NRL hunter

[JohnJohnson]

I definitely use the same gear on most of my day hunts that I use in NRL Hunter competitions. Obviously, I will use ultralight gear if I'm doing a backpack hunt.

The gear I use makes it easier for me to adapt to whatever challenge I face in the field, wherever I'm hunting.

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My son's buck was shot with a triple-pull front and tripod rear to shoot over sagebrush last year. The only thing on the rifle that was different from how I shot matches was the suppressor. All my other "gamer gear" is used during my hunts as well.

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This year was the same.

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Shot this buck standing with my gamer tripod and gamer rifle.

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That doesn't mean you can't have success with other gear. I just know what I like to use and how much faster it makes me in adapting to challenging shots in the field. Most of the techniques I use now were learned by competing in NRL Hunter.

Just a couple weeks ago I was coues hunting with a 13.5# rifle and a 5# tripod. I shot my coues at 530 yards, unclipped from the tripod, my dad clipped into it, and he shot his 1 minute later at 520 yards. I agree if I was going backpacking I'd have to slim that setup down but for day hunts it's perfectly usable.

 

[Pilsner]

What bag is everyone using over their tripod or for barricade type situations?
I've got a "pillow" style cube bag and a flat bag that goes on my tac table but am kinda looking for a medium sized in-betweener size bag tossing over rocks, logs, and the like.
Just picked up a 2 Vets inverted tripod on BF/CM sale.

 

[wpeach1912]

What bag is everyone using over their tripod or for barricade type situations?
I've got a "pillow" style cube bag and a flat bag that goes on my tac table but am kinda looking for a medium sized in-betweener size bag tossing over rocks, logs, and the like.
Just picked up a 2 Vets inverted tripod on BF/CM sale.

AG Schmedium sand filled is the way. Weight kinda sucks, but if you want to hit targets, it’s tough to beat.

 

[Lawnboi]

What bag is everyone using over their tripod or for barricade type situations?
I've got a "pillow" style cube bag and a flat bag that goes on my tac table but am kinda looking for a medium sized in-betweener size bag tossing over rocks, logs, and the like.
Just picked up a 2 Vets inverted tripod on BF/CM sale.

I use a schmedium for everything. Sand when I can and for comp stuff, git lite fill when not. The bags come with fill spouts, you could try about anything you would want in them. Rear, and front use for me.

 

[wind gypsy]

What bag is everyone using over their tripod or for barricade type situations?
I've got a "pillow" style cube bag and a flat bag that goes on my tac table but am kinda looking for a medium sized in-betweener size bag tossing over rocks, logs, and the like.
Just picked up a 2 Vets inverted tripod on BF/CM sale.

Schmedium plus one with heavy fill. Its an inch wider and inch taller than standard schmedium but not as big as full size GC.

I usually start with the LS Wild plate/flat bag to glass/range off tripod. I pop it off and clip in to shoot but sometimes i just shoot off it if targets are big. If i could get one of those bags from LS wild in heavy fill that might be slicker yet..

 

[skipper907]

If you choose to shoot an NRL match shot the skills division you will learn a ton and challenge your shooting

 

[acochran]

What bag is everyone using over their tripod or for barricade type situations?
I've got a "pillow" style cube bag and a flat bag that goes on my tac table but am kinda looking for a medium sized in-betweener size bag tossing over rocks, logs, and the like.
Just picked up a 2 Vets inverted tripod on BF/CM sale.

AG schmedium sand fill. I keep a spare schmedium or OG with git lite for mud and wet conditions because the sand can get locked up. Used the spares at a couple matches last year where the sand wasn’t going to work due to prone in mud stage after stage.

 

[Jordan Smith]

Shmedium Heavy fill for me, too.

 

[codym]

AG schmedium sand fill. I keep a spare schmedium or OG with git lite for mud and wet conditions because the sand can get locked up. Used the spares at a couple matches last year where the sand wasn’t going to work due to prone in mud stage after stage.

Pretty sure this guy knows what he’s talking about

 

[khuber84]

I've been shooting field matches for 5 years or so. Started with shmedium, then the shmed +1, now I have the gamechanger X. I usually remove approx 30% of the fill no matter what to allow the bag to settle a lil quicker and be lower profile.

2 years ago I got some lighter weight fills from a company in Eureka MT(can't remember the name, they have 4 or 5 options of density) and now mix their mid weight poly fill with the AG heavy fill, drops bag weight by about 30-40% while maintaining 90% the bags stability.

My OG shmedium is 100% the custom fill and weighs around 2#, that's my hunting bag.

 

[Pilsner]

Got signed up for the Best of the West event in March. Anyone else on here sign up?

 

[kharb22]

I talked to both of the MDs for the Idaho match today at a local PRS shoot. If you liked the Julietta match from 24, you're in luck. It'll be in the same vicinity, just the next drainage over. And from the sounds of it, some high-angle shooting.

