Wild Wild West

My dad is a country boy at heart. He grew up in the country, farming mostly. The home he and my mother have lived in for the past 39 years is in the country, although not a farm. He is a hunter through and through. In retirement, he has taken up a rather interesting hobby, and I was able to watch him last Sunday at a real Cowboy Shoot!

There is a national organization called Single Action Shooters Society, to which Dad belongs. There are local chapters or other local organizations that are similar who hold monthly shoots at ranges designed specifically for Wild Wild West reinactment. He had a shoot last Sunday, and I was able to check out what it's all about. It was a beautiful, cloudless Sunday afternoon, watching Dad participate and enjoy this hobby. Here are some pictures from the day.

As you can see from this picture, he dresses in costume for the day. He crafted the cart next to him from scrap wood he had laying around the garage. It is used to carry your guns and ammo from stage to stage throughout the day. The stages sometimes require the use of a rifle, a shotgun, and two pistols or any combination of the three firearms. The shot here at Piona's Pleasure Palace required all three.The instructions of this stage were to sit on the bed, ask the time keeper, who was playing the school marm, for a big wet kiss, then stand up and start the shooting. From inside this structure, he had to shoot the rifle 10 times at various targets out to the right in the picture, then each pistol from the same position five times at other targets, come out of the "building", grab the rifle sitting in the middle of the staging area, and shoot that 4 or so times. The directions at each staging area were actually quite elaborate. Several times during the day, my mom commented on how many steps to each scenario and how could they remember what to do, especially Dad who has a hard time remembering what she tells him to do at home. I think her appearance at Sunday's shoot called his bluff on the whole poor memory thing. Hmmmm...

I was overall impressed with the safety precautions taken throughout the shoot. These guys are using REAL bullets and there are approximately 125 shooters there with 4 guns each; that's a lot of possibility for accident; however, there are very specific guidelines for how to approach each stage and how to handle the guns all day. There is a loading table, where there is always someone there to help count live bullets going into the guns, there is an unloading table after each participant takes his/her turn where there is also a second set of eyes making sure no live bullets leave the stage, and at all times while carting guns around or carrying guns back to their respective gun carts, the chambers are open. It is a well run competition. And these guys and gals are INTO IT!

There is one man, who goes by Jack Pine Bill, who insisted that I have a little turn at some target practice when the groups broke for lunch. Being my father's daughter, I was happy to comply. I went to one of the ranges and shot two pistols and a rifle at some targets in an order prescribed by Jack Pine. When I was finished, having missed only 1 of 40 shots, Jack Pine was ready to sign me up for next month's shoot. In all honesty, I think I would consider joining my dad in this activity if I lived closer. Until then, I'll have to live vicariously through his cowboy boots!