Its just an opinion, so its worth what it costs, but I think ANY hunter owes it to the animal to place their shot precisely and confidentially. I see folks posting about their misses and their excuses why they missed. It seems to me that the shot shouldn't have been taken in the first place.

Outside of mechanical failure, it just seems sloppy. Misses can be mitigated with practice and by taking shots that are awkward before you go into the field. PRS or the like would probably be some of the best experience for a hunter there is. It forces them to shoot from positions out of the ordinary, and always under pressure with an elevated heart rate.

As I said in the previous thread, learning YOUR rifle and load is more important than caliber selection and bullet construction. Again, in my opinion.

+1

On the money.

Anyone one who says they are a good game shot but a lousy target shot is full of Male Bovine Fecal Matter.

I consider myself a shooter before a hunter. I hunt because it gives me another opportunity to discharge a firearm, and the meat tastes good. With that said I have taken 60 deer with 62 rounds of ammunition. The only one I have had to shoot more than once was the first one at age 13. I shot at it three times and hit it twice.

A deer's vital area and a sheet of paper are both TARGETS. That is how I control Buck Fever, I think about the vital area of the deer as the X-Ring instead of looking at the antlers. There is a direct correlation between target shooting and game shooting. Using anatomical targets of the animal you shoot will increase your ability to place shots and drop animals where they stand.

If you are missing animals in the field practice using field positions and/or shooting off of sticks. You can dry fire practice these in your garage or backyard, then practice them at the range and you will see a big difference in the field.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

I consider myself a seasoned shooter who knows my limitations while shooting. From the bench I will go ahead and say a good shot. Now, the adrenaline I experience can’t be duplicated by running but possibly with more time behind the rifle. Since I know that’s not an option for me there are very very many times I just don’t take the shot. Not taking the shot is something I had to learn though, and missed a few deer all together before I figured it out.

I NEVER go in the field without knowing my equipment and what it’s capable of, and more importantly what I’m capable of with it.

Good post although I have to disagree with you on the "adrenaline cant be duplicated" thing. Have you shot a match before? IDPA, USPSA, IPSC, PRS, NRL, GSSF, Jasons matches? Every match I have shot I have had more of an adrenaline rush than hunting any sort of game. The Timer beeping in your ear, all the people watching you, knowing your score and hoping to bump it the next stage so you dont get kicked from the qualifier. In GSSF every match you can win a new Glock. Thats some pressure.

Let me throw this out there.

You dont have to WIN a match. Hell, you dont even have to place in a match, just enter a match. You will learn, everytime.

^^Yup, again.

Clint is on this evening

Yeah some dude yelling, "SHOOTER READY STAND BYYYYYYYYYYY" in your ear and then hearing the beep is much more of a rush for me than a big buck casually walking out into a sendero.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Nah, just throwing an opinion out there. To some it will strike home, to others it will be shunned. Its ok either way.

As a sportsman and a shooter i think its of the utmost importance to know your limitations over bragging rights.

I do agree that this probably true for both of you. Yup.

I am not entirely sure how to take that but I will say this.

I am not trying to bust anyone's balls, nor am I attempting to emasculate any one. Also I am not saying I am an expert at anything either. Just look at my signature. lol

Just keep an open mind. No one can excel if they think they have everything figured out.

I hear that. Few years back I went down to the DPS tactical training facility near Austin (neat place) to qualify as an LTC instructor. Scoring 90% is a breeze, but with the added pressure of being there 2 and a half days with over 100 others, knowing if you don’t pass you’re gonna look like an idiot... well... my hands were sweating. It was also my first time to see the targets set up on air compressors that flip 180 degrees and disappear after so many seconds. Yeah, I was feeling the pressure and was glad everything went well.

Oh it wasn’t meant negatively at all. I simply meant that I believe what you’re saying, and that you find that to be a high stress situation, which is totally different for me than the adrenaline I feel at times while hunting. I do not know what you do for a living but I would think Jason’s job would have him conditioned to handle that kind of stress and the ability to make decisions and function under that stress. I personally handle stress and perform under stress very well.

I’m just saying that stress and adrenaline are two different things, and people handle those two things differently.

Yeah when the targets turn and and you hear that "pssst" you know its go time. It is also very cool when you send one right as the targets are turning back and it almost cuts the target in half lol.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Maybe to some people they are different things.

Stress in a match= hoping to place/beat your competitor

Adrenaline= Hearing the timer, RSO screaming at you, knowing your first 4 shots were golden, wishing that last shot in. Etc

You should try a match sometime. It might provide a new prospective. Good luck either way brother.

Stress level = adrenaline level.

However, what some call a stress level 10, others have been forced to deal with it over multiple occasions and call it a 1. In short get a 10 enough times and it becomes a 1. Learn what you learn, over time and figure out how to apply it to other things. Someone else's worst day of their life is a normal Tuesday for others. Lessons learned from that can be applied to many facets of life.

my buddy does those Run N' Gun Matches and he loves them. Says there very adrenaline packed and Competitive.

it would be interesting to take a poll to see how many hunters in other areas only take shots out of blinds. I would agree that majority of deer shot in Texas are out of a blind at or around the 75-150 yard mark. Probably most deer period are shot under 150 yards east of the Pecos River.

