Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Why cant people shoot????

Not enough practice with the real deal, field positions as stated above. Also not enough practice period. One trip to the range with 10 shots in 3-5" off bags is not a good thing, when one gets the shot opportunity that counts. At very least spend some time with a 22LR. JMHO DougD

I dry fire my rifles and pistols - a lot - every night as a matter of fact. Sometimes several different sessions a day. When I go to the desert to shoot my test loads off the bench, I take a hunting rifle or three and shoot from field positions at various unknown ranges - mainly rocks or sticks way out there. Including laying down in the dirt and shooting.....I also look at every picture of game animals I can, and visualize where I'd hold when I shot at it. I think the result is that I have muscle memory built up for the hold and for breaking the shot, with out having to think about it. It also helps with the hit percentage, to get real close to the animal!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

The weirdest thing is that when I shoot an animal, after the shot I don't remember where the cross hairs were when I pulled the trigger. I think I know where I aimed, but I can't slow down the replay in my head to frame by frame and see the cross hairs at the instant of the shot. It must work cause I have been doing pretty well on the game - I hope I haven't jinxed myself..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Funny thing, everybody wants to whine about how so few guided hunters can shoot and all the guided hunters wonder why bear guides insist on shooting bears, especially big ones, as soon as the client puts a bullet in them.

There was someone here whining a couple years back about being on a guided brown bear hunt and his guide shot the bear for him. Seems he shot at the bear and missed. Guide assumed NO ONE could miss a shot that easy, so he shot. Fella had nerve enough to bitch about the fact the guide thought he had a wounded bear... that showed no signs of being hit!

Ever wonder what a brown bear guide is thinking when the client insists on going in front of the guide and "facing down a bear" as I have heard hunters say???
art

This is a spin off but I had an odd experience with a companion missing game, when I�d seen him pull off superb shots. He nailed a coyote at 392 looong paces across an alfalfa field, standing with a rest over the top of a fence post, with his .22-250. He head shot a moose at nearly 300 yards when that�s all we could see, that time with a leaner on a tree. Then on a trip for elk where he had drawn a doe tag for whitetail after the regular season, he missed several deer at point blank range. On the drive in, a nice doe stood beside the old logging road and our friend got out and missed it twice, at 40 feet and then again at 25 yards, both times as it stood broadside. My son turned to me and said, �This is going to be a long hunt.� Finally he nailed one, with a rest at a good 100 yards.

About a year later we discovered that he had severe heart disease, and at times his heart was barely working. His work performance was also erratic, and suddenly all of his odd behaviors from excellent to �lazy,� good shot to atrocious, made sense.

This has nothing to do with poor shooting in general, except a heads up if you run into someone similar.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

264b, The guy that missed 12 shots, I begged him to shoot his rifle, both before, and during the hunt, he said that it was shooting good before he left, and he drove, so there was no way it could be knocked off. I said ok, its your dime. The feller I took out today, had a nasty divorce last year, and now has no guns, I maybe could see his reason for missing, but I have killed plenty of stuff with other peoples guns, that I have never shot, it just not that hard as some people make it. Oh well, same [bleep] different day.

Toby Joe

Dont get me wrong, I not gripping because clients miss, It is a blessing to have the clientel that I have, but, it amazes me that people spent the kind of money that they do, then dont bother to shoot, and practice, when they know in their own minds that they cant shoot. What makes me cringe, is seeing game wounded, I love clean misses, compared to wounded game. I dont know if it is right or wrong, good or bad, but I have a wound policy. If it bleeds, it is your animal, This is one of the toughest things for me to do. Is enforce this rule, but I do stick buy it, as much as I can.

TobyJoe

Toby, You sound like a fun guy to spend a few days with. I have been on a few guided hunts where it was mandatory and have seen some examples of incompetnce on the part of the guides also. I used to think being a guide would be a super job. But after seeing how hard they work I changed my mind long ago. Sicero

TJR,

I attribute lack of shooting skill to the following:

a.) Some folks are too cheap to buy/reload enough ammo to get in the quality trigger time required to be a good shot.

b.) Some folks are too lazy and/or lack the dedication required to amass said trigger time.

c.) Some folks lack the self control/discipline to hold their fire when presented with a shot that they know they don't have a prayer of making, and take the shot anyway.

Just my 2 cents.

Jeff

Jeff
I think you left out one;
d.) Some people absolutely suck at all things attached to coordination.
art

Practice, practice, practice. I have never accepted a dime for my efforts but have acted as a guide for friends chasing pronghorn, deer, and elk after I moved to eastern Oregon years ago. I did the preseason scouting, got them within 100 yards on standing game, and then have to watch them miss 6 or 7 critters before finally scoring a hit. Post trip test shots with the rifles usually explode softball sized rocks at 150 to 200 yards. At least their rifles were on. The stress of those sessions was too much, and I don't view those trips as opportunities any more. One of those fellows was upset recently when he missed a bull on a high dollar trip and discovered that the guide's efforts immediately went elsewhere. The outfit promised a decent shot at a bull. If one missed, he was on his own after that. Might be an expensive way to learn a lesson, but I bet it's gotten through to some. I feel the same way about my seasons. If mother nature shows me a legal standing animal for 5 seconds, then I've had my chance. If I'm unsuccessful, it's my fault. I'd be willing to mentor a seriously dedicated kid, but not anymore adults. Accepting $$$$$ would make the stress unbearable. I suspect that many huntiers are truly ignorant of their firearms capabilities and shortfalls. Another group is simply too lazy to devote the time to develop decent skills. I am often amazed at how some hunters finally score a coveted tag, drive into the unit at midnight before opening day, hunt Saturday and half of Sunday, and then head home physically drained. If that's all the effort they will give a hunt, then it's a bit much to expect them to spend another half day just getting the rudiments of their firearms down. I doubt that we will see things get any better as time passes. Most are just too urbanized and pinched for time, even though they can spend 