Yukon ranger learning the ropes at Ottawa sharpshooting event

A lot of mooching and a lot of practise are both part of being competitive at the Canadian Armed Forces Small Arms competition in Ottawa, according to Frank Johnstone, Yukon's Canadian Ranger at the event.

Johnstone qualified by winning the Rangers' top shot contest last winter. The Yukon highways department employee is a member of the Carcross Ranger Patrol and lives on Teslin Lake.

"I might have been the top shot in the Yukon, but I'm certainly not the top shot here. There's a lot of real professional shooters here," he said.

"They're all pretty good on giving tips, along the way, and it's just you got to do it to see it and believe it and learn it," said Johnstone.

He's already learned that a lot of training and preparation is necessary. A competitor from Quebec told him she trained five days per week for three months leading up to this event.

"You can go through a lot of ammo, you've got to do a lot of mooching to get ammo to stay competitive shooting," said Johnstone.

The competition is in its second week. It wraps up on Sunday.

There are about 300 mostly military shooters from Canada, Britain and the U.S., Johnstone said.

He said he's been a hunter for much of his life and target shooting is part of the Ranger training, but that hasn't fully prepared him for this competition. While the Rangers are using Second World War Enfield rifles, there are regular army soldiers next to them on the range with modern assault rifles.

There are a variety of matches devised by the organizers to test the competitors.

They shoot between 52 and 62 rounds during a match, he said. Fifty competitors are spread over a wide area in a line and shoot at targets 500 metres away, then on command they have 35 seconds to run forward 100 metres, lay down, sight their rifles and fire off two more rounds and repeat that every 100 metres until the target is 100 metres away.

Northern Rangers learning the ropes

Johnstone is part of the First Canadian Rangers Patrol Group. He said he's the only Yukoner, with one member from the Northwest Territories and six from Nunavut.

"This is their first year back here for a while so we're kind of starting from the bottom, working our way up. But you could see a progression of each match. We're getting a little better and a little better, getting more comfortable with what the drills and orders are," he said.

The shooters also have to take turns at the other end of the range, said Johnstone.

He said that involves standing behind 2.1 metre high berms and holding up the targets for the others to shoot at. He said the rounds whistling by over his head were a little disconcerting at first, but the safety rules are stringent.

"You have a drill sergeant down on the end there watching every move everybody makes, and he keeps you in line, believe me," said Johnstone.

Johnstone said when he gets back to the Yukon he's going to ask if the territory can send two rangers in the future so they can support each other at the event. But if only one can go, he wants it to be him.

"They're going to have to beat me"

"I know I'm going to be working hard to try to get that spot back, so if everybody wants it they better start shooting. They're going to have to beat me."

Johnstone said he'll recommend that Yukon participants spend more time on preparation. He'd also like to see a shooting range in the territory with moving targets because that's a big part of the Ottawa competition.

"How do we practise? I guess I could get a good buddy to run up and down in front of me with a hockey stick and a target on top, but I don't know. He'd have to be a good friend."