Cowboy Fast Draw

"Shooters ready!  Shooters on the line!  Shooters...SET!"

Everyone at the line is poised with hand on gun ready to shoot when the light comes on.  Six guns are fired, which sounds almost like one shot, guns are holstered and shooters look to see who shot the fastest.  This is our Thursday nights each week as we gather in Valentine to join other shooters for practice.

We began our Cowboy Fast Draw (not Quick Draw which is a bit of a different sport) involvement over 5 years ago when Mike joined the local club.  A few weeks later he encouraged me to ride along so I could "visit with the women" and I have been shooting ever since.

Cowboy Fast Draw has been around for about 15 years now.  It began in Deadwood, South Dakota and has grown into a world organization.  It is now headquartered out of Fernley, Nevada with clubs scattered coast to coast in the US.  We belong to the Sparks Spurs which began in Sparks, Nebraska. We recently relocated our club to Valentine in order to encourage better attendance to Thursday night practice.

CFDA's motto is "Safety first, fun second, competition third".  And while all competitors are highly competitive, they are also friends and fun.  We may go to the line to win, but each of us is happy for each other and we always leave the line with a handshake and a word of praise or encouragement.

Grandson Caleb and a competitor

It has been said by many members that the best part about CFDA is the friendships you will make...the shooting is just a bonus.  And we have to agree.  We have made so very many friends that we would never have met if we hadn't gotten involved in Cowboy Fast Draw.  Just last weekend we traveled to Redfield, South Dakota with a couple from Valentine that are new-found friends.  While there we stayed at the home of another couple whom we have become friends with.  And while at the shoot, we visited with many of the other friends we've made along the way.  It would seem that Fast Draw attracts very nice people.

There is something for every age group.  Kids must be at least 8 years of age to shoot, but there are categories for youth, women and men.  It is a sport that the whole family can participate in.  Our grandkids have joined us on several shoots.

We shoot at around a dozen shoots each year, although we could do many more if time and money allowed.  Some of them are jackpots which are just fun shoots where a club can make some money to finance their larger shoots.  Some of them are sanctioned shoots where shooters compete for Top Gun points through the Association.  In 2013 we were privileged to attend the Fastest Gun Alive World competition at Fallon, Nevada where the best of the best (as well as some of us less accomplished shooters) gathered to compete for the World Championship.  We felt privileged to ride home with the World Champion, Dean Storms.  

Mike receiving an award at the Jesse James Territorial in Kearney, Missouri

Mike works very hard to improve his game.  He can now hit the target, from the time the lights comes on until his bullet hits the target, in less than half a second.  Unfortunately, competition among the men is tough, and many shooters can hit the target even faster than that.  But he continues to improve. In fact over the past weekend, when they separated out the shooters according to time for the second day's shoot, he was included in the fastest group.  It was an honor as well as a challenge for him.  Me?  I am mostly just along for the socializing.  I can shoot at about 3/4 of a second on a good day, but that usually places me somewhere toward last place  I have to admit that I get tired of seeing my name on the bottom of the placings, but apparently not enough to encourage me to practice more than I do. Many times I don't even shoot, I just help with the scoring or whatever else needs to be done, which I find as enjoyable (sometimes even more so) than shooting.

Coming up this year we have plans to attend several shoots.  The one we are most excited for will be held at Deadwood in mid-June which is the national championship that we are calling, "Back to Where It All Began", honoring the 15th anniversary of CFDA that began in Deadwood.  We will come together with 6 other clubs to host this shoot.  It promises to be a fun-filled 6 days (including set up and tear down).

CFDA is not for everyone, but if you think it might be something you would enjoy, we encourage you to come along with us on Thursday night.  We would love to have you join us and have a good time.  If we are already friends, we will have a good time. And if we aren't already friends, we soon will be.