The National Rifle League Hunter matches are matches that test you as an individual and all around marksman. Each stage has around four animal targets to engage and the only information you get about those targets is..”your time starts now”. No ranges, no locations, nothing. With that, using your time wisely is crucial. Which also means that having equipment that helps maximize the use of your time is tenfold.
Having shot two different hunter matches using different spotting and ranging equipment I was able to see the difference in each set up.
My first set up included Vortex binoculars attached to a tripod and the Vortex Razor HD 4000 Rangefinder.
The stage plan went along the lines of this..
Stage starts
Walk up to ranging post
Pull out tripod with binos attached
Use binos to find atleast 2-3 targets
Pull out rangefinder, range 2-3 targets
Write down ranges on wrist coach
Go to gun, find targets in gun, engage targets using ranges written down and matching them to dope on card
In that stage execution I went to three different optics. Three different times losing the target. Three times finding the target again.
Now with the Vortex FuryHD5000AB‘s..
Stage starts
Walk up to ranging post
Pull out tripod,bag, and Furys
Use Furys to find and range each target
Write down ranges on wrist coach
Go to gun, find targets and engage
Using the Furys instead of both a binocular and rangefinder separately saved me time and confusion. I was able to find and range the targets simultaneously instead of using two different pieces of equipment.
So why can’t I just use the rangefinder to find targets and range?
It’s drastic to have binoculars when looking for targets. Binos are more steady and have a wider field of view. Using the rangefinder to both find and range targets is just not ideal. Having the Furys be a beautiful piece of bino glass while still allowing me to find ranges without getting off that glass was huge.
There are different ways to go about using the Vortex Fury5000 HD’s in a match. The Furys have built in environmental sensing and applied ballistics (if you input your information for link up). Since it does have the ability to give you your data in the same moment as displaying your ranges, you can save a step by reading both the range and data and just jotting down your data on your wrist. This ability would be huge if the environmentals changed drastically from the time you made your data card to the time of the stage. There is also a bit of a delay to the time that your range pops up to the time that the Furys compute and show your data. It’s about three seconds from displaying of the range to displaying of the wind and elevation holds. If you don’t want to wait for that time and trust your data on your data card you can just run with the range that the Furys give you.
There is also a scan feature that is very useful when it comes to NRL Hunter matches, and by extension hunting in general. Oftentimes the target is in a treeline or directly in front or behind said treeline. Using the scan feature as you are searching for your target will help distinguish if the range you are receiving is from the treeline or your intended target.
“The Scan feature can be used to range moving targets, or help range smaller targets on uniform backgrounds, and works in both ranging and target modes. Once powered up, press and hold the “Measure” button and scan back and forth, watching for changes in the yardage number as the aiming circle moves across target objects. The illuminated Scan icon display indicates Scan Ranging is activated.”
Overall after using a rangefinding binocular and one that allows me to get all of my information in one shot. Such as the range, data, wind holds, and angle input into data, I won’t go back to two separate pieces of equipment.
Below is a video on a NRL Hunter match and what to expect. At the end of the video some tips were shared about how to make the most of your NRL hunter experience and one was using rangefinding binoculars..
Thank you to Long Range with the Lillys for the awesome overview of the series.
And an overview of the Fury HD 5000 AB below..
