Rifle Competition Events Tennessee Long Hunter Challenge (NRLHunter)

[ChidJ]

TENNESSEE LONG HUNTER AAR

NRL Hunter Series

20210419



Relevant Kit: DT SRSA2, 6.5 140 ELD-M factory ammo, PA 4-16 Gold, Atlas CAL, Leofoto Tripod, Sig 3000 LRF Binos



BLUF: There are plenty of good things to say about this match, a couple of really bad things. If I could go back in time, I would not have spent the money on this match. That being said, I MAY give NRL Hunter series another try.

I have been excited about this match format since it was announced. I’m highly inexperienced when it comes to long range precision shooting and this format felt like an opportunity for me to work on a more broad spectrum of skills than the type of match that is sometimes lovingly referred to on this forum as “barricade benchrest”. So I’ve had this match earmarked since it was announced back in late January or early February. I setup the aforementioned rifle just in time to bring it to the match so my DOPE was limited but I wasn’t planning on being competitive. I came to learn and have fun.

I took a couple days off to arrive Thursday evening so that I could wake up fresh without a rush, go to the zero range, get signed up, and get ready for the instructional portion of the day.

Friday went as I planned. There were a lot fewer competitors than I thought there would be and I was done by 10am with my prep so I got to relax, chat with some really cool folks, and enjoy the class put on by the MD. It was quite and endeavor as, during the class, 4 animals were effectively processed. We had a nice bbq dinner afterwards and tucked in for the night. The MD graciously allowed me to continue camping at the match location which saved me the cost of a hotel.

Saturday started as described. We had a shooter meeting at 845am and started shooting by approximately 9am. On Saturday, we shot 3 stages…

Stage 1 for me was the Tripod Stand/Pig stage. At the ROs command, the shooter ascended to the top of a 16-foot freestanding tripod hunting stand. Once atop the stand, the shooter would begin hauling up their rifle via a safety rope and the stage timer began. The time limit for this stage 4.5 minutes. From the top of the stand, the shooter was to find, identify to the RO which target you found, range, and engage up to 5 pig-shaped silhouettes. All targets for this match were scored 2 points for first round impact, 1 point for second round impact, no follow up shots allowed after that. Like I’ve already mentioned, I’m very new to all this (this was my second match ever) and my goal coming in was to not get a ZERO at any stage and to not stupidly DQ myself for something related to negligence or unsafe handling. With that said, my strategy was to find range and shoot each target before moving on to the next one. I recognize that it would have been more efficient to find and range them all before shooting then shoot them in sequence without having to come off of the gun but I was concerned about the time and wanted to get at least some points on the board before the time expired. I only found 3 targets, was able to engage 2, and got 1 first round hit which netted me 2 points. Targets that I found were between 300 and 500 yards and pretty small. I had a very difficult time establishing a stable position. There was a rail around a fixed seat on the stand but it was very wobbly and difficult to shoot off of. This stage was much bemoaned, but I can appreciate that whoever came up with this stage was trying to simulate the types of hunting that occurs in the southeast. The stand is typical of what is found on lots of hunting properties, and you can find one just like it at most outdoor stores.

Stage 2 was the Ground Blind/Bucks. At the ROs command, the shooter entered small ground blind and engaged 4 (? Can’t remember if 4 or 5) buck-shaped targets. This stage was pretty straight forward although some folks found it very difficult to find the deer. My strategy was similar to the first stage. Just try to get points on the board. I found 3, engaged 2, and got 1 second round impact for 1 point. They sat between 250-450 yard (?memory fuzzy at this point) At this stage, I decided to try something I’ve seen in video and I saw one other competitor ahead of me do and that was to use the tripod as a rear support while using the crux of the blind frame as a front support. It didn’t go well and I fumbled around a lot which cost me a lot of time. Its not an excuse but I did find it hard to run the action on the bullpup while in that rear supported tripod position. I’ll have to practice it more.

Stage 3 was the Barricade/Bear stage (Bearicade TM?). At the ROs command, the shooter moved to a position behind a barricade. There was a chair there that the shooter could use or not. The shooter could also use the barricade or not. The only thing that was directed was that we not go prone. There were 5 bear (more like koala) shaped targets. All were located close. I didn’t range them as I could tell they were within my 200 yard zero range so I just held dead on. I opted to shoot them kneeling resting the rifle on the barricade. It was a dumb choice but, as the targets were pretty close and easy I found 5 engaged 5 and got 4 first round hits. I totally whiffed one of the twice, shamefully. I should have just shot off of the tripod rather than off of the barricade as I don’t have one of the big barricade bags. One of those would have made the barricade much more stable to shoot off of. Lessons learned. Onwards…

At this point, the days shooting was abruptly aborted. I’ll get into that at the end. In the evening we enjoyed another lovely bbq meal and some live music. Country music isn’t really my favorite but the bad wasn’t half bad. I feel like they bore the brunt of the groups discontent with the lack of shooting for the day as pretty much nobody was enthused about having a live band there haha.

