End Of Trail Cowboy Action World Championships 2016

As the saying goes…come for the shooting, stay for the people….its End Of Trail 2016, the 35th Anniversary of cowboy action shooting.

Last Tuesday was warm up day and the start of 6 days of fun. Well for some they could do warm up Monday as well but we were still wild bunching it!

Wednesday I assisted as an instructor in the Doily Gang ladies clinic along with Shamrock Sadie, Two Sons, Sass Kicker and Half-a-hand Henri.

 

We had around 18 ladies that we shared information with and coached through a stage giving them tips for working on or improving their transitions. I hope all the ladies enjoyed it as much as I did, working with 4 other World Champions, all sharing their knowledge.

 

It was on to the official Opening Ceremony that same afternoon. Jack and I had worn our Aussie outfits and I was honoured to carry the Australian flag as part of the ceremony recognising the countries participating this year. Australia, Austria, Netherlands, New Zealand, Italy, Germany and USA participated this year.

 

The 2016 class of new Regulators were announced with many friends recieving the accolade! Top Hand award went to Blackjack Zac. Congratulations to all!

 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were main match days. 4 stages a day, 36 posses going through 3 waves per day.

We were on Posse 32 – Buck Skunk, Deadeye Colt, Deadeye Jake Maas, Cat Ballou & Tex, Texas Mac & Texas Flower, Doc Neilson, G.W. Wade, Hands, Louie, Ranger McDuffie, Tijeras Pete, Timbercrick Mick, Tooth Ache, Whiskey Rick, Wyatt H. Ristl, Yellowstone Vic, Jackaroo and myself and of course our Posse leader Half-a-Hand Henri. (Was great shooting with – now – a 10 times World Champion and all won in different categories! What an inspiration this lady is!)

 

Saturday night was party and Best Dressed Costume contest. Lots of entrants fronted up for best dressed in different categories but the main one I was concerned about was Texas Flower in the 'Diary of Desire' gown. Doc Barium also showed up in her Seaside gown and hat I had made for her last year! So now I had two entries in the costume contest.

Grin from ear to ear when both ladies with their exceptional stories, were announced as 1st Place for Texas Flower!! 2nd place for Doc Barium and the lovely EZ GeeZee 3rd place for her Mexican civil war gown.

 

To round out the night the Top 16 Mens and Ladies were announced. Made it to the shootout!

Men's – Missouri Lefty, Waterloo, Matt Black, White Lightning Jack, Cobra Cat, Cody James, Creek County Kid, Ranger McDuffie, Roy's Creek Dan, Deuce Stevens, Austin Black, Damascus Jon, Duke Skywalker, Lead Ringer, Nick Nitro, Pecos Nick

Ladies – Shamrock Sadie, Echo Meadows, Kathouse Kelli, Sass Kicker, Slicks Sharpshooter, Bonnie Macfarlane, Panhandle Cowgirl, Two Sons, Spinning Sally, Texas Tiger, Whirlwind Wendy, Diamond Kate, Belinda Belle, Hey You, Little Red Sure Shot, Morguns Ann Ammo

Sunday to finish off a top week of action the shootouts were held for both Wild Bunch and Cowboy. Had a couple of fumbling runs through cowboy, shootout sure gets you going! Congratulations to Slicks Sharpshooter and Cody James for winning the shootout.

For main match awards – well, Jack got a buckle finishing 10th in Silver Senior category, much to his surprise after a 5 round rifle jam on a stage. Aside that, he shot extremely well during the match. Jack's back! Congratulations to General Jubal Early this years Silver Senior World Champion and to all other buckle winners.

 

To all my fellow Lady Wrangler competitors including another Aussie, Ex Sighted in 6th place and to my main competitors finishing 2nd place Echo Meadows (only 9secs between us again but rank points change that), Dew R Dye in 3rd place, a big congratulations to all buckle winners. This is one happy cowgirl taking a back to back world champion win!

 

A huge congratulations to the 2016 Overall Champions – Missouri Lefty and Sass Kicker!

 

What a day, what a week and a half!!

Leaving the dusty trail for another year,

Kat xo

June 26, 2016

 

EOT Wild Bunch 2016

We arrived into Moriarty a fortnight ago on the Thursday afternoon and got ourselves ready for a huge week!

