I got to see and speak with almost everyone during the match. I didn’t enjoy having to DQ folks, but that was an unfortunate part of the job. But because of my extra duties, I believe my last stage (Stage 4) was the most hectic one I’ve ever shot!

As we get done shooting our second to last stage (Stage 3), a stage that I absolutely blistered, winning the stage. Dip, our Unloading Table Officer says “I found a part of someone’s shotgun sitting on the ULT”. I walk over and take it from him and instantly realize it is a 73 firing pin. I then announce to our posse for everyone to check their firing pins and make sure it isn’t theirs. To my horror, as I check mine, I realize my rifle doesn’t have a firing pin anymore. To compound the issue, I had just put my last firing pin in Chickie’s rifle a few weeks earlier, meaning I didn’t have a replacement.

Stage in which my firing pin broke: 

I considered shooting Chickie’s rifle, but she shoots a Cody-matic and I shoot a C&I 5th Gen. Not an easy transition, especially on the last stage of your State Championship. Arcadia Outlaw says that he has some extra firing pins in his car. I jump in the golf cart and ride over there to find the pins. After I procured a replacement pin, I went back over to our last stage and proceed in doing a mid match firing pin change out on the unloading table.

As I was about halfway through, my phone rings and I’m informed that I need to go make a call for a posse on the other side of the range. As I was just about done, Greta calls to tell me I had another call to make. I finish up the change out, do a quick function check of the rifle, and headed over to make the calls. As I was going over to the first posse that called, a third posse stopped me to make a call as well.

After finishing the three calls, I start heading back to my posse to finish the match. However, the Range ROs stop me and inform me that my cart has a flat tire. They instruct me to go to the golf building to fill it with air. I ask if it can wait and they both say no. I head to the golf building to get air in the tire. When we get there, the Range RO can’t find an air hose or an air chuck, so I walk over to my posse to check and see how many shooters were left. They were about halfway through our last stage. I go back over to the golf building and find the RO still searching for an air chuck. I start to help him look and eventually find one. As I start filling the tire, I notice he is still searching around for something. I ask him what and he tells me he needs a pressure gauge. I didn’t have time, so I just estimated it with my finger poking the other tire and the flat to make them close.

I then jump in the cart and head back to my posse. I start loading up my ammo block and put on my shotgun belt, filling it with shells. My phone rings again for another call. I head over to the posse and receive a text for another call needs to be made. I take care of the calls and as I am heading back to my posse, the Range Safety Officer stops and says we need to look at a stage (on the opposite side from my posse) because of some damage that occurred during the match. The fact that this posse was finished made me nervous that my posse was done as well. I asked if it could wait for about 15 minutes and he told me it could not. So we head over to look at the damage.

Once that was done, I race (only in my head so I didn’t get in trouble for speeding on the range ) back over to my posse. Upon arrival, I notice that only one shooter remains. As I get there, my phone rings again for another call. I tell the PM that I will be there in a few minutes, but decide to go ahead and finish my match first.

I went through my typical stage prep routine being sure to take my time and not rush. If you have never shot a stage while an entire posse (ours was 25 shooters) stands around waiting for you and congratulating each other for finishing the match, you have no idea what pressure is! As I am loading my rifle, I realize that I’m about to shoot a stage (for the second time in the match) after repairing it without test firing it at all. But, I tell myself “Full send baby. No guts, no glory!” During my last stage of day one, the extractor in my rifle was bent, and I had to change it out Friday night. But I was so busy I didn’t have time to test fire it before the first stage the next day.

Last Stage of Day 1 when my extractor broke:

I finish loading my guns and my stage prep and go up and shoot the stage. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t smooth. But I made it through without incurring any penalties and only a few minor hitches during the run.

Last Stage of Ides of March 2024:

This past weekend has given me a new appreciation for how much the match officials go through to host a good match for their guests. I wouldn’t change anything about this weekend. I proved a lot of things to myself in knowing that I’m able to handle all the stress of managing 225 shooters but still being able to settle down and shoot a decent stage. It adds a level of difficulty that could not be explained, only experienced.

The OTJ

Where do you live?

I live in North Alabama in a little town called Falkville.

When did you start shooting and how did you get into the sport?

I started cowboy shooting in Jan of 2002.  I got into the sport with my dad who saw a demonstration while he was on vacation in Cody, Wyoming.

