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Thursday, May 01, 2008

Group's Buffalo Stampede Attracts Shooters, Old West Aficionados

By Lee Ross /
Mountain View Telegraph
      The Buffalo Stampede had all the ingredients of a good time: fast horses, loud guns and people with fake names.
       For the event, held from Wednesday to Sunday by the Single Action Shooting Society, participants take on aliases like “Tex” or “Black Ace” and dress in old Western gear.
       There was also a chili contest, a poker tournament, a mariachi band and a costume contest. But shooting guns may be the reason many came to the event, which attracted 165 shooters.
       That is true, at least, for Kathy Hollmann, a 14-year-old whose SASS name is Morning Dove.
       Hollmann, who competes in mounted shooting competitions throughout the state, took advantage of the practice round held by SASS over the weekend.
       “I like horses, and I like to shoot guns, and this put both of them together,” she said.
       She rides a sorrel quarter horse named Roy and, to fit her hands, carries matched .45's with smaller grips and lowered hammers so she can thumb them back more easily.
       She lives in Hagerman, south of Roswell, has long black hair and wears black leather wrist cuffs with silver decorations. Hollmann finished first in the competition.
       Like all the other contestants, before running the course she loads five shells, blanks filled with black powder, into each of her six-shooters. To keep things fair and safe, the shells are provided by SASS.
       The empty chamber in the six-shooters is traditional, according to Ralph Hill, who also took part in the mounted shooting event. Hill owns Chili Hills restaurant in Edgewood.
       He said cowboys would leave an empty chamber under the hammer to avoid an accident when the gun bounces during a horse ride.
       After loading their guns, riders mount their horses, or a donkey in at least one case, then race past 10 balloons, exploding each one with the discharged powder from the blank rounds. The goal is to complete the course in the shortest time.
       For those who don't ride horses, there are other shooting matches.
       “You try to keep it different and interesting,” said Lamar Shelnutt, the marketing director for SASS. His alias is Coyote Calhoun.
       Targets are set up and competitors shoot them using a rifle, shotgun and pistols in succession.
       He said the targets are set up based on scenarios, often from movies. Generally the shooter recites a line, then starts blasting away.
       “`Tombstone' is one of the greatest to do it from,” Shelnutt said. “It has the greatest lines.”
       Shelnutt gave the example of the line “I'm your huckleberry” several times. Not all of the scenarios are based on movies; there also are historical target scenarios set up.
       “We did one based on New Mexico history,” Shelnutt said.
       And people compete using different types of weapons. David Brown, a.k.a. Dawg Tooth Dave, shot his match in the frontiersman category, meaning he uses black powder and muzzle-loading weapons.
       “I like the smell of it and the sound of it,” he said.
       He said on a still day, the clouds of smoke make it hard to see the targets and add an additional challenge.
       Also on hand at the event were film crews from the History Channel and CBS News. Footage from the event may be in the CBS News broadcast Friday, and the History Channel's footage will air sometime in September, according to LouAnne Hunt, a.k.a. Cimarron Lou. Hunt, who is a marketing assistant for SASS, said the group has been featured in television before, on “Good Morning America” and on PBS programs, among others.
   

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