Originally Posted by battue
Off hand is normally the work of the walking around woods hunter and at normal wood distances getting down on one knee will most often do little to improve your view of the animal. Taking it to the extreme, go down flat on the ground and have a look at what you can see and what pops up in front of you.

Grab on to something if you can, go down on one knee if you have time, practice for those times when you can not.

Nor does going down on a knee grant any favors for when the animal is moving. If it did, then skeet would be shot on one knee.




It might be a situational thing, dependent on such things as cover, but I actually do shoot a fair bit of game from kneeling, braced up against a convenient tree if I can, or not. I find it steadier than standing, and takes but a moment to adopt.

I think it is important to adapt yourself to the situation, and take the best option depending on time, cover, distance etc. To that end I think that it is valuable to practice from a range of positions, and also to practice adopting positions smoothly and quickly. It is also worthwhile when hunting to be conscious of where you might take a shot from. For example, if you see an undisturbed animal, or even if you flush one "do I take him from here, or step up to that tree and brace up?"

Of course, you have to make the shot, and sometimes don't have much time to think about it. This little bloke was shot offhand at a distance of less than a yard, pi$$ed off and coming in fast:
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And these were shot offhand by me and a mate, all going hard in various directions, over a few noisy seconds. Distances probably less than 60 yards for the longest shot.
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I've shot a fair few like that. There again though, I've shot a fair few critters from kneeling and sitting too, and prone. I've even shot game from a fair approximation of a benchrest, such as a big boulder with my backpack on it.