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

The wife is deadly from a sitting position, though is getting quicker and more comfortable off of shooting sticks. She’s taken an elk and a Bighorn from prone, and her most recent (now residing on the wall) Pronghorn....offhand! It was supposed to be mine....she was quicker out of the truck than me! It truly “sucks” to be the “designated driver”! memtb

Am most happy when I can take a good solid prone or sitting position with a stable rest. However am certainly prepared to take an offhand shot if needed. The sling has been a great help with this.

Looking back, I've actually taken a fair bit of game with offhand shots, typically in fast moving, fairly close range situations.

Guy

One of my shots this year was from atop a large downward sloping boulder, about the size of a dinner table. Was not really able to get prone because of the downslope angle so I lay on my left side. Had to use my pack to elevate the rifle above the willow and oakbrush.
Once I worked through new yoga position it ended OK.

Probably 80% prone off a pack or bipod, 10% sitting off the Harris and 10% off hand

I'm a still hunter for the most part....If I see them first, I use a convenient tree for a rest. Most of the time though, they see me first. A lot of offhand shooting.

When participating in drives, I am always one of the drivers so any shots I take are up close, personal and offhand.

I'd figure about 75% offhand, 20% from a rest of sorts and the other 5% kneeling or prone.

I don't think I have ever shot a big game animal offhand. Generally sitting off shooting sticks, and pretty often prone off a pack.

this is a very good question, i shooting stick for me while big game hunting, ever since i witness a bear attack. it was just the best and only way to get it done safely.

Sitting off sticks usually and off hand when I'm close.

I can remember 1 I shot prone. The rest were the best supported position I had available at the time. Quite a few off hand a few left handed offhand too if they got too close behind me to the right. I always plan to have a rest for support. Sometimes you have to take what you get though.

I am with you on this, for the shooting position depends on the terrain and things like trees and other, as well as the type of game hunted. For example, where I hunt moose I have never shot offhand since there are all kinds of trees and things I can support the rifle on. I also hunt from a stationary position on a rocky knob where I can use not only trees to support the rifle, but wooden tripods that I build and place in strategic locations. In this area I can only shoot while standing, but I also carry a tall bipod that I can use if the need arrives, but I have never used it. The most steady rifle aim for a longer shot is one where the rifle is supported at the front, just ahead of the trigger guard, and also around 3" from the recoil pad. A friend of mine shoots targets at long range while supporting his rifle at the front, and the stock with a bipod. He wins competitions that way.

I learned the shooting positions when in the military, and my favorite was the prone. But I doubt that I will have the chance to shoot that way where I hunt because of the tall brush and trees blocking the view.

Thursday I used an electric pole standing.

I use a rest of some type for 99% of my shots any more. Bi-pod, mirror sitting, tripod, tree, hood, box, standing. Prone off a pack if terrain will allow. We have some huge boulders on our property and used them as shooting rests also. I bet it has been 5-6 years since I took an initial shot off hand.

I don't have percentages but the vast majority of mine are braced in some way.

For the last several yrs I've been using Stoney Point shooting sticks (2 legs).
Before that I was in deer leases and shot from box stands.

I have shot some deer off hand but it's not my preference. I assure you I'm much better
off hand shooting moving (walking or running) deer. The fluid movement makes it more certain.
I'd say I'm only 50/50 at standing deer off hand.

Jerry

This year;
elk, sitting w/sticks 230 yds.
2 antelope, sitting w/sticks, 1167yds.; 1@ 120yds.
deer, prone @ 310 yds. over daypack.
4 shots fired!

Fascinating topic and thread. I am a bit surprised at how few shoot offhand, but then, like Okie John, I go east to hunt mule deer and waaay east to hunt antelope.

At least 50% of my shots lifetime have been offhand, probably more. When possible I prefer a brace: lean on a tree etc. A high percentage of my shots are under 50 yards, and a lot of those are offhand. As I age, I risk spooking game in order to get a more solid shot.

I've shot two antelope prone and can't think of another animal shot from a prone position. Can recall two shot from a sitting position, braced on my knees. In my haunts we can't see game when prone, and bipods are seldom right for the terrain and vegetation. Lately I have been carrying a wooden walking stick, similar to what writer Sam Fadala called a Moses Stick. Wood is quieter than metal or carbon sticks and I discard and pick up new ones frequently. It is infinitely adjustable to its full length. At least half of my shots have been braced by a stick in recent years.

When I call game, and I call every kind of critter that I hunt, I pick up a stick on the spot to use as a brace and trim it as needed to fit the terrain.

60% from a shooting house or tree stand with a rail
20% kneeling
20% off a mono pod

Mostly from a rail of some sort in a stand, be it a box blind, tripod, or ladder. Some minor amount of offhand when a situation presents itself, and some sitting on the ground with my back against a tree.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and for me that mostly applies to some creative finding or spur of the moment construction of a secure rest. My ever present pack frame has served in most instances.

I try not to shoot off hand. Most of my shots have been between 100 yards and 300 yards. I prefer to use some kind of rest and most of the time I can find something. Occasionally it's only my trekking pole. But that's better than shooting off hand.

I can shoot reliably well in the sitting position specially when it's down hill.

KC
'

Two deer in the past two weeks split my stats:
1. 30 yards while I was standing and steadying the rifle on a wooden walking stick I'd picked up. My front hand was lightly gripping the stick and rifle fore-end. The deer was standing still.
2. 40 yards offhand while standing, at a walking deer with a be-quick-or-don't-get-the-shot.

The first deer dropped on the spot with a high shoulder shot as it angled slightly toward me. Mule deer doe. The second deer went 28 yards with a broken low shoulder plus heart and one lung taken out. I wobbled and hit two inches lower than intended. Whitetail buck.

Still running 50-50 on offhand shots. vs rest/steady braced shots.

Most of the deer I've taken in the past 10 years have been shot off a sandbag placed onto a 2X6 shooting rail while sitting in a folding chair.

The new tower blind I built is considerably more primitive-- just a 1X3 top rail with pipe insulation covering the top surface. I'm still figuring out how to get the swivel recliner hoisted in.