Thread: Ruahini NZDA Hunters Biathlon May 2013

As you may be aware Neckshot has been organising a Hunters Biathlon Steel Gong Shoot with the Ruahini branch of the NZDA (LINK). My father (Malcolm) and I were just there running the shoot. Neckshot was left organising the location, the marshals, the BBQ, the prizes and of course the competitors. Malcolm and i set up the course (actually to seperate courses) on Saturday and then i was pretty heavily involved in managing the shoot on the day, freeing Malcolm up to compete.

The event was a biathlon, so competitors had to move between various shoot stages and had there overall course time recorded. Competitors were encouraged to compete in their normal hunting gear (which is why some of them are wearing camo clothing to a target shoot) including boots, day packs, bumbags. Their overall score was based on the number of targets they hit combined with their overall time. Target hits made up two thirds of their overall score leaving the remaining one third for their time. There was no time penalty for a missed shot. A possible overall score was 300.

We had both courses running at the same time. Both courses involved 10 shots and all competitors completed both courses twice making up their 40 shots.

Course 1 involved:
The competitor started with a 600m run (tail wind assisted) to shoot position 1. At position 1 they fired 1 shot at a ~150m 10" square target from any position followed by 1 shot each at two 10" targets at ~25m standing.




Note the wind blowing the rifle sling... and target 2 has been hit.

From position 1 the competitor ran back up the course (into a head wind) about 250m to postion 2. Here they fired 1 round each at two 10" targets located at ~110m and ~165m from any position but prone (they could use the trees for support). Here they also fired 1 round each at two 6" targets located at the same distances from any position.





Once finished here than ran about 50m to position 3. Here they fired 3 rounds at a single 6" target located at ~100m using any shooting position. The challenge here was waiting for the target to stop swinging so you could fire at it again.

From position 3 the competitors had a 300m run back to the start/finish position. This was the easy course. Most competitors finished this course in about 20 minutes.

Course 2 involved:
The competitor started with a 300m run up a hill and into a head wind to position 4. Many competitor were physically blown backwards while making there way over the ridge. Here they fired 2 rounds at a 6" target located at ~120m using any position but prone. They then fired 1 round at a 10" target at ~160m and 2 rounds at a 10" target at ~230m using any shooting position. The wind made this stage really difficult. Malcolm found his 223 was hitting 5-6" low at 230m because of the wind. Neckshot marshaled at this position all day and did an awesome job in the conditions.





Once finished at postion 4 the competitor had a 250m run to postion 5 & 6 (tail wind assisted). At postion 5 they fired 2 rounds at a 6" target at ~110m using a tree for support. They then moved forward to position 6 and fired 3 rounds at two 10" targets at ~340m. The wind made these longer targets really difficult.





From here the competitor had a 100m run to the start / finish line.

This was the more difficult course though again most competitors completed it in about 20 minutes.

At the end of the day we gave out some prizes and had a BBQ lunch.

All in all it was a great day. I didn't hear any bad comments and we learnt quite a bit about running the shoot that i can use to improve the next one. Rotorua long range field shoot this weekend here we come!

Can you post up next time this is on? 'cos it sounds fun.



e: I'm retarded and missed the thread announcing it!

Good report and pics Gillie I was a little surprised Neckshot wasn't anchored to that post as I knew the wind would be challenging up there.

That there looks and sounds like a sweet day!!
Awesome set up guys and good on you Neckshot for helping that stump stay up in the wind!!

Gimp...
Second weekend in November (TBC) = Rotorua short range.
Second weekend in December = Taihape short range.
Last weekend in January = New Plymouth short range.
Somewhere in there i am sure there will be another shoot in Dannevirke and a couple of longer range events. I suspect we will be running a medium range (100 to 600m) multi stage event in New Plymouth soon as well.

Cheers, Dundee. Easy to do when you have a good event.

Sounds like a lot of fun. don't know about the running bit though.

Rushy, i may have been exagerating how most competitors completed the courses, a lot of walking was involved... All in all the competition was pretty casual and the scoring was such that even if you were the slowest competitor all day but hit all your targets you would have come second overall... the fastest competitor ended up 5th overall

Originally Posted by Gillie

Rushy, i may have been exagerating how most competitors completed the courses, a lot of walking was involved... All in all the competition was pretty casual and the scoring was such that even if you were the slowest competitor all day but hit all your targets you would have come second overall... the fastest competitor ended up 5th overall

Thanks Gillie. I gave up running in my thirties. Figured out that it used up too many heartbeats

Sounds like fun but plus one on the running Rushy .

I can't recall ever having to run to shoot something.

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What!? Nelson doesn't have hills?? Or maybe climbing them just doesn't increase your heart rate...

No pleasing everyone i suppose. Been running shoots for a while now and it has been suggested on multiple occasions that putting competitors under physical stress by making them run/move would be a good idea. Personally i like the idea of a biathlon, particularly with the scoring the way we did it. Competitors knew hitting targets was worth more than completing the course fast. As i said above you could have been the slowest competitor there and if you hit all the targets you would have ended up 2nd overall.

Another rimfire postal shoot soon for the youngans Gillie,the kids and I had great fun with that.Top work for setting up these shoots.

Originally Posted by Gillie

What!? Nelson doesn't have hills?? Or maybe climbing them just doesn't increase your heart rate...

No pleasing everyone i suppose. Been running shoots for a while now and it has been suggested on multiple occasions that putting competitors under physical stress by making them run/move would be a good idea. Personally i like the idea of a biathlon, particularly with the scoring the way we did it. Competitors knew hitting targets was worth more than completing the course fast. As i said above you could have been the slowest competitor there and if you hit all the targets you would have ended up 2nd overall.

I did say sounds like fun didnt I? If not I meant to.

Yep we got hills, I generally sidel round em in the bush real slow and if on the tops im where I want to be shivering not panting waiting for light.

Originally Posted by Gillie

What!? Nelson doesn't have hills?? Or maybe climbing them just doesn't increase your heart rate...

No pleasing everyone i suppose. Been running shoots for a while now and it has been suggested on multiple occasions that putting competitors under physical stress by making them run/move would be a good idea. Personally i like the idea of a biathlon, particularly with the scoring the way we did it. Competitors knew hitting targets was worth more than completing the course fast. As i said above you could have been the slowest competitor there and if you hit all the targets you would have ended up 2nd overall.

Gillie I think you have misinterpreted what VC was saying.

Don't worry Rushy, Vietnamcam, i'm sitting here laughing my arse off

As i said i have been running field shoots for 4-5 years now and one consistent comment i have got all the way through has been "You should make them run to get their heaert rate up and then see how they shoot". Every field shoot, short or long range, whether i have run it or not, i have heard a comment about introducing physical stress. Vietnamcam's comment honestly surprised me. After a few years of "You should make them run" i finally set a shoot where people are encouraged to move and i get a comment like that.

Cheers, Vietnamcam the shoot was a lot of fun. Even while managing it i was wishing i could have competed. We do try and set shoots to reflect hunting conditions and i can think of several occassions where i have been offerred a shot while climbing a hill, or shooting mobs of goats when i have had to shift position, or maybe just getting into a position with the animal already spooked...

Yea that happens (getting a opportunity when busting your guts) but i still don't run

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