Rifle Competition Events NRL Hunter Dust Devil Dual AAR

[Reaper 31]

So, after a few weekends from the event being finished, I finally gathered my thoughts and time to write up a post from my first NRL Hunter match. It had been 2 years in the making trying to get out to one and after some scheduling conflicts with work and life, I was able to make the 8hr trip up from Houston to Amarillo. I believe the hunter style concept was more of my style with packing up all my gear and rifle and rucking it. My almost 20yr old camelback assault bag still gets the job done and I was able to pack up all my stuff I needed for both days. I had practiced at home how I was going to carry everything and deploy my Leofoto 362cx tripod when that time came and I'm for sure going to look into the OBI system. My rifle is a Terminus Apollo Lite with a PVA Light Palma Barrel chambered in 25CM, shooting 134ELDM @ 2870, and sits in a Manners LRH-SC that I was able to pick up last month. It's a real nice lightweight stock; I just wished the thumb shelf was more aggressive like the McMillans. It was also my first match using the TBAC Magnus S-RR can, and I'm really impressed with it. I was able to spot the majority of my shots to make corrections as needed. Optics wise, I run the Leupold Mark4 HD PR2 reticle and used the Sig Kilo 6K HD for my rangefinder bino's.

I shot in the skills division and took advantage of all the help I could get from my squad mates and RO's. I was able to go up and observe the shooters ahead and attempted to find the targets also. My plan was to build up and get a rhythm going so I can eventually run a stage blind, which did happen as I progressed. Now I haven't shot a PRS/Positional type match in over a year as I was extremely busy last year and was also kind of disappointed about my last PRS match, but I did get out and shot throughout the year as I was able to. So, after watching multiple videos and listening to many podcasts, I took advise from many contributors and listed a few goals for the match:
-Have FUN!
-Build a workflow/rhythm
-Take notes on what went wrong and how to improve.

I'm sure there are more but those will work for now. I cannot overstate how much fun I had regardless of the difficulty level it was. Being my first hunter match, I had nothing to go off of, but I listened to my fellow competitors and heard it was a tough one. Each stage did present their challenges but the one that really got me was the windmill stage I believe. I want to stay we were shooting a ram and had to progress our shooting position forward as we shot. That one was definitely difficult. I did manage to clean stage #16 and almost cleaned the turkey stage; I believe stage 13. Unfortunately, my Binos took a dump on me around the stage Dorgan and Chris Way where RO'ing and they were able to put me on target, and I walked away with 6 points lol. Thanks for that fellas!

Now some of what I could take back with me and learn from is:
-Shooting off tripod
-Wind reading
-Work on positional shooting

With all that being said I after listening to more of Frank's podcast, I truly believe I will do myself justice on practicing tripod shooting instead of going out and spending the $$$ on a triple pull bipod. Efficiency will overcome the gear race in my opinion. I will continue to work on these skills throughout the summer and plan on attending more 1 day hunter game matches to better prepare for the big 2-day matches. Lastly, I'm wondering anyone's thoughts and opinions one the schedule for these matches? I know we had a rain delay on Saturday and fog delay Sunday. I wasn't able to stay for the entire awards ceremony as I had something pop up and had to leave right after dinner.

Thank you to the MD's, RO's, and everyone who contributed for putting on this great match. I appreciate anyone who reads this and look forward to your response!

 

[Doveblaster]

I too shot the match and it was a tough match overall with some cleanable stages mixed in. The windmill stage was definitely one of the toughest stages. The first position off the windmill wasn't great and the 40-60 yards of movement forward made it tough. That ram was also 800 or so yards away so trying to get a good wind call off the bad first position + needing to take some dope out for the forward movement made it challenging. I shot the match as teams and we timed out on that stage partially due to all the movement and partially trying to get the right height for the next 3 positions. I think the match was run really smooth (especially for new Match Directors) as there is really nothing they could do about the rain Saturday AM and the fog Sunday AM. I'm sure some of the shorter stages could of gone hot earlier Sunday AM but that would of created a backlog on the long range stages and I am glad they kept a level playing field for all. All in all a great match with a really good COF. I particularly liked stage 14 and 15 180* shooting as I have never shot an NRL stage like that. Me and my team mate ended up in 2nd after a solid day most of Sunday, we had a few procedural mistakes Sunday and struggled to find the 2nd deer on stage 20. I hope you stayed at the awards long enough to get some of the Prime Rib! Many thanks to the MDs and looking forward to next year.

 

[Reaper 31]

Thanks for replying and congratulations on your team placement! I was able to stay for the prime rib and it was probably the best I have ever had. Yes the Buffalo stage having to swing around was very fun and was challenging. I hope you continue to get to go to those matches, very fun.
Thanks!

 

[wyliecoyote]

OP, thanks for the good AAR on the match. I'm spooling up to go to the Hunter's Coalition match in Clovis, NM in late June. Question for you or any NRL Hunter experts: Can you use an OBI attachment with a tripod in an extended configuration? The tripod I have is a RRS TFCT-34 with three extendable sections. I'm assuming it would be against the rules to walk up to a stage with its legs extended hanging on an OBI attachment? I know a lot of guys game things a bit by using long legged tripods pretty much ready to roll on an OBI.