Hamilton is offering something new at the Northwest Missouri Steam and Gas Engine Show that is coming up Aug. 18-21. The brand new event is called Cowboy Mounted Shooting and the club presenting the show is the Missouri Rawhide Mounted Shooters.
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Benjiumen Denney, president of the Rawhide Shooters, was just getting ready to load up for a Mounted Cowboy event in Cooper County when we got in touch with him last week.
“A Cowboy Mounted Shoot is a competition, not a demonstration,” he says. “It’s like barrels and poles mixed together — with guns.”
Usually it’s a two-day event, but Hamilton will just hold a one-day event on Friday night starting at 7:30. The audience will be able to get a good look at this fast-growing Wild West event. For the competitors, it will be like a fun practice for points.
Cowboy mounted shooting is just what it sounds like. Cowboys and cowgirls ride a horse through complex patterns, shooting targets with pistols and rifles.
The shooters use single action 45-caliber pistols and shoot at 10 targets, five blue and five white balloons. The bullets are blanks.
“You shoot five targets with one gun, holster it, and shoot the other five targets with another gun,” Mr. Denney says. “You have to cock the gun every time you shoot, lever that hammer back.”
There are six levels of expertise. Mr. Denney shoots at a level five.
“I wouldn’t call myself an expert, but I’d say I’ve got a good grasp of it,” he says. He recently went to a national championship at Tunica, Miss., and took 11th place out of 300. “You never know how you’re going to do. World champions come to our small shoots and have a bad day.”
There will also be a rifle and shotgun demonstration at Hamilton. It is the same as the pistols, only with targets in bundles of two and clusters of three.
“The best thing about this sport is the people,” says Mr. Denney. “They’re just different. There’s no clique. At a shooting event they treat strangers like you’ve been good friends for years. I haven’t met a bad soul yet.”
Recently when his horse came up lame, he was offered three or four horses to ride.”Guns, holsters, horses…anything to get you going and keep you going,” he says.
“The event itself is an adrenalin rush,” he adds. “It takes your breath away—or leaves you breathing heavy and hard.”
He says the horses enjoy it too, because it’s a game for them. “Some trot, some lope. At my level, my horse is running as hard as a horse can run.”
Mr. Denney’s horse’s name is San Bar Sunny. He is a registered paint, about 20 years old.
“He’s a great little horse with a lot of heart and can go fast, though he’ll probably retire next year to be a family horse.”
Mr. Gun said he expects to be among about 20 competitors at Hamilton. That’s a relatively small show. Since the cowboys and cowgirls usually have to travel three to five hours on average, a lot won’t be able to get off work on time on Friday. Those coming to Hamilton are mostly an hour or two away.
It’s a reenactment event for the Hamilton Steam and Gas Show and Mr. Denney says the Friday night event will be a good thing for the public to see and decide if they like it and want it back.
“It’s a three hour deal,” he says. “You can come and go when you want, enjoy a bit, see how it is, and if you want to get involved, contact us.”