Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of attending a few long-range shooting classes at FTW Ranch in Barksdale, TX. FTW is a world-renowned training and preparation facility for hunters, law enforcement and military personnel. It was founded in 1996 by Tim Fallon, and he has maintained and grown the excellent facility ever since. The ranch is located on a 12,000-acre patch of land deep in the southwest region of Texas Hill Country, marked by rugged hills and valleys. The courses are designed to equip hunters with ample knowledge and skills to prepare for any imaginable hunting scenario. They offer a variety of exotic species to hunt, including trophy-class White Tail and one of my favorites, Axis Deer.
We met up with the team from HS Precision at FTW Ranch on Friday, July 26th, the beginning of an eventful weekend of hunting and training. We decided to try FTW’s two-day SAAM Precision Prep Course (Sportsman’s All-Weather All-Terrain Marksmanship). We were shooting HS Precision Pro 200 rifles, chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor and .300PRC. Hornady supplied the ammo and Kahles provided our optics.
The course consisted of several hours of classwork, followed by applying that knowledge on the range. After classroom work the first morning, we headed to the range and trued our rifles. This started with sighting at 100 yards, shooting at 500 and 1000 yards to prove that our ballistics were correct. Now we were off.
We shot a number of targets at a variety of distances and directions, including moving targets. We even convinced our instructor Doug to let us go for the one-mile target. This is a 36″ circular steel target. Everyone in our group had impacts. Folks, this is a long shot!
The training culminated with the world-famous Crusader Course and the ceremonial firing of the cannon. A few members of our group elected to stay and hunt.
The training is more fun than you can imagine. Learning your limitations and improving your shooting will make you a better hunter… “Because you only have one first shot!”