The Wild Bunch World Championships commenced on the Friday with warm up and side matches.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday were the main match days. Now I managed to convince Jack not to over do it, so he sat this one out. He still came to the range every day with me and was helpful in loading mags and the loading strip while I was listening to stage instructions. (thanks man, love ya)

 

I was with a great Posse, some new faces, some I already knew and have shot with before. A good mix of modern and traditional shooters. Thanks to Texas Jack Morales, Last Chance Morales, Goatneck Clem, Capt Sam Evans, Mojave Mick, Boggus Deal, Lady Jane, Idaho Sixgun Sam, Big Casino, Big Iron Patnode, Colorado Jackson, Beaver John, Claudia Feather, Czexican Dave, Hipshot, Fast Hammer, Marshal Stone, Poke and Tumbleweed Thom.

 

The stages were great, a tough match but a whole lot of fun. The average number of pistol rounds was 25, some had 20 and some had 30 but generally the 30 round only had rifle or shotgun, not both.

 

As you can see from the photos there were a whole lot of knockdowns which made it interesting and I still think I'm getting used to having a front sight again. In short I need to practice on some smaller targets!!

 

Didn't get to do the BAM Match (Bolt Action Military rifle) or long range this time as Jacks rifle sort of fell apart the weekend of the OK State WB shoot. Next time!

Anyway at the end of 3 days……and a week of cowboy in between……I got a neat little badge for 2nd place wild bunch shooting costume. Had a run in the Wild Bunch shootout, AND finished 3rd in Ladies Traditional with two fabulous ladies Lady Jane in 2nd place and the lovely Lacey Doyly the 2016 World Champion Wild Bunch Ladies Traditional!

 

From the one handed shooter!

Kat xo

 

Red Dirt Wild Bunch

Oklahoma State Wild Bunch Championships are done and dusted for another year. It was a hot, hot day Saturday and a little kinder today.

The Red Dirt Company of Rough Riders got together for a pic today (all those dressed in their Rough Riders outfits) but there were a couple of others yesterday that I wish had have been in today's picture.

 

Ten stages in all, a Fastest Pistol side match – that was a hoot, man on man shootout, and a BAM Match (Bolt Action Military).

 

Thanks to Hondo Tweed as Match Director and all the Territorial Marshals that helped set up, paint and tear down. John Elder and his wife for the fantastic food both days.

 

Stages were great and reasonable on rounds. Was a great primer for End Of Trail and Colorado State Champions coming up.

 

Men's Modern and 1st overall went to Shell Stuffer from (southern) Illinois, Ladies Modern and 1st overall was Missouri Mae, who along with Capt Sam Evans won the shootout.

Jackaroo placed 2nd in Modern Mens Senior! I placed 1st in Ladies Traditional, won the Ladies Fastest Pistol and Ladies BAM match.

A whole bunch of fun with a great bunch of people. Will see some at End of Trail or next on the range in Arcadia. Congratulations to all other winners, I remember some but without the scores cannot submit here correctly.

Happy shooting!

Kat xo

 

Lincoln County Cowboys

In the morning light a posse of 16 cowboys and cowgirls rolled into the Crossroads Gun Range of Cushing, Oklahoma.

The sun beat down from a bright blue sky, later giving way to an Oklahoman breeze. With a tip of the hat and the pledge of allegiance, a six stage shoot out got under way.

 

They listened for how the shootout would take place, gathered their guns and ammo to take down the targets as the stage was set.

 

There was laughter, disappointment, cussing and messing with some.

 

At the end of the day, the cowboys and cowgirls came together for dinner and regaled each other with their tales – all the while with smiles on their faces and looking forward to the next time they came together at the next corral.

I'll be your huckleberry.

Kat xo

 

Wild Bunch Practice

Damas y Caballeros, Bienvenidos a manojo salvaje! Or Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to Wild Bunch.

Haa Haa Haa, well today was only a practice day, gearing up for Oklahoma State Wild Bunch Championships in 2 weeks time.

