Joe Huffman runs Boomershoot, an annual long-range shooting event held every spring in upper Idaho. At Boomershoot, the goal is to hit small (4″ square and 8″ square) targets with rifles at long range. How long? The closest targets are more than 300 yards away, the farthest are 700 yards. Joe does this to promote the skill of long-range shooting. I’ve been to the shoot (2009). Trust me, hitting a 4″ square boomer at 640 yards is very rewarding. Two in a row is an almost indescribable ego-boost.
It looks like long-range shooting is gaining popularity. As some wag once said, “A golf course is a waste of good rifle ranges.” Now there is Rifle Golf.
A round of “rifle golf” works like this: Accompanied by a guide, you drive a six-mile loop on a dirt road on a sheep ranch. Along the way, you stop at four different shooting stations. The stations have tables and chairs for benchrest shooting. At the first station, your first target to shoot at is a black wooden silhouette of a moose, at 442 yards away. At the place where a hunter would place an ideal shot on the moose (at the center of the heart/lungs area), there is a hanging half-circle white metal plate, about 11 inches in diameter. If you hit the plate on the first shot, that’s scored as an “eagle” (2 under par). If you get the plate on the second shot, that’s a birdie (1 under par). If you miss the first two shots at the distant target, you take your third shot at something closer; on “hole” 1, that’s a deer at 285 yards.
RTWT. It actually sounds like a LOT of fun.
But it would be more fun if the targets exploded.
Just sayin’.
And hey! There’s video!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLxHaGdlrTY]