By Terry Houin
Can you think of a better way to spend a summer weekend than exploding prairie dogs, shooting your rifle out to distance, eating man-sized steaks, and sipping bourbon while the locals play guitar around the fire?
I obviously enjoy all of the above activities as well as imparting some of the knowledge I’ve gained over three decades of doing sniper shit for Uncle Sam. So naturally, I volunteered to run the inaugural Outrider Long-Range Shooting School in South Dakota.
The concept is fairly simple: show up with your rifle, ammo, a teachable attitude, and a willingness to engage in trash-talking. Whether you’re a veteran shooter or still a virgin, you’ll go through all the fundamentals to ensure your rifle is well-fitted, you know your ballistics, and you understand how to build a proper shooting position. Once we’ve spent quality time as a group on the long range, progressively shooting out to a mile, we’ll break up and commence smoking some prairie dogs. For those of you that haven’t had the extreme pleasure of making these evil little targets vaporize with some varmint rounds, you haven’t lived a full life, and it should be immediately added to your bucket list.
For this summer’s course, a ragtag group of shooters rolled into camp with an assortment of rifles and other equipment they wanted to learn to use. I know with good gear I can get just about anyone on target at a mile eventually. After a big dinner, and several beers to loosen things up, we all began talking shit as well as discussing each shooter’s personal goals for the next few days.
This trip is hosted in an ideal location in western South Dakota with some of the most fun and challenging ranges imaginable. The main range is positioned below the shooting house with clear shots out to 2700 yards. Here we can demonstrate and learn the effects of wind and body position to ensure accurate shooting at long distances. Other ranges include cross-canyon shots, a rifle golf course, and, for the adventurous, the South Side Chicago drive-by range.
By the end of the trip not only did we crush their expectations, create some pink-mist artwork on the prairie, and drink our fair share of cheap beer and good whiskey, but we also formed some incredible bonds and hopefully secured some repeat offenders for the next series of Outrider shooting trips.
Thank you to all who came on the trip this year, it was a blast and one for the books. For those who didn’t make it this time, keep an eye on our social media feeds and the Outrider website; don’t hesitate to book as the trip is sure to fill up quickly.
