DAWGTOOTH DAVE and SAGEBRUSH MOLLY

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Comin'at'Cha 2008

DAY ONE

We started on our way to the Badlands Bar 3 ranch for our first Comin'at'Cha on Monday evening Oct. 27. Molly had to work so we made our way as the sun set to Edgewood NM where we stayed in the RVers favorite FREE RV park, WALMART. As this trip is our vacation for 2008 we have decided to take our time and enjoy the trip. We are keeping the travel to 400 miles or less per day. We dined on a "Take & Bake pizza and crashed for the night.

DAY TWO

We hit the road at 0800 headed for Amarillo. I drove while Molly read Louis Lamour's book "Conagher" or we listened to Sirius Patriot radio. We stopped at Gander Mountain and the Academy Sporting Goods for some shopping. We refueled the land train and headed on to Goodlett, TX and the Ole Town Cotton Gin RV Park. Full hook-ups...shower and satellite TV and WIFI. On to the Bar 3 tomorrow and more to follow and photos...Stay tuned.

DAY THREE

We were again on the road around 0800 for the last leg of the trip. The Bar 3 ranch is in English, TX which is about 15 miles NE of Clarksville TX. We arrived around 1630 and set up camp. Molly's brother lives near Paris TX so we drove over for a visit.

The dry camping area overlooked Lake Dooley home of the Dooleyness monster.

DAY FOUR

Today is for the side matches. I took guns for long range, pocket pistol, derringer and the "Wild Bunch Match". I talked Molly into shooting the long range and she won the ladies rifle caliber lever action match with my 1894 Winchester in 32-40. The men's competition was stiff and I did not fair as well. The long range was ran by Goat Neck Pete and was excellent. The targets were at 300 yards with no speed component. There are some kinda good long range shooters in SASS. The "Wild Bunch Match" started at 1630 and in Texas they play by a different set of rules. They allow almost any firearms up 1915. This includes Semi-auto rifles and shotguns and smaller than 40 calibers in the handguns and rifles. In the rules we play by at home you have two categories, traditional and modern. Traditional is what I shoot which equates to military spec 1911s fired with one hand. Our modern allows modified 1911s fired with two hands. Texas rules called for all to shoot one handed or duelist. This was kind of unfair as it put all semi-auto pistol shooters in the same category. I am accustomed to shooting duelist so that's how I shot the whole match. Many on my posse shot the first stage two handed by "accident" and then  were "reminded" afterwards that they must shoot duelist and not given a procedural penalty. This was, in my opinion unfair to those of us who shot properly the whole match. I may offend some with the next comments but; I witnessed some of the worst and unsafe gun handling in my life. The 170 rule was right out the door. One shooter on my posse turned his 1911 in his hand to replace a magazine so far that he was pointing his pistol at his own head. The RO cautioned him on it so the next reload the shooter onto turned the muzzle around so that it was pointing at the RO. I expected the shooter to be match DQed for such an infraction but no he was just cautioned. I was so distressed by this that considered quitting the match. I decided to finish the match but I stayed outside and away from the shooting line until the shooters were done and then I would go up to help set targets and pick up brass. Sorry T-Bone but this part of Comin' at 'Cha was very poor. We finished after dark and after returning to the land train and switched the guns out for the first day of the main match and having a bite to eat, I was too tired to attend the mixer. Better tomorrows.

Wild Bunch Shooters                                                                                     My good friend Capt. George Baylor in his Wild Bunch get-up.

DAY FIVE

Today was the first day of the main match. We were on posse 2 so we started in the morning on stage 2. Our posse was small as some shooters did not show. Our posse marshal was Big Iron Patnode who Molly and I shot with at Winter Range with this year. He did a great job and everyone pitched in so we moved along quick and smooth. I was the only frontiersman on the posse and the pace we set kept me hopping to get the Old Armies charged. I shot the first two stages clean and fairly fast. I believed that I shot all five of today's stages clean but when I got my score card at the end I was given a miss on stage 4. I know that I did not miss so asked Big Iron if he recalled which target I missed. He said that the spotters called a pistol miss but he saw a hit along with one of three spotters. He said he asked them if they saw it miss and the two said " no clang". I was so confident that I was clean on that stage I went to the unloading table and then out to my cart oblivious to the debate. If I would have known I could have pointed out where my ball hit. Oh well. Just a note to all who might count for a frontiersman. The report of black powder (the boom) is longer than that of smokeless powder and we shoot round ball that are light in comparison to bullets. Sometimes the clang gets lost in the boom so it is imperative to watch the target for the impact and not just rely on the clang. Needless to say five stages with only one miss is still a great day for me. Molly shot well also l. If she can keep it together tomorrow she do well. The stages were excellent. I'm starting to dislike the longhorn steer head shotgun targets as you really have to aim at them to knock them down. We had the afternoon off which gave me time to clean the guns and for make a run to Clarksville for supplies. We attended the potluck in the big barn and had a nice time socializing. It was an awesome first day. Tomorrow we shoot the late shift so we can sleep in a bit.

The first five stages                                                         The pond and venders                                                                  Inside the big barn

DAY SIX