Page 20 - AEF-AlbertaBits_Fall-2025

Classes include Men, Ladies, Senior Ladies and Senior
Men 1 through 6 and Wranglers (under 18), where younger
members ride the same patterns as grown-ups while
engaging each target using cap pistols instead of shooting
real blanks.
“It’s really great because it allows the whole family to
be a part of it,” says Mitchell, whose four-year-old daughter
Sage is already a Wrangler. “I know it’s hard, especially as
moms to keep going in your sport and your passion, so if
you can involve your kids then it’s even better.”
The same is true for married couple Markus Hofer and
Amanda McDonald of Ponoka, whose five-year-old son
Stetson competes as a Wrangler.
“They have to engage each balloon and run the pattern
correctly,” Hofer says. “If a rangemaster decides that
they’re not pointing at that balloon, they can give them
a penalty. If they miss a barrel, the same thing as us, they
get penalized for it, so it really is family orientated. You
get those little guys going against each other, they really
want to run.”
Having recently moved up to the Men 5 class, Hofer is
hoping to defend his title as the overall Men’s champion at
the Canadian Finals in Saskatoon, on Sept. 19-20.
“That’s a push to get there,” says Hofer, who won
20
Alberta Bits Fall 2025
on Alberta soil in Stavely last year. “It’s the biggest
competition in Canada that everybody gets together at,
so it’s a lot of fun to shoot for that one.”
Before the Canadian Finals, competitors faced off at
the AMSA finals in Thorsby Aug. 23-24.
Eckville’s Ashlynn Morrison will aim to defend
her Ladies 1 title and also hopes to improve upon
her reserve (second-place) showing at last year’s
Canadian Finals.
“You can’t just be good, you’ve really got to push
hard and you’ve got to be clean,” says Morrison,
adding that if competitors miss even one of the 10
targets, they’re likely out of the money. “There’s a lot
of pressure, but it’s fun to try your best and compete
against everyone and with yourself.”
A former high-level ringette player, Morrison
discovered cowboy mounted shooting when she was
boarding her horses at a ranch in the Lacombe area.
“The people that owned it, they did mounted
shooting,” recalls Morrison, who began competing in
2019. “I saw that and thought it was a whole pile
of cool.”
Morrison has become good friends with McDonald,
who is a Ladies 2 competitor.