OCOEE RANGERS

SCORES & RANKING – August 27, 2005

Overall Score = The total of Rank of all stages    Overall Rank = The ranking of shooters by overall score  Overall Time = The sum of scores of stages       Misses = Total shots missed on all stages     Total Stages = Number of stages with no recorded missed shots  Red type indicates a clean match (In the event of ties in Overall Score, the tied shooter with the lowest Overall Time is ranked higher)

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AUGUST 2005

Ocoee Rangers shoot Texas star at august shoot!

In August, the Ocoee Rangers unveiled their new Texas Star Target.  If you look closely in the photo below, you can see the center of the target stand between Ben Shot and Outrider, with 2 of the 5 arms visible.  Before the shoot, a few shooters had seen 1.  And a few more had heard about them, but very few had shot targets off a Texas Star rotating target stand.  The Texas Star was a hum-dinger.  What does that mean? Well, in order for a target to score as a hit, the paddle must be knocked off the arm of the star.  If the paddle isn’t knocked off, it’s a miss.  So, John Daniel walked up to the line, looked at the target and said something like, “Hum.” (That’s the hum in hum-dinger.)  Later, Pleasant came to the line, drew his pistols, gunfighter style, and started shooting. He fired. Ding went the sound when he hit a paddle, but it didn’t fall off the star. He did that 4 times out of the times he shot at the star.  (That’s the ding, as in hum-dinger. You know, when it dings but isn’t hit hard enough to fall.) Pleasant’s BB loads just sorta tickled the targets some.  He hit’em fast, …. but gently.

L-R kneeling:  Ben Shot, Outrider, Colonel Mortimer, Sundance McNeyman, Ruckus Roy.  Standing: Blayde Hollister, Colonel Allison, Devil Dog, Shadrack Jones, Summer Dove, Whiskey River Nelson, Slingin’ Dunn, Horseshoe John, Tennessee Jake.

Shadrack Jones has to reload

We had 70 shooters who participated in the August Shoot. Unpleasant was the Top Gun of the day, and once again, Roma Jane was the top cowgirl shooter.  Even with the challenge of the Texas Star, 4 cowboys shot clean matches:  Marshal Too Tall, Limp Along Charlie, Hombre Sin Nombre and Fiddleback. 

A long missing shooting pardner returned; Shadrack Jones. Ol’ Sharack had serious health problems for quite a while, and he’s finally back with us.  He looks different though.  Gone are his Henry rifle, his Spencer rifle, and his conversion Colts.  He’s now shooting a

big loop lever (ala John Wayne) ’92 Winchester and  ’73 Colt type pistols.  He says the Henry and Spencer were too heavy.  So, he joined the Duke with his Winchester carbine.  When telling about his new pistols, he said. “For a while there, I didn’t know if I was gonna make it.  But I got me some pretty guns.  I thought if I don’t make it, I’ll look good in’em and will just take’em with me.”  Some of us cowboys have been shootin’ with Shadrack since 1998, it was good to have him back with us.

SHOOT RESULTS:  Top Gun – Unpleasant    Buffalo Shoot:  .22 cal –  Ranger Roger  Long Range  – Marshal Too Tall

Classic

1. Lightning McCoy

2. Cherokee Maddog

Wranglers – Red Neckerson, Widow Maker, Polecat Carl, Summer Dove, Blayde Hollister and Deadfoot

NEXT OCOEE RANGER SHOOT – 24 SEPTEMBER  .. The Buffalo Shoot begins 8:00 am. Registration 8:30 am  –  Posse Leader walk-through 9:15 am  – Safety meeting 9:45 am  –  Shooting follows !  All times are Eastern Time.

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The Ocoee Ranger page 2                                          August 2005

The Real West, The Reel West and

The West of Our Imaginations

The Reel West – Gail Davis   1925 – 1997

Gail Davis was born in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Of course back then, she was Betty Jean Grayson, Doctor Grayson’s little girl.  Later, when a student at the University of Texas at Austin, TX, she was in a group that performed for military personnel during WW II, the big one. While performing, she met a Technical Sergeant, who she would see later in another life:  Gene Autry.

In 1946, Betty Jean and her husband, Bob Davis, moved to Hollywood.  She did a number of on-the-way jobs, and then as Gail Davis, she got her 1st movie role.  Then she got a lot of other movie parts, most of which were Westerns.  In 1948, she appeared with Roy Rogers in The Far Frontier.  And she appeared with Gene Autry in about 14 of his Westerns.

