Winter Range 2015 – The Week That Was

What a week it has been!

We started out Sunday week ago shooting at Cowtown – Fire and Ice. It was a good warmup for the week ahead and got to shoot with some new cowboys and cowgirls.

Monday and Tuesday were Wild Bunch match days. 5 stages each day with 30 pistol, mostly up to 10 rifle and 4 up to 12 shotgun per stage. We had a go at Wild Bunch long range rifle and some speed events for giggles.

 

Tuesday evening was the Classic Cowboy Dinner at the Buffalo Chip Saloon in Cave Creek. This year honours went to Classic Cowgirl “Squawty Bawdy” and Classic Cowboy “G W Ryder”.

Wednesday it was onto Warm Up match and speed events. Back into the cowboy guns and ready for the main match to begin.

Thursday – start of main match and not too bad. A little slow and 1 miss for the day. Jack had a few issues with jacking rounds out, we are 2 for 2 at the end of the day.

 

Friday – Red Shirt Day in honour of all troops serving or have served. A fly over occurs before each wave of shooters commences (for those that have never been to this event there will be x amount of posses that start early, mid or late in the day).

 

The flight team of 4 commences their flyover in formation and part way over one will peel away from the other 3, representing the lost men and women of service.

 

Had a couple of really good runs this day and one very happy cowgirl. Jack continuing his streak from the day before is not particularly happy – and he did have some really good raw times.

Friday night is saloon night with side match awards, followed by Bingo and Poker.

Saturday – last chance to finish the match strong, the weather was a bit drizzly and a tad annoying. Dropped 2 shots on stage 12 and I knew it was going to hurt. All in all, I was pleased to have shot my best Winter Range yet and all would be revealed come Sunday.

 

Saturday night of course is banquet night. I entered the costume contest with the 'Alamo Ball' 1879 gown and won 1 st place Best Dressed Lady and to top it off my seamstress skills assisted a 1st place Best Dressed B-Western Lady for 'Lil McGill'.

 

The Top 16 Mens and Sweet 16 Ladies shooters are also announced for the showdown on Sunday morning.

For the Men's – Blackjack Zac, Cobra Cat, Cody James, Deuce Stevens, Fast Enuff, Frederick Jackson Turner, Gateway Kid, Hell Hound, Matt Black, Ole Short Tom, Ranger McDuffie, Robyn DeVault, Single Barrel, Skin Dawg, Slick McClade and Texas Slim (alternates were Lead Ringer, Colt Faro, Oklahoma Dee and Bogus Deal)

For the Ladies – Bonnie MacFarlane, Crazy Little Woman, Echo Meadows, Kathouse Kelli, Lefty Jo, Lilly Long, Mame, Panhandle Cowgirl, SASS Kicker, Shamrock Sadie, Spur Broke, Sunshine Marcie, Texas Tiger, Tillie Dyes, Two Sons, Whirlwind Wendy (alternates were Etta Mae, Addie Rose, Victoria Diamond and Molly Magoo)

Come Sunday morning the light drizzle cleared and we had one change in the men's lineup and only 12 jittery but keen cowgirls to give it a go. Overall the final two were 'Slick McClade' and 'SASS Kicker'. Congratulations to both of them.

 

Awards were done and dusted in a couple of hours. A big congratulations to 'Tillie Dyes' for taking 1st place in Lady Wrangler, 2nd place me! 'Kathouse Kelli'! 3rd 'Echo Meadows', 4th 'Mame', 5th 'Pinto Annie', 6th 'Renegade Roper', 7th 'Miss Behavin', 8th 'Six Packin Jan', 9th 'Misty Moonshine' and 10th 'Winchester Mariah'

For Wild Bunch I placed 3rd in Ladies Traditional – 1st Place went to 'Texas Tiger', 2nd 'Dixie Bell', 3rd me, 4th 'Lacey Doyley' and 5th 'Shotgun Shannon'.

 

Phew! An awesome week finished off with a great dinner at Abuelos with none other than Judge Roy Bean, Justice Lily Kate, Shotglass, Texas Jack Daniels, Squawty Bawdy, Hipshot, Hawkshaw Fred, Hot Tamale, Aspen Filly and her sister Nancy. Thanks for the invite, Jackaroo and I thoroughly enjoyed it and everyone's company.

 

 

Kat xo

 

 

CO State Championships Main Match

It was clear skies heading to the range Saturday morning after a spectacular fireworks display over Fort Collins last night for Independence Day celebrations.

We could see the mountains, a gorgeous sight with some small patches of snow still on the tops of the “Fourteeners”.

Second day of shooting was done on Saturday ending up with 4 misses for me and a clean match for Jackaroo! Well done man!

Thank you Posse 5, great work! And to all those who helped out with this shoot for some 165+ Shooters, good match, thanks Pawnee Station and to The Full Moon Saloon for shutting down their bar to host a bunch of cowboys n cowgirls for fun, frivolity, banquet and games on Saturday night.

This morning, Sunday, was another hot start to the day with many throwing their name tag in the bucket and being drawn to see who’s going head to head in the Top Gun Challenge. We had a crack at it but small mistakes mean it’s anyone’s game for this! Congratulations to Painted Filly who came in for our round when I dropped a shot and to Shaky when Jackaroo was ahead then fumbled with his last two rounds, theirs was a very close match!

When it was all said and done, the final winners of the Top Gun Challenge were Lefty Jo and Gateway Kid! Yee haa!

Out of the 165 odd shooters there were 11 of them that had a clean match including our Aussies, Jackaroo and Sam Balin.

When it all came out in the wash, there were a lot of very happy shooters – myself and Jack included.

Jack finished 1st Place Senior, Cat Tracker 2nd Place and Colorado State Champion, 3rd Place Mountain Mike (?). Yay! An unexpected win for Jackaroo as he truly thought he had mucked up on a few stages that would have cost him a placing.

In Lady Wrangler category I finished 1st Place, Turquoise Queen 2nd Place and Colorado State Champion, 3rd Place Ivy Wild.

While I was taking photos of others and not paying attention, I heard Red River Wrangler announce they were going to read out the top 10, (thinking top 10 combined) when I sat back down they were going through some ladies names and next thing I know, Lefty Jo is standing with her hand extended and me wondering what the hell she was doing when they called my name as 1st Lady overall!! Wow, very much a surprise!

So a good weekend finish for both of us. Had a ball!

AND I need to mention that the 2014 Colorado State Champions are Cobra Cat and Lefty Jo! Our very hearty congratulations to two fantastic people.

Cheers

Kat xo

P.S. An outstanding year for Cobra Cat, Cowboy National Champion, World Champion and now State Champion. A true young gentleman to boot – just sayin’! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Tales of End of Trail

Founders Ranch, Edgewood, NM, where games are won and lost in the world of cowboy action shooting. The 33rd Annual End Of Trail 2014 World Championships have been held under a clear blue New Mexico sky, hot and dry conditions with plenty of the usual fine powdery dust.

(That's why I'm sitting in the laundromat now – trying to get dirt and dust out of white petticoats!)

 

This year we were on Posse 22 – Apostle Charlie, Bordello Baz, Doc Rankin, Downunder Undertaker, Ex Sighted, Jackaroo, Kathouse Kelli, Johnny Behan, Max Montana, Pious Player, Shanley Shooter, Tejon Buckaroo, The Bandit, US Grant, Whiplash Whitey and the lovely Singin' Sue stayed to do scoring for us!

A few new faces, a few from Australia with us and a few we already knew. Fun, fun, fun!

Three days of fun at that! Thursday through Saturday were the main match days where I finished clean!!! Jack was clean……….with a P. Dang!

It was an interesting match, targets were up close and speedy, and THAT's what made it interesting for the faster shooters! The top 16 shoot out was again, as always, fun to watch (Savage Sam from Aus and Ruby Redsmoke and White Lightning Jack from NZ in it) watching the Wild Bunch shoot out as well which R C Shot from Aus was in. (Alvira Sullivan Earp was too but didn't shoot)

Scores were done, rank points added up to see who'd be the best in the world. Congratulations to all 539 shooters who attended EOT, and 127 clean shooters this year, I hope you had as much fun as I did!

Jack finished 12th in Senior category and 108th overall, I finished 4th in Lady Wrangler category and 145th overall.

There were 23 Australians and 8 New Zealanders this year which was pretty cool, with half or just over half placing in the top 10 of their category and receiving a buckle. A very credible 2nd place to Savage Sam in the Cowboy Category and 3rd place to Alvira Sullivan Earp in Ladies Senior category and to Ruby Redsmoke 1st and World Champion in Ladies B-Western!

Top honours this year and your 2014 World Champions (I thought I was T-Bone Dooley and Ringo Fire announcing then!lol!) are Men's – Cobra Cat and Ladies – Sasskicker, who I might just add is only 16 years old!

Besides all the fun with the shooting Friday evening was the saloon night “Daggers and Derringers”. Five of us contested the saloon girl/soiled dove competition with Diamond Blaze taking first and a derringer, the rest of us received a Damascus blade dagger!

Saturday night was the party night and yes I did manage to be able to dance in an 1887 bustle dress with reasonable ease from boot-scooting to two-step. BUT the best part of all is seeing everyone dressed in their finest and seeing all who go in the Best Dressed Costume contest. This year I won 1st place Best Dressed Lady! Yes! I finally got it right with my 1887 walking dress for day on the streets of Tombstone!

 

Cheers!

Kat xo

 

 

PoP Day 2

Another gorgeous day with a slight wind made for a comfortable shooting day. Last 5 stages, with only 1 miss today for me and none for Jack. So overall that's one a piece.

We will see how it all turns out at the Banquet tonight!

Had a great Posse, made some new friends, got to shoot with some we haven't shot with before as well and was good getting to know them better.

 

 

Great shoot, recommend a visit!

Well it's hours later and all out in the wash Jackaroo finished 1st Place Senior and 4th place overall. I won Best Dressed Saloon Girl, came 1st Place Lady Wrangler, 6th place overall and 1st Lady overall!

Kudos to a great number of people that ran the shoot, Ansolutely had a blast. Great trophies too!

Top 20

1 Doc Hurd, 2 Hondo Tucker, 3 Rowdy Buckshot, 4 Jackaroo, 5 fort Hays Preacher, 6 Kathouse Kelli, 7 Croaker, 8 Mace Bishop, 9 Silent Thunder, 10 Boomstick Jay, 11 Titus A. Gnatsass, 12 Trego Kid, 13 The Brisco Kid, 14 Buster Jack, 15 Shootin Newton, 16 Digger John, 17 Flint Hills Dawg, 18 Jayhawk Jerry, 19 High Plains Hud, 20 Marshall Halloway.

 

Kat xo