Early Morning Shakes

Well, in my case, early evening shakes.

I was hunting with my brother last weekend and around 5 p.m. a spike walks under a feeder we have set up at 220 yards. We have seen this spike and figured it was his time to go. My brother let me have the shot because I have bench shot 200 yards before and he hasn't shot much over 100 yards.

I get my sights on the spike, adjust focus, and I am shaking leaf. I have only killed 1 deer which was a doe earlier this season at 100 or so yards. I couldn't get settled so I picked my head up and took a breath then tried to calm down. I heard my brother say "you better shoot or your gonna lose him." So I fired and missed, I think I missed high because I was holding at his spine, shooting a .243 win. with a 95 gr. Berger bullet.

I'm kicking myself for missing, but man is it different shoot at an animal instead of paper.

Quick question, my set up is a typical elevated blind, I have a sandbag I rest the rifle on, but what do y'all use to stabilize the stock? And what would be a good way to practice shooting under pressure instead of just punching paper at the range? I have shot my rifle probably 300 times from the bench before this deer season but I just didn't train correctly.

sounds crazy but try running a little bit to get your heart rate up and breathing increased before you shoot. if you dont want to run do some pushups/jumping jacks/air squats, whatever you want to get your heart pumping a bit.

For longer shots or shots on smaller animals out of a blind, I like to place the right side of the gun against the right edge of the window. If the room allows for it, I will also place my left elbow on the bottom of the window on the wall next to me, kind of hard to explain. This has made very stable and allowed me to take shots out to 435ish on a coyote. As far a training, lots of range time, and learning how to quickly calm yourself. After the first few deer I stopped having the shakes, until I shot my first deer and pig with a pistol and then they came back 10 fold.

We have a fairly wide shelf running under all the windows that allows for a heavy shooting bag & a sandbag to support/steady our rifles.. A sandbag on the bottom of the window wasn't stable enough..

Ha HA . . . google 'buck fever' . . . .

Learning to 'hold correctly' involves learning to use your skeleton (bones) to hold rifle steady (without a rest);
I train 4H kiddos to do this (3P & 4P);
When done correctly, you'll be able to take aim; close eyes for 3-4 seconds, and then open again, and you'll still be dead-on aim.

Make yourself as steady as you can. I am/shoot right handed. I put the gun out the window and pull back and down lightly with my left/non trigger hand and push my right shoulder/elbow against the right side of the blind. It helps steady me up quite a bit. I have seen some people cut a piece of wood that will go across the blind to rest their elbow on as well.

Learning how to use a sling for support can add stability, even seated in a blind.

Next, sit high enough to be able to lean forward from the waist into the rifle.

In most blinds with most chairs, I have to sit on my leg/boot Indian style to gain enough height to be able to achieve a good body position.

Practice shooting at the range off of a 2x4 with a bean bag (not a sand bag) to rest the rifle.

Rest the ends of the 2x4's on benches, and clamp the ends down with C-clamps. Place short pieces of 2x4 under the ends to raise the board high enough to simulate the level of the window on the blind.

Practice on paper and keep notes about what it takes to hit the bullseye at 100, 200, and whatever distances to which shots will be taken.

Stick to the distances that you KNOW you can RELIABLY make a hit.

Use a laser range finder to confirm distances. Distances in the field can be very hard to judge.

If you were aiming high, and the bullet hit a bit low, it likely went into the lungs, which is a lethal shot, but which will allow the deer to live long enough to run 50 - 100 yards. Blood often does not drip out as it is filling the chest cavity. So, the deer may have run quite a ways and fallen over quite dead without leaving any blood trail.

Keep breathing. A few slow, deep breaths usually will help, and then keep breathing.

Last, when you are settled in the blind, try setting up with the likely direction of shots to make sure the positions and angles will be comfortable. Adjust as necessary.