Gail Davis as

Annie Oakley

Gail Davis as she appeared with

Roy Rogers

1950 was the age of television.  So, Gail joined all the other TV Western cowboys and guest starred in several TV Western series.  Stuff like The Lone Ranger, and The Cisco Kid, and about a dozen appearances in The Gene Autry Show, shows that Whiskey River Nelson would say, “I never heard of that.”

Now Gail could ride horses very well, so Gene added her to his traveling rodeo show.  Later, he selected her to star in her own series, Annie Oakley, which he produced through his Flying A production company.  Gail’s series ran from 1954 through 1956.  Shucks, she was the only cowgirl on the screen that had her own series.  In her show, she wore pigtails and a six-gun and looked cute as a button.  Of course back then, this word scratcher was too young

to appreciate her looks.  He couldn’t see past the six-shooter and the palomino horse that she rode.

Gail joined the posse in the sky in 1997.

The West of Our Imagination – Roma Jane

Roma Jane is a snowbird cowgirl.  Yep.  She and her other half, Long Gulch, came to Tennessee from Alaska.  That’s about as snowbird as you can get.  They lived there from 1991 until about 2001, then they journeyed down Knoxville, actually Maryville, way.  She’d heard about Cowboy & Cowgirl Shooting while still Way Up North To Alaska from ol’ Long Gulch. When they got to K-town, they went out to observe a shoot and decided that looked like their kind of fun. Some Knoxville cowboy was quitting the game for health reasons, so, Long Gulch bought his leather and his

Roma Jane

gun cart.  They had most of the guns, but they needed the clothes.  After all, in Cowfolks Shooting, like most other things, clothes make the person.  So, they launched their Cowboy Shooting careers.

But Cowboy Shooting ain’t just guns and clothes. No, maam. This here Alaskan snowbird had to have an alias.  So, she chose Roma as her 1st name. That had been her father’s 1st name, until he changed it.  He thought Roma sounded like a girl’s name, so he changed it to Romie.  Well, she had a 1st name.  So she added Jane, “because it sounds good.”  And the snowbird became Roma Jane.  She’s been shooting as Roma Jane for 2 years, plunking them cowboy targets with her .357 mags.

Not long ago, Roma Jane was attending a training class at Emory in Atlanta.  About 30 ladies were in attendance, and they started talking about various things.  When they learned that Roma Jane is a Cowgirl Shooter and shoots real guns, they were amazed.  Oh yeah, her favorite silver screen cowboy is John Wayne. 

The Real West – Bass Reeves    1838 – 1910

Bass Reeves was 1 of over 200 Deputy U.S. Marshals who rode for Judge Isaac Parker in the 75,000 square miles of Oklahoma Territory.  But that is a bit of an understatement. Bass Reeves was 1 of the best marshals who ever pinned on a badge.  During his career as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, which began in 1875 and ended when Oklahoma became a state in 1907, Bass arrested and brought to trial thousands of outlaws: white, black, Indian, male and female.  Some however, weren’t so accommodating and tried to shoot it out with him, either to avoid arrest or by laying in ambush to do away with him.  And although he was involved in many shootings,

Bass Reeves

Bass was never wounded.  Sure he got holes in his clothes and had bridle reins clipped and his saddle horn shot off, but he was never wounded.  Some of the fellers shootin’ at him weren’t so lucky.  Bass was not only a very good lawman, he was also a very good shot. So, he planted 14 badmen in mother earth, each bearing lead from his .38 – .40 shootin’ irons.

Bass began life a slave, unable to read or write.  And he never learned to do either.  But that didn’t stop him from doing his marshalling.  Nope. Bass would get someone to read his warrants to him, memorize them, and then set out to bring in the wanted parties.  He also, like other marshals in the territory, carried many John Doe warrants.  That was so he could bring in other folks who had a desire to meet “hanging judge” Parker in his courtroom.  And many such curious folks got to meet the judge, courtesy of ol’ Bass.

When out on the trail, Bass was known for ridin’ a big red horse, wearing a wide brimmed hat, and dressin’ might spiffy.  But to capture his prey, he used aliases, wore disguises, walked or road old nags and pretended to be many kinds of folks:  cowboys, farmers, bums, you get the drift.

After he gave up his commission as a Deputy Marshal, Bass moved to Muskogee and went to work as a beat policeman.  He died in 1910.  In 1992, his contribution to western history was recognized when Bass Reeves was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City.

