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Volume 6, Issue No. 2                                              February, 2008

HORSESHOE JOHN LIED … HE SAID IT WOULD BE A SORTA WARM DAY … IT WASN’T

Horseshoe John ain’t to be believed, at least not all the time.  He told folks shoot-day-temperature would be 56 degrees. It wasn’t near that.  It started chilly, got see-your-breath-cold, and then went back to chilly-plus. But it didn’t stop cowboys & cowgirls from doing battle with the steel cowboy gang. And speaking of cowgirls, we had 6 cowgirl shooters: Last Kiss, Deadeye Daisy, Calico Nicole, Bourne Sassy, Carolina Gem and Dandy Diamond.

Front Row L-R: Dakota Chase, Widowmaker, Deadeye Daisy, Limp Along Charlie, Wichita Colt Back Row L-R: Slater, Tio Don, Sheriff Donald, Owlhoot Hardin, Double Eagle, Tin Pot, Outlaw Tracker  The stages were fast and fun, and we had a bit more movement than usual: several folks commented that was good. The targets were spread a bit more than normal: several shooters commented was good.  All in all, it was a good day. 11 shooters shot no-miss matches: S.A. Pondwater, Widowmaker, Ocoee Red, Marshal Too Tall, Lightning McCoy, Tin Pot, Limp Along Charlie, Rev Adam Jones, Deadman, Owlhoot Hardin and TN Hoss.

On 1 stage, the shooter had to put his/her shotgun shells in a box with his/herteeth, shoot a couple of shots, carry the box to shooting site 2, shoot a couple of shots, and carry the box to site 3 to shoot their last shotgun shots. The teeth were an extra set, and most shooters just wanted to ignore them and shoot through.  But not all shooters. Outrider must have been thinking about getting a new alias: 2 Smiles Outrider or 2 Jaw Outrider. (He must have been taking a page form the movie RED RIVER. Remember the Indian who won Walter Brennan’s store bought teeth in the poker game? He said he’d be known as 2 Jaw Crow, or at least it sounded like Crow.) In any event, Horseshoe John and Sundance told him to put the teeth back in the box.  He did.  We didn’t know if he did it because they didn’t fit, or because Horseshoe and Sundance were armed.

2 Smiles Outrider The TOP GUN of the day was Diamonback Dennis. He and his family were back with us after many moons away.  Last Kiss was the Top Cowgirl Shooter. The Top 10 shooters were: (1) Diamondback Dennis (2) S.A. Pondwater (3) Widowmaker (4) Festus D. Deputy (5) Ocoee Red (6) Marshal Too Tall (7) Unpleasant  (8) Slater (9) Pleasant and (10) Lightning McCoy. Here are the other shoot results:

FEBRUARY BUFFALO SHOOT

Long Range Single Shot

Colonel Mortimer … they had 4 shoot-offs and then flipped a coin to determine the winner

Long Range Lever Action Rifle

Marshal Too Tall

Long Ranger Pistol

Tin Pot

22 Cal.

Marshal Too Tall .. by default. Outrider didn’t shoot the shoot-off

JANUARY  BUFFALO SHOOT A certain short cowboy forgot to give the shoot results in January. Tin Pot won the Long Range Pistol shoot.  Sundance won the Long Range Single Shot shoot. Outrider won the .22 Cal Shoot. Too Tall won the Long Ranger Lever Action Rifle.

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The Ocoee Ranger page 2                                                              February 2008

    Favorite Photos – Memories On The Range    

Since 1998, I’ve shot a lot on the range – Camera Shots as well as bullets. Over the years, some of my camera shots have appeared in our newsletters, but not all. Here are some of my favorite captured scenes from times past. 

This is my favorite photo of Owlhoot Hardin.  It was taken before we had berms on all our ranges and used rolled hay to separate some of them. Owlhoot may look like a squintly-eyed gunfighter, but look closely and you’ll see the smile and crinkles of humor in his eyes.

Sometimes we’ve shot moving targets, like the big disc between these shooters. Dagnabit Deb and Keystone have been fun folks to know and shoot with. Here’s a shared moment between shooters, before moving on to the next stage. T – Bone didn’t write this part of the scenario, they did.

Tellico had the 1st Sharps rifle I ever saw on the range. Back in those days, we were such a small group that everyone shot the Buffalo Shoot as part of the match. Tellico had to shoot last, because his .45–.70 usually tore up the target before he finished.

On my computer, this shot is titled “Easter Cowboys”.  It was taken in 2005.  I’m not a religious person (Mesquite Millie said she’s not included in this comment), but this is 1 of my favorite shots. It shows the character of our playmates.

The name of the game is “Shooting”.  Here’s a shooting shot.  Bad Eye Tom is smoking up the range.  The brass receiver of his ’66 Win. shows contrast to his shirt, the smoke he’s making, and the sunny targets down-range.

