By Robin Hunt
Over the weekend, Green River hosted their annual Outlaw Days event. Friday, the event kicked off with some warm up stages and side matches at the Green River gun range, followed by a Night with Butch Cassidy at the John Wesley Powell Museum, where 60+ people heard from Neil Ekker as he told stories about the famous outlaw Butch Cassidy and his time with Mat Warner in the Robbers Roost territory.
Saturday, 60+ shooters gathered in their Old West garb and participated in a Cowboy-Action shooting competition. Cowboy Action Shooting is a multi-faceted shooting sport in which contestants compete with firearms typical of those used in the taming of the Old West: single action revolvers, pistol caliber lever action rifles, and old time shotguns.
The shooting competition is staged in a unique, characterized, “Old West” style. It is a timed sport in which shooters compete for prestige on a course of different shooting stages. Each scenario, (stage) as they are called, features an array of situations, many based on famous incidents or movie scenes, in which the shooters must test their mettle against steel targets.
A typical scenario would include a short “story”, a procedure as to target sequence and shooter positions. The average shooting stage involves 2 pistols (10 rounds) 1 rifle (10 rounds) and a shotgun (4-6 rounds).
At Green River Outlaw Days, they shot five of these stages, the youngest shooter was just 10 years old. (Although there was a 2-year-old packing around cap guns!)
Along with the Cowboy-Action Shooting, participants tossed horseshoes in the horseshoe tournament, shopped at the small vendor fair, shot long-range guns in the Milk Jug Shoot and over one hundred Outlaws and Citizens alike joined together for a BBQ dinner and Brenn Hill Concert. Learn more at outlawdays.com
This event was sponsored by: The City of Green River, The Emery County Travel Bureau, The John Wesley Powell River History Museum, Prickly N’ Sweet Cactus Boutique and Rare Renegade.