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The Ocoee Ranger page 3                                                               August 2005

MONTHLY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATES

Ocoee Red presents 1 of about 50 monthly Shoot Certificates to R.I.P. Overland for his July shooting performance, as Hombre Sin Nombre, Pyro, Red Neckerson, Summer Dove, Widowmaker, Ranger Roger, Squire Shooter, Tennessee Mongo and the rest of the gang look on.

Every month, Ocoee Red awards certificates of achievement to bunches of cowboys and cowgirls.  They are awarded for shooting good, helping conduct matches, and occasionally for special things.  Each month, the certificates look a little different.  Why, well, mostly so that Ocoee Red will remember that he’s really giving new certificates and not just remembering what he did last month … or the month before that.  Most of us, however, will rarely receive a certificate. Some us may never get one.  But the award of a good day’s shooting with good friends who like to play our game, share tales about how we just barely missed that 1 target, put a spark of joy in our heart.  After all, no matter what our age is, and no matter what’s going on in the real world, we get to celebrate a magic Saturday together.  A touch of gun smoke, a little imagination, a smiggen of friendship and sprinkle of magic is powerful stuff.  It’s the stuff that memories are made from, and it’s addictive.  That’s what brings most of back each week ….. to Ocoee Rangers, Smokey Mountain Shootist, Bittercreek Rangers and other cowboy action shoots.  Oh yeah, when you trace the award of all these monthly certificates that we give at Cleveland shoots back to the source of the idea, do you know what you find?  T-Bone Angus.  He was the feller who originally suggested that we give a lot of folks certificates of achievement instead of just 1, 2 or 3 top shooter awards.

Widowmaker

These cowboys and this cowgirl, by their actions, exemplified the spirit of cooperation and enthusiasm in helping their posse conduct the August shoot. No, they weren’t the only folks who helped.  They just did a smidgen more and their posse leaders nominated them to be Ocoee Ranger Wranglers for the month.  Congratulations cowfolks.

OCOEE RANGERS

SCORES & RANKING – July 23, 2005

Overall Score = The total of Rank of all stages    Overall Rank = The ranking of shooters by overall score  Overall Time = The sum of scores of stages       Misses = Total shots missed on all stages     Total Stages = Number of stages with no recorded missed shots  Red type indicates a clean match (In the event of ties in Overall Score, the tied shooter with the lowest Overall Time is ranked higher)

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Volume 3, Issue No. 7                                          July,  2005

July was a scorcher, but 73 shooters protected the range

L-R:  Rufus T. Sage & Owlhoot in a moment at the loading table.  Owlhoot appears ready to take another slug of spring water, ‘cause it was sorta warm on the range. But it was better than rain.

The July shoot was H-O-T, but it didn’t rain.  And 73 shooters found shade under the range sheds and blasted them bad guys / targets. We had several 1st time visitors, including a couple of junior shooters, Deadeye Diamond & Stud Muffler. Before the shoot, Cherokee Maddog awarded SASS Range Officer II pins to folks who recently completed the RO II training course. And just after lunch, the sound of raised voices drowned out the gunfire.  No, it wasn’t a hold-up or a riot.  Posse 2 was singing Happy Birthday to Colonel Allison.  The Colonel is getting ready to celebrate his 82nd birthday, and he’s still shootin’ real good.  He may be a little slower than some, but he’s an accurate shootin’ cowboy. And he still has patience and self control.  He demonstrated that at the shoot.  Even though that “singin’” wasn’t real appealing to the ears, he didn’t shoot a single 1 of them warblers.

On 1 stage, a shooter’s choice of firearms, Sundance defended the range with pistols and a shotgun. The shotgun was just in case he had to pick up a miss.  Pictured L – R:  Hombre Sin Nombre, Ocoee Red, Blayde Hollister & Sundance McNeyman.

Now, down to the shootin’ stuff. The Top Gun of the day was that varmint Pleasant, closely followed by Tabasco JOT and Marshal Too Tall. Roma Jane, once again, was the Top Cowgirl shooter.  10 cowboys shot no-miss matches: Pleasant, Ocoee Red, Tarantula Jack, Ricochet Richard, Moonshine Roberts, Hombre Sin Nombre, Rev. Adam Jones, Fast Harley, Vinegarroon, and Ruckus Roy. Marshal Too Tall won both categories of the Buffalo Shoot, and Festus D. Deputy placed 1st in Tabasco JOT’s  pre shoot side match.

SHOOT RESULTS ………..   Top Gun – Pleasant

Buffalo Shoot:  .22 cal …  Marshal Too Tall   Long Range …  Marshal Too Tall

Classic

1. Lightning McCoy

2. Fast Harley

3. Gracious Gringo

The Posse Leaders had a very difficult time selecting Wranglers at the July Shoot.  Shucks, almost everyone deserved to be recognized as a Wrangler.  An Ocoee Rangers Wrangler, for visitors not familiar with this, is someone who puts forth extra effort in helping his or her posse run efficiently and smoothly and helps do things without having to be told.  So, the following folks were selected as July Wranglers: R.I.P. Overland, Hombre Sin Nombre, Cherokee Maddog, Moonshine Roberts, Rufus T. Sage, Judy Carter (score keeper and traveling pardner of the Dirttown Desparado), and Badlands Beck.

A big “Thanks, pardners” to the set-up gang for setting up the range before the shoot, to T-Bone Angus, who wrote the scenarios, and too all the cowboys and cowgirls who helped take down the targets and props and stuff and get them back to the storage shed.  Teamwork … it’s the mark of friendly shoots.

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The Ocoee Ranger                                      page 2    July 2005

THE REEL WEST, THE REAL WEST AND THE WEST OF OUR IMAGINATION

THE REEL WEST – Ann Margret

Ann-Margret Olsson was born in Sweden in 1941.  But Sweden didn’t have cowgirls. So when she was 5 years old, she and her family saddled up, came to the US and settled in Illinois. Ann became an American girl, graduated from high school, and attended Northwestern for a year. But while in college, she was “discovered” by George Burns.  After being “discovered”, Ann left school and journeyed out to California, where she became Ann Margret, an actress and a celebrity …. a very attractive celebrity.

Ann has appeared in plays, on TV, sang & danced at Las Vegas casinos, and has made more than 45 movies.  Some of her movies are Westerns, those that really count.  From her success, she’s received a lot of commendations: a Golden Globe award, 4 Emmy nominations, 2 Oscar nominations, and 3 times she was named “Female Star of the Year” by the United Motion Picture Association.

Ann Margret as Dallas in the remake of Stagecoach

But let’s get to the important stuff, her Western movies.  Annie appeared in The Villain, with Kirk Douglas and Arnold Schwartznegger. It was a Western movie spoof and was a little like the Road Runner cartoons. She was the gorgeous gal, Kirk was dressed in black and was the villain, Cactus Jack. Arnold was dressed in white and was the hero, Handsome Stranger …… Honest, That was his character’s name. But Ann was also in some traditional Westerns. In 1964 or 65, she appeared in the remake of Stagecoach.  She played Dallas, Ringo’s love interest.  And she was good.  Later, she appeared in The Train Robbers with John Wayne and Ben Johnson.  Shucks, that would qualify her as a movie cowgirl, even if that had been the only Western she ever made.

Ann’s still amongst us.  The posse in the sky will just have to keep ridin’ without her …. Hopefully, for a long time.

Ranger Roger

THE WEST OF OUR IMAGINATION – Ranger Roger

Ranger Roger, believe it or not, is a real cowboy.  It’s true.  Originally from southern Missouri, he was raised on a ranch. And for about 12 years, he rode bulls and bareback horses in rodeo competition.  He’s also been a bit of a rounder in the southwest, living in Texas, Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico.  Now, he’s an East Tennessee cowboy.  Another way of putin’ it is that he’s finally a green grass cowboy.

Ol’ Ranger Roger has been cowboy shootin’ for 3 ½ – 4 years, and he’s a real cowboy shooter:  he shoots .45’s.  In his holsters, he packs 2 of the new Ruger Vaqueros, which he shoots Duelist style.  When the bad guys are out there a bit, he nails them with his ’92 Winchester, also in .45.  And if they charge him, or he charges them, he resorts to his double barrel 12 gauge shotgun.

We’ve considered how a lot of folks got their aliases, but this cowboy did  something a little different.  He and his buddies at work brainstormed and threw out possible names for consideration.  Then, they voted on the names.  As you probably guessed, Ranger Roger was the favorite.

In closing, Ranger Roger said that, in addition to cowboy shootin’, his other interest is horse training.  He doesn’t try to make a living at it, but he does a lot of it and really enjoys it.  ….  Did I say that he shoots .45’s?

Born in Missouri in 1848, Jim and Cole fought in the War of Northern Aggression on the Confederate side: some folks call it the Civil War but there wasn’t nothing civil about it.  Well, sorta.  You see, Jim and Cole fought with William C. Quantrill’s guerrillas. After the war, he spent time with family in Missouri, Texas and California. Then in about 1873, he saddled up with his outlaw brothers and the James boys and rode into history.

All things come to an end eventually, good and bad, and Jim’s luck ran out in 1876.  He and the rest of the James – Younger gang rode north from Missouri to a little town called Northfield, Minnesota. They intended to make a real killing by robbing a real lucrative bank.  There was a killing, but it was unexpected.  The citizens of Northfield shot the gang to pieces.  Some died in the street.  Others fled.  Some died along the way.  Jim, Cole and Bob were all badly wounded and were captured.  Jesse and Frank managed to get away.

The Youngers were treated for their wounds, tried, convicted for the Northfield incident, and were sentenced to prison.  The adjustment to life in prison was difficult for Jim.  He’d lost part of his lower jaw from the gunshot wounds he received in Northfield and could never again eat solid food.  But in prison, he discovered books, worked at assigned jobs, and became civilized.  Shucks, he even struck up a romance with a female writer.  In 1901, Jim and Cole were paroled after serving 25 years: Bob had died in prison.  Once outside the bars, Jim couldn’t adjust to the outside world.  He couldn’t marry his gal, because it wasn’t legal for a parolee to wed.  He couldn’t hold a job.  Eventually, Jim, who had lived the life of a gunman, died from a gunshot wound …. a self inflected gunshot wound.  Jim committed suicide on October 19, 1902.

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The Ocoee Ranger page 3                                    July 2005

SEASONAL TWINS SHOOT AT JULY MATCH

L – R:  Deadeye Diamond & Stud Muffler

Deadeye Diamond and Stud Muffler shot their 1st Ocoee Ranger shoot in July.  No, it wasn’t their 1st cowboy shoot. Deadeye has been shootin’ about 2 years and ol’ Stud has been shootin’ about a year & a half. They looked plum spiffy in their cowboy & cowgirl attire.  And they told this word scratcher that they’re “Seasonal Twins”.  But not being too smart, he didn’t know what that meant, ‘til they told him.  It means that they were born in the same month, just a few days less than 1 year apart.  So for a few days each year, Deadeye and ol’ Stud are the same age.  At present, she’s 16 years old and he’s 15. How do they feel about cowboy shootin’?  This picture probably tells the tale.  She has a big smile, that probably means that she really likes dressing up and playing the game.  He has a little almost smile.  That probably means that he’s the strong, silent type of Western feller, and he ain’t displaying his emotions to just any critter with a camera. In any event, these young folks are welcome anytime at an Ocoee Rangers’ shoot. And speaking of shootin’ both did very well shootin’ lead down range.

THANKS TO

PIGEON MOUNTAIN INDUSTRIES, INC. — PMI

Hey cowboys & cowgirls!  When you were shootin’ the knock down shotgun targets, did you wonder where the reset ropes came from.  Of course not.  You were concentrating on hittin’ the targets when you shot at them.  Well, the friendly folks at Pigeon Mountain Industries, Inc. donated the ropes as their way of helping us conduct our shoots.  To show them our appreciation,  whenever you need rope, for your various activities, remember these friendly folks who have helped us and help them with your purchases. Their email address is info@pmirope.com and their phone numbers are 800-282-7673 or 706-764-1437. Pigeon Mountain Industries, Inc. can also be reached ad P.O. Box 803, LaFayette, GA  30728.

SCORE KEEPERS — THEY RECORD THE SHOOT RESULTS & SOME DON’T EVEN SHOOT

Mrs. Tucson Tuco kept score for Posse 3, lead by Tucson Tuco, at the July Shoot.  In the background is Mesquite Millie, the scorekeeper for Posse 2, lead by Horseshoe John.  Blayde Hollister appears to be trying to get a better score, but hard-nosed Millie ain’t havin’ no outside influence.

Linda Carter, traveling pardner of the Dirttown Desparado, kept score for Posse 4.

Have you ever kept score at a match?  If yes, you know that it’s an important administrative job.  Without scorekeepers, there are no results, because there would be no times and misses and stuff to use to calculate the standings.  Good score keepers are not only accurate in writing down the results, but they write clearly so Mesquite Millie can read it when she does all the ‘rithmetic so it can be fed into a computer to calculate all the standings. Some of the scorekeepers don’t shoot: they accompany shooters and then help their posses conduct the match.  Here are some of the scorekeepers who helped conduct the July Shoot.