Winter Range

This past week was the 20th Winter Range competition of which my hubby always participates. It is the most popular gun sport and is growing in leaps and bounds. There were over 700 competitors this year with about 500 men and 200 women. If  I hadn't already participated in a gun sport for over 35 years I could be tempted to give it a try. This organization has been very smart...they do not promote  "A" winner but rather promote many winners. They have different categories of competition which encompasses age, types of weapons and even costume. Some people spend thousands of dollars to be sure that they are dressed authentically. Here one little winner from the past...

yes kids get to play too.

Some even bring their chuck wagon

One posse of shooters

The shooting competition is a series of stages in which there are normally around 24 shots from three different weapons, pistols, shot gun and rifle in each stage. Each stage is designed different with backdrops

 as well as targets and if you do not shoot the stage in the assigned order you are penalized, you are penalized for each missed shot as well.  If you would like to see an example of a stage you can go here

I am a firm believer that a picture is worth a million words so here is a video of a world champion   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8bJ3TLEbZw&feature=feedlik 

The range is also filled with vendors of all kinds with their wares set up in tents

Some find it a little confining:)

There are many food vendors with Funnel cakes and kettle corn among the favorites

There was also a cowboy fast draw competition happening  and  my hubby competes in that too but this year couldn't do both.

Last but not least is the mounted shooting event. Now that is something I love to watch.  One of the past top women riders is Annie Bianco Ellett

You can watch a video of her showing and explaining mounted shooting  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iihCQlPFIMk  My Hubby takes care of  all her gunwork as well as for many, many other competitors.

I have to do a little bragging here because my hubby shot a clean competition this week and what does that mean.....He shot 290 shots with all the different weapons over four days and NEVER missed a shot!!! and trust me...he doesn't shoot slow. Now here is the bad news...because the competition is so close and tough he still will only place around 15th in his category and not even in the top ten over-all. There were 98 shooters that shot clean, if you watched that video you will be like me

.....amazed.