 

[ChidJ]

Day 2 we had the same morning routine shot 7 stages. Stage 4 I’ll just call the grassy hill stage. I can’t even remember the shape of the animal at this stage. Probably deer. At the ROs command, shooter engaged the near target, far target, near target, far target, in that order. The near target was at approximately 350 and the far target was approximately 500. I say approximately only because I don’t remember exactly. If someone does, feel free to correct me. The Sig RF binos worked great the whole match. I got sorta stuck on this one as the near target was very hidden in the shade. In the end, I think I managed to engage the near and far target but I don’t think I managed to re-engage the near as I ran out of time. I shot seated from the tripod for this stage which worked ok but the SRS doesn’t quite balance on the tripod like the more conventionally shaped rifles do. I’ll have to tinker with it.

Stage 5 was the Barrel/Deer. At the ROs command, shooter moves to a barrel and engaged a near/far pair of deer targets and did so in the same order as the previous stage. The shooter did not have to use the barrel but had to remain in the vicinity of the barrel. Targets were at 300 and 450 approximately, if I recall correctly. At this stage I had in mind to use the tripod as a front support and my pack on the barrel as a rear support. It actually ended up working all right and I managed to get a few points at this stage. I engage both near and far both times and took a handful of points. Maybe 5 or so. I can’t remember.

Stage 6 was the Ground Blind/Doe stage. At the ROs command, shooter moved into the blind and engaged a left and right pair of doe shaped targets at approximately 250 yards. Similar to the near/far stages, at this one you shot left, then right, then back to left, then to right. I learned from my earlier failure in this blind and, as the targets were so close, I managed to to clean this one for 8 points just shooting off the tripod from the seated position. I think this was the only one I cleaned this match and I think most other folks did too.

Stage 7 was Railing/Bears. At the ROs command, shooter engaged 4 (?m) bear shaped targets. These targets were all pretty close and I didn’t range them. Probably 200ish yards. I didn’t find them all though. Allegedly, one could only be seen from the far right limit of the shooters “engagement box” if that makes sense. I found and shot at 3 (?m) and I think I remember hitting 2 using the bipod on the railing and the tripod and my pack as a rear support and when I went to engage the third, there was obstacle in my line of sight so I hastily tried to brace the rifle against one of the structure posts in the “engagement box” and failed miserably whiffing both shots. That being said, I didn’t get a ZERO so I cheerily took my few points and moved on.

Stage 8 was the Staircase/Buck stage. At the ROs command, shooter moved forward to a makeshift staircase of railroad ties. There was a single buck target at approximately 200 yards and the shooter was to engage it from each of the 5 steps of the staircase. The shooter could engage from the steps in any order. It was a relatively easy shot, so I opted to just engage resting the rifle directly on the railroad ties in the interest of speed. I managed to get first round hits off of 4 of the steps. On one of the steps, the gap through which the shooter was to shoot was too short so the only solution I saw was folks canting the rifle 90 degrees. I opted to not do that as I knew I would almost surely miss, and I’d rather save the ammo.

Stage 9 was the Climber/Gator Head stage. At the ROs command, the shooter took up a seated position on a climbing style tree stand (it was set at a little above ground level). From the seated position the shooter engaged 4 gator head shaped targets all at around 200 yards. I struggled on this stage, not finding the targets but building a stable position. From the climber seat, my tripod didn’t really go high enough to support the rifle so I had to shoot off of the pack in my lap. I got a few hits, both first and second round and completely whiffed one of the gator heads. But hey, it wasn’t a ZERO

Stage 10 was the Berm/Coyote stage. At the ROs command the shooter took up a position behind a banner thing and engaged 4 coyote shaped targets strung along a tree line. Targets were between 250 and 350, approximately. Most people I saw shot this from the tripod standing. I did, as well. I just had a hard time getting stable and was pretty beat at this point. I found all 4 coyotes but only managed one hit on the furthest one.

The match wrapped up with a crawfish boil. After scores were posted on Practiscore, I headed out.

Here’s my overall impression as a newer competitor and low speed shooter. I really like the format. UKD and freedom to build your position how you see fit given the natural setting felt good. As usual, all the people there were the best kinds. I learned a lot from talking to other competitors. Competitors and officials alike were always friendly and helpful. I also know that the match director was going full throttle from dawn until dark for 3 days in a row and I never saw him sitting still. I also appreciate the effort that was made to represent southern style hunting scenarios rather than the more romantic western style hunting, consistent with the spirit of the event.

That being said, this match did not flow like anyone anticipated or likely intended. I don’t know the going rate for matches but my cost included 2 days of PTO, 14 hour round trip drive, 250 (?m) dollar match fee, and a 125 dollar (?m) NRL Membership. My situation was not unique either. Many had paid a similar price. That is a lot to pay for 10 stages. Heck, I didn’t even get a hat haha. I won’t blame anyone and I have nothing but good things to say about all the people involved but I can’t say this match wasn’t a HUGE letdown in this regard. I don’t think this was par for the course as many others had shot the previous Hunter matches and said they were phenomenal. Money is easy come easy go but its hard to justify what ended up being 4 days away from my young family for 10 stages in which I shot maybe 40 rounds.

Feel free to correct me if I missed or misrepresented anything and I’m all ears if you have suggestions.

 

[JBoomhauer]

Great report.

I have a couple questions not directed at you, but more for someone in the know.

Is a NRL membership required to shoot these matches. Walk the table?

Is an unscored/do not walk the table option available for all matches or is that up to the MD?

We have one coming up in my area shortly and your concerns are shared with most new people I talk to about it.

It sounds possible to do the match on the cheap if desired.

 

[ChidJ]

@JBoomhauer The way I'm tracking is that membership is not required to shoot or walk the table. If you pay the full match fee, you walk the table. If you pay the basic fee, you do not. The basic fee is available at all the matches in the series, if I'm not mistaken.

If I could do it again, I'd have just done basic and kept my own score in my head as I'm not super into prize tables and there's no way I'm scoring well enough to get invited to the Grand Slam. I had paid before they introduced the basic package though and I didn't feel like hassling them to change me over. I paid for the membership mainly because I wanted to support the fledgling format

 

[mahlv]

Why were there only 10 stages? I've been to the first match at Cameo last year and the New Mexico match this year and they were all 20 stages, 160 total rounds possible(obviously less with 1st round impacts)

 

[ChidJ]

I have some ideas but I don’t know for sure so I’d rather not opine on it. I don’t think that limiting it to 10 stages was intentional

 

[CUBUFF89]

From my perspective a 2 day match is never going to be cheap but there are ways it can be less expensive for example if it's local to you and you can stay at your own home or like for this one camping on site was an option to avoid hotel costs. I chose to camp at the Hampton Inn because it featured a shower. Though it was neither too hot nor too cold so camping was probably pretty tolerable.

The ammo costs at a 2 day NRL Hunter are also going to be lower than say a 2 day PRS match. Especially at the hunter match assuming you score some 1st round hits and don't have to reengage the target. A typical NRL Hunter stage is 4 targets so your round count would be as low as 4 shots if you clean the stage or as high as 8 shots. At the TN NRL Hunter match the maximum round count was 84 shots over the 10 stages which is a lot cheaper than the 200 you might shoot at a 2 day PRS match.

The TN match was close enough that the time commitment wasn't huge and this was a factor in my choosing it. About a 5 hour drive and I was able to leave the Atlanta area around noon and still get there with a little time to sight my rifle on Friday afternoon. Unless it's an exceptional match this is about my maximum driving distance at this point in my rifle competition journey. Some of the other NRL Hunter matches are intriguing but WY or MT are just too far away to consider at this time.

That said, my primary motivation for shooting the TN match was to practice shooting UKD targets and working up a shooting solution on the clock. This is because I'm signed up for a Competition Dynamics match later in the year and I felt I needed to work on my time management. And after what I learned this weekend I'm really glad I got some practice. I thought I knew how to set up efficiently and it worked ok on the first stage where I took a 7/10. The next 2 stages on Saturday were a disaster for me. I gave my approach to each stage a lot of thought and worked out where I was wasting time. I had to be more efficient and started off the first stage on Sunday much better. I saw serious improvement in my movements on Sunday and made fewer stupid mistakes and less fumbling around. I learned that small inefficiencies can translate to significant wasted time when you're on the clock.

For me the match was a learning experience. Saturday wasn't as anyone expected or planned and the MD was the one to call it a shitshow at the shooter meeting on Sunday morning. He promised a better experience on Sunday and I think everyone would agree that it was in fact much better. My secondary objective was to have fun and I did on Sunday. I made better use of my time and hit more targets. That translates to fun. Plus I met some other really great people who were shooting. Always interesting to hear about others and how they've gotten to this point in their shooting. And I met at least one other shooter who will be at Steel Safari so now I'll know at least one person going in.

And I can't close without highlighting that they took good care of us. BBQ dinners on Friday night and Saturday night and a crawfish boil on Sunday. There was always a tub of ice cold beer and gatorade was available throughout the day.

I can look back on this match and say I was glad I went.

 

[msstate56]

So what was the reason only 3 stages were shot Saturday?

 

[M_R_Woodard]

Targets kept getting knocked off the hangers and the range would go cold so someone could drive out and fix them.

 

[cliffy110]

I know this is now an old topic, but I just found it. Thanks for the AAR. This is exactly what I was looking for and exactly what I was hoping to hear. I realize it could all change next year, but these stages sound exactly like what I am used to with my preferred bang-stick. I'm all in for this.