A strict time limit puts pressure on the two-man shooter/spotter teams. In the 13-minute alloted time, the shooters attempt to find and range 12 wooden animal silhouettes and then score hits on the steel vital areas.

Shooters and spotters must work together and communicate well to get through all the targets in the given time. Plus, this year a Speed Shoot was added to the Hunting Challenge. This timed stage gave teams just 40 seconds to engage five (5) known-distance targets with one shot each. That works out to just 8 seconds per target, requiring the trigger pullers to be ultra-fast, AND accurate.

Surgeon Rifles Duo Tops Field
The Hunting Challenge was well-attended, with competitors coming from Missouri, Tennessee, and Utah, to join the usual group of shooters from Oklahoma and Texas. Small targets, improvised shooting positions, and constantly-switching winds made this a tough event, demanding high levels of skill and rifle accuracy. Preston Pritchett of Surgeon Rifles and his ace spotter Wade Stuteville came out on top with 65 out of 89 points. Preston and Wade put on a clinic, beating the second-place team, Dean Morris and Rick Jensen, by 15 points (equivalent to five first round hits). Finishing third was the team of Jeff Badly and Chase Tressler.

Hunting Challenge Teams Snag $30K Worth of Gear
This year’s Hunting Challenge prize table held over $30,000 worth of merchandise. Preston and Wade were each awarded a fully-outfitted Savage 10 Precision Carbine rifle, complete with Harris bipod, and 3.5-15x50mm NightForce NXS scope. Dean and Rick each took home a Vortex Razor HD rifle scope with rings. Two Swarovski SLC HD 10×42 binos were handed out to the third-place team. There were prizes for 24 of the 30 teams and the top 15 teams received a prize with a value that equaled or exceeded the $400 match entry fee. Full results, photos, and a sponsor list are posted on the Snipers’ Hide Forum.

Credit B.J. Bailey for this match report and photos.