The Birth of a shooting club.

Name: Indian Territory Single Action Shooting Society
Date Of Birth: September 13, 1992
Responsible Party: Jim “Shawnee” Horn & Butch “Bodie” Brandt
Place: Strang, Oklahoma
Size: 35 shooters

This all began in July, 1989 when the Horns (Jim “Shawnee” and Lucinda “Windblown”) went on vacation to NRA Whitting Center in Raton, New Mexico. The Old West Shooting Association (OWSA) was having their annual shoot. Shawnee loving anything that involves guns had to investigate what all the shooting was about. He came upon a group of people dressed the “Cowboy way” where Shawnee meets Bill and Dorothy Hahn along with other members of OWSA.  Upon inquiring about what the shooting is about Shawnee is invited to try it out, a gun is put in the hands of Shawnee and fun he did have and from that moment on as the saying goes The rest is History.

Shawnee was so taken and excited about maybe a club could be formed in Oklahoma. With the prospect of a club in mind Shawnee and Windblown got busy making props ( steel targets, jail house, saloon, bank, donkeys, cactus, etc.) of course along with the sawing and hammering Shawnee has his mind on other things such as a name for the club. After a few days Shawnee came up with Indian Territory Single Action Shooting Society.

In the mean time vacations are still being taken by Shawnee and Windblown where else but to Raton NM. For more shoots and ideas. Shawnee had hopes of getting a club going by now, which is July 1992, but it was not coming together as he had hoped. Well on this trip to the OWSA annual shoot Shawnee meets Butch “Bodie” Brandt and finds out that Bodie originally from California had moved to Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Soon after returning from Raton, NM. Shawnee called Bodie to discuss the possibility of a club in Oklahoma. The two met but Bodie was not too keen on Starting a club because of the work involved to get going. Shawnee shows Bodie what props & targets have been made, Also tells Bodie of a name he has come up with “Indian Territory Single Action Shooting Society” Bodie seems to like and finally Shawnee and Bodie are agreeable on the name, also known as ITSASS, Oklahoma’s original old west shooting club. The next step was to find a place to shoot and then to advertise soon as a date was settled on for a shoot.

The first shoot was held at a gravel pit in Strang, Oklahoma on September 13, 1992. The first shoot turn out was great, 35 shooters from Arkansas, Missouri, Colorado and Oklahoma. The gravel pit soon proved to be too small to hold the shoots and so a search began for a place. Bodie found a place in Sapulpa, The Pistol Silhouette Club. This place was bigger but if it rained or snowed it was a really tough place to get in and out of.

Mean while a member of ITSASS Don “Deadlead” Massey also a member of NAA Rod & Gun Club recruited Shawnee and Bodie to become members of NAA. They say hind sight is 20-20 but in this case the joining of NAA proved to be a good move. Because as luck would have it The Pistol Silhouette Club sold their property and once again ITSASS was looking for a place for their shoots. Mean while NAA purchased land in Coweta, Oklahoma. Shawnee, Bodie and Deadlead spoke with NAA president Dave Johnson about ITSASS shooting at the NAA range. A vote was put before NAA members. The members approved to let ITSASS use the range. There was a lot of work to do to ready the range for a shoot. With out berms caution had to be taken for safe shooting. Also the NAA pistol range had to be shut down when ITSASS had their shoots. The props had to be hauled back and forth from Shawnee’s house for each shoot until storage could be built. After storage for props and materials were built the props had to be put up before each shoot and then taken down. This was hard on the props, too much handling and they soon began falling apart which ment more work for the members that would show up for work parties. As improvements were made ITSASS was allowed to moveto its present location. This was a great help as the props could be left standing, a shelter was built and many more improvements have been done. With improvements being done all the time this is a great place for shooters and their familys.

Some of the props that are used today came from talented Bill Hahn of OWSA. Our mascot the “Vulture” was one of Hahn’s designs and Shawnee and Windblown were given permission to adopt. Hahn made so many new props each year for OWSA that soon they were overrun. Hahn spoke with Shawnee and offered him the props for ITSASS, if not taken by ITSASS the props would become a bon fire. So with trailers in tow some ITSASS members made the trip to Raton NM. to haul back their treasures.

The move to NAA Rod & Gun Club range has proved to be beneficial for both clubs.

Shawnee would like to thank all ITSASS members who have helped with construction, repairs and donation of their equipment, tools and supplies also those who have taken on the task of officers, committees and allhelpers. Won’t mention names as I’m sure I would forget someone and wouldn’t want to hurt any one.

Your help has made this club a success and a great family place.

Thanks you all
Jim “Shawnee” Horn

A word from “Windblown”

I made a promise, after the first shoot, that no one would go hungry or thirsty. No charge to anyone. What happened was I “Windblown” was not prepared for the hot, hungry, thirsty shooters that September 13, 1992 day. Most had not brought a lunch or drink. With no store or food place near by to get food or drinks, I went home and got what I had on hand, fast to fix food and water.

I served lunch and coffee at no charge, donations were welcomed but not necessary. The only charge was for soda pop. In order to help pay for the lunches the first ITSASS caps and t-shirts were purchased by Windblown & Shawnee with profits going toward food and supplies. The donations picked up and were enough for food so profit from caps and t-shirts were turned over to ITSASS. I enjoyed doing the lunches but in October, 1998 I was no longer able to continue due to the fact that I now had my mother to care for.

Thank you all
Lucinda “Windblown” Horn

We have come a long ways, Cowboy

A long time ago, back in the last century, when I started shooting Cowboy Action, with the Tatter Hill Regulators, I heard of another club in Sapulpa that also had a Cowboy Shooting Club. Thought I might wonder over and shoot with them one of these days. But as things would have it, before I could have a chance to shoot with them I heard that the Sapulpa club had lost their range.

My home gun club, NAA, had just bought 160 acres east of Coweta and was having berms built. The next thing I knew, a cowboy Action Shooting Club had made a deal with NAA and started shooting at my gun range. What a Deal, now I had a cowboy club at my home gun range! The grass was mowed, props and targets were set up on the pistol range between the 50 yd and 100 yd target frames. The props and targets would have to be set-up on the Saturday afternoon before the shoot Sunday morning. After each shoot, Sunday afternoon, all the props would have to be laid down and steel targets taken up and stored. Very labor intensive. We shot there for about a year before we moved to the left of the pistol range where we then set up a more permanent Cowboy range. There we left our props up but still had to take up and store the steel between shoots. There we also built our first permanent new stage, and metal building, the cabin and metal building that we now use. When we shot the pistol range and the 200 yd range would have to be closed, and that would upset some of the NAA members. A typical shoot would be 20 to 60 shooters and we would shoot 6 stages. After shooting three stages we would stop and eat, (Thanks to the Horns) then we would finish the last three stages. After the last shooter was done we would collect the steel and then have a drawing for some small door prizes. Sometimes we would have a side match or two then call it quits. We put in a his/hers out house and shot there for two years. With the need for growth and NAA member complains about closing the ranges when we shot, we relocated to where we are at today. Over the last couple years we have improved our range with a fence being built, water brought in, stages being built, parking lot being paved, storage building, office/storage trailer, electric, flag pole, endless mowing and much more. Thanks to the Cowboys who volunteer there time, labor, and resources we have one of the best ranges around to shoot at. This next year we will have a new meeting building or provilion and a new stage. This sounds like a lot of work,(and it is), but I think it has been all worth it.

Thank you.
Rio Lobo

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