Re: SHWW Group
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: kocoa88</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Some of you here have heard that I have been getting close to launching a training facility. Well, the time is here.
For more information feel free to contact me.
[email protected]
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Guys,
FWIW.... I just want to help Carl get this info out there, and not just have it go by as an unnoticed blip on the screen...
For those that don't know, Carl Taylor is the Da' Man..... we know him as the guy that puts on the Kettle Falls Matches.
He has started a thread on his new training facilities here:
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3284125&Board=3
I would highly recommend checking out anything Carl and his group are putting together....
Here's a write-up I did following the Wind Clinic I had the opportunity to attend last year, in Kettle Falls WA:
COURSE NAME: Reading the Wind Clinic
DATE: June 24th – 26th 2011 0800 – TBD
LOCATION: Kettle Falls, WA
DURATION: 3 days
“BE BOLD.” - Carl Taylor
“The hurrier I go…. The behinder I get.” – Carl’s Mom
Carl Taylor is a former USMC Scout Sniper, and a current instructor of all things bad-ass, for the real-life action figures out there.
Kettle Falls is a beautiful piece of country, with rolling green hills, lakes and rivers. The property itself is a shooters paradise, with all sorts of varied and challenging terrain. A far cry from the typical dust bowls, and gravel pits, that most of us are accustomed to shooting. It’s easy to catch yourself just sitting, lost in the scenery… while you should probably be busy doing something much more productive…
The course….
For me, the fascination-obsession-impulsion-addiction… Whatever you want to call the thing, that lures you deeper into that Rabbit Hole, which we all refer to as, “Long Range Precision Field Shooting” (or some other, equally catchy phrase)… Is the almost mythical, juuuuuuuust beyond your reach, blend of Zen and Science. Voodoo with a protractor… so to speak.
We’ve come to learn the Voodoo. Carl’s the Witch Doctor.
To begin, we have a quick meet & great, and cover some safety rules. We spend some time discussing the use of data books, and suggested methods for recording data. What works, what doesn’t, what’s overkill, and what’s useful, etc… Along the way, Carl is always throwing in some tricks of the trade. Like a technique for milling targets, or other nuggets of wisdom, that only a guy with as much field time as he, is likely to ever pick up. It is clear that Carl has a PASSION for the long gun… his head is deep into that bullet’s flight… if you are “tracking”, you will pick up a ton of insight, any time he dives off into his own rabbit hole… just ask a question to get him going, and hold on for the ride.
Once introductions and a general overview of concepts are covered, we check zeros, and throw some rounds over a chrono, just to make sure everyone is squared away. It’s time to read some wind.
Carl splits the group up into teams of two. From here on out, you and your teammate are working together, in an observer/shooter relationship… each taking turns at both. It quickly becomes apparent, that the observer is going to be wearing the pants in this family, and with the pants, comes the accountability… and of course, as in real life… no small amount of pressure.
The concept is, that the spotter is on the scope, and he is going to make THE CALL. The shooter is going to shoot THAT wind call, regardless of his personal opinion on the matter, and we are all going to watch, and learn, from the results. Let me tell you, it takes wind calls to a whole new level, when someone else is counting on YOURS to be accurate.
That added pressure however, has a very beneficial component… it really enhances your focus, and you work very hard to gain understanding, as giving your partner that perfect call, and hearing that glorious sound of ringing steel, is extremely rewarding.
This is where the instruction really begins trickling in. In the process of DOING, we are learning visual keys, and honing our senses. We study topo-maps, to gain a feel for the terrain, and how the prevailing wind, will flow through areas of accelerated currents, swirling eddies, and everything in-between. We learn that there is ALWAYS wind. We learn to read the wind off of major terrain features, up and down the current, rather than just focusing on the area directly between the shooter and the target.
We learn to ALWAYS be busy as the observer, constantly scanning for sign in the vegetation, and the flow of the mirage, all up and down the path of the wind. We learn to compare the mirage we think we see, with the movement of the vegetation on the ground. We observe the difference between the “flutter” of lower branches, and the “sway” of upper branches, in comparison to the different affects of the thermals, versus the wind, and how ALL of this, may likely correlate, with the time of the day. We pop smoke… and we watch it ebb and flow, and drift and shift, throughout the valley, truly SEEING the wind that we are striving so hard to visualize.
All the while, and almost subconsciously, Carl is instructing us how to communicate. That we must ALWAYS communicate. That dialogue is key, and that the shooter, and the observer, must always be on the same page. We learn that the observer must always be calm and direct. That he must constantly be feeding the shooter a steady stream of information. That he must, remind the shooter of his “Fundamentals of Marksmanship”. That he must vigilantly work to keep the shooter “in his bubble”. That “Shooter Confidence” is the key to everything, and that without it, all else is for not.
Throughout the course, the terms “Fundamentals of Marksmanship” and “Shooter Confidence”, were repeated and stressed over and over, as if they were laws of nature, and as if, without which, nothing else would stand… I write this AAR almost a year later… these two phrases have swirled through my mind, every time I have shot… or thought about shooting… Since.
There is one final, over-riding theme that I have borrowed from Carl that weekend… “BE BOLD”. This theme was repeated more than any other. It was an undercurrent the entire three days of the course. It means to believe in your instincts… to “Trust Your Gut”. The words continue to ring in my ears, not just when trying to make a wind call… but always…
That wind clinic left me much to ponder. I am grateful for the glimpse….
Thanks Carl,
Chad McKnight
“Tribe”
