Shawn Carlock
Sponsor
Well I just got in from a long weekend with a really good group of guys in my Advanced LRH class. The advanced classes are limited to 6 and we lost one just a few days before the class making it 5.
I met everyone on Friday afternoon and led the well armed pack train out to our base camp location about 2 hours from Couer D' Alene, Id. Once we got to base camp everyone setup camp quickly made introductions ate some dinner and then saddeled up to go glass some deer and elk. We spotted a fair 5x5 and a smaller bull along with several cows and calves, then returned to camp. Everyone was anxious to go on Saturday morning and was ready to go early. We set out to our first shooting position to shoot distances of 500-1100 yards. Once laid out in position it occurs to me that these guys are pretty squared away everyone is shooting big 338's (3 Edges and 2 Lapuas) topped with Nightforce NXS 5.5-22's and either a NPR1 or NPR2 reticule. I was suitably impressed with the average shooting ability of the group. We tweeked and tuned how everyone read and adjusted for the mountain shooting conditions.
We finished up our shooting at position #1 and made the ATV trek to position #2. Now the conditions at 2 were tough with winds going 2 and 3 different dirrections between shooter and the targets and needing corrections of up to 3-4 minutes. Everyone was quite handy with the 435, 718, and 1192 yard
targets but I was overjoyed to see everyone in the group hit a 16" x 20" rock at 1865 yards within 4 or 5 shots and even a 2nd round hit from the group. Unfortunately one of the ATV's got a tire harpooned by a sharp rock. As became typical with this group they simply threw the rider and his gear onto a Ranger that 2 of the student had brought to the class and we carried on. After class they got the ATV retrieved by robbing a wheel and tire from a like model and taking it back to ride the stranded one in. Sunday morning started out with a real bang by the Ranger with 3 stundent and a mountain of gear senting the transmision south about 2 minutes form base camp. Time to regroup again. We mounded gear on a couple of ATV's and doubled people up on the others and it was off the the happy shooting grounds again. We spent the majority of Sunday shooting from 600 to 1400 yards in some real tricky conditions winds of up to 20 mph in canyon country coupled with distances over 800 yards. When was the last time you counted your windage in the amount of full turret turns? We spent over 2/3 of the class shooting time at distances over 1000 yards with very respectable results. Now everyone agreed that in our conditions we shot much futher than they would attempt a game shot, it is still about seeing where your limits are and learing how to expand them. The last shots of the day were 350-800 yards and seemed like childs play even in the swirling conditions that were present. After the shooting was done on Sunday we took the standard class photo, loaded up and sent everyone on their way. I was truly sad to be done with class so quickly.
I met everyone on Friday afternoon and led the well armed pack train out to our base camp location about 2 hours from Couer D' Alene, Id. Once we got to base camp everyone setup camp quickly made introductions ate some dinner and then saddeled up to go glass some deer and elk. We spotted a fair 5x5 and a smaller bull along with several cows and calves, then returned to camp. Everyone was anxious to go on Saturday morning and was ready to go early. We set out to our first shooting position to shoot distances of 500-1100 yards. Once laid out in position it occurs to me that these guys are pretty squared away everyone is shooting big 338's (3 Edges and 2 Lapuas) topped with Nightforce NXS 5.5-22's and either a NPR1 or NPR2 reticule. I was suitably impressed with the average shooting ability of the group. We tweeked and tuned how everyone read and adjusted for the mountain shooting conditions.
We finished up our shooting at position #1 and made the ATV trek to position #2. Now the conditions at 2 were tough with winds going 2 and 3 different dirrections between shooter and the targets and needing corrections of up to 3-4 minutes. Everyone was quite handy with the 435, 718, and 1192 yard
targets but I was overjoyed to see everyone in the group hit a 16" x 20" rock at 1865 yards within 4 or 5 shots and even a 2nd round hit from the group. Unfortunately one of the ATV's got a tire harpooned by a sharp rock. As became typical with this group they simply threw the rider and his gear onto a Ranger that 2 of the student had brought to the class and we carried on. After class they got the ATV retrieved by robbing a wheel and tire from a like model and taking it back to ride the stranded one in. Sunday morning started out with a real bang by the Ranger with 3 stundent and a mountain of gear senting the transmision south about 2 minutes form base camp. Time to regroup again. We mounded gear on a couple of ATV's and doubled people up on the others and it was off the the happy shooting grounds again. We spent the majority of Sunday shooting from 600 to 1400 yards in some real tricky conditions winds of up to 20 mph in canyon country coupled with distances over 800 yards. When was the last time you counted your windage in the amount of full turret turns? We spent over 2/3 of the class shooting time at distances over 1000 yards with very respectable results. Now everyone agreed that in our conditions we shot much futher than they would attempt a game shot, it is still about seeing where your limits are and learing how to expand them. The last shots of the day were 350-800 yards and seemed like childs play even in the swirling conditions that were present. After the shooting was done on Sunday we took the standard class photo, loaded up and sent everyone on their way. I was truly sad to be done with class so quickly.
Last edited:
