The Renton United Cowboy Action Shooters: A Brief History
The Renton United Cowboy Action Shooters, affectionately known as RUCAS, has a colorful history that began with member Brian Howard. Brian, whose cowboy alias was originally Frank Culpepper, later changed it to Fandango Frank Culpepper after a close call during a shooting match. Finally, his last official alias as a member of the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) became Jess Ducky.
In 1992, Brian, along with his friend Cambrian (Chris Short) and a few others, decided to organize a cowboy action shooting match. They named it Westmatch not knowing if it would be a one-time event or the start of something bigger. However, the success of this first match led them to continue organizing “practice matches” on the first Sunday of every month.
Eventually as time went by, some shooters in the group expressed their concerns about the matches always being held on Sundays. In an attempt to accommodate everyone, a separate match on the Saturday before the Sunday match was added to the schedule.
Cedar County Sheriff (Derek Mirkle)
Carlsbad Kid (Karl Mayer)
Running two matches per month became overwhelming for Jess Ducky, he realized that someone else would need to take on the Saturday duties. That someone would be Hedly Lamarr, also known as Jay Burleson, along with his chief score keeper Derek Mirkle AKA Cedar County Shariff. Jay would eventually move on to become the Renton Fish and Game Range Master leaving the vacancy to Cedar.
Cedar took over both matches and the duties of the S.A.S.S. Discipline Chair for the RF&GC and would be elected president of R.U.C.A.S. with Carlsbad Kid(Karl Mayer) as his Vice President, both of whom still serve in these capacities today.