Who was your mentor either known to them or not?

There have been a lot of people who have helped me over the years but there are 2 guys who really stand out.  Pistoleer is a local shooter who I have been shooting with since my first match.  He was the first person who showed me anything about shooting faster in the game.  After 18 years he is one of my best friends in the game and we still bounce ideas off of each other.  The second guy is named Tuff Stuff.  I wouldn’t be where I am in this game without him.  In the last four years he has helped me to completely revamp my shooting style and he continues to push me to be better.

How much do you practice?

I try to dry fire once or twice a week.  I usually only live fire practice for a couple of months leading up to EOT.

How many rounds a month do you shoot?

When I’m doing live fire practice I will shoot around 4 to 5,000 rounds a month.

Have you won any state, regional, national, or world championships?

I have been the Alabama Overall state champion 13 times and the Southeast Regional Champion 6 times.

Tell us your most memorable match?

For me my most memorable match was the 1st time I went to Comin at Cha in 2009.  I had heard about that match for years and to finally get to experience it was something I will never forget.

What is your favorite aspect of CAS?

The friendships that I’ve made with people from all over the world.

Is there a story behind your alias and what is that story?

When my dad and I joined I couldn't come up with an alias.  My dad had picked his alias Canoe Creek Kid and he said he needed a sidekick so I wrote it down and thats that.

Do you have a traveling or shooting buddy?

My dad.

Where is your favorite place to shoot?

I would say its a tie between Black Gold and the Bar 3.

What category do you shoot?

Right now I shoot in cowboy but starting in March I will be in Wrangler.

Have you tried other categories? What categories have you tried and how did that go?

I’ve shot Duelist a couple of times at monthly matches and I’ve shot Gunfighter a lot over the years, and this summer I’m going to try Outlaw for the 1st time.

What is your posse job of choice?

Running the timer or spotting.

What is the time of your fastest clean stage?

I’m not really sure but a 10-10-2 stage is probably sub 10 seconds and a 10-10-4 stage is probably in the high 10 seconds.

What was the best advice you got from a fellow shooter and who was it?

My buddy Tuff Stuff told me that when you try to go fast that your conscious mind will get in the way and actually slow you down, and if you want to shoot at your absolute best you have to let your subconscious mind take over.

What advice can you give to some of the shooters reading this?

Never forget that this is just a game.  Its understandable that if you spend a lot of money, time, and effort you will want to see it pay off but at the end of the day its just a game and a bad day at the range beats a day at work.

Is there that one rival that delivers a little extra sting when they beat you?

No not really.

Whats keeps you playing the game?

Definitely the people in the game.

What is the favorite thing to do when you are not on the range or shooting?

Spending time with my 3 daughters.

I am a born and raised Florida native and when I was a kid of about 6 years old my uncle takes me out to a hunting ground. He tells me that he wants to let me shot this big gun called a muzzle loader. He pulls out this monstrosity of a gun that was twice as long as I was. Turns out it was a .58 caliber with something like a 40" barrel. 

He walks over about 15 yards away and puts a coke bottle up on a fallen Cypress tree. He walks back to me and shows me how to load the gun. He then gives it to me and says "Shoot that bottle over there" 

He never showed me how to aim or use the sites of even what the trigger was for. So I hefted this gigantic thing up to my shoulder and pulled the trigger. 

BOOOOOM!!!!! 

As I was sailing backwards through the air and watching my shoulder and right arm fly in the opposite direction, he grabbed the barrel so the gun (not me) wouldn't fall. After I put my shoulder back into the socket, I look up at my uncle and he had this dumbfounded look on his face. 

I asked him "What's wrong Uncle Chuck? Did I do it wrong?" 

To which he replied "Hell no you didn't, you broke the damned bottle!"

I would go hunting with him when I was younger but it was never my favorite thing to do because we rarely got to shoot the guns. We just walked around all day through the swamp carrying these heavy muzzle loaders.

I was a member of the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts when I was a little older and we got to shoot a few times a year, but again we would only get to shoot maybe 10 rounds at a time. Booooring....

So when I was 18 years old, I joined the Army and signed up to be in the Infantry. Now I got shoot, A LOT! 

