2014 LRH Shooting Class with Non-Typical Outfitters-Review
Because of the relatively large number of instructors, we were able to move some students to the next phase while others remained at the bench to continue working on their dope and getting their guns dialed in at these longer ranges. For the next phase we moved several hundred yards along a side-hill and Robb began teaching the meat of our course which is how to create improvised rests on uneven terrain that allow a hunter to shoot confidently at extended range. This first afternoon's training was similar to the training Robb gives his hunters before actual hunts. It focuses on using your gear to create a solid rear rest and then building up a front rest using shooting sticks, trees, rocks, tripods and other items while seated or lying back into the hill and shooting across the valley. For the average Midwestern, Eastern or Southern hunter this is a very foreign concept and takes a fair amount of trial and error to start feeling comfortable. Several students at a time worked on their positions while one shooter engaged steel as close as 200 yards and as far as 500. We rotated through shooters and everyone got a chance to send quite a few rounds across the valley. This was an exciting end to day one as the students' confidence level grew quickly.
At dinner the first evening, we got a chance to get to know each other better and talk about past and future hunts. One of the students, Terry, had been working overseas for several years in the oil industry and had an extended break in the states. He would be leaving three weeks later for the hunt of his life in Alaska for sheep, grizzly bear and moose. Unfortunately he had not found the time to get himself in the type of shape he wanted for the upcoming hunt and we encouraged him to take advantage of his time in the mountains and get after it. The next morning he climbed the mountain across from camp and painted the steel targets before breakfast and that was his job the rest of the weekend.
Publisher's Note: Within hours of publishing the article we received this from Terry.
"Len, I took the sheep w/ .308 Kimber mounted with the Huskemaw scope (I bought from you) at 315 yds… through wind/fog & rain while the sheep was bedded… It was beautiful… you could see him stand up…. and then his white coat turned red right on the shoulder and he dropped back down !
I took the Moose with the .300 Win Mag used at the school… 376 yds. and he fell like an imploded building… dead on the money shot… He never took a step or even finished his breath … he flat out'.
I did have a shot at a grizzly and hit him twice on the run but we never recovered him… It was a different situation than setting up and making a calculated shot … a lot faster and more adrenalizing that for sure… I would say as far as the bear goes… next time I would try to get either closer… or to an elevated vantage point…
Long story short it was the best trip of my life and I definitely give some of the credit to the few days I spent in Wyoming. - Terry -
Day two's instruction began near camp where Jared, the former military instructor, taught a session on the fundamentals of unsupported shooting techniques in standing, kneeling and seated positions. I must admit that I learned a lot from this session. It was fun to bang steel at 100 and 200 yards from these positions with my new training. Robb and his guides pointed out that although longer shots are common when hunting in the mountains, there are also many times when close shots present themselves where there is no time to set up a solid rest. They have seen many hunters blow these shots because they simply never practice them.
Next we mounted the horses and took a beautiful ride higher up into the mountains, stopping at an area where Robb led us through the timber and showed us how to stalk into a good shooting position and pick a clear shooting lane, then create a solid rest using our gear and deadfall trees to make a steep downhill shot on steel at about 400 yards. This really felt like a true hunting situation and got the nerves going a bit. I think some of the students realized just how much practice they could use prior to their next western hunt after this exercise.
We relocated to several different areas throughout the day and we put the students in many unusual and uncomfortable situations, teaching them how to create a solid rest in everything from matchsticks of deadfall to boulder fields to thick brush. We worked on uphill, downhill and sidehill positions with uphill and downhill shots. There began to grow a sense of teamwork as we cheered each other on and worked in shooter-spotter teams.
At dinner the first evening, we got a chance to get to know each other better and talk about past and future hunts. One of the students, Terry, had been working overseas for several years in the oil industry and had an extended break in the states. He would be leaving three weeks later for the hunt of his life in Alaska for sheep, grizzly bear and moose. Unfortunately he had not found the time to get himself in the type of shape he wanted for the upcoming hunt and we encouraged him to take advantage of his time in the mountains and get after it. The next morning he climbed the mountain across from camp and painted the steel targets before breakfast and that was his job the rest of the weekend.
Publisher's Note: Within hours of publishing the article we received this from Terry.
"Len, I took the sheep w/ .308 Kimber mounted with the Huskemaw scope (I bought from you) at 315 yds… through wind/fog & rain while the sheep was bedded… It was beautiful… you could see him stand up…. and then his white coat turned red right on the shoulder and he dropped back down !
I took the Moose with the .300 Win Mag used at the school… 376 yds. and he fell like an imploded building… dead on the money shot… He never took a step or even finished his breath … he flat out'.
I did have a shot at a grizzly and hit him twice on the run but we never recovered him… It was a different situation than setting up and making a calculated shot … a lot faster and more adrenalizing that for sure… I would say as far as the bear goes… next time I would try to get either closer… or to an elevated vantage point…
Long story short it was the best trip of my life and I definitely give some of the credit to the few days I spent in Wyoming. - Terry -
Day two's instruction began near camp where Jared, the former military instructor, taught a session on the fundamentals of unsupported shooting techniques in standing, kneeling and seated positions. I must admit that I learned a lot from this session. It was fun to bang steel at 100 and 200 yards from these positions with my new training. Robb and his guides pointed out that although longer shots are common when hunting in the mountains, there are also many times when close shots present themselves where there is no time to set up a solid rest. They have seen many hunters blow these shots because they simply never practice them.
Next we mounted the horses and took a beautiful ride higher up into the mountains, stopping at an area where Robb led us through the timber and showed us how to stalk into a good shooting position and pick a clear shooting lane, then create a solid rest using our gear and deadfall trees to make a steep downhill shot on steel at about 400 yards. This really felt like a true hunting situation and got the nerves going a bit. I think some of the students realized just how much practice they could use prior to their next western hunt after this exercise.
We relocated to several different areas throughout the day and we put the students in many unusual and uncomfortable situations, teaching them how to create a solid rest in everything from matchsticks of deadfall to boulder fields to thick brush. We worked on uphill, downhill and sidehill positions with uphill and downhill shots. There began to grow a sense of teamwork as we cheered each other on and worked in shooter-spotter teams.
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