Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Offhand shooting at big game...

Do you take shots offhand at game? If so, what is your rifle set-up, usual field conditions doing so, game animal, and self imposed range to take the shot? Does it determine your choice of cartridge? Bullet choice? Irons or scope? Action type?

Thanks in advance

I have yes.

Rifles were Ruger 77 in 30-06, Rem 700 in 30-06, Kimber Montana in 7-08

Doesn't impact my choice of rifle - it's an opportunity thing, not planned or built specifically for.

Range wise - most all of my hunting is 300 yards and in so it's less about range and more about "what do the crosshairs look like" when I try and hold them. If steady and good, animal's good - touch it off. If not - I don't. Might be a million reason why I don't - but being off hand (instability) is just one of them.

As in free-standing off hand shots? Yep. I’ve done a lot of it over the years with rifles. .308 Win, .243 Win, .30-06, .260 Rem. All scoped guns. Longest offhand shot was somewhere around 250 yards. As I got into my late teens and early 20s I did a LOT more field position practice and will often quickly drop to a knee or cross legged position if the shot angle presents that way. Running deer are generally shot free standing because it’s like shooting a very precise shotgun - start behind, touch off with the proper lead, follow through. That’s easier standing on two feet than any other position. For standing deer I will shoot offhand only if I have to. If I can, I hit prone, cross legged, kneeling, or improvise a rest on something.

Hell yes. Who doesn't??? Any rifle configuration works. Any cartridge. Is this supposed to be a trick question?

I spent considerable range time this year shooting offhand with centerfire hunting rifles (a mix of bolt and lever guns). A great way to burn up random partials of ammo but very humbling to say the least. Even though I have successfully shot big game offhand, all that range practice just confirmed my desire to find support when possible.

Yep. I can ring 8” plates at 200 yards offhand. But that doesn’t mean I will pass up a rest or more stable shooting position if possible.

Yes, many times and will not hesitate at 100 or so…..out to 200 if the “NEED” arises. However, at anything over 100, if at all possible I will go to my shooting sticks. The wife’s last Pronghorn was shot offhand @ 204 yards, measured after the shot! She only had moments to get the shot off before the “goat” went behind a ridge!

A scoped, bolt action rifle….with the scope alway kept at lowest power ( Leupold 3.5-10) zero’d @ 300 @ yards. We hunt mostly open country, but occasionally in “dog hair” timber! Terrain, range, and animal have zero determining factor in the rifle/cartridge…..as we (wife and I) only use one (2 rifles…..her’s and mine) hunting rifle for all of our hunting, from Pronghorns to moose.

One cartridge, again her’s/mine……one load, one bullet, one zero. This has worked well for us! memtb

Almost always. Lots of rifles and lots of situations. I'm in the Woods. I don't need a rest in the Woods

As a lot of the elk I have shot have been 50 yards or less, in heavy timber. Yes I have. 30-30, 45-70, 44 mag, 3 different 50cal muzzle loaders, all open sights. .06 & 7 mag, scoped,usually set at 2 X

Last six or so deer I’ve killed with a rifle have been off hand. Mostly shot walking in or out. 50-180 yds. ‘06 and 270 win for the last 2

I'd say 60% of the deer I've killed have been shot shooting offhand. @ 100 yards has been the longest.

Last one was a white tail at about 150 yards, shot it with a 7x57. I had multiple licenses, and I was walking up to a kill when this one popped up.


I used to still-hunt more when I had original issued knees. I still hunted for 50 years. Still do until my knees hurt too much and I have to sit.
A cow elk at 350 yards, 270. I couldn't get closer.
White tail at 5 yards, 300 Win Mag (didn't notice any wind deflection on that one) she got up right in front of me as I was returning to camp.
280 Remington one at 75 yards and several more and many with 30-06 at various ranges, 7mm RM at 75 yards, 300 Savage at ~ 100 yards - four each that year. 25-06 at 20 yards -- all come to mind.
I suspect that with pronghorn, more than 75% of my shooting was off hand with various rifles from 6mm Rem to 300 Win Mag. Stalking up gullies and barely seeing over a rise was the main reasons for not using rests.

Yes, and I practice it as well. Probably don’t practice as much as I should, and I definitely am not shooting an MOA group either when I do it. To me, this is where “minute of deer” comes from.

I have to guess that over 1/2 of all the big game I have killed in my life were killed with shots I made off-hand.
BUT, I have killed nearly all of them at ranges that an off-hand shot was not hard to do at all.

Hunting is more important then shooting. I am a good shot. Quite good in fact, and when I was younger I was quite a bit better.

But I like to hunt. I like getting close.
That's not to say I have never made any long shots, because I have. But it lacked any feeling of accomplishment for me. It's no better then making a long shot on an 8 inch target or plate. But hunting and sneaking up.....that's what I enjoy so that's why I have not had many problems with off-hand shots. Once I am ready to fire the target is large and pretty close.

I've shot most of my deer and 1 moose off-hand. Most have been running and close. I shoot a 3006 Rem pump carbine. Up until a few years ago with a Williams peep with the aperture unscrewed leaving the ghost ring and a Williams fiber optic front sight. Lately I've been messing with scout scopes on it. But, I can't get the scope situation where I want it. The gun is too heavy with a scope and doesn't balance. So, in spite of my 53 year old eyes, I think I'm going back to the peep. I think, the fiber optic was changing size in varying light which caused the accuracy issues I was experiencing. Maybe a white post? Maybe a custom aperture a little tighter than the ghost ring? I bought the pump 20+ years ago because that's what Larry Benoit used. The fast follow up with the pump hasn't been very meaningful - I've only ever shot a deer twice on one occasion. The beauty of the pump is that you can make that gun fit you. I've done a lot of wood butchering on the stock and it is FAST. That is the key to shooting off-hand at running deer in the thick stuff. Every second you take, that target is smaller and there's more stuff between you and him. If he's more than 60 yards away I'm not comfortable. But, that's when I'm exerting myself -heart rate up, heavy breathing. If the deer is standing and I haven't just climbed a thousand feet, I can hit every time off hand at 100yards but, I wouldn't want to go much further. I'm going to put together another rifle with a scope. It'll be a bolt, lighter than the pump, a carbine and have a scope no more than 2x on the low side. I have found that there is a magic magnification which is fastest for my eyes. Seems to be right around 2x. 2.5 is too much and 1.5 is too little. I've also, discovered in my experiments that what's printed on the magnification ring isn't necessarily accurate and varies scope to scope. The only other thing I'd say to the OP is that I've been shooting 180 core lokt round noses forever, thinking that they're better at getting through the brush which inevitably jumps between you and the deer when you pull the trigger. This may or may not be true. If at all possible, I use a rest.

Two of the last three I shot offhand were very close, under 30, and with a crossbow, not a rifle. The very last was shot offhand from a seated position in a treestand, left-handed, at about 50. Not my best shot, but it dropped like a rock from a spine hit and never budged.

If the crosshairs are stable, pull the trigger. Probably half the animals I've shot have been while standing on my hind legs. I also still hunt a lot.

But I'll shoot sitting if the situation allows and prone off a pack if the situation demands.

Most of my hunting shots have been off hand. I have purposely added weight in the forearm (bedded into) to give the balance I was seeking in a rifle.

Depends on the species. Slightly more elk offhand than from a rest. Only two pronghorns offhand. Somewhere in-between for muleys. 50-50 on bears. All three moose I killed were at longish ranges from a rest. 50-50 on caribou.

It so much depends on the particular habitat and terrain. I go where the elk are which is typically the spruce-fir-quakie elk jungles. The true test of a bullet is shooting up close so I hunt with premium (tough) bullets. At the other end of the spectrum are pronghorns so BC becomes more important. Last bear I killed was shot about 30 yds away when we both blithely walked into one another.

The big majority of the time I'm carrying a sub 7lb bolt action with a variable scope that makes it very easy to have both eyes open and allows to see out front of the critter for an opening in the timber/vegetation at close range, but I can also increase magnification for the long shot. A Safari Sling that makes the rifle seem even lighter, easier to wind through thick timber, easier to sling under me for long crawl-stalks (especially for pronghorns) is carried at port arms and the fastest way to bring a rifle to bear. And a shortish LOP that helps to shoulder the rifle quickly.

I always try to use a rest or brace up some way if possible but sometimes you can't. Usually because they are too close and you can't risk moving much. If my sight picture looks good I shoot.