More News

Black hats and white hats, saloon girls, spurs and puffs of smoke emerging from gun barrels – the Old West visited Damascus for three days last weekend as cowboys from 13 states gathered to do battle.

Thunder Valley Days, held Friday to Sunday at the Izaak Walton League Wildlife Achievement Chapter on Mullinix Mill Road, was the 10th Maryland state championship of the Single Action Shooting Society Cowboy Action Shooting held at the site.

Costumed participants with nicknames such as "Ozark Bob" and "Frank Lee Scarlet" ran through five courses of shooting challenges using three different guns — pistol, rifle and shotgun — made or designed before 1900.

"I'm really enjoying it more than I thought I would," said Carol "Jesse's Sister" Calvert, 61, of Delaware, who was attending her first state shoot. "It kind of gives you a chance to let your hair down a bit, show off a different side."

Most of the colorful crowd wore typical cowboy costumes of vest, bandanna and cowboy hat, but there were also some military costumes, pith helmets, corsets and sombreros.

Nearly all of the 164 shooters had been to previous Damascus championships, according to organizer Chuck "Chuckaroo" Crooks of Damascus.

Crooks, a life-long shooter, discovered the sport shortly after retiring from the phone company in 1996. He had never been attracted to competitive shooting, he said, but the laid-back version among the cowboys, combined with the historical elements, caught his attention.

By March 1998, Crooks was organizing the first shoots at the league in Damascus. The Damascus chapter is the oldest operating Cowboy Action Shooting club in Maryland, according to its Web site. The club holds shoots once a month from March to November.

"It's almost 24/7 for me now," Crooks said.

Like Crooks, many participants said they were living out a childhood dream in the sport, having grown up on Roy Rodgers, TV westerns, cap guns and "Bonanza."

"Who didn't want to be a cowboy when they were a kid?" asked Dean "Mount Airy Undertaker" Snapp, 55.

Krieg "Doc Keep-um" Pursifull, 60, a dentist from Fairfax, Va., said the majority of cowboys were between the ages of 40 and 70, but shooters Friday included the Hines brothers of Centerville, Va., who were 15 and 10.

"The equipment we use is very expensive and a lot of the young kids couldn't afford it," Calvert said.

Snapp, whose name and coffin-shaped gun cart was inspired by his choice of a black top hat as headgear, said participants tend to be "like minded" in spite of their differences, sharing an appreciation of history and "our Second Amendment rights" that is not always reflected elsewhere.

Although costumes and childhood fantasies may initially attract many cowboys, they say they stay with the sport for the camaraderie.

"You don't win a car or an RV or something — just bragging rights till the next shoot," J.P. "Virginia Kid" Forry, 47, of Annandale said. "We just have fun."

Snapp said when his wife, "Snapshot Sandy," broke one of her guns Friday, "there were 10 people saying, ‘here take my gun'… I've never ever met friendlier people."

Both Forry and Snapp said they appreciated the friendly nature of last weekend's competition, having competed in other shooting genres before finding the cowboys.

Cowboy Action Shooting started as a sport 25 years ago, Crooks said, and now has members worldwide from all walks of life. Participants can shoot together for years without learning more than their aliases, he said. Careers and outside pursuits are secondary to the spirit of the sport.

"It's fun, it's stress-relieving, it's just fun," said Chris "Huckleberry" Hines, 15.

Cowboy Action Shoots are held at the league on the fourth Saturday of the month from March to November. Visit http://www.

damascusiwla.org/dwr/dwr.html

for information.