MIDDLETOWN >> The .22-caliber Weatherby rifle Bruce Pachie won many years ago at an NRA dinner is still around today, a survivor of the Valley Fire of September 2015 that claimed the barn the gun was stored in on Big Canyon Road near Middletown.
“The gun made it, but the barn didn’t,” said Patricia Pachie, who said the intense heat of the Valley Fire damaged all of the guns stored inside her father-in-law’s gun safe but did not destroy them.
“We were luckier than most (gun owners),” Pachie said. “We know a lot of people who opened their safes and found nothing but barrels. That’s all that was left.”
Bruce Pachie’s nearby house did survive the firestorm that went on to burn 76,067 acres and destroy 1,281 homes. Others weren’t as fortunate, including Patricia Pachie and husband Louie, who lost their home, located just off Highway 175, about a mile outside of Middletown.
While Bruce Pachie’s .22 rifle suffered a fair amount of damage, mainly to its stock, it has since been restored and is once again fully operational. In fact, that gun is now in the capable hands of Bruce’s grandson, Tanner Pachie, who used it to finish eighth in the Light Rifle division during the National Junior High School Finals Rodeo earlier this month in Lebanon, Tennessee.
Pachie, 14, an incoming freshman at Middletown High School, is the reigning Light Rifle state champion after his performance in mid-May during the California Junior High School Rodeo Association State Finals in Red Bluff. As a sixth-grader in 2015, Pachie finished fourth in the state and 32nd in the nation out of 133 competitors. He just missed qualifying for the nationals a year ago when the Pachie family – Tanner, older sisters Rebecca and Gracie, mom Patricia and dad Louie — were preoccupied with bigger things such as rebuilding their home destroyed by the Valley Fire.
“A lot of sweat equity went into that,” Patricia Pachie said of the rebuilding process. “We just received our final move-in permit.”
Tanner Pachie’s shooting skills are no surprise to family members.
“He loves to shoot,” Patricia Pachie said. “He’s from a family of hunters and he’s been raised around guns.”
Pachie’s eighth-place finish at Nationals earned him a beautiful silver belt buckle that only the top 10 placers receive, not bad for a youngster who was hoping to crack the top 20 going into the competition. He’s not content to stop there, however. Now that he’s stepping up into the high school ranks, Pachie has set his sights on beating three-time California High School Rodeo Association state champion Ethan Usher of Santa Ynez, who will be a senior next year.
“It was Ethan’s dad who introduced him (Tanner) to shooting,” Patricia Pachie said.
Along with winning the state junior high Light Rifle title and placing eighth at nationals this year, all while using his grandpa’s Valley Fire-surviving Weatherby .22, Pachie’s list of 2017 accomplishments include being named all-around cowboy in District 2 of the California Junior High School Rodeo Association while riding his horse Cotton, which was named horse of the year by the American Quarter Horse Association. In addition to shooting a Light Rifle, Pachie’s other rodeo events include goat tying, team roping, ribbon roping and breakaway roping.
When he’s not shooting with the utmost accuracy or participating in rodeo, Pachie plays youth football – he was the quarterback for the Colts last season – basketball and baseball. He also raises pigs and steers.
“He stays plenty busy,” Patricia Pachie said.
