COMIN AT'CHA SOUTHWEST REGIONAL AT THE BADLANDS BAR 3 RANCH

We arrived on the Badlands Bar 3 Ranch in English, TX. Population of English is 91 and I think that number includes the ranches dog "Dooley".

The Badlands Bar 3 Ranch is a 1,000 acre ranch and is owned by T-Bone Dooley aka: Bill Froelich.

This match is very well known through out the U.S. It is the Southwest Regional and it is limited to 400 shooters and there is always a waiting list.

Competitors come from all over the world. This year they have shooters from Australia and Europe.
We come several days early and get all settled in. It is nice to relax and chill out a bit and enjoy the serenity of the ranch. This will be our new front yard for the next 10 days.

Other shooters came early as well and we all joined our meals together and had potluck suppers all week. What a feast and the camaraderie was so much fun.

A funny story....T-Bone's pond is 20 acres. A few years ago the Fish Hatchery dumped $10,000 of fish in his pond. The fish were suppose to go another rancher's pond up the road. They wanted TBone to pay for the fish. He told them if they wanted their fish back, then they needed to come with some poles, worms and a net. I felt bad for the fella who made the error, but to expect TBone to pay for them was unbelievable.

Vendors get here early to set up. Some vendors sell 1880's vintage clothing and "B Western" clothing. Rules are you dress up in period clothing from that era or "B" Western clothing.
"B" Western is like what you would see from the western TV stars like Roy Rogers, Tom Mix, Gene Autry, Rex Allen and Hoot Gibson. All glitz and glitter, fringe and embroidery on their boots, chaps, hats, shirts, gloves and holsters.

Vendors also sell leather goods. Their craftsmen ship is beautiful. They stamp and carve beautiful designs in holsters and gun belts, spur straps, belts, chaps, hatbands and suspenders.

As you can see in this picture, this is a vendor's trailer. He has a scene out of the movie Tombstone. These are called "wraps". You see them on cars advertising business's. Well the movie is one of our favorites. It starred Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton. Excellent movie and we watch it often. Well I am a BIG Sam Elliott fan and I wanted to peel his face off that utility trailer.

Another vendor sells metal wall art. We have some pieces hanging up in our RV. We have an area just above the headboard and I always visualized a long piece of metal art there. Well I found what I wanted and since it was my birthday, I bought it. As many of you know, our rolling ranch house is decorated with cowboy and Native American decor. It added a nice touch as long as it does not fall on our head.

On Wed. Oct. 29th, the RV's started rolling in.
They have a huge parking lot for competitors that arrive each day who stay in hotels. There are 411 shooters that will be competing.

As the RV's roll in, T-Bone rides his beautiful Palomino to greet everyone with a Big Howdy!

One thing about T-Bone, he is a showman and does everything to the "Hill". He is also a talented singer. He has a beautiful stage with professional lighting in his big barn and it is set up for Karaoke. He is quite an entertainer!                                                        

Fri. Oct. 31 wasw the first day of the Main Match. Ralph started off very well. His times were fast and he only had one miss all day. However on the last stage he had a rifle jam with 9 rounds left in his rifle that he could not shoot. So they count as misses. With this kind of competition that is here, you can't even afford to miss one if you want to finish on top of your category and over all placings. Although disappointed, he took it in stride.

Between Ralph's shooting, I walked around and admired the ladies in their beautiful shooting attire costumes. Don't let their pretty looks fool you. Cowgirls are right up with the best Cowboy shooters.

There are several food vendors here and this vendor cooks right off an authentic Chuck Wagon. They make breakfast on an open fire in cast iron cookware and they serve real cowboy coffee, none of that cappuccino, latte, fu-fu coffee.

The weather was perfect shooting weather. Sunny and in the upper 50's.                                                

Stay tuned for the 2nd day of shooting tomorrow. I hope to have pictures of Lefty Rhodes (Ralph) shooting. The stages he shot today, it was a little difficult. Western building fronts are built at many of the stages. Trying to get pictures while staying out of the way of the "3 Counters", can be difficult. The counters have to keep an eagle eye on the targets for any misses.