Locked and loaded
Long-range shooters compete in the ‘Death March’
No llamas were harmed or injured at the Taos Death March on Saturday (March 26). The Death March is a “hunter style” match designed to replicate the practical application of precision rifles out in the field.
It puts shooters in positions where they might be able to see targets from a certain place, but they might have to execute lateral movement to get to a position to engage the targets. Or they might be able to see the target from a prone position, but there’s something obstructing a clean shot at it, like a tree branch or a fence. White lines indicating a firing line and orange flags setting the boundaries from where one could engage determined the shooter’s approach to the targets downfield.
Shoot ‘em’ Up Taos, a community organization that promotes shooting events for all ages and in various formats within the region, hosted the Death March on private property. U.S. Optics, MDT (Modular Driven Technologies) and local gun store Gunslingers sponsored the event.
Competitors were pitted against each other to achieve the fastest possible time of locating particular targets on eight shooting stages, and making impact with either a match or hunting bullet — no steel core, steel jacketed, armor piercing incendiary or tracer bullets were allowed. The stages were set about an eighth of a mile apart from each other, making it more of a marksmanship contest than a stamina competition. Shooters were required to carry their equipment throughout the whole course.
This came into play whenever they hit their targets — they’d have to lift their equipment and yell “TIME” in a mechanical manner, to declare the end of the stage, effectively stopping the clock.
The stages were named with colorful names such as Pump N’ Stump, Middle Aged Farmer’s Gate, ISIS Tags. The language used in the stage guides is descriptive and adrenaline pumping:
“Hunt down & kill the flea bag coyotes so you can steal their coyote diamond.”
“Defend heaven. Alternate shots between the orange circle and diamond at 492.”
To get to the check-in and safety briefing zone before the match commences, you have to drive on US-64, drive past the Double D ranch and come to a stop slightly past mile marker 238, where a gate on the left-hand side welcomes participants to the Death March.
Two gates, one after the other, force you to get out of your vehicle, open the gates, and close them behind you. In between the two gates, llamas graze and rest far away and opposite from the path of the shooting range.
About a mile up a dirt road requiring a high-clearance vehicle — and a set of new shocks and struts once you’ve driven it — is where you’ll find a cipher of pickup trucks, creating a sort of boundary for the Death March.
The organizers of the event are hawks when it comes to safety, as they should be at an event featuring many high powered rifles. Everyone on premise is handed a waiver of liability and a rulebook that includes safety measures.
One of the simpler rules, which, if not followed, could lead to lifealtering situations, was that, “at each station all rifles must be positioned in the holding area with the muzzles pointed down-range with actions [the functional mechanism of a breech-loading firearm] opened.”
At one point, after the feeling of walking around competitors shooting thunderous rounds of ammo became normalized, it was easy to casually stand in front of a couple of guns that were propped on the ground while interviewing shooters waiting for their turn. Alex Schoenfeld, who was one of the main organizers of the event, noticed the slip, and moved the rifles to a different section of the path so it wouldn’t happen to other people passing through the stage. The rifles were likely empty, but why risk losing a limb?
Range officers (ROs), or a person directly responsible for firing on the range during the competition, helped set the pace for the event. They helped reset the stage after a contestant was through firing the targets. Then, they’d facilitate getting the next shooter in position to approach the stage from a designated waiting area, marked by a numbered rebar staked into the ground.
Even with the help of sophisticated technology for range finding and a shooting guide telling you where to find the target on the field, visibility proved to be difficult for both the shooter and the RO. The landscape was an uphill slope lined with gnarled splintered trees. The targets were plates of steel, some of which were painted white and would not reflect enough.
Competitors had no prior knowledge of where the target would be, and most of the difficulty came from simply knowing where to shoot. Then, you’ve got two chances to land a shot on a small target approximately 500 yards away.
Owner of Indigenous Arms 1680, and former Pojoaque Pueblo governor, Joseph Talachy, was one the sponsors and competitors in the event.
Anita Ramsey and Paul “Pecos” Gonzalez, who are newer to the sport of competitive shooting, were offered outlaw status. The designation acts like a handicapping system where DOPE (data on previous engagement) and the time spent locating the target aren’t factored into the competitors’ recorded time. They both rejected the offer, wanting to play on the same playing field as the rest.
At Stage 5, Ramsey said all she needed to do better was “to light a fire under my butt.”
For “Pecos,” the Death March is “just for fun — shooting good is just a benefit.”
With a good pair of earmuffs, the damage to your eardrums from a round firing is mitigated, but still, the force from the blast is something you can feel in your body several feet away from the gun. It makes the term “shell shock” more concrete as an individual experience. Behind the shooter, you’d hear the blast from the rifle, and a second later, a sharp ping from metal on metal contact, or the sound of a bullet hitting hard dirt.
Joe Riechard won the Taos Death March with a final time of roughly 32 minutes.
First place earned him a 50 percent discount on an MDT ACC Chassis System — a fancy rifle stock that can cost as much as $1,550.
Riechard said he enjoyed the event and expects to return; “The longer you shoot, the better you get at it. And, you know, it takes a lot of practice….Yeah, I’ll be back up there. I think in April. I don’t know when it is in April, but if not in April, definitely back up there in May. So yeah, I’ll be back up to shoot it again. I’ve got some more winning to do I guess.”