In those cases, yes, misses should be few and far between for experienced hunters. Newbies or guys that can't get themselves under control will have more of a painful learning curve. Most guys "practice" consists of shooting off a bench anyway, which really isn't as much practicing as it is confirming Zero.

I can't remember the last deer that I shot out of a blind with a rifle Probably was a doe some years back. I've missed a few does in my hunting career trying to head/neck shoot them i'll admit, once I did have a scope that cratered internally, so it was legitimately equipment related. Missed a bobcat twice out of a blind. last year I did shoot a axis while resting the rifle on the steering wheel of my can-am, which can get tricky in itself.

Most of my hunting as of late consists of shooting off sticks or in field positions sitting down resting both my elbows on my knees. To acquire these skills practice is paramount, fortunately a lot can be learned by sitting in your living room doing dry fire exercises which I used to do quite a bit of.

I think we will all agree that hunting out of a box blind with a solid rest is the least challenging form of shooting to master.

I love hunting and I love shooting. A place to do it and time have kept me from shooting even a fraction of what I used to and what I want to. I have seen a reduction in my shooting ability and confidence. For 20 years I almost exclusively neck/head shot everything. A few years ago I poked the rifle out the window and just didn't feel comfortable with the shot and it has been almost all body shots since.

Im not advertising it as good practice, but my 270 has been nowhere but in the field and in the gun rack at camp for the past 5-10 years. Its shootin on the same box of 20 reloads I loaded way back when and there are 6 left. When those 6 are shot up ill clean it load some more re-foul check scope and start again. I do not hunt with it much, mostly my wife. She tagged a doe with it this weekend first time its been fired in over a year good shot short track dead clean killed deer.

Bought my little boy a bb gun for Christmas this year... I think I found out what I need to do to get my wife more shooting practice! She shot it a bit and had fun. After all that is how I got started shooting and it served me well. Like Fireman and others have said before running loose with a bb gun shooting squirrels birds etc. off hand off a tree off a knee off a rest etc. and how to build as stable a shooting position as you can with what you have helped me a lot getting started out hunting deer.

That's what people nowadays don't have, the fundamental practice. I shot all kinds of critters with BB guns and .22's long before I ever picked up a deer rifle. If I would have had to rely on deer hunting and range time to build my shooting skills I would be a piss poor shot I assure you.

From the time I was 6 to probably 13 I killed hundreds upon hundreds of birds with my Crossman pellet rifle, some with a solid rest but most of it free handed or resting the rifle on a knee. This is what made to be a good shot in the field. Most of this was done with iron sights too. I remember when I was probably 10 or 11, they were developing some acreage next to our subdivision. They had a construction office trailer parked at the end of the road and after 5 I would sneak in thru a window and open the back window and snipe doves that would land on the powerline. 11 year old kids nowadays wouldn't even know how to get into the trailer let alone set up and shoot birds, they are perfectly fine playing on their iphones and fortnite





Take a average millennial and younger hunter now, their skill set is about done after you get past a scoped rifle and a solid rest. My kids will never ever be as proficient with a firearm as I was or am, because they don't have the desire to be.

I think many assumed the OP was speaking about never missing deer.....and he wasn't.......he was referring to solid rest shots 100 yards or less........I have no patience for shooters missing or especially wounding from this scenario and give a very short leash for second opportunities..........we owe it to the animals we are shooting at IMO. Spot and stalk is a different story, BUT IMO if you want to hunt this way you should practice shooting this way as well... for the same reason.......

^^^ I agree, I think we owe a lot to the critters we shoot. I kill them but have much respect too, always try to make it as clean a kill as possible and use what we shoot.

I missed a pronghorn buck in Wyoming a few years ago. The wind where he was down in the bottom of the canyon was blowing a different direction (and much harder) than where I was set up. Just a shade over 300 yards, and that's a shot I can hit consistently. Fortunately, I had a spotter, and he advised where the bullet impacted. The second shot he was DRT.

I had one hunter miss a deer 4 times over the course of an hour before he connected on the 5th shot and dropped it. Another hunter missed 3 times over about a 45 min period and got it on his 4th shot.

I don't mind misses....they are frustrating but they do happen. Adrenaline affects everyone different. Wounding a deer is a different matter and you draw blood its your deer.


Ive told this story before but I had a kid and his dad come down and they wanted to get him a good buck. I tailgate feed and get into the blind and wait. Right at daylight a solid 10 point comes out and we get lined up on him waiting for better shooting light. 2 min after legal light he lines up on his shoulder and sends the bullet flying 85 yards away to this deer. Bullet hits, deer drops stone dead and never twitches. Get down to the deer, turns out he drilled the buck straight thru both hips.



I had one hunter come out who has killed everything from mule deer to moose to brown bear miss a deer and a hog at 100 yards from a blind with a rest.


Misses just happen sometimes

This almost seems trollish. Not sure if you didnt read the 2 pages previous, or you are just that hard headed.