Manitoba shooter takes aim at worlds

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This article was published 23/02/2023 (964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a sport of precision. And observation. And luck. And, as Scott Kyle puts it, “One bad shot might be just enough to lose it all.”

The former Boissevain resident and long-range competitive shooter says he and his team members have set their sights on the main prize at the upcoming F-Class World Championships.

“We’re going for gold,” Kyle told the Sun from Phoenix, Ariz., where he was set to compete in the 2023 Southwest Nationals Shooting Competition.

His team took third place in that competition last year, and he followed up by winning his class as an individual shooter at the 2022 United States F-Class Nationals held in the same city in October.

He and his teammates, collectively known as the Gun Runners Team, are now officially sanctioned by the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association to be Team Canada for the upcoming F-Class World Championships 2023 in South Africa.

The Southwest Nationals competition earlier this month in Phoenix was a tune-up for the team’s appearance in the world championships that run from March 21 to April 1.

“It’s our last chance to get one more match in as a team to make sure everybody’s comfortable with their positions and get ready,” Kyle said.

Originally from Winnipeg, Kyle moved to a farm north of Boissevain where he lived between the ages of 11 and 18. It was there that he gained early shooting experience, targeting gophers for pest control.

The 36-year-old construction manager with Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure now lives in Roland, Man., and it wasn’t until 2019 that a highways department colleague introduced Kyle to F-Class shooting.

“A friend of mine who I was working with had got into this F-Class shooting and I showed up and then kind of went down the rabbit hole from there.”

He started attending Manitoba Provincial Rifle Association practices, then travelling across Western Canada and into the United States to shoot and finally discovered team shooting and became a member of the Gun Runners in 2021.

In F-Class competition, the shooter fires from a prone position using a telescopic site and a bipod or rest for support. This discipline of rifle shooting, by the way, was created by a Canadian.

In the late 1980s, longtime Canadian marksman George Farquharson wanted to continue shooting, even though he could no longer use the traditional iron sights and a sling. The popular class, which takes its name from Farquharson’s surname initial, has since spread worldwide.

In modern competition, the distances for F-Class range from 300 to 1,000 yards. The size of the target at 1,000 yards (more than half a mile) is six-foot square and the black bullseye portion of the target is five feet across.

Even that five-foot bullseye, when viewed with the naked eye from 1,000 yards, is a “little black blob,” as Kyle puts it, and ideally shooters are trying to put as many of their shots as they can into the “X-ring” at the centre of the target, which is a mere five inches in diametre.

At that distance, wind plays a big part in accuracy. Kyle said that when the wind picks up, it can send a shot 10 feet left or right.

“The entire game is watching the flags and trying to figure out how much wind to compensate for,” Kyle said, adding lighting is a factor in shooting too high or too low.

His analytical nature is part of his success as a shooter — allowing him to account for wind, light, and his observation of where shots fired by competitors strike and the need to adjust — but luck plays a part, he said.

“I’m very analytical, which actually comes from my work as well … and quick on my feet for being able to observe, make a call, pull the trigger and hope for the best.”

The team event is similar to the individual one, but with a team of four shooters and three coaches, and the winning team is determined by the shooters’ aggregate score.

The satisfaction of shooting comes from this problem-solving, Kyle said. It’s not the money, as there is barely any — perhaps some to offset entry costs or “gas money at best.” Sponsorships come in the form of a discount on equipment.

Kyle said he takes part for the “love of the game.”

“You don’t do it for the fame and glory, or the money. It’s to test yourself and for the enjoyment of the sport.”

This ability has brought success for Kyle on the shooting range. Within the last year, he placed fourth in the 2022 Western Canadian championships. He won the F-Class title at the North Dakota Long Range State Championship and that state’s mid-range championship.

He and his team placed third in the 2022 Southwest Nationals in Phoenix, fourth in the United States nationals and second in the Western Canada championships.

When he competes individually and as a team at the upcoming world championships, he’ll be up against other shooters from around the world.

The world championships are held every four years, and Kyle says it’s the biggest competition he’s shot at. He figures he will place middle of the pack for individual competition, but he has his sights set high for the team competition.

“I think we have a very good chance of at the very least medalling, but we are set on gold and that is what we are anticipating we’re gonna bring home.”

» ihitchen@brandonsun.com