 

[id_jon]

I talked to both of the MDs for the Idaho match today at a local PRS shoot. If you liked the Julietta match from 24, you're in luck. It'll be in the same vicinity, just the next drainage over. And from the sounds of it, some high-angle shooting.

So it's still up by Julietta? Initially it looked like it was going to be closer to Grangeville. Did they say if camping onsite would be an option?

 

[kharb22]

So it's still up by Julietta? Initially it looked like it was going to be closer to Grangeville. Did they say if camping onsite would be an option?

Yeah, initially they had planned to have it at a different place, but something changed. It will be Julietta, and if you went to the Julietta one before at Brian's place, it’s just the next drainage over from his. Not sure if they'll have on-site camping, as I didn't ask.

 

[hereinaz]

Because of my style hunting in AZ, it is a lot like NRL hunter. I carry the same gear on hunts as I did for matches. It was a proving ground for me and I never did great but had fun. My brain does not function well in the timed event, lol. It is stressful for sure. For whatever reason I am calmer and focused like a laser when it’s time to kill on a hunt.

I now shoot almost exclusively off a tripod so it fits well. I don’t carry a bipod and shoot off my pack or the tripod. With practiced tripod shooting I can build positions that rival prone.

A heavy bag is super helpful for building stable positions fast.

Rangefinding binos are a must.

I have seen top shooters use Savage and Tikka in factory class and still smoke me, lol.

Rusty Ulmer is a shooting savant for NRL Hunter and would outshoot even with budget/passable gear. He wouldn’t know me, but I have seen him shoot.

Timing out is the problem. It starts with slowly finding the target, then proceeds with inefficient gear management, culminating in rush to build a position and trying to break the shot because the wobble zone is way outside the target.

Throw in not ranging the target well, forgetting to dial, missing the wind call, and shooting the wrong target, and you lose more points.

At least that is how my matches go. But it is a ton of fun.

Schmedium plus one with heavy fill. Its an inch wider and inch taller than standard schmedium but not as big as full size GC.

I usually start with the LS Wild plate/flat bag to glass/range off tripod. I pop it off and clip in to shoot but sometimes i just shoot off it if targets are big. If i could get one of those bags from LS wild in heavy fill that might be slicker yet..

We can do the tripod plate bags in different fill types.

I've been shooting field matches for 5 years or so. Started with shmedium, then the shmed +1, now I have the gamechanger X. I usually remove approx 30% of the fill no matter what to allow the bag to settle a lil quicker and be lower profile.

2 years ago I got some lighter weight fills from a company in Eureka MT(can't remember the name, they have 4 or 5 options of density) and now mix their mid weight poly fill with the AG heavy fill, drops bag weight by about 30-40% while maintaining 90% the bags stability.

My OG shmedium is 100% the custom fill and weighs around 2#, that's my hunting bag.

Mixing sand and other fill types does work and keeps weight down.

 

[khuber84]

Box to bench precision, thats the custom fill company. Spexlite 5125 is the fill I used.

 

[alexnelon]

Rusty Ulmer is a shooting savant for NRL Hunter and would outshoot even with budget/passable gear. He wouldn’t know me, but I have seen him shoot.

Timing out is the problem. It starts with slowly finding the target, then proceeds with inefficient gear management, culminating in rush to build a position and trying to break the shot because the wobble zone is way outside the target.

Throw in not ranging the target well, forgetting to dial, missing the wind call, and shooting the wrong target, and you lose more points.

At least that is how my matches go. But it is a ton of fun.

This deserves emphasis. Once you have the basic necessities (LRF Binos, Tripod, shooting bag, rifle, good dope) everybody is on a fairly level playing field.

My first ever NRL Hunter match I shot skills division and got to squad with Rusty and basically watched him shoot the whole match.

Dude is a freak he cleaned the whole CoF with 15 seconds to spare on every stage and looked like he was moving in slow motion the whole time. Meanwhile I timed out on 18 out of 18 stages.

Efficiency of movement (which everybody can work on at home) is a huge part of being good at this game. Efficiency helps prevent hurrying, and being more mentally present prevents foolish mistakes.

I picked up over 40 points in my second match that I directly attribute to just not timing out.

 

[hereinaz]

This deserves emphasis. Once you have the basic necessities (LRF Binos, Tripod, shooting bag, rifle, good dope) everybody is on a fairly level playing field.

My first ever NRL Hunter match I shot skills division and got to squad with Rusty and basically watched him shoot the whole match.

Dude is a freak he cleaned the whole CoF with 15 seconds to spare on every stage and looked like he was moving in slow motion the whole time. Meanwhile I timed out on 18 out of 18 stages.

Efficiency of movement (which everybody can work on at home) is a huge part of being good at this game. Efficiency helps prevent hurrying, and being more mentally present prevents foolish mistakes.

I picked up over 40 points in my second match that I directly attribute to just not timing out.

That’s awesome!

The difference between the first and second match can be significant, just having an idea and a little practice.

 

[khuber84]

First match is always the gut check, you don't know what you don't know, until after that match. Then you can work on a lot of it.