It was at rendeevooo back in twenty ought eleben and times was sure a shinin.  Pinned down some in the lodges cuz of the wind, rain and snow, but our spirits was still high an we dun been havin ourselves a real good time.  We dun got into some shootin with the others but it seemed most all our rifles was a bit out of sort.  Perhaps they was spectin warmer times and with the cold of the days, they had shrunk up an made the sights go off center sum.  At any rate, only Edjukateer dun what all us others wish we cud a dun.  He dun won hisself a mighty fine patch knife, with a sheath an a  beeded necklace.  It looks pert near to be the finest of quality of any other in the Rockies.  Any mountain man would be proud to have that there patch knife.

So, my specting what the guns had dun shrivled up sum just might not be the true  deal and maybe it be just the rest of us just wasn’t line’n up right on our own sights.  Whatever, like I said, we just throwed powder down an patched ball and spent sum caps making noise an such and didn’t git no braggin rights ta speek uf.  Oh, ya, sepen Fat Duck an Dry Dog, they dun won some licker frum Many Steps an me, agin most cuz I wuz not quite on top of my shootin and Many Steps stayed up pert near till time ta shoot an wuzznt havin both his eyes focused real clear.

Next morn we woke ta see a whole ton o’snow dun felled durin the night an a whole bunch of the camp was perty much down on the ground.  Sum poles was broke and a lot of canvas an skins had tore up sum and folks wuz tryin ta fix things up an all.  Sum dun said they was movin on ta nuther rondeevoo in warmer climes an others wuz sayin they wuz headed fer the flatlands.  Well, we Willow Creekers wuzn’t bout ta leave this here rondeevoo.  We went ta doin what had ta be dunned and we put back up the dinin flys what was down an started up the fires under the newly rected flys ta dry them out sum.  Ya, our moccasins wuz soaked up pretty bad with mud an we wuz soaked ta the knee in our leathers, but inside we wuz still warm an dry an we wuz still at rondeevoo an we wasn’t bein hurt nor dead an our horses wuz still in camp an all the folks what mean stuff to us was well, so we dun continued to have ourselves a good old rondeevoo!

When it wuz about half way thru this day an the dinin flys wuz bout dry, Hunter sayz  “Hay, let’s go do sum shootin”!  So, Crazy Skinner, Hunter, Edjukateer, Trap Dancer, John Deere an me, grabbed up our guns and headed fer the range.

Mountain men don’t much care what they is goin ta shoot at, it be mostly for the right ta say they be the best shootin one once it’s all dun .  We been knowed ta shoot at big things such as knots on trees or large rocks on the mountain side.  We also been knowed ta shoot at little things like buttons or twigs stickin outa tree branches.  Well taday we wuz gonna shoot at mostly little things.  Ta begin with, Trap Dancer had sum playin cards what he dun brought ta rondeevoo so we broked out six of them, one fur each, an fastened them to our backdrop range and stepped back 40 sum yards.

Ya gotta know that a playin card aint too very big when looked at frum 40 yards.  Special with these old 60 sum year old eyes of mine.  But we loaded up an took a shot at the card what wuz ours ta shoot at.  Then we goed down an looked ta see if we dun hit or not.  Well seems that Hunter an me wuz the only two what hit.  So Edjukateer said we needed ta shoot two more times an see who is the best.  So we goed back and reloaded and each took a shot agin.  Then we reloaded and dun shot a third time.  When we goed down ta look at the cards, only Hunter had dun hit his card a second time an nun of the rest of us cud say we dun better.  So he dun won that one.

Ok, now is when things started ta  git interestin.  I grabbed up six little sticks what wuz about three inches long an just about the same size round as a  bone frum a front rabbit leg.  So weez stude them sticks up so they is standin up tall above what is holdin them an back we goed.  Now if you dun wuz standin 40 yards back frum a stood up rabbit it wouldn’t be nutin ta plug the critter, but now git just a front leg bone standin down there an there ain’t much what you kin see.  Well this is what we wuz a seein an there weren’t much of it ta see.

We all git loaded up an ta make it fair we dun took each a shot whilst the others just stood an watched.  Beins how he aint skeert of nutin, Crazy Skinner went first.  When the smoke cleared, there stood his stick just like before the shot.  Hunter steps up next and after much thinkin an aimin an the gun dun finally goes off an the smoke clears, his stick is just like it wuz before.  I dun stepped ta the line an takes careful aim an squeezed the trigger an BOOM goes the gun an when the smoke dun cleared, there stood my stick without so much as a lead burn.  Dag Nabbit!  Bout this time ol  Trap Dancer he has ta go back inta the woods fer mother nature wuz callin so he aint gonna be shootin at his stick this here time.  So, up steps Edjukateer an he is gonna be teachin each of us a lesson on gun handlin an shootin an scorin.  He caps up, aims, takes a long deep breath and goes ta squeezing the trigger.  His form is real steady an he sure is determined ta make his stick go away, the gun goes off and smoke dun fills the space frum his barrel ta the stick.  When the smoke duz finally go away, there is his stick still standin, just like afor.

Next and last man up is John Deere.  He ain’t feerin nutin, just like Crazy Skinner an he is gonna show us how it’s dun.  I gotta tell ya now, John Deere is a man what has only been on this earth for sum 13 years, but he knows where his stick floats an he knows just how sweet his rifle is ta shoot.  He dun steps ta the line an just like Edjukateer, gits his self all gathered up and with a deep breath he dun aims down range ta his stick.  Smooth as silk he is as the trigger finally does release and lets the hammer fall.  BOOM!  An that old familiar cloud of smoke fills the space and then slowly starts ta go away.  As the smoke is clearin, we kin all see clear what his stick is GONE!!!  John Deere has just kicked our butts right there on that there firin line!  He turns tawards us an we is standin there with our mouths dropped pert near ta the ground, an he says, “Boys, I am the best there is amongst all us who is here shootin right now”.  An ya know he was right , an we dun went ta shake his hand an tell him he was the best one sure.  He sure was havin himself a great time right then cuz his grinnin face cudn’t handle a bigger grin!