Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Practice: so you get can hit you deer..

Ok we have had the thru the shoulder, behind the shoulder, meat waste thread.

Now how do you practice in order that you can hit your deer in the chosen location?

Myself: 500-600 reloads per year. Off the bench and various field shooting positions. Couple bricks of .22lr/yr off hand and field positions while barrel cools or just screwing around.

I guess most can get it done one way or the other, but to be consistant it takes practice. What say you?

Battue

In addition dry firing. I have a deer print on the wall I've shot at so many times it should fall off the hanger. Good for acquiring subconcious sight pictures so when the real thing happens it becomes automatic.

I don't practice much anymore, but I do shoot a lot..I shoot rockchucks out my kitchen window, and a Badger or Fox from time to time...I do some testing and chronographing and sighting in..I always finish each session with 10 to 20 off hand shots.

I guess my practice is jack rabbits running with about any rifle I happen to have handy...

I believe every hunter should be able to shoot well off hand and to take reasonable running shots with a 95% success rate..I think every hunter should be skilled with both iron sights and scope sights, but that is not always the case with this generation as the scope dominates and I think many don't realize how accurate iron sights can be and how much fun it is to hunt with them. I believe hunters should have to take a shooting test to get an hunting license, but in a free society that will not happen and I can live with that.

I practice a lot. Regularly. I hold hunting game in high regard, and want to make the best shot I can when in the field. I'll bench a rifle, or go prone with it, but only to get zeroed in and develop a good load. After that - I practice from standing, kneeling, sitting and prone. Other than targets, I'll go for rockchucks, coyotes and other vermin as things permit. I practice regularly from 25 yards to 600 yards. Lots of fun. Like you, I make heavy use of the .22 rimfire. It's accurate, easy to shoot and inexpensive to shoot. I can burn a LOT of .22 rimfire ammo without beating myself up, without burning up an expensive barrel and without breaking my shooting budget.

Besides - it's fun! Time to time I'll shoot a match, but mostly I just shoot.

How much/how often? About every two weeks I'll spend a day or a half day at the range. I go through 1000 - 2000 rounds of centerfire rifle ammo every year. Somewhere around 2000 - 5000 rounds of .22 rimfire ammo is not unusual either.

Regards, Guy

I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't get in nearly enough range time. We are just plain running out of place to shoot here around the Twin Cities. The last public range left on the south end of town closed a couple years ago, lost to urban sprawl. We have an hour drive to get to a range open to the public. I just found out about a range not too far from here run by the American Legion. You have to be a Legion member. I've been told that I can join the Legion due to the the fact that I'm the son of a vetern. I hope to explore this opportunity soon. It sucks having to go so far to shoot, but if we want to get our range work in, this is the price we pay.

Pointer said I shoot "too much", so there you go.

I get some range time here in So Cal, some long range practice in the desert and one can shoot the Running Deer first Sat of each month at the Corona Sportsmans club, a real hoot with a full size NRA deer target at about 135 yards,, runs on a cable, each shooter gets 5 trys at 4 shots apiece,, good practice for Whitetails busting the woods,,Best practice for me is in Montana and North Dakota, shooting at long range. load testing etc

Between squirrels and rifle tuning, I do about 6 to 7,000 rds a year. Who has time to practice.

There ya go! We don't have that many squirrel critters here. They sure make good pop-up targets though!

I don't shoot much, anymore, except when wringing out a new load or rifle - then only enough to find out what it will do, what flavor it likes, etc. But I do shoot careful at game! Flinging shots at distant and/or departing game just ain't my thing, and I can make most other shots... with a solid rest if I can get it, offhand if I must and conditions are favorable (read close and not moving fast). And bigger is better!

I've said this numerous times before, but here goes again- of at least equal value to pouring a lot of rounds out of your barrel is carrying the rifle a lot in off-season, dry-firing, and practicing getting into the various field positions quickly, until the firearm becomes a natural extension of yourself in the field, and choosing the correct posture/position/rest comes nearly without thought. I don't do enough of the latter, admittedly. But I carry one or another firearm nearly every time we go for a woods/trail hike, and even around the hill in back much of the time (There was a bear track I could put my size 10 boot in back there a couple nights ago... and the Lab had his hackles up and a deep rumble, with no indication he wanted to go chase a hare!))

It's like riding a bike - once you learn how (and for newbies, learning how does take some practice), it doesn't take relentless pounding out of the miles after that to be able to pedal down the road (99% of hunting-shoot situations) a few miles.

On the other hand, if you are entering an ironman or other competition, you'd better condition yourself for the task at hand. Especially in the more difficult endeavors of handgunning and wing-shooting.

Pouring many many rounds down the barrel of a rifle is over-hyped for most of our usual needs/conditions, IMO.

As it was said in the movie Dodgeball, "If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball."

If you can hit a clay bird MPAJ/standing etc at various distances you can kill a deer.

Bench is for your press.

I have a 600 yard facility 10 minutes from my house,so it's no sweat to be at the range 2-4 times a week.I burn a lot of 22 RF ammo off-hand,and generally a couple thousand rounds of CF each year. This down from what it used to be, but I still get enough in, I think.

I stay on the rifles I hunt with pretty hard,and spread the shooting load over several rifles to save wear and tear. I rarely have a day before hunting season when I have to go "sight in", because they are in zero pretty much year round, unless I change scope or load.

A lot of time is spent at 200-500 yards, occaisionally 600; and off hand with the centerfire at 100.What is interesting is shooting with a tight sling from the off-hand position at 185-200 yards.It is sorta fascinating to see how much better your groups get when you are looped-up.

Most of my shooting (95%) is from the bench. Due to reconfiguration ot the range at my club, I zero for calculated MPBR at one of the 100-yard ranges, then shoot at 300-600 yards.

I do enough shooting from field poositions to feel comfortable, mostly with sticks, prone, sitting and kneeling, and usually with some kind of improvised rest. The least used position is offhand while standing - can't remember the last time I took such a shot at game, might be 22-23 years.

'Yote Hunter - I'm with you on wanting to shoot from a rest if possible. But I gotta tell ya, several of my deer over the past ten years or so were taken when I was quietly walking in on 'em and got a shot opportunity. A couple from standing, and a couple when I had time to drop from standing to sitting or kneeling. Took my big elk from sitting a few years ago after stalking him while he was bugling. That was cool...

Seems to me I've shot several deer from standing - although I'd have rather shot 'em from a good solid rest. Ranges were pretty short on the standing shots, furthest was about 125 yards I believe. Hunting with a traditional muzzle loader got me into stalking game more - to close the range. And has apparently had a side affect of giving me more shots from standing.

But yes - like you I'd rather be steady as a rock, with my rifle rested over a nice cushy backpack or something and gently squeeze the trigger once the crosshairs settle solidly in place...

Regards, Guy

Yes, plenty of time with the units in hand is valuable too, and automatically comes with lots of shooting. All aspects become more instinctive, and one can operate all the components from loading, finding the safety, and aiming without thought. I see these processes as being extremely important for those in dark timber where time and opportunity are fleeting. Less so in spot and stalk situations where one may wait 2 hours for a target to stand and offer opportunity.

I've not been one who was into speed loading or shooting. If we have two rounds down the tube and the animal isn't down, it's time to go back to camp and rezero. 1Minute
1Minute

I think the kajillions of BB's and pellets I put "downrange" (ha!) in my childhood really help me with my offhand shooting. I'm not naturally steady offhand, but I have a gift when it comes to grabbing the shot as it goes by, if that makes any sense.

Gun handling is often overlooked in practicing. How many people practice speed loading? That is, shoot one, load three (or four as the case may be). I like to shoot double taps at pie plates, the first at 100, the second at 150.

For good fun I set up a El Presidente' and shoot it with my '06; targets at 50 yards...

Exactly!

No one is "naturally steady" in off-hand. Hell no one is steady at all! The trick is to anticipate the wobble and co-ordinate it with your squeeze....

Shooting at running game (which I have done rarely), is like wing shooting, usiing the same technique. start from behind, swing through, and pull the trigger as the crosshair passes your chosen point of aim.

Sometimes it even works! I don't practice at tires with targets rolling downhill, so the "sometimes" tends to keep me away from running shots except at very close ranges.

I only shoot outdoor about 1/2 times a month. Indoor with the 22 on Sunday nights is more frequent.

Lots of position shooting, some pistol and some sporting clays/trap as time permits.

My best practice the last ten years has been on sage rats. They seem to improve my other shooting a great deal.

Dry firing or "snapping in" nearly ebery day the last month before the seasons start is another important tool.

Finally airguns of various types are a big deeal in our backyard.

I second the sage rats.. Amazing what a 22 can do to those things