With 8months of not shooting this it was indeed a good time to give it a whirl and see what happens! Also, I got me a new $2 front sight (a $2 Aussie coin turned, beaten and ground) and at this stage it's still attached!

So we had a slight delay gettin' to the gate with a tree having uprooted itself and laying across the road. In comes the machinery to clear the way.

 

Sixteen Cowboys and one 'me' turned out to play – well we did have Krazy Kat and she did all the scoring for us, we thank you.

 

Practice was four stages and a shootout.

 

And that my friends is the day pretty much, home mid afternoon and ready to sit down briefly.

 

¡ Saludos! Cheers

Kat xo

 

Back in Oklahoma

It's been a whirlwind 4 days as we got back into Oklahoma.

 

A few days shopping, rejoining the gym, hitting Cabelas for reloading gear, Hancocks for fabric (still can't believe it's closing down! One of my resources at times) and today…..we got to shoot again with the Territorial Marshal's.

Forty three shooters turned up on a glorious day to shoot 6 cowboy stages and for a few keen beans a short 3 stage Wild Bunch Pistol match. Good to be using the 45 again and with the new “$2” front sight we will just have to see how it goes!

Not that it looks much now, it's been cut, ground etc but yes my new front sight (for now, hopefully it will stay, it has lifted slightly) is made from an Aussie $2 coin.

 

Oklahoma State Wild Bunch Champs are on in a few weeks and we have a few midweek practices as well before we head out to End Of Trail.

Catch ya

Kat xo

 

McDowell Garment Drafting Machine

Or Diary of Desire Part 4 – Learning never ends and I am finally getting to use the McDowell Drafting Machine that I won at the Victorian Tea two Conventions ago!

 

Squeals of delight or sheer terror, can't work out which is winning but think the squeals are taking over!

 

Looks about right. So far so good – measure, set, check measure, check set. Yep so far so good. Yes, the front bodice section is short, up to you to work out the 'skirt' part of it. Crikeys, thought it looked like something was missing. For machines numbered over 7,000 (and mine is 13,742) the skirt rule is 5″ below the waist line.

 

Check this out too. The patent markings, show various versions I assume, from 1879 – 1886.

 

Note the book says and I quote “…….It also simplifies the work that a fifteen-year-old child can easily learn to fit garments scientifically.” Haa Haa Haa better get back to it then.

Keep measuring and smiling 🙂

Kat xo

 

Next Batch

As time draws near to packing up borrowed machines, the next batch has departed for new homes.

There's been tops, more skirts of varying styles and colours, more corsets, an 1890's Eton Jacket with a twist and a couple of men's vests thrown in for good measure. Well the latter takes care of the April challenge for Historical Sew Monthly – Gender Bender and I've finished them before the end of the month! Yippee!

I even managed to throw in a couple for myself while the black was on the machine.

 

Corsets to go!

 

One for Sweet Sherry.

 

Matching vest and corset for Kat Balloo and Yukon Mort.

 

Prescott vest in wool for Frank James.

 

A complete outfit for Ta Killa Sunrise in purple, cream and teal.

 

Saloon style skirts for Rea Coyle and her Eton jacket (altered sleeves and collar) trimmed with metallic silver thread decorative stitch.

 

Next!

Kat xo

 

Saturday…What More Can I Say?

I don't think too many of us performed at any sort of fantastic shooting ability (except for Winchester who took out first place, cogratulations) today but did well at getting up to more cheek than necessary.

With only 3 women shooting today, we got up to more no good than usual and certainly enjoyed ourselves doing so. 😉

Mostly Pearl Starr and myself giggling on the sidelines or in the background!

 

A few cheeky comments thrown in for good measure with Prairie Joy.

 

Well maybe this group was up to no good too or telling lies!

 

Jack also managed to have a short play just with pistols to check his form. He wasn't particularly happy about speed but hello! He hit all the targets AND it's still early days buddy. All in good time, all in good time.

 

Great stages again by Mad Dog Tannen, no procedural for me today, so that was a plus but still a few too many misses for my liking and 8 stuck in the rifle……ouch!!


Everyone had fun and by 4.00pm we had finished 6 stages.

Dinner, drinks and more banter ensued. Gotta love any day out on the range!

Kat xo