I qualified Expert on every single weapon they threw at me during Basic Training. And then went to Mortar School and qualified expert on those too. There wasn't one single qualification shoot that I did not shoot Expert and most of them I was a perfect 40 out of 40. I shot everything from the M9 Beretta sidearm to my M-4 Carbine and the M-249 SAW to the M-240B and the Mark 19 automatic grenade launcher and the M-1 .50 full auto to the 120mm and 60mm mortars and everything in between. Now I was shooting nearly 3 days a week which wasn't bad especially since the ammo was free and it was our job to shoot.

After the Army my shooting slowed greatly due to the fact that I now had to buy my ammo. OUCH! I went about life as a construction worker and shot when time and finances would allow. About 2 years ago I decided that I wanted to become a Firearms Instructor and started to take NRA Instructor courses. During my Chief Range Safety Officer course, I came across a blurb in the book about this discipline called Cowboy Action Shooting. I had already looked into other competitive shooting disciplines like IDPA and IPSC and attended a few matches but was very turned off by the elitist attitude most of the shooters had. None would talk to me or even acknowledge my presence and the ones who did seemed more irritated than anything that I was there.

So when I came across the mention of this Cowboy Action Shooting thing I was intrigued but figured it was more of the same just with cowboy hats and lever action rifles. One day while surfing the internet (as I am sure you are all aware that I do on a regular basis) and watching an episode of Shooting USA, Jim Scoutten was talking about this Championship called End of Trail where these guys and gals dress like cowboys and shoot period correct guns.

So I searched YouTube and the first video that came up was one called "Light 'Em Up" by someone called Hawkeye Gin and was tagged by HG13. It had this character named Dang It Dan on the video saying things like "Single Action doesn't mean slow." and "It doesn't really matter what you shoot, but it does matter who you shoot with." These guys and girls were blazing fast and shooting these guns faster than most can shoot semi autos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXPB8I1FuF8

So I googled it to find more info and found the SASS website. As I started to read the Shooters Handbook and the requirements for dress I was like "I'll be damned if I dress up in cowboy hats and boots!" But I just couldn't get enough of these videos by HG13 and these guys and gals having so much fun shooting. So after about 6 months of watching every single video I could find, I took the plunge and applied for my 3 aliases.

My first choice was "The Man With No Aim" second was "The Outlaw Travis James" and the third was "Marshal Travis J. Walkburn". Well, turns out that the first choice was too close to another that was already registered so they gave me the second choice. The way I came about it was the very first movie I remember seeing as a kid was The Outlaw Josey Wales with my grandfather. I have never been into to watching movies or TV because I just can't sit still long enough. But this movie made an impression. I used my first name and my middle name because of the James Gang. 

I found the closest club to my house which was the OK Corral Outlaws in Okeechobee and attended my first match. I shot a single stage after the match was over off the clock ( https://youtu.be/Elve9F0SmYs )and was instantly hooked. I didn't even have any boots so I wore my Army jump boots, but no one said anything to me about them. This match was the 4th Saturday in July of 2018 and the rest is well documented history. 

I cannot even imagine my life without CAS in it and now that my girlfriend Chickie Winsome is shooting with me it is even more fun! We have met the absolute best people that are so welcoming and helpful! I just hope we can continue to do this for a long time to come! 

I know this was really long. Sorry for all the rambling, but as most of you know, I tend to be a little long winded....

Set up our carts, said our good mornings and paid the man. That’s when it started, as soon as I buckled my leather. Stages were not overly difficult, but the Moog may have been overly tired. At least that is my excuse. Stage one 3 misses, stage two, 3 misses and on and on. I thought I heard someone ask if it was my first match. I know I heard Shelleens words of encouragement as I staged my guns “TRY NOT TO SUCK MOOG!” lol. Too late. When the smoke cleared I left with 16 misses. Can't tell you the last time I had a match like that. I know im not really fast but damn. I do admit after the 7 miss I just decided to let it rip. (lol sarcasm)

So what do you do to get over a match like that? I know what I do I look back and laugh. I think did I have fun, and you hear that one all the time, but did I/you really have fun?  I did. Hanging out with this group it’s hard to not have a good time and I’m sure you’ll laugh with them… I also I try to take away something from each match that I like or was done well and hang on to that till my next match. For example, this last match the drive to the range was nice. What do you do to get over the train wreck days on the range?

Sure the drive was nice if you’re into that sort of thing. It was HOT (typical summer in Florida). I couldn’t seem to find the targets to save my life and I laughed “with them” …. It was still better than a good day at work.