President's Updates

Well, Howdy Partner,

Our Main Monthly Cowboy match is coming up THIS Saturday, February 7th. 

This will be the FIRST monthly match that will count toward our Year End Awards.  (If you didn't get my email about that, please let me know, and I will send you the details.)

It looks like it will DEFINITELY be WARMER than last weekend. That's not to say it will be Warm, but it should be in the 40’s rather than the Teens. No rain is forecast, and only slight winds.  The roads and range driveway should be clear of snow by then, So No Excuses! Just be sure to wear your long johns and bundle up!

So, we WILL be having our Regular Monthly Match this Saturday. 

Gates will open around 8 for registration, and after our Pledge, Prayer, and announcements, shooting should start around 9:30.  We will have a nice Bonfire going, and the propane hand warmers will be on the loading and unloading tables. 

Hopefully, we should have at least a couple of new targets ready by this weekend as well. So come see what’s new to shoot at!

And don’t forget to renew your membership if you haven't already. 

Looking forward to seeing you this Saturday!

Colorado Pete

Hey there Pardner,

We cancelled our mid-month Sunday match last weekend due to the fact that it was going to be (and was) freezing a-- COLD, and there were only two other shooters crazy enough to... I mean willing to drive an hour to get here and shoot in the cold. So that's not really enough to have much of a match.  

So we WILL go ahead and have an OPEN RANGE DAY, the fifth Saturday of this month, January 31st -- WEATHER PERMITTING and we have enough RSVP's from shooters (at least 4 or 5 people) so we know how many people to expect. 

So come shoot a couple of practice stages! Work on your "draw"!  Work on your gun transitions!  Work on your aim and technique!

Bring your EDC (every day carry) gun and get some practice with it on paper targets (not our steel targets).  Bring whatever you want to practice with including rifles.

If the weather cooperates, AND we have at least 4 or 5 people that want to come shoot, there will be someone there with the gate open and will probably have a nice bonfire going. (Maybe even some donuts and hot cider). 

The following Saturday, February 7th, will be our next main monthly cowboy match, and THAT will be the start of our YEAR END AWARDS matches. I'll send out another email with information about these awards. 

STAY WARM, STAY SAFE, and Happy Trails

Colorado Pete

Well Howdy,

After much discussion among the board, we have decided to try something NEW this year. I'm not sure if I should call it a "Program", "Policy", or a "Competition", So I'm just going to refer to it as "YEAR END AWARDS".

What is a qualifying participant, you ask? Well, let me spell it out.  We will have a Y.E.A. (Year End Award) for the following:

     · The person or persons with the Most CLEAN Matches.

     · The lowest combined MATCH scores in EACH CATEGORY that we have shooters.

     · YOU MUST SHOOT IN AT LEAST 8 OF THE 11 MAIN MONTHLY MATCHES on the first Saturday of      the month.

There are 11 main monthly matches this year -- February thru December. We will NOT include scores from our Mid-month Sunday Matches. I'm trying to keep this fairly simple, and including the Sunday Matches would complicate things too much. 

Only counting 8 Matches of 11 gives people room to miss a match here or there for various reasons. and still Qualify for a Y.E.A.  If you’re sick, gone on vacation, at a football game, or gone to one of the big matches during the summer. (Tennessee State, Black Gold, Southeast Regional, etc.)  You don't have to shoot ALL of the next 11 matches. We will only count your lowest 8 match scores.

If you have a Major safety violation and get a MATCH DQ, (there have only been a couple of those that I can remember in the past five years) that match WILL NOT COUNT FOR ONE OF THE 8 MATCHES.  So, if you shoot 9 or 10 of the next 11 matches, it wouldn't be a problem. If you ONLY shoot 8, and then happen to have a Match DQ, then you would not qualify for a Year End Award. IF you have a STAGE DQ On one of those 8 matches, a Stage DQ will count as 60 seconds for your score for that stage. 

For instance... If I shoot 5 stages with no Stage DQ's, all of my stage scores count for that match. If I have a Stage DQ on one stage that would come up as no score for that stage, but then only four stage scores would not be as much as 5 completed stage scores so it would be lower. That wouldn't be fair for Y.E.A. tabulations.  Most people complete MOST Stages in under 45-50 seconds. So, if you have a stage DQ you would get a "penalty" score for that stage of 60 seconds. Not enough to knock you out of the competition completely, so you could still and still win a Y. E. A.

We will have Y.E.A. for EACH shooting category that we have shooters. So, I, as a Silver Senior gunfighter, would not be shooting against people like Bush Ax Jack. I don't shoot in his CATEGORY.  So, you are not competing against EVERYONE. You are only competing against other shooters IN YOUR CATEGORY.  

You must SHOOT IN THE SAME CATEGORY FOR THE WHOLE YEAR. Or at least for the 8 matches you want counted towards the Y.E.A. So As Li’l WEASEL used to say, “CHOOSE YOUR CATEGORY WISELY!” 

What I'm after here is CONSISTENCY and having fun. 

     · Come to at least 8 monthly matches, (Preferably more).

     · Shoot in the same Category all year.

     · Get better at shooting. Don't get stage or match DQ's.

