When clients arrive in camp, the first thing I do is take them to the range. I tell them that it's to make sure that their rifle didn't lose zero - and it is - but more importantly, I want to see how comfortable they are operating their rifle, whether or not they have a consistent cheek weld and eye relief, how they build their shooting position, how they handle recoil, what their follow through looks like, can they shoot from different positions . . . I watch them the whole time, not the target. I can rattle off a long list of mistakes - resting the barrel on the front rest, not knowing how to use a rear bag being 2 of the most common - but more often than not, they don't inspire a ton of confidence. The 2 clients in the below photos are good examples.
The first was a 19 year old (wearing the hat). His dad brought him out for his first big game hunt the week after his sophomore year of college. He hadn't shot the Remington 700 in .30-06 that is dad bought for him in 9 years and it showed as his 100 yard group was minute-of-cantaloupe. After seeing how inexperienced he was and to avoid having him develop a flinch, I asked if he was committed to using that rifle for the hunt. He wasn't. He really didn't feel comfortable with the geometry or the recoil. I grabbed my 6.5 PRC - a Tikka with the barrel cut down to 20", suppressed, and in a RokStok. I took some time going over fundamentals with him, had him get used to the Maven RS1.2 parallax and dry fire a few times. His first couple shots were from the same bench and his group was a tad over 1" at 100 yards. We then transitioned to prone and he didn't miss multiple shots on gongs at 360 and 440 yards. Then we practiced improvised shooting positions using my backpack and trekking poles with and without the Wiser Quick-Stix. We burned through a lot of ammo and the whole first day. He still had a long way to go to become proficient but we'd found his maximum range for the various shooting positions and had built a lot of confidence.
2 days later, we were sitting on the side of a hill watching this beautiful chocolate bear slip in and out of the timber. He had the fore-end resting on my backpack and the buttstock resting on the Quick-Stix, patiently waiting for this bear to give him a shot. At 140 yards it turned broadside and finally stopped long enough for him to settle the crosshairs, calm himself and shoot. The 147 ELD-M slipped through the hide, jellied the lungs and exited on the offside without touching a bone. The bear ran 40 yards and rolled down into the timber.
The second client was on his 3rd black bear hunt with me. He was far too out of shape the first year and couldn't shoot more than 100 yards. The second year he came out, he was 65 lbs lighter and was shooting to 200 yards. We had terrible weather that week and while we had bears in the crosshairs, for one reason or another, no shots were fired. This year, he was still in great shape and at 100 yards, his rifle shot nice tight groups, but it would not track accurately at distance. Again, I offered my 6.5 PRC, which he accepted. I had him practice with it and he too wasn't missing out to 440 yards. On the last day of the hunt, we stalked into 150 yards of this bear and from the pack and quick-stix, he dropped this bear where he stood as the bullet hit a rib on the entrance, jellied the lungs and a fragment lodged in the spine.
After understanding the stock geometry and experiencing it for themselves, the 19 year old and his dad both ordered custom Tikka rifles in 6.5 PRC from @Unknown Munitions, as did the last client. I've had clients use my rifles in the past, but never with this level of confidence.
I have a fair number of new/inexperienced hunters come to simply learn how to hunt and when they do, they'll be using the custom Tikka with a RokStok in 6 ARC that UM is building for me now.
The first was a 19 year old (wearing the hat). His dad brought him out for his first big game hunt the week after his sophomore year of college. He hadn't shot the Remington 700 in .30-06 that is dad bought for him in 9 years and it showed as his 100 yard group was minute-of-cantaloupe. After seeing how inexperienced he was and to avoid having him develop a flinch, I asked if he was committed to using that rifle for the hunt. He wasn't. He really didn't feel comfortable with the geometry or the recoil. I grabbed my 6.5 PRC - a Tikka with the barrel cut down to 20", suppressed, and in a RokStok. I took some time going over fundamentals with him, had him get used to the Maven RS1.2 parallax and dry fire a few times. His first couple shots were from the same bench and his group was a tad over 1" at 100 yards. We then transitioned to prone and he didn't miss multiple shots on gongs at 360 and 440 yards. Then we practiced improvised shooting positions using my backpack and trekking poles with and without the Wiser Quick-Stix. We burned through a lot of ammo and the whole first day. He still had a long way to go to become proficient but we'd found his maximum range for the various shooting positions and had built a lot of confidence.
2 days later, we were sitting on the side of a hill watching this beautiful chocolate bear slip in and out of the timber. He had the fore-end resting on my backpack and the buttstock resting on the Quick-Stix, patiently waiting for this bear to give him a shot. At 140 yards it turned broadside and finally stopped long enough for him to settle the crosshairs, calm himself and shoot. The 147 ELD-M slipped through the hide, jellied the lungs and exited on the offside without touching a bone. The bear ran 40 yards and rolled down into the timber.
The second client was on his 3rd black bear hunt with me. He was far too out of shape the first year and couldn't shoot more than 100 yards. The second year he came out, he was 65 lbs lighter and was shooting to 200 yards. We had terrible weather that week and while we had bears in the crosshairs, for one reason or another, no shots were fired. This year, he was still in great shape and at 100 yards, his rifle shot nice tight groups, but it would not track accurately at distance. Again, I offered my 6.5 PRC, which he accepted. I had him practice with it and he too wasn't missing out to 440 yards. On the last day of the hunt, we stalked into 150 yards of this bear and from the pack and quick-stix, he dropped this bear where he stood as the bullet hit a rib on the entrance, jellied the lungs and a fragment lodged in the spine.
After understanding the stock geometry and experiencing it for themselves, the 19 year old and his dad both ordered custom Tikka rifles in 6.5 PRC from @Unknown Munitions, as did the last client. I've had clients use my rifles in the past, but never with this level of confidence.
I have a fair number of new/inexperienced hunters come to simply learn how to hunt and when they do, they'll be using the custom Tikka with a RokStok in 6 ARC that UM is building for me now.
