The Panhandle Regulators started with a handful of men that were very active in the buck skinning & muzzle loading clubs that were popular up until the late 80's.  When these men caught wind of a "new" shooting organization called "SASS" with its time period being later than their current game, they decided to abandon the smoke pole & buckskins and start a cowboy shooting club in Idaho. 

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As for all clubs back then, it was a very primitive start.  These were the days before store bought clothes and ready made cast bullets.  Speed holsters and short stroke kits wouldn't be thought of for almost a decade.  However, the desire to play it "Old West" was stronger than ever.  Everybody cast their own bullets, made their own costumes, and it wasn't hard to find an alias that wasn't taken!

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There are those that emphasize the word "action" in the Cowboy Action Shooting.  There was definitely action back then!  It wasn't the awe inspiring 12 second stages the masters of today commonly accomplish.  Back then it as anything that could be thought up to make the scenario challenging and the action meant you moving!  Getting on and off a horse, in and out of a bathtub, laying down, shooting from various moving platforms, roping cows, throwing tomahawks, etc. I guess we actually played cowboy by doing cowboy things.  Back then the definition of fun wasn't necessarily synonymous with winning, or even shooting well for that matter, it was just about being there playing cowboy with your friends.  Now don't misunderstand, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the game as we play it today, I'm just trying to illustrate the way it used to be. 

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We started shooting on the old Naval Firing Range at Farragut State Park just east of Athol, Idaho.  We got bigger and bigger each year until finally hosting the SASS Northwest Regional in 1999 & 2000.  We continued at Farragut through 2003, and started on a journey to find a place where we could set up permanently.  We set up temporarily on a spot just south of St. Maries, Idaho for the next 2 years just for the annual match.  Then in 2006 Dave Resser (the original founding member) found us a spot just out of Plummer, Idaho that had all the promise of being a permanent home.  For the next 3 years we worked on building a range and held the Great Northern annual matches, and with everything really starting to take shape, the owner sold the property!  That was like getting gut shot!  For a lot of us, we were getting tired - tired of moving equipment, tired of the countless hours of volunteer work that seemed to be for nothing.  We were all pretty down in the dumps and real close to throwing in the towel for good.  There were no prospects for suitable property, when one of our newer shooters, Mr Shane Harwood (aka Halfcocked Otis) stepped up and offered his family's land!  The only catch was it wasn't big enough to host an annual match, and we would have to build from the ground up, berms and all.  But it meant we could keep the club alive, and we could have a place to shoot!  So once again we loaded truck and trailers and headed for the east valley of Spokane, WA.  

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Shane, although being fairly new to the game, has always had a love of the old west and wishes he could have been in the game back in the early years.  So he has a little different vision in mind when it comes to building a cowboy shooting range.  The location makes it very easy to take a step back in time because when you're on the line, your're on top of a small mountain with a great view and heck, you can't even the the car that brought you there!  Although we only have 3 bays (pretty darn big ones though) the whole range is completely authentic (no plastic lawn chairs, etc) and a complete theme from the miners cabin and claim, to the town sire, to the dark side of town "across the tracks".  As for scenarios, expect them to have some of the action the old days had as well. This is one of those places that when you get there, you won't be anxious to go home.

 

Written by Governor Dillon 

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