This isn't High Stakes here. The point is just to increase the competition a little bit and at the end of the year go home with SOMETHING just a little nicer than a handful of poker chips. 

What will the Y.E.A. award BE, YOU MIGHT ASK? At this point we have not actually decided yet. We may do a GCR Belt buckle for the most clean matches. If we have 4 or 5 people with the same number of clean matches, they would all get an award. The category awards would be nothing expensive or elaborate, just something a little nicer than a handful of poker chips. 

I have tried to be clear, but I'm sure I have probably confused at least a few of you. If you have questions email me and I'll try to clarify. 

This is the first time (that I know of) that the club has tried something like this. So, if you have any IDEAS, or SUGGESTIONS, to make this better or smoother or easier, I'm all ears. 

Thanks

Colorado Pete

As of 1/16/2026, The match has been cancelled on January 18.

Well Howdy,

I was going to send out a Reminder about our Cowboy / Wild bunch Match coming up This Sunday, January 18, 2026. 

HOWEVER..... Instead of plowing ahead blindly... I'm going to ASK : 

HOW MANY OF YOU ARE PLANNING ON COMING TO SHOOT ON SUNDAY????

The reason I ask is.. 

At our mid-month match , we usually only have about 8 - 10, maybe 12 shooters, and a couple of WB.

The Weather forecast has it showing that it is going to Start out  C O L D, and only get up to about 30 degrees with a Strong Wind blowing most of the day.    It will be overcast / partly sunny. That means that it is going to be Cold and Windy pretty much all day.  

I don't mind the cold so much but that bloody Wind makes it miserable.  Last year we had a few days like this and we still had a match, but we only had about five or six people show up.  

It takes a lot of effort to get everything set up and ready for a match. Which is Normally not a problem. But when its below freezing, with the darned wind chill, and only a few people show up to shoot, It's really not a fun day.

SO... If I get enough shooters committed to coming and shooting in the freezing cold ( Polar bear club, you know who you are ), we'll have our regular match. But if there's only going to be a couple of us, I'd rather stay home and sit in front of a nice warm fireplace!

So PLEASE  ! ! !    Respond to this message by FRIDAY, January 16,  via email (rowanequine@yahoo.com) or text message (760-315-2681), and let me know if you plan on coming, Cold be damned!

We'll be there, if we have enough shooters to make it worthwhile.

Thanks

Colorado Pete

  Well Howdy Pardners,

Can you believe it??   2025 is over and done with. Where did the time go? 

Well, it's officially the future now - 2026, and are looking forward to an exciting year. 

With that in mind, our First match of the new year is THIS Saturday January 3rd. 

It looks like the weather is going to cooperate Partly cloudy, but it's going to be COLD. ( High thirties to mid forties ). So put on your long johns and bundle up!   Because we WILL be there to shoot Regardless. ( Polar Bear Club, you know who you are ) There's still a few of us diehards in the group. LOL

We will make sure to have a roaring bonfire going and fresh propane bottles for the hand warmers at the loading and unloading tables.

The targets will be moved to new positions and I'll keep trying to write interesting stages. ( If ANYONE else would like to write a few stages, or a whole match's worth, it certainly wouldn't hurt my feelings.  The more ideas the better! ).

So, let's embrace 2026, and start it off with a BANG ( pun intended )  Santa brought me a new shot shell reloader for Christmas, so this year I get to learn how to do that. What Fun!

I look forward to seeing you all this next year!

Happy Trails

Colorado Pete 

Howdy Pardners,

Just an end of the year email, with a few reminders.

First,  is our last match of the year.  Cowboy / wild bunch match coming up  THIS Sunday Dec. 21st. Gates will open at 8 and after the usual safety  meeting, announcements, pledge and prayer, shooting will start around  9:30.  We Will be there to shoot rain or shine. My weather app is  showing that it may be a good day for shooting. A little chilly, but not  as bad as we've had in the past. So come join us for our last match of  the year.

Second, is that   dues for next year are being accepted, so if you want to take care of  that early, feel fee. $30 individual , $50 for couples.  We are also  looking at making dues payable on our website. That may or may not be  available right away but that is coming soon. 

 We  are also "thinking " about a couple of new ideas for next year,  Possibly a "Year End" awards of some sort ( haven't really worked that  out yet ) and possibly another "night" match in the spring. We'll see  how that works out.

I'm  also looking at making available some GCR gear. Maybe a shirt or t-shirt  with the GCR logo on it,  or Coffee mug, baseball hat ????  I'm just  looking at ideas right now  ( so if you have an idea let me know ).  So  there's nothing in the works on that yet but we'll see what we can come  up with. Please let me know if anything like that interests you. 

Our  potluck / business meeting after our last match, went really well !  Lots of good food, and good friends to enjoy it with!   We may make that  an annual thing.  Our club officers are Colorado Pete as President,  Chuck as Vice President, Sundown as Treasurer, Isabelle Ripper as our  webmaster. 

Anyway... if  you can't make to the match ... May you all have a Very Merry Christmas ,  A happy and Safe New Year, and we will see you at the range next year!!

 Colorado Pete