'Bounty Hunters' from Louisiana make Fisher House contribution

  • Published
  • By Susan Griggs
  • 81st Training Wing Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  A bunch of Louisiana gunslingers in Old West garb delivered a check for $12,200 to Keesler's Fisher House June 17.

The Bayou Bounty Hunters recently held a benefit for Fisher House by contributing match fees and other donations from a recent match in Amite, La. The group is a member organization of Cowboy Action Shooting, part of the 84,000-member international Single Action Shooting Society.

The group blends the Old West and Hollywood in a shooting sport with vintage firearms, according to Nathan Gifford, alias Foard County News.

"Aliases allow people to step out of their daily life and assume an entirely fictitious persona," Mr. Gifford said. "Quite frequently, shooters only know their fellow club members by their aliases.

"Professionals hidden behind their aliases can don western and frontier outfits most unlike the lab coats or office attire required by their daily jobs," he explained. "Those with rather typical daily lives can assume roles of much more flashy frontier characters or that of their favorite Hollywood legends for their persona."

Shooting is a major part of the sport, but dressing up is almost as important to most participants. Another interesting side of the group is that many shooters travel to their matches in recreational vehicles, adding convenience and camaraderie reminiscent of the wagon trains of the past.

"That is the quiet joy of this game," Mr. Gifford said. "You roll back into a different time, slap on your spurs and your badge, hang out with people who are having a good time and listening to the pop and clang as metal meets metal. All this you get to do with your pardette (wife) and buckeroos while talking about the Old West and the day's festivities."

Keesler's Fisher House provides a home-away-from-home with free lodging to veterans and military families receiving treatment at the 81st Medical Group Hospital and the Biloxi Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

There are 58 Fisher Houses at military installations and VA medical facilities, with 12 more under construction or in the design phase.

For more information, call 377-8264.