The idea of the Ultimate Hunter Rifle Competition (UHRC) came from a desire to compete in a dynamic, hunting based rifle sport, without spending the money on rifles and equipment required to be competitive in the rifle sports that existed at the time.
Founders Austin and Walt Proulx are life-long hunters and avid action pistol competitors. Wanting a competitive outlet to hone their shooting skill using the gear they hunt with, they looked to the existing long range rifle sports as potential outlets. However, they soon found that none of their actual hunting gear (which in fact consisted of quite capable long-range setups) resembled the exorbitantly expensive, unrealistically heavy gun/optics setups that were required to be competitive. They both appreciate the level of skill displayed and admired the high-end competition gear being used, coming from a competitive shooting background themselves, but they couldn’t justify the additional cost to delve into these sports as well as the ones they already invested their time and money into. Thus, an idea was born…
The goal of the UHRC is to cater to the 99% of hunters and rifle shooters… what ranges do a vast number of hunting shots take place within? What gear is frequently used by hunters? What is the relationship between time and accuracy requirements in many hunting situations? What will the vast majority of hunters/recreational rifle shooters in the country be willing to spend on participating in the sport?
This sport focuses on using gear people frequently hunt with to hone skills that have proven to be crucial in real-life hunting situations.
By using these guiding principles to determine our unique scoring system, maximum engagement distance, and standardized target size, we have effectively eliminated the need to spend $5,000 or more on a rifle/optic combination to be competitive.
THEN
As the sport developed and progressed, we began to wonder why we were limiting this hunting-based competition format to just rifles…
Thus, the Ultimate Hunter family of sports began to grow. Our scoring and stage format were easily adapted to accommodate Muzzleloader (UHMC) and Handgun shooters (UHHC). With the help from some of our bow-toting friends who both hunt and compete passionately, we have also developed a rule set for archers (UHAC). Finally we considered both new shooters, and the future of hunting & the shooting sports; youth shooters. Along with being a fantastic introduction to competition and realistic skill building for our new shooters & sportsmen, Ultimate Hunter Rimfire Competition (UHRF) is a ton of fun for a substantially lower ammo cost.
It cannot be forgotten that we are in the entertainment business. At the end of the day, it is our goal to provide a safe, fun sport to compete in.
