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Volume 3, Issue No. 10                                              September,  2005

60 shooters participate in Halloween shootout!

The weather forecast called for rain, but it didn’t.  Rain that is.  And by the end of the day, the sky was a fantastic blue.  Of course Marshall Too Tall was also a little blue:  Ocoee Red finished 3 positions above him.  All in all, it was a very good day.  Several shooters visited with us for the first time, and 1 shot his very first cowboy shoot. Then Festus D. Deputy went over to his carriage, took out a monster of a shotgun, and took it over for Horseshoe John to try out.  The Tennessee cowboys, all of whom have Tennessee in their alias, are seen holding it below.  It had a stock extension and a longer barrel added. Horseshoe John shouldered the gun, looked down the barrel at the bead sight, which seemed about an acre away, and reached for the trigger.  But he couldn’t reach it.  That made the cannon a crew served weapon:  for you civilian fellers, that means that it takes more than 1 person to shoot the gun. After seeing that Horseshoe wasn’t up to using his gun, Festus returned it to his carriage.

TENNESSEE COWBOYS

L- R:  Tennessee Tombstone, Tennessee Ted, Tennessee Jake & Tennessee Mongo

                      Unpleasant – Top Gun                             Roma Jane – top cowgirl shooter

Unpleasant was the Top Gun of the day, and Roma Jane was the top cowgirl shooter.  Pleasant and Marshal Too Tall split the Buffalo Shoot:  Pleasant was 1st in the Long Range shoot, and Too Tall was 1st in the .22 cal. event.  11 cowboys shot no-miss matches: Pleasant, Ocoee Red, Festus D. Deputy, RIP Overland, Dustin Clays, Fast Harley, Catoosa Kid, Caliber .45, Bad Arm Slim, Ruckus Roy and the Rev. Adam Jones (our weatherman).

Wranglers are important folks.  They are the cowboys & cowgirls that put forward extra effort working in their posses during the shoot.  October Wranglers were Shadrack Jones, Bad Arm Slim, Lighting McCoy, John Daniel, Dajango Slim, Huckleberry Don and Sheriff Donald.

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

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The Ocoee Ranger page 2               October 2005

The Reel West  –  Richard Carlson 

1912 – 1977

Richard Carlson was an actor, writer and director, who during his career appeared on stage on Broadway, in Hollywood movies and on television.  Born in Minnesota in 1912, he attended the University of Minnesota where he studied drama. Writing, performing in and directing plays, he graduated with a Masters in Arts degree and stayed to teach.  But that wasn’t his cup of tea. So, he left and started a stage production company.  Artistically, it was a good experience, but financially, it flopped. So, he went to Hollywood, then to Broadway, then back to Hollywood.  Back in Hollywood, he did some acting and directing.  Then WWII came along, and he marched away to play a sailor for Uncle Sam for 4 ½ years. 

Richard Carlson

(Gen. George Crook wore a hat like this chasing Geronimo)

When Richard returned to Hollywood after the war, he was older and wasn’t offered the same kinds of roles that he’d had before the war. But he hung in and reestablished himself in the movie business.  During the ‘50s, he appeared in a number of B movie science fiction and horror films. Do you remember The Creature From The Black Lagoon?  (Whiskey River Nelson will say, “No.  Way before me.”) Richard appeared in that flick. He was the hero, and he and the creature were both after the affections of Julie Adams.  Richard won.

From 1953 through 1956, Richard starred in the TV series, I Led Three Lives.  He played an advertising executive who was a spy for the FBI, infiltrating the communist party in the U.S. He also directed TV shows and some movies and some were Westerns: examples, Four Guns to the Border in 1954 and The Saga of Hemp Brown in 1958.  If you look in ‘50s Westerns, you’ll occasionally see ol’ Richard in them, usually as an Army officer, such as the role he played in Seminole. Then in 1958 and 1959, he played Colonel Ranald Mackenzie in the TV series Mackenzie’s Raiders, a show about an Old West cavalry officer who each week secretly lead a troop of cavalry across the Rio Grande in pursuit of bad folks.

After Mackenzie’s Raiders, Richard continued to act in television until his retirement.  He died in 1977.

Colonel Mortimer

The West  Of Our Imagination – Colonel Mortimer

“I’ve been shootin’ cowboy for 2 years now. I first ran in to T-Bone and some of his sidekicks at a gun show several years ago and got interested in the Cowboy Shooting thing. It took several years to muster up the nerve to actually get into it. Figured I’d wait till I could afford all the accouterments. I finally realized that would probably never happen, so a couple of years ago I took out my visa card, held my breath, jumped in the deep end and have been enjoying it ever since.