This photo was my first attempt to show a gun muzzle real close, and Dustin Clays obliged.  With his ’73 Win. and his Josey Wales hat, he looked real spiffy on the range.

Cowboy Shooting is colorful. Horseshoe John, Ocoee Red and Marshal Too Tall posed for this shot at the Smoky Mountain Shoot Out in 2007. They’re colorful too.

I asked Last Kiss to stand closer to Fast Harley and act like she liked him.  She did. It sort of embarrassed him .

Ocoee Rangers Shoot Results – January 2008

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Volume 6, Issue No. 1                                              January, 2008

2008 Begins With Cold Weather Cowgirls & Cowboys

On The Range

It was cold on the range at the January shoot. How cold? Well, you could see your breath until after lunch. And several cowpokes were wearing fur hats.  And Fast Harley was wearing a scarf, like a cowgirl.  But don’t laugh.  Real cowboys did that too to keep their ears warm. So, we didn’t comment about it to him.  Maybe it was because we were polite, and maybe because he was armed. In any event, we had 62 shooters who participated.  We had 63 for a little while, but Oracle had to leave.

Front L – R: Sundance, Tellico, Limp Along Charlie, Keystone, Ocoee Red.  Back L – R: Sledge, Rev Adam Jones, Horseshoe John, Ben Shot, Lightning McCoy, Tio Don, El Carrera.

Cowboys & cowgirls come in all sizes. And we had 3 young shooters with us: Calico Nicole, a Jr. Cowgirl, Marshal W.D., who not long ago moved up from Jr. Cowboy to Traditional shooter, and Bullseye, a Buckaroo shooter. If they shoot in your posse, help them out.  They are the future of Cowboy & Cowgirl Shooting, if there is to be a future.

Bullseye, a Buckaroo cowboy shooter.

Unpleasant uncorked the genie from the bottle and shot himself into the TOP GUN position, beginning 2008 in the winning form that earned him a 2007 Annual Top Gun position, shared with Marshal Too Tall. Festus D. Deputy placed 2nd.  Doc Duncan was 3rd. The Top 10 Shooters were (1) Unpleasant (2) Festus (3) Doc Duncan (4) Slater (5) Marshal Too Tall (6) Pleasant (7) Clancy O’Connal (8) Ocoee Red (9) Tabasco JOT and (10) Double Eagle. Only 2 cowboys shot No-Miss Matches: Unpleasant and Tellico. Last Kiss was the TOP COWGIRL SHOOTER. Yes, there was a Buffalo Shoot.  But, no, nobody communicated the results.  So, winners, congratulations.  Losers, nobody knows that you didn’t win.

2008 CATEGORY WINNERS & CERTIFICATES  ….. In past years, we’ve recognized category winners only if more than 1 person shot in the class.  And we awarded certificates, up to 3 per class, only if a shooter out-shot at least 1 person. (example: 2 people shot and we gave 1 certificate. – 1 person shot and we gave none.) But in 2008, we’ll recognize all category winners and award certificates up to 3 per category, no matter how many shoot in the category. Shown below are the 1st winners of 2008.

49er

1. Festus D. Deputy

2. Marshal Too Tall

3. Ocoee Red

Classic Cowboy

1. Lightning McCoy

1.    2. John Daniel

3. El Carrera

Gunfighter

1. Pleasant

2. Fast Harley

3. Keystone

Duelist

1. Horseshoe John

2. Tarheel

3. Ranger Roger

Senior

1. T-Bone Angus

2. Tin Pot

3. Purly

Silver Senior

1. Tabasco JOT

2. Outrider

3. Wildcat Wilkey

Traditional

1. Unpleasant

2. Doc Duncan

3. Slater

Modern

1. Limp Along Charlie

2. Sundance McNeyman

Black Powder Duelist

1. Judge’m All Duncan

Buckaroo

1. Bullseye

B-Western

1. Tio Don

Lady Jr.

 1. Calico Nicole

Lady Traditional

1.  Dixie Rebel Rose

Lady Gunfighter

1.   Last Kiss

Outlaw

 1. Badlands Beck

  2.TN Tombstone

Lightning McCoy Confronts 2 Steel Bad-guys. 

Keystone Said He, In Posing For This Photo, Was Guilty Of Impersonating A Gunfighter Page 2

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The Ocoee Ranger page 2                                                 January 2008

The Reel West and The Real West

The Reel West – Forrest Tucker     (1919 – 1986)

Forrest Tucker was a big feller. He was 6 ft 5 in tall and hit the scales at 200 lbs. Of course he started out just like Too Tall, a little feller squalling to be fed and changed. Born in Plainfield, Indiana, in 1919, he rambled around a bit when he got older.   As a teenager, he was hired as Master of Ceremonies at a Burly Q theater, but was fired when the owner discovered he was under age. Then he again lied about his age and joined the US Army but that didn’t last long either. After he was 18, he went back to work at the theater. But in the summer of 1939, it closed. So, Forrest took off for California and soon got into the movies. In 1940, he appeared in THE WESTERNER, a shoot-em up with Gary Cooper. He did well enough in that flick that he was selected to appear in other movies, but they weren’t Westerns.  Then WWII came along and Forrest was back in uniform. After the War, he was released in the final rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Of course he’d have said Lieutenant.

Nobody who has ever been a 2nd Lieutenant puts the 2 on their rank. They wait ‘til they become a 1st Lieutenant and put the 1 on there. Anyway, ol’ Forrest got out of Uncle’s Army and went back to acting.

During his career, Forrest appeared in lots of movies on the big screen, and lots of them were Westerns. And he appeared on TV in lots of roles, and lots of them were Westerns.  And he appeared on theater stages.  But the important stuff was the Westerns. In Western roles, he appeared as good guys, like when he played Wild Bill Hickok in THE PONY EXPRESS, with Charleton Heston as Buffalo Bill. And he played lots of villains, like L. J. Murphy in John Wayne’s CHISUM. And in THE GUNFIGHTERS, with Randolph Scott, he was a nasty villain.  He appeared in several Westerns with Randolph Scott. When he played good guys, he was solemn and convincing. But when he was a villain, he had an insolent smile that punctuated all his nastiness. The movies he appeared in were better because of how he did his thing. But for all he did in his career, most younger cowboys and cowgirls, not the real young ones, probably remember Forrest for the role he played for 2 seasons in the TV comic Western series F TROOP. And that just ain’t fair.  He was better than that role. Of course he did very well in the role, just like he always did.

Forrest joined the cowboy & cowgirl posse in the sky in 1986.

THE REAL WEST – ETTA PLACE  (18?? – ????)

The Sundance Kid & Etta Place

Etta Place is a legendary figure of the Old West.  Remember the line from the movie THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE when the newspaper editor said, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend”? Well, the legend is about all that can be printed about Etta Place.  Why? Mostly because she’s an unsolved mystery.  It’s not known when she was born, although a good guess appears to be about 1878. But that’s not really known.  And she was born somewhere, obviously. But where is a mystery.  Some say she was born in the Eastern US, and some say Texas, and some say other places. And other than travel with the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, no one really knows what she did for a living.  Some say she was a school teacher, sometimes.  And others say that given her traveling companions and the places they traveled, it’s likely she worked in a cat-house.  What is known is that in 1901, she accompanied Butch and Sundance to New York City and had her picture taken with Sundance. And she was attractive in her picture. And then she went with them to South America and stayed with them for some time.  And she made 1 or several trips back to the US. And she vanished. And no one knows whatever happened to her or when she died.

There’s not really anything of substance known about Etta.  In fact, there’s no proof that her name was really Etta Place. She may have been Ethel, or Etta, or someone else. Of course no one really cared until 1969. That’s when the block buster movie BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID hit movie theaters across the US and became an instant hit. In that movie, Katherine Ross portrayed Etta. And she was attractive. And all 3 characters were appealing. And then TV got on board and made 2 movies about Etta: THE SUNDANCE WOMAN and MRS SUNDANCE.

But after all the hoop-la, all we really know is that a handsome young woman went to New York with Butch and Sundance and had her picture taken and went to South America with them and became a minor legend of the West. But so what? We can imagine anything we want about her. She can be whatever we want her to be.  And she can have become rich and lived happily ever after.  Or she can have moved to East Tennessee and become Too Tall’s great grandmother. Wouldn’t that have been a humdinger?

OCOEE RANGERS’  –  6TH YEAR OF SHOOTING

L – R: Front … Horseshoe John, Pleasant, Marshal Too Tall, Deadman. Standing… Tri, Ocoee Red, T-Bone Angus, Mesquite Millie, Sundance McNeyman and Tinker Chapley

This begins our 6th year of shooting as Ocoee Rangers. Can you believe it? The founders of the Ocoee Rangers are pictured at the right, although 1 doesn’t shoot with us now (Tri) and 1 shoots infrequently (Tinker Chapley). 2 have lost weight (Horseshoe John and Sundance McNeyman). 1 no longer wears glasses (Horseshoe). 1 has shaved a beard (Pleasant). 1 shoots a lot faster (Marshal Too Tall). 1 has gotten prettier (Pleasant, that’s why he lost the beard, at least that’s his explanation.) And all those still with us have gotten… better.

As we begin the New Year, we have a lot to be thankful for. We have a top class range to shoot on in wet or sunny weather. We have lots of nifty professional targets to shoot. We have shooting friends who are safe and fun to shoot with. And we have trees … and that makes our shooting facility more pleasurable to look at and to shoot around. We hope you enjoy your 2008 shooting experiences.

SHOOT RESULTS – DECEMBER 2007