Texas Sharpshooter Joe Bowman Passes Away at 84

Texas sharpshooter Joe Bowman was known all over America for his amazing skills. Typically dressed in a cowboy hat and cowboy boots that he hand-made, he called himself the “Master of Triggernometry” and the “Straight Shooter.” Sadly, he passed away on June 29 at the age of 84.

Bowman was legendary when it came to sharpshooting, performing in countless gun shows and rodeos as well as teaching Hollywood actors how to properly handle a gun. He even taught law enforcement officers and FBI agents about guns, specifically “instinct shooting.” In an LA Times article from a few days ago, they note that he “could blast an aspirin to powder at 30 paces and split a playing card edgewise at 20.”

He was so good at shooting that he would sometimes shoot holes in sheets of metals to create portraits.

The LA Times article also talks about Bowman’s childhood and how much watching Westerns influenced him. Born in Tennessee, Bowman started shooting when he was six years old. He and his older brother watched Westerns at their local theater’s Saturday-morning matinees and were in awe of the on-screen cowboys. Several years ago, he told the Houston Chronicle that so much of what he did involved reminding adults of their childhood. He pointed out that Westerns are morality plays about good and evil.

Bowman had an extremely interesting life, serving in the Army during World War II where he was injured in a land mine accident. He was given a Purple Heart and three bronze stars. He went to the University of Houston for two years but wound up opening a cowboy boots shop in Houston called the Bowman and DeGeorge Boot Shop, which he sold in the ’60s.

Joe Bowman, you won’t be forgotten.