Stretching Things Out for August Match

6 days ago
3 min read

(Match Report by Tyler Patner) August 23, 2026

The threat of rain did not deter 24 shooters from testing themselves on a truly challenging course on Sunday, August 23rd for our monthly match. Early in the week, there was a high chance of rain on both Saturday and Sunday. But as we got closer to match day, it appeared that the storms would largely be focused on Saturday afternoon and evening, into the very early hours of Sunday morning. And that is exactly what happened. Thankfully, we didn’t get wet during course setup or during the match on Sunday.

During setup, we attempted to re-imagine a few of our normal lanes in the woods, creating a handful of new target placements with the goal of stretching things out as much as possible. The normal AAFTA standard for “long targets” are targets over 40 yards. Well our course for this match featured 20 targets over 40 yards. 15 of those targets were over 45 yards, and 12 were at or over 50 yards. Between the length, and a number of reduced kill zones elsewhere on the course, the Troyer worked out to 34.88T. Now it’s important to keep in mind that this does not factor in the elements shooters face during a match.

With the storms came a healthy amount of wind. It is hard to know how much wind we might see in our woods course, but I will venture to say that this might have been the windiest match our woods have seen to date. For those shooting 12 FPE, this meant either waiting out the wind, or making wind calls with gusts later in the day hitting double digit speeds. At most, I held about 1” outside of the KZ on a long 50 yarder. Most of the day, I was playing within the edges of the kill. But what added an extra layer of challenge was the switchy nature of the wind. On a number of occasions, you could see leaves fall in one direction downrange, and then for your next shot, they were drifting the opposite direction. All of this to say, applying the wind factor to the targets I saw wind movement on bumped the Troyer up to a 38T, which is probably reflective of the actual challenge.

There was no question that the wind would catch everyone out. The real question was who would manage the conditions best, and limit the damage. In Hunter PCP, Steve Hockenberry managed this best, posting a 52/60. Just one point ahead of Greg Vaughan. In WFTF PCP, Tyler Patner finished the day with a 56 to take the top spot. Two shots ahead of Lucas Marusiak on a 54. In Open PCP, Larry Justinus managed a 31. While Jeff Paddock found a solid groove with his new TX200 in WFTF Piston, laying down a 43. And in Unlimited, Alan Barker shot a 56 of his own.

Shooters were greeted with our usual pizza lunch while everyone shared their stories from the day. A special thank you to everyone that stuck around and helped us tear the course down. Many hands make light work, and we are very lucky to have plenty of hands. The Burning River 120 is next month, September 11-13th, and we hope to see everyone there.