Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Shooting Positions for Big Game

Almost all shots from shooting sticks, and a few (many years ago) off hand. Change of hunting locations and “not” walking the timber much anymore, dictates longer shots. memtb

Home in Iowa-25% offhand(hopefully with a tree to rest on), 50% sitting either in a stand or on the ground and 25% kneeling. Can't recall ever trying a prone shot on big game-the terrain I hunt just wouldn't allow it.
Hunting out west probably 75% prone (equally divided between off a pack and off a bipod. 25% sitting or kneeling-always with a pack, bipod or sticks.

Depends on the season.

Alpine-95% prone across pack. Average shot is 200yds I'd say

Rut-95% offhand . Most shots are less than 75 yards. Often moving at weird angles. (coming to a call) I love to hunt ridge tops and heavy timber. If I chose to hunt clearcuts like many, prone would be more likely.

I remember one offhand shot, a mule deer buck at about 25'.

My last one was prone off my pack. I use shooting sticks a bunch.

I usually let the situation at hand dictate shooting position. I really like using my Primos Trigger Stix, because they are so adaptable to many different scenarios. I guess my favorite position is sitting and resting on the Stix, but on a recent deer hunt in Missouri, the endless thick trees in my hunt area provided handy, standing rests. Most of my pronghorns have been shot after crawling to the top of a ridge, flipping down the Harris Bipod, and shooting from prone.

Now that's a good question and deserved real attention.
I started hunting deer when I was a young boy with my dad. He let me shoot some of the deer he had tags for and so did my mom. I have been shooting deer and larger game now for 53 years. I started hunting game larger then deer when I was 17, so that's been 44 years. I can't count the number of game animals I have killed ------ and I probably could have said that when I was 30years old. I am now 61.
I have killed game with a lot of rifles and 11 different handguns that I can recall as I write this, as well as 3 different bows with wood arrows and one deer killed with an aluminum arrow.

An honest guess would be that about 60-65 percent of my game has been killed off-hand.
The other 40% is divided in categories of Standing-Rested (like a tree branch or rock) sitting, a few (probably 10) kneeling, and at least 40 prone or prone over a back-pack. I also remember killed 3 deer resting over an open door of a Toyota Land Cruiser.

I have shot only 1 deer in my life from prone, and one elk seated using a tripod and special head {the Gun Claw}. One elk offhand and one lion offhand (that with a bow). Dozens using a rest, such as a treestand or tree, or truck tailgate, and a few seated. Never shot anything offhand more than 32 yards away (bow).

It's normally too thick for prone shooting where I end up, but of course it's great when you can.

this is going to probably be geographically specific:

east: still hunting and/or stands, so mostly sitting or offhand. Use a tree when possible to steady. "long" shots are 50-75 yards.
west: prone, long is a different beast out west.

90% offhand or steadying the rifle against a tree.

I usually slow walk when hunting and drop to one knee for most shots, sitting is next most used position.

Can only remember 1 shot taken off=hand since I started in 1982.

Most have been kneeling (rare), sitting (common), prone over pack or with rifle-mounted bipod (fairly common), sitting with a bipod (a couple-three-four), sitting with a tripod (common).

In addition I'l use any solid object I can find to help steady my position. Rocks. Trees. Behind my back or as a rest.

99% our of a stand. 1% offhand

I'm usually in a climbing stand, so I put one foot on the front rail and us my knee as a brace. Or, I sit facing the tree and use the side of the tree as a brace. 90% of the time it's one or the other of these 2. Other 10% off hand.

I would say 80% sitting or kneeling and shooting off sticks and 20% prone off of a pack. I can't remember the last time I shot offhand while hunting.

I can

I remember when you used to shoot offhand matches, too.

Adding up what I remember, I come out to a real rough estimate of 30% standing or offhand, another 30% either sitting or kneeling, often using a hasty sling. 30% prone, which is with a sling, off a bipod, or pack. Another 10% of "other", such as shooting out of blinds.

Field expedient rests such as a rock or something are used when available, though a properly adjusted sling and some practice works about as well as anything.

So much depends on what and where a person hunts, and if a person gets around and hunts some different terrain and species without practicing different techniques, it's easy to get outside one's comfort zone.

Overspecialization breeds in weakness, as the old saying goes.

It depends on the circumstances, but I try to get a better position when I can. I probably shoot more game kneeling using a convenient tree/sapling as a rest than any other position, but the last deer I killed, just recently, was shot from prone. She was lying down with her head up looking towards me, with low cover obstructing her body from view and leaving only head and neck visible, down a clear cutline nearly 200 yards away, and I shot her under the chin into the top of the neck. Others recently included one offhand into the back of the neck as it galloped away, and another shot while I was standing braced against a tree at about 90 yards.

One position I used to use a bit, but don't much anymore, is sitting. I'd only really use it if I have plenty of time and can't go prone due to cover or terrain. Dropping to a low kneel (ie sitting on the side of my right foot) with a convenient tree to brace up against, is easier and faster to get into and usually steady enough.

Just went through my hunting log. I haven’t been recording the shooting position but I remember the last five years well enough.

So, 5 years, 13 big game animals. 1 offhand, 1 standing off a tripod, 11 prone off a bipod. I tend to hunt open areas with longer shot options, so that probably explains all the bipod/prone shots. My average shot distance has been 366 yards, with a long shot of 575 and a short of 87. The 87 yarder happens to be the offhand shot.

That said, I actually practice positional shooting a lot and am pretty comfortable with it. I just often have the option for bipod/prone due to the terrain I’m in.