PAGE LABEL
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
A13
WEDNESDAY
August 21, 2019
Bullfighting draws
standing-room only crowd
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Six freestyle bullfighters took
on Hamsher Fighting Bulls Satur-
day in John Day, thrilling a stand-
ing-room only crowd at the fourth
annual freestyle bullfights during
the Grant County Fair.
A small delay at the start came
when the first bull in the chute
crashed around, breaking the gate,
but that was just an indicator of
how raucous the show would be
from that point.
None of the six had an ambu-
lance ride, but one bullfighter,
Jerry Jacobs of Buckeye, Arizona,
took a stomping from his “oppo-
nent.” He stayed in the ring and
fought the good fight for 82.5
points.
He was topped by champion
Coy Kraut of Queen Creek, Ari-
zona, who won the $1,500 prize
with 84 points against a bull
named Leap Frog.
The remainder of the $3,000
payout was broken down for the
other competitors.
Kraut was in the ring at the
Grant County Fairgrounds a cou-
ple years ago at age 15 for an exhi-
bition round.
Tyler Lingbeck of Salinas, Cal-
ifornia, who was last year’s cham-
pion and is currently in the top
40 in the world standings, scored
80.5.
Organizer Trever Hamsher
said his bulls will have traveled
to about a dozen freestyle fights
by the end of the year in Oregon,
Canada, Washington, Nevada,
Idaho, Utah and California.
Hamsher said he’s grateful to all
Healthy
habits
A
The 2020 Grant County Fair and
Rodeo court was announced
Saturday night. From left, 2020
Queen Kelsei Kiser of Fox Valley,
2020 Princess Katie Barker of
Dayville and 2019 Queen Courtney
Nichols of Dayville.
Contributed photo/LindseyWyllie.com
Bullfighter Jesse Tennent of Springfield finds himself in a compromising
situation with his ‘opponent.’
Coy Kraut, 17, of Queen Creek,
Arizona, takes the bull by the horns
for the win Saturday night.
ney Nichols handing out flowers.
The new queen is Kelsei Kiser
of Fox Valley and Katie Barker of
Dayville will reign as princess.
Barrelman and entertainer Clint
“Wolfy” Selvester kept the audi-
ence engaged as he bantered with
announcer Marty Campbell.
At one point, when the crowd
wasn’t quite noisy enough, Camp-
bell joked that they might turn the
bulls loose in their backyard if
they didn’t fire up — the audience
obliged.
Other bullfighters in the ring
included Clay Moore of Belen,
New Mexico, 78; Jesse Tennent,
Springfield, 76; and Cody Esc-
obedo, Gilbert, Arizona, 72.
Tennent came back for an
encore exhibition round to close
the night.
Contributed photo/LindseyWyllie.com
the volunteers behind the scenes
who make the event possible.
“I feel extremely blessed that
we had the turnout that we did and
that people support the bull fights
at the fair,” he said.
At the halfway point of the
night, fair court adviser Deanna
Maley announced the 2020 Grant
County Fair and Rodeo queen and
princess with 2019 Queen Court-
Junior Rodeo has a record 107 contestants
Volunteers make
a difference at
traditional Grant
County Fair event
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
This year’s Grant County
Junior Rodeo was well attended
Aug. 11 at the Grant County
Fairgrounds in John Day.
Organizer
Shilo
Bur-
ton-Harper said 107 contestants
entered, “a record for this little
junior rodeo” that’s part of the
Grant County Fair.
Burton-Harper and co-orga-
nizer Brittany Desadier hosted
the event with the assistance of
over 25 volunteers.
“This is one of the few sin-
gle-day junior rodeos still
being put on in Oregon,” Bur-
ton-Harper said.
Chad Finley, who won the calf
roping event at the Aug. 9-10
Grant County NPRA Rodeo,
was out in the arena as a volun-
teer at the Junior Rodeo.
“I have nephews and my
cousins’ kids involved,” he
said. “I like to help out and get
young kids involved in rodeo.”
He was in the arena assist-
ing when 6-year-old Bransyn
Harper charged out of the gate
in the mutton bustin’ event,
staying on for several sec-
onds, though he was not offi-
cially competing with that age
group.
“I couldn’t keep up on foot,”
Finley said.
Burton-Harper said she
appreciated all who helped
with the event.
“This would not have been
possible without sponsors and
supporters of America’s rodeo
youth,” she said.
Volunteers
included:
announcer Jake Taylor, Brit-
tany Doherty, Emma Winkel-
man, Andrea and Jeff Finley,
Christy Finley, Chad and Whit-
ney Finley, Monte Legg, Trever
McCoin, Jim Hamsher, Trever
and Marley Hamsher, Trever
Faulkner, Daryl Burton, Jim and
Carrie Merek, Jordan Desadier,
Meghan Tremblay, Colleen Wyl-
lie, Tonya and Jason Rosebrook,
Tara Finley, Nicole Israel, Kyla
Emerson, Denali Twehues and
more.
SHOOTING
THE BREEZE
Contributed photo/Carrie Merek
Clay Merek of White Bird, Idaho, has his rope tightened during the steer riding event Aug. 11 at the Junior Rodeo at
the Grant County Fairgrounds in John Day. Merek won the event for his division.
ALL-AROUND WINNERS
Dummy roping
Peewee: Kingslee Green
Youth: Paysen Green
Junior: Gabby Bartolotta
Senior: Talyn Sandifer
First: Kingslee Green
Second: Jace Davis
Third: Blake Kimball
PEEWEE DIVISION
Mutton bustin’
First: Raynes Russell
Second: Madison Rockhill
Third: Kingslee Green
Barrel racing
First: Rhilynn Compton
Second: Jace Davis
Third: Millie McCoin
Pole bending
First: Kingslee Green
Second: Cole Holly
Third: Kane Robison
Goat tail untying
First: Kingslee Green
Second: Raynes Russell
Third: Jace Davis
YOUTH DIVISION
Calf riding
First: Tatyn Harper
Second: Paysen Green
Third: Emmett Oliver
Barrel racing
First: Cooper Holly
Second: Paysen Green
Third: Tavin Desadier
Pole bending
First: Lainee Winebarger
Second: Paysen Green
Third: Cooper Holly
Goat tail tying
First: Jadon Snow
Second: Cooper Holly
Second: Paysen Green
Dummy roping
First: Tate Turner
Frankie Beam of
Prairie City, left, and
Clay Merek of White
Bird, Idaho, show
off their steer riding
awards. Beam took
second place, and
Merek took first in the
senior division at the
Aug. 11 Junior Rodeo
in John Day.
Contributed photo
Carrie Merek
Second: AJ Freese
Third: Tatyn Harper
SENIOR DIVISION
Steer riding
JUNIOR DIVISION
Steer riding
First: Clay Merek
Second: Frankie Beam
Third: Coy Schaffield
First: Steven Davidson
Second: Kase Schaffield
Third: Gavin Foglio
Chute doggin’
First: Kase Schaffield
Second: Coy Mathiasen
Third: Earl Oliver
Breakaway
First: Earl Oliver
Second: Zoey Beam
Barrel racing
First: Carlie Palmer
Second: Corley Holliday
Third: Gabby Bartolotta
Pole bending
First: Gabby Bartolotta
Second: Bailey McCracken
Third: Zoey Beam
Chute doggin’
First: Garrett Foglio
Second: Cody Eskew
Third: Coy Schaffield
Breakaway
First: Talyn Sandifer
Second: Brooke Blevins
Barrel racing
First: Talyn Sandifer
Second: Sarah Clark
Third: Laramie Kizer
Pole bending
First: Sarah Clark
Second: Talyn Sandifer
Third: Brook Blevins
Goat tying
First: Brook Blevins
Second: Macey Moore
Third: Clay Merek
Kingslee Green
of Madras won
All Around
Contestant in
the PeeWee
division for ages
5 and under
at the Junior
Rodeo.
Contributed photo
Brittany Desadier
nyone I’ve ever talked
to about hunting has
a story or two where
they’ve expe-
rienced some-
thing which
could be
described
as a sterling
example of
“what not to
do.” Whether
Dale Valade
greenhorn mis-
takes or veteran omissions,
anyone can have accidents. I
bang the drum of safety quite
often, but I feel it continually
deserves merit. I know, I know,
these “pep talks” and statistics
could bore the socks off of sev-
eral dozen hot wings waitresses,
but it’s when we get lax that
accidents happen.
I, for one, cringe when I see
streaming videos of cheecha-
kos indulging in complete idi-
ocy with firearms. Reckless-
ness, immaturity and ignorance
fuel these beer-guzzling imps
and their fatuity. As an aside,
alcohol and guns have no place
together. Not only does it give
responsible shooters a bad
name, it’s exceedingly dan-
gerous. I think shooting is and
should be fun, but safety can
never be compromised. We are
constantly representing shoot-
ers everywhere with our actions
and must never fail to cast a
positive light on the shooting
and hunting community.
Each year, approximately
1,000 people in the U.S. and
Canada are involved in hunt-
ing-related accidents. Around
10% result in fatalities. Recent
estimates claim there are almost
6,000 hunting accidents involv-
ing tree stands nationally. In
Indiana alone, 55% of hunting
accidents involve folks falling
out of tree stands.
According to the Loder-Far-
ren report of 2014, there are
approximately 123,000 firearms
accidents in the U.S. annu-
ally, though only 144 resulted
in fatalities that year. It’s not
clear how many of those were
hunting related. In Oregon,
between 2008-2017, accord-
ing to ODFW stats, there were
41 hunting accidents, 10 of
which resulted in fatalities.
Some of these were self-in-
flicted, some were due to mis-
taken or no identification of tar-
get but all could be attributed to
negligence. Safety, you make it
happen.
Many states require blaze
orange apparel to hunt on pub-
lic land. Oregon only requires
it for youth under the age of 18.
Though it’s not required by law,
I highly recommend wearing it.
It’s pretty cheap insurance and
tough to be mistaken for a game
animal when wearing it. Blaze
orange is no sure thing and
cannot replace responsible gun
handling in any case.
Treat every gun like it is
loaded, never point your gun
at anything you don’t intend
to shoot and be sure of your
target and what’s beyond it.
Don’t even touch the safety or
the trigger until you’re ready
to shoot. Following basic gun
safety rules, dressing appro-
priately and taking the time
to really identify our targets
will result in safer hunting
and shooting experiences for
everyone.
The future of hunting and
shooting very much depends
upon what we do. There are
many who would like to see
both banned from existence,
and when carelessness leads
to accidents, it provides these
antagonists with literal ammu-
nition in the fight for our
rights. Let’s take extra special
care when we are out enjoying
our hunts and plinking. When
everyone goes home, every-
one wins.
Do you enjoy our articles?
Write in to shootingthebree-
zebme@gmail.com!
Dale Valade is a local coun-
try gent with a deep love for
handloading, hunting and
shooting.