit steel I missed a shotgun KD and had to make it up. I finished with a Clean Match as well.

After the match was over we decided to try the Cowboy Clays. I'd never tried Sporting Clays before, but Papa Dave and Reno were good coaches. We shot the first half of the course, 50 shots, and then shot the 5-Stand Team Match. Both were lots of fun but after shooting the final 4 stages of the Main Match and 75 shotgun rounds we were ready for lunch.

Dodge City Dixie posted a daily report on the Ocoee Rangers Forum and Judge'em All Duncan said while we were there we had to try Chili Hills Restaurant, chili.hills@yahoo.com. By Saturday at lunch I think we had been 5 times. If you go to EOT or to Edgewood for any other reason make sure you stop by for a great meal and ask to speak to Debbie Goss, the owner and pie chef extraordinaire. Debbie gave SASS members 15% off during EOT. She also developed the Bighorn endorsed SASS pie, be sure to try a slice. It's hard to have a meal there and not top it off with a slice of her delicious homemade pies. Between Dixie, Reno, Papa Dave and I we tried several of them.

Saturday night we went back to the range for the Saturday Night Bash featuring the Dooley Gang. The most exciting part of this for us was when they called out the Top 16 Cowboys and the Top 16 Cowgirls. I think Dodge City Dixie needed oxygen when they called out her name. She had a great first EOT, shot "Clean" and made the "Sweet 16 Shoot-off".

Sunday morning we loaded the wagon and headed back to the range for the Shoot-off, I think Dixie was a little nervous. They had the Ladies and Men Top 8 Wild Bunch Shoot-off first and it was lots of fun to watch.  Then they reset the tables and started the Top 16 and the Sweet 16 shoot-offs. They alternated Cowgirl and Cowboy runs 20 knockdowns for pistol and rifle combined and 3 shotgun KD's plus the crossover with exploding centers attached, it was a real hoot to watch. When the smoke had all cleared Lead Ringer was the Top Cowboy and Holy Terror was the Top Cowgirl. The final match was between the 2 of them and it was really close. It looked like Lead Ringer had a substantial lead going into the shotgun knock downs but Holy Terror kicked it into high gear and we had to wait for the smoke to clear to see that Lead Ringer had indeed won.

The Awards started shortly after and it moved quickly (all Dooley Gang Award Ceremonies do). T-Bone Dooley, Ringo Fire and the gang did a great job.

Cobra Cat was the Top Gun and Cowboy World Champion; followed by Lead Ringer, Wrangler World Champion; James Samuel Pike; Sass Kicker, Ladies Top Gun and Junior Girls World Champion; Savage Sam; Prestidigitator; Phantom, 49'r World Champion; White Lightning Jack; C.S.Brady; and Hells Comin, Senior World Champion rounded out the Overall Top 10.

As noted earlier Sass Kicker was the Ladies Top Gun; followed by Slick's Sharp Shooter, Cowgirl World Champion; Holy Terror; Two Sons, Ladies Silver Senior World Champion; Texas Tiger, Ladies 49'r World Champion; Hey You; Shamrock Sadie; Bent Barrel Betty; Dew R Dye, Ladies Wrangler World Champion; and Really rounded out the Ladies Top 10.

From Wartrace, Dodge City Dixie was 3rd Ladies B-Western with a Clean Match.
Randy Saint Eagle was 3rd Senior Duelist with a Clean Match.
Papa Dave was 3rd Cattle Baron.
Reno Mustang was 9th Senior Gunfighter with a Clean Match.

Complete Scores

Also from Tennessee, Iron Maiden, Ladies Duelist World Champion; Mae Berry, Ladies Frontier Cartridge Duelist World Champion and Dew R Dye, Ladies Wrangler World Champion.   Congratulations Ladies.

After the results, we hitched up the team, loaded the wagon and headed home but we couldn't get through Edgewood without making one more stop at Chili Hills for more good food and of course pie.

Reno manned the reins the whole round trip, 2889 miles and I want to thank he, Dixie and Papa Dave  for a fantastic trip. I think they and Papa Dave will join me in saying if you can go to EOT, it is a great experience. I also have to thank Misty Moonshine, Mose and Bella Spencer, without them making it possible to win entries this trip would not have happened this year.
                                                                       
I also have to say a big Thank You to the Wild Bunch, T.A. Chance, SASS employees, the Waddies and everyone involved in making my first trip to EOT  one I'll never forget.   I hope to get back to EOT someday and hopefully it will once again be with Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang, Papa Dave  and hopefully we can recruit  some more Wartrace Regulators to make the trip.                                                        
Here are some links to videos and pictures.

Videos by Dodge City Dixie

Photos by Dodge City Dixie

Videos by Reno Mustang

Photos by Randy Saint Eagle

Videos by Randy Saint Eagle

Uprising At Swearing Creek, North Carolina State Championship

My wife and I loaded the wagon and headed to Mocksville, NC to visit our daughter, son in law and 2 of our grandchildren. As luck would have it I just happened to plan this trip for the same time  Uprising at Swearing Creek was going on in Salisbury, about 30 minutes away.

It was really nice to shoot during the day and play with grandchildren at night.

Thursday was side match day with all the usual speed events and long range as well as warm up matches and Wild Bunch. The pistol, rifle and shotgun speed matches were in the same bay so you could load up and shoot all 3 each trip up. I spent a couple hours there shooting with Widder and Key Hay. They were better at it than I was, Key Hay won Speed Pistol Duelist and Widder showed out winning Speed Pistol Gunfighter, Speed Rifle and Speed '97. I on the other hand won nothing.

I spent the afternoon shooting the warm up match which gave me a chance to try out a few stages and get the feel of the range. I have to admit I was a little nervous when I first saw the shotgun targets, I could cover one with my hand, but after shooting them I liked them. They were set up light and if you hit them they fell. I'm pretty sure a .22 LR would take any of them down.

Friday morning brought the welcome from J.M. Brown, Safety Meeting from Royal Barnes and a Prayer and Pledge led by Lash Toru. Then we headed to our respective bays to start the first 5 stages of the Main Match. They use 5 shooting bays and shoot 2 stages in each bay so you don't have to do a lot of walking. I shot the morning wave on Friday  on Posse 8 with Widder and Key Hay. Posses 7 and 8 shot together and I can't begin to name everyone but Tracker Mike was our Posse Marshall. We also had 2 very nice Buckaroos, Blue Bay Boy and Hot Diggity Dawg. We had a fun posse and everything ran well. The stages were all based on Radio Cowboys and were fun. A few you had to think about but all shot well. I got through the first day "clean" and was very excited.

Saturday I shot the afternoon wave and our 2nd 5 stages were just as much fun and a little faster. I made it through the match "clean" but I was really nervous on my 9th and 10th stages thinking about getting a "clean match". It has been a long time since I did that at an Annual Match.

 It was amazing watching Red River Ray shoot a "clean match" as fast as he shoots.

I didn't go to the banquet so I can't tell what went on there but I heard it was a very good time. I played with my grandkids and worked on a few things around their house.

Sunday morning was the Awards Ceremony with Side Match, Wild Bunch, Costume and Main Match Awards.

Red River Ray was the Top Gun of the match and North Carolina State Champion, followed by Cowboy Junky, Christian Mortician, Kid Ray and Three Cut rounded out the Top 5.

Sixgun Sallie was the Ladies Top Gun and Ladies North Carolina State Champion, followed by Sue Render, Shamrock Sadie, Carolina Girl and Kill 'em All Kate rounded out the Ladies Top 5.

They had 144 shooters and 29 shot "Clean". 20% clean is huge.

Complete Scores

I had a good match for me finished 1st Senior Duelist, 21st Overall.

I was only able to take a few pictures.

My Pictures

Also thanks to Ktown for taking pictures at the match and making them available for free.

Ktown's Posse Pictures

This is a match worth looking at and I hope it will be a good warm-up for EOT. Reno Mustang, Dodge City Dixie, Papa Dave and I are planning to go this year. Papa Dave has been several times but this will be the first trip for Dixie, Reno and I. Hopefully we can get some pictures and videos to post.

The next match at Wartrace will be the Cowboy/ Wild Bunch Match June 21st. for more info on any matches at Wartrace always check out our website.

Happy Trails until we meet again.