most the whole of Serbia and Montenegro, cruised around Scandinavia, and even man- aged to ride with Native Americans in Colo- rado’s Grand Canyon and the hills of Nevada. Danko Trajković (Doc Daniel) has even been to the birthplace of cowboys – he is the only Serbian cowboy to have shot his gun in Texas, while Stevan Latovljević (Jes- se James) departed for Železnik, where in a small workshop he makes real true cop- ies of “Colts”. As revolvers need holsters and belts, and true cowboys need waistcoats and jeans, all of that is created and tailored by Bora Milićević (Mad Dog). IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE Mirko Krivokapić, aka Wild Bill, has for- malised his love of the cowboy tradition in numbers. A “Colt 45” on his belt is a given, but his badge also had to be marked“045”; his telephone number has three forty-fives, and although he wears a size 44 shoe, his cowboy boots are one size larger – so, 45. The only area in which this trader of used stagecoaches did not establish such symbol- ism is when it comes to his car – he doesn’t intend to sit behind the wheel of a Yugo 45. And just to make sure that this isn’t ex- clusively a male story, some ladies have also put in the effort and decided to fix heavy “Colts” to their waists instead of aprons. Thus, Dr Zorana Đaković (Calamity Jane) found herself among the founders of the Union, and then following in her footsteps came Jelena Dolić (Fatal Kate), Gordana Popović (Conchita) and Dragana Jaćimović (Arizona Honey), while among the youngest Cowgirls are Sara Milojković (Lady Moonshine) and Bojana Stevanović, who is still looking for her cowgirl name. However, given the fact that this veterinary student tames Django’s studs and so eas- ily handles a “Colt”, there is no doubt that she is the future Serbian Annie Oakley. And that Annie, with all the gunmen’s ruckus, was actually the best shooter of the Wild West, and one of the main stars of Buffalo Bill’s famous travelling circus. And the right answer to the question of why these people do all of this comes from Sunny Ray, who is legitimised in his identi- ty card as Dobrica Milosavljević: - I’m obsessed with justice and the he- roes who have fought for it, and when I at- tach my “Colt” or my “Winchester” repeater, I have the impression that I’m fighting for it. In that sense, even in this story the modest name of the author of the text obtained at birth doesn’t mean what it says, but rather what that good old Darko Rundek sang about in the legendary rock poem“Shane”. So,“my name here from now on means justice...”
Kod njega je sve u znaku broja 45 : Mirko Krivokapić alijas Vajld Bil With him everything is marked by the number 45: Mirko Krivokapić, alias Wild Bill
vica, near Gospić, who normally finds him- self getting bored as an economist in an of- fice at Partisan stadium. He is a passionate hunter and gun collector, and his cowboy initiation occurred way back in the 1960s, when, as a fourteen-year-old boy, in Plitvice Lakes and the Zrmanja Canyon, he watched the shooting of a film about Winnetou, after which the books of Karl May would become his obligatory reading. And it was most log- ical that many years later, as the owner of a six-pointed sheriff’s star with the badge number “002”, that he would adopt as his cowboy name that of Winnetou’s friend, the trapper Old Shatterhand. - That was the time of cowboys and Tarzan, whose stories we grew up with and, by God, tried to live ourselves. In the loft of granddad’s house we found old pistols and used cartridges, so we added gunpow- der and tried to be cowboys – recalls Sudar. ACCORDING TO HOMBRE In truth, he went“for the revolver”a dec- ade ago, when the Union of Western Shoot- ers of Serbia was founded, which was of- ficially registered in 2007. The essence of the association is explained by Slobodan Ilić, aka Hombre, whose cowboy waistcoat shines with a badge displaying the number “001”, but also another one that legitimises him as a judge instructor. Hombre is one of the founders of the Union and its president: - Here we deal primarily with sport and, as that is a shooting sport, exceptional care is taken to ensure security. Nothing is left to chance and when we founded the as- sociation we translated 150 pages of text with the rules, which are strictly observed. The point is to shoot in accordance with the rules - says Ilić, who also in his “civilian life”
is not without weapons – he works as the head of security for a Belgrade company. Thus modern Serbian cowboys don’t shoot all over the place, but rather in safe shooting alleys and shooting ranges, while they catch the breath of absolute freedom on a ranch on the outskirts Svilajnca that be- longs to Nebojša Lalović, aka Django, who is really living his cowboy dream, because alongside his arsenal of revolvers and Win- chesters he also has a stable with around a dozen horses. And when he gets bored of his flywheels and tools, this mechanical engineer mounts his Pancho-villa and tours the surrounding mountains. - I grew up with westerns and horses. Even as a child at my grandfather’s place in Bosnia I knew how to take a horse and, simply bareback, grab his mane and head straight for the field. I bought myself my first horse 25 years ago and since then I’ve rid- den intensively - explains Django, who has ridden on the back of a Mustang around al-
SHOOTERS OF SINGLE ACTION The Single Action Shooting Society is an international organisati- on that was created to preserve and promote the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting. SASS endorses regional contests organised by member clubs and annually organises the“End of Trail”world championships. This is a kind of shooting gymnastics in which con- testants use the weapons that were typical to the conquest of the Old West: single action revolvers (“singles”), the trigger of which must be cocked before each shot; rifles - bolt action repeaters, sho- tguns“positioner”, and“pump action”shotguns patented befo- re 1899. Competitions are held over individual stages in the style of that time. A peculiarity is that it is mandatory to wear authentic western clothing, while each contestant performs under a nickna- me (alias), according to a character or profession from the late 19th century with which they identify themselves. The Union of Western Shooters of Serbia, a member of this organisation, has thirty mem- bers and has participated in three European competitions.
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