I do the same in the blind, use the window sill and will put my free hand either in my shoulder against the buttstock, or free hand on the stock on the sill, like shooting pool kind of.

I think the biggest help though, is being mentally prepared and able to focus on not shaking for a few seconds, focus on the shot. If I didnt get the shakes to a degree, I'd quit probably.

I have a leather front bag to rest my rifle on. My blind has a 2 X 2 horizontal brace half way up the right side of the blind. I can rest my elbow on the brace and move the front bag to line up the shot.
It is a dead solid/locked system that is almost as good as a bench rest set up.
My feeder is 143 yards from the blind. In the last 10 years I have only fired one round for each deer killed. I re-zero the rifle I am going to hunt with before each seasons start (if necessary)
You may be overthinking the problem...just think of the deer as another target and hammer him!

shouldn't that 243 only be dropping an inch or two at that range?

Cheap and it works

http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/allen-company-window-mount-filled-shooting-bag/pid-33093

now that's sweeeeet

Yeah, I am actually sighted in 1 inch high at 100 yards too, thats why I think I shot over him. I have shot at 200 yards before while sighted in at 100 yards and it dropped 1/2-1 inch.

I use that allen mount and its great!

naw you just need a bigger bullet.

try free diver technique

breath in and out real quick - to hyperventilate

dump half to 2/3 of the air out of your lung.... now concentrate on squeeze

I bet you didn't have your rifle butt snug against your shoulder, causing it to rise resulting in high shots

How do you know when you let out 2/3 or 1/2 the air? I let it all out, that way it's the same everytime

I use a Leather Bag and control your Heart Rate Ricky Bobby....

Man. Y'all sure do use a lot of fancy stuff. Empty your chamber when you see an animal you don't plan on killing and put the cross hairs and squeeze the trigger. I did this a couple times when I first started hunting and it helped relax me when the real deal happened.

I never believed in taking a deep breath. It's like this, your about to take an animals life. Hopefully to provide nourishment for you and your family. You should relax so you make a good well placed shot so the animal doesn't suffer. It doesn't always work out that way but think about these things before you take aim. It will calm you and allow you to make a good decision as to where to aim.

PS. I only looked at your thread because of the Whiskey Myers reference.

I have had great luck with this bag the last few years.

"PS. I only looked at your thread because of the Whiskey Myers reference."

That what made me look too. I was thinking "finally, somebody that goes to the stand in the morning like I do"

Yeah I thought you were dealing with DT's too. There is an amazing array of hardware in this thread though. My pride wouldn't let me use it though because I "know" I can still shoot as well as I did when I was in the Marine Corps. We did cheat using a sling with iron sights and a shot out M-16 between 2 and 500 yds. I swear I can still do it...

All kidding aside that 243 has negligible drop at 200 and having a bit of the fever your wobble area was probably a bit larger than normal so when you aimed high you just plain touched it off when the scope was trending over his back. You'll get another chance and the idea of doing exercise to raise your heart rate is a valid concept. It's as close as you can get to the adrenaline bump you get from buck fever.

Can't get the song out of my head!

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

STX, where'd you get that rest? That's quite nifty.

No, that's cheating.

A man in Katy, Texas makes them. Ranch I managed had 1 in each blind and they worked great.

What would you say if I told you that was a .223

Lots of good advice here. I agree with others who have already said that it's important to stabilize your right elbow, assuming you are right handed. I sit on the right side of my blind and brace my right elbow against the side of the blind. Makes a big difference for me.

Need to get your elbows on something. I like sitting in chair that do not have arms, that way you can swing the chair 90 degrees, and use the back as an arm rest. You can also cut a board to lay across the blind.

Whiskey Meyers reference drew me in....

First deer I took last season I was a complete mess. I bet it took me 10 minutes to shoot (maybe not but it seemed like it).

Only took 1 deer this season, lined up the shot and missed low, deer did a 360, I reracked and got him with a perfect lung shot. No hesitation in either shot this time.