The alias thing was kind a tough. Colonel Mortimer doesn’t sound awfully cool. But Lee Van Cleef, playing Colonel Mortimer opposite Clint Eastwood in For a Few Dollars More, was one real tough hombre. Especially when he uttered those immortal words, “This train will stop at Tucumcari.” … You’d have to be there I guess.

I started out shooting a Liberty and an American Western (pistols). Both good guns. My current favorites are a pair of Cimarron stainless P models. I started on a Stoeger double barrel (shotgun), but now enjoy shooting a Model 97. A stainless model 92 EMF Hartford round barrel carbine rounds out the ensemble. It’s a real joy to shoot.

My favorite movie has to be Tombstone. Great characters, great costumes and guns. John Wayne is my favorite cowboy. He pretty much sums up the Spirit of the Old West.”      (Written by Colonel Mortimer)

The Real West  –  Ranald Mackenzie  1840 – 1889

Ranald Mackenzie was a Yankee horse soldier, and a very good one.  Born in New York City, which we won’t hold against him, he attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, graduating 1st in his class the year after George Custer graduated last.  But regardless of their class standings, both Mackenzie and Custer were no-holds-barred horse soldiers and both served with distinction in the War of Northern Aggression. When the war ended, both were Major Generals.  Following that war, both Mackenzie and Custer were reassigned to keep order in the West, Mackenzie as a Colonel of the 4th Cavalry and Custer as Lieutenant Colonel of the 7th Cavalry.

Ranald Mackenzie

Mackenzie served in the Southwest, fighting Comanches, Apaches, Southern Cheyennes, Mexican bandits and other folks who raided and killed in the Southwestern territory. Among the Comanches, he was known as “Bad Hand”, because of a battle wound which removed 2 fingers from his hand.  But bad hand or not, he and his soldiers fought many battles.  Shucks,ol “Bad Hand” even invaded Mexico in pursuit of 1 band on Indians. While that was technically an act of war, neither the Mexican government nor the U.S. paid much attention.  Both wanted the killing and raids back and forth across the border to stop.

History is fickle.  In fact, the definition sometimes given to history is “myth that we accept as fact.”  Generations have different versions of political correctness, and they tend to look at things that happened in the past in the light of their current mind set. Where’s this going?  Well, in his day, Ranald Mackenzie was a hero to the settlers in Texas.  In 1874, he and his command broke the Comanche nation and ended their roaming, big-time threat in the southwest. Mackenzie and his forces located the Comanches and Southern Cheyenne in winter camp in Palo Duro Canyon, near present day Amarillo, TX.  They attacked, killed a bunch of folks, destroyed more than 1,000 horses, and burned their winter food and supplies, which forced the survivors to go to reservations.  The threat from the Comanches was ended.  Some current apologists consider Mackenzie a villain because he destroyed the Comanche way of life.  Of course, they don’t have to fear nighttime raids and death while asleep, like settlers did in the 1870’s.

Over the years, Mackenzie had other assignments in several western states and earned promotion to Brigadier General, before he was forced to retire in 1884 after he developed mental illness and was declared insane.  He died on January 19, 1889.

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The Ocoee Ranger page 3                    October  2005

VINEGAROON (AKA JERRY HARPER)

COWBOY CRAFTSMAN

By Dustin Clays

The engraving of this 1866 Yellowboy rifle is the handiwork of Vinegaroon, aka Jerry Harper, who is a founding member of the Smoky Mountain Shootist Society (Knoxville Cowboy Shooters) and an occasional Ocoee Rangers shooter.   This rifle represents Nimschke in style, one of Jerry’s favorite engravers from the late 19th century.  Actually the Mexican eagle and scroll design is straight from an 1866 that Nimschke engraved. Nimschke was one of the great engravers from the period of 1850-1900 and, in Jerry’s opinion, maybe the best engraver of all time. Along with Colts and Winchesters, Nimschke also engraved many Sharps rifles and Smith and Wesson revolvers and did much non-firearm engraving.

1866 Uberti /Winchester Rifle Engraved by Vinegaroon

Another favorite engraver who has influenced Jerry’s work was also a German by the name of Cuno Helfricht who had a shop in the Colt factory and worked directly for Colt. Ulrich is another favorite engraver of Jerry’s who worked directly for Winchester.  

Jerry has been engraving guns for forty years and during that time has engraved weapons for many well-known personalities. Among these, he engraved Colts for Lash LaRue, B western star of the 1940’s, and he also engraved Johnny Cash’s favorite revolver.   Though we cowboys know Jerry as a fellow shooter, engraver, and gunsmith, there is another side to Jerry. He is also a scholar and professor emeritus, who for many years was chairman of the Foreign Languages department at Carson-Newman College. The Mexican Eagle (which is shown on the rifle above) has been a favorite of Jerry’s since his college days when he developed an interest in the influence of the Spanish in the southwest.  While doing his graduate work at UCLA, in his spare time he learned basic engraving with a hammer and chisel and how to sharpen his tools from an old German gunsmith.

Whether making a spring, bluing a barrel, tuning a gun, replacing parts that are no longer available, or completely restoring a priceless old revolver, rifle or shotgun, Jerry can do it. And he is always willing to help out a fellow cowboy or cowgirl at a match who is having gun problems.  Jerry’s knowledge, craftsmanship and willingness to share his talents are greatly admired and appreciated by all who know him.

Vinegaroon ( aka Jerry Harper)

MISS PEARL’S PARLOR HOUSE ATTRACTS SEVERAL OCOEE RANGERS

Miss Pearl’s Parlor House Attracts Ranger Roger &  Marshal Too Tall

In September, a whole gang of Ocoee Rangers descended on Miss Pearl’s Parlor House and had a real carousing time.  Would you believe it?  Now before you send the Rev. Adam Jones out to chastise them, Miss Pear’s Parlor House is 1 of the stage settings in the Town of Cavern Cove, home of the North Alabama Regulators cowboy shooters.  And the gang of Ocoee Rangers were there participating in the Alabama State Cowboy Action Shooting Championship , Ambush at Cavern Cove.

The top shooting Ocoee Ranger was Festus D. Deputy, who placed 14th overall and 4th as a 49er.  Horseshoe John placed 1st as a Sr. Duelist, and 48th overall.

Other Ocoee Rangers shooters and the positions in which they placed are as follows:  Sunshine Billy 22, Marshal Too Tall 25, Ocoee Red 26, Cherokee Maddog 38, Ranger Roger 61, Tennessee Jake 105 and T-Bone Angus 120.  Tennessee Jake and Festus both shot perfect /no miss matches.  164 shooters participated in the event.

No Misses For These Shooters

                     Tennessee Jake                                              Festus D. Deputy 

1t Place Senior Duelist

Horseshoe John

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SEPTEMBER,  2005

3 cowboys & 2 cowgirls have no misses at September shoot!

September on the range was … well, it was very pleasant, not to be confused with the shooter of the same name.  While Hurricane Rita was pounding the Texas-Louisiana coast, the 61 cowgirl and cowboy shooters who ventured out to save the West from the metal bad guys were pounding and pinging and gently thumping the targets.  In the process, 2 cowgirls (Mustang Megs and Shootin’ Sue) and 3 cowboys (Marshal Too Tall, Owlhoot Hardin, and Tennessee Ted) shot matches without misses.  This was the 1st time 2 cowgirls shot no-miss matches on the same day.

L-R kneeling:  Yankee Dutchman, Catoosa Kid, Marshal Too Tall, Awful Close, Dijango Slim. Standing: Deadfoot, Fast Harley, Mustang Megs, Timberland Renegade, Festus D. Deputy, Last Kiss, and Ocoee Red – posse leader.

Mustang Megs –

No Misses

Mustang Megs and her other half, Timberland Renegade, were visiting the Ocoee Rangers while on vacation in Pigeon Forge.  Hailing from Pennsylvania, they learned that we were shooting, and added our shoot to their vacation plans. Both shot very well and were such standout workers in their posse that they were recognized as Ocoee Ranger Wranglers.

Shootin’ Sue –

No Misses

How’d the shooting go?  Well, Curly Bill was the Top Gun, closely followed by Slater and Marshal Too Tall.  Mustang Megs was the top cowgirl shooter.  Marshal Too Tall won both categories (.22 Cal. and Long Range) at the Buffalo Shoot.  Unpleasant shot so fast that it was hard for the spotters to keep up with hits & misses when he shot his pistols.  And the CatoosaKid had smoke rolling through the trees from his black powder shooting firearms.  Simply stated, it was a terrific day and a very good shoot.

SHOOT RESULTS:  Top Gun – Curly Bill    Buffalo Shoot:  .22 cal –  Marshal Too Tall  Long Range  – Marshal Too Tall

Classic   1. Fast Harley

Wranglers – Slater, Tennessee Ted, Keystone, Mustang Megs, Timberland Renegade, Bad Arm Slim, Whiskey River Nelson, Slingin’ Dunn

NEXT OCOEE RANGER SHOOT – 22 OCTOBER  .. 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.

TURKEY SHOOT AT NOVEMBER SHOOT

… Turkeys as prizes for turkeys/shooters

who win. Details later.

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The Ocoee Ranger page 2,    September 2005

The Reel West, The Real West

and the West of Our Imagination

The Reel West – Buck Taylor

Clarence Taylor III was born in California in 1938.  Fortunately for him, Clarence acquired a nickname and became Buck. As a youngster, he worked in stables around movie horses, and as a result learned to ride.  Although his pop was in the Western movie business, his dad was Dub Taylor, Buck didn’t have a horse of his own.  Later, he entered the movie business himself and gravitated toward Westerns.  In 1967, he joined the TV cast of GUNSMOKE and became Newly O’Brien for about 7 years. As Newly, he had a real unusual career:  he was a gunsmith, who became an apprentice doctor and an apprentice lawyer and also intermittently served as a deputy marshal.  How’s that for a jack-of-all-trades?  Of course if you were lying on his

Buck Taylor as Newly O’Brien while appearing on the long running TV Western GUNSMOKE

operating table, you might have thoughts like:  is he going to sew me up like a doc’s patient or as a gunsmith’s holster? But if he screwed up, he could put on his lawyer hat and represent himself as a misunderstood lawman just passing through chasing bad guys who just tried to be a Good Samaritan and sorta understandably goofed up a little.

Self portrait in watercolor by Buck Taylor

Since his GUNSMOKE days, Buck’s appeared in a lot of movies, most of them Westerns, such as TOMBSTONE, JERICHO, CONAGHER, and lots of others.  He’s a real cowboy in real life and looks the part of the grizzled cowboys that he plays.  But there’s also another side to Buck.  He’s a terrific Western artist, painting pictures in watercolor. He’s done posters for major rodeos and stock shows, commissioned paintings, portraits, and many other paintings that various art dealers peddle for him. Of course he stays very busy, although he’s now in his 60’s.  His wife is a rodeo barrel racer and horse trainer, and he travels to a lot of rodeos.  And he still appears

in many movie roles.  And he raises horses.  And he paints.  But remember, as Newly O’Brien, Buck wore many hats, and that appears to have been good training for his very varied and busy life style.

The West of Our Imagination – Squire Shooter

Squire Shooter has been a Cowboy Shooter for 3 years.  He read about Cowboy Action Shooting on the internet, then investigated it.  How? Well, he saddled up and rode out to the Cleveland range and starting shooting with us. That tells you 2 things: (1) he’s an experienced cowboy shooter and (2) he has good judgment in picking shooting companions.  After deciding to be a cowboy shooter, he turned his attention to selecting an alias.  He thought and thought, and he decided that he was an honest feller.  So, why not become

Squire Shooter

Square Shooter.  Sounded good. In fact, it was so good that somebody else had already staked a claim to it. So, he decided to choose something close:  Squire Shooter. And that’s who he became.

What does he shoot?  Vaquero six-shooters and a Marlin rifle, shooting .38’s. Like Pleasant.  But his favorite cowboy is a .45 caliber person: John Wayne.

What does he like best about cowboy shooting?  “I’ve always liked period guns.  This gives me an excuse to buy and shoot more guns.”  Whatever his reason, being a cowboy shooter is a real reward.

Buck Taylor –

“King of the Cowboys”

THE REAL WEST – BUCK TAYLOR

? – 1924

Did you know that Buck Taylor was the 1st “King of the Cowboys”?  It’s true.  Of course that Buck Taylor, William Levi Taylor, came along well before Roy Rogers laid claim to the title.  He had the title in 1885. But not many people remember ol’ Buck.  You see, he was a cowboy back in the days when Buffalo Bill was in show business.  Buck and his brother trailed cattle up from Texas and somehow ended up working on Buffalo Bill’s ranch.  Ever watchful for arena performers, Bill hired Buck, who was about 6 ft. 5 in. tall, to work in his Wild West Show.  Of course at that time, cowboys were a dime a dozen. But Buffalo Bill, a man with a world-recognized title, gave Buck a title of his own: King of the Cowboys.  Then he had him grow his hair long, decked him out to look real flashy and paraded him out to perform. Shucks, sometimes Buck even wore jaguar spotted chaps.

Now traveling around as a cowboy in such legendary company just naturally resulted in Buck gaining fame, if not fortune.  Some enterprising writer wrote a dime novel in which Buck was the hero, and it was published. In it, Buck rescued damsels in distress from Indians. It was called THE COWBOY CLAN; OR THETIGRESS OF TEXAS. A ROMANCE OF BUCK TAYLOR AND HIS BOYS IN BUCKSKIN. How’s that for a title?

But ol’ Buck lived up to it.  He performed with Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, and ol’ Buffalo Bill himself, among many others in Bill’s world famous Wild West Show.  After his days of performing with Buffalo Bill ended, Buck started his own show.  He died in Pennsylvania in 1924.

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The Ocoee Ranger page 3    September 2005

CHRISTMAS 2004 ANNUAL SHOOT & FAMILY EVENT   VENDOR  SPONSORS ..

Please remember the sponsors of our 2004 Christmas Shoot and Family Event as you buy cowboy & cowgirl things and give lists for potential gifts to friends and loved ones for this Christmas.  They helped us.  Let’s help them.

Ø      LEGENDS OUTDOOR ADVANTAGE – Athens, TN

2110 South Congress Parkway Athens, Tennessee  

Phone: (423) 746-2321

Ø      EAGLE GRIPS – Eagle Business Center

460 Randy Road, 

Carol Stream, IL 60188

phone:  800-323-6144 

fax: 630-260-0486

email:  sales@eaglegrips.com 

Ø      STARLINE BRASS CO. –

1300 West Henry , Sedalia, MO  phone:  800-280-6660

             660-827-6640

FAX 660-827-6650   email info@starlinebrass.com

Ø      SHOOT! MAGAZINE –

7154 W. State St. #384,

Boise, ID 83714  

 phone: 1-800-342-0904   www.shootmagazine.com

Ø      SADDLEBAG BULLETS –  (Cool Waters)

Randy Gothart  phone:  (256) 776-4909

Ø      TRUE WEST MAGAZINE –

True West Publishing, Inc.

Phone: 1-888-687-1881

Email: info@twmag.com

Ø      BOOTH WESTERN ART MUSEUM – Cartersville, GA

501 Museum Dr ,  

Cartersville GA 30120 phone: 770-387-1300  www.boothmuseum.org

Ø      JAXONBILT HAT COMPANY, Salmon, Idaho

Roy Jackson,  P.O. Box 417

Salmon, ID 83467

Phone:  (208) 756-6444

email: jaxonbilthats@salmoninternet.com

Ø      LOGAN’S ROADHOUSE – Cleveland, TN

3940 Keith St NW, Cleveland,TN 37312

Ø      BENTON SHOOTERS SUPPLY – Benton, TN

www.bentonshooters.com

Ø      TEXAS JACK’S WILD WEST OUTFITTERS

Phone:  800-TEXJACK

 Fax: (830) 997-6074

Website:      www.texasjacks.com

Ø      GOLDEN CORRAL restaurant – Cleveland, TN

388 Stuart Rd NE, Cleveland, TN 37312

Ø      TERRY’S TOYS  (old west guns) –

T-Bone Angus

Phone:  (423) 899-9807

Ø      HAMILTON DRY GOODS – Sparta, TN

Ron Hamilton, Hamilton Dry Goods,

4575 Roberts Matthews Hwy, Sparta, TN

store:  931-739-6061

home: 931-528-6061

email:  hamiltondrygoods@multipro.com

Ø      CALICO LASSIE – LADIES VICTORIAN AND OLD WEST ACCOUTREMENTS AND ACCESSORIES

Frances C. Orgeron, 

251 Bayou Crossing Drive,

Raceland, LA 70394 

(985) 532-5371 (phone & fax)

Email:  frances@calocolassie.com *

* Calico Lassie is located in the hurricane-affected area of Louisiana.  If the lady is still in business, I’m sure she would appreciate our business, just as she helped us, by being a sponsor.

Cool Waters – Mr. Saddlebag Bullets

Ocoee Rangers Who Were Vendors In Sept

If you’ve ever looked around, even casually, at our monthly shoots, you’ve probably noticed that several folks who attend are either business people selling products, or are casual peddlers of various products.

Cool Waters is a shooter, although he’s had health problems and hasn’t been able to shoot much this year, and a businessman.  Many of us shoot his bullets, Saddlebag Bullets.  He makes them.

Outrider’s another craftsman shooter.  He makes and sells holsters, belts, spur straps, shoulder/saddlebags and other products. Curly Bill’s another leather-smith shooter.  He makes a line of top quality holsters and belts.  Look around at the Cleveland & Knoxville shoots, and you’ll see many examples of his products on shooters, including this word scratcher.T-Bone Angus completes the circle.  He sells guns, pistols & long guns. 

Outrider poses with his leather goods.

T-Bones’s Booth.  He’s elsewhere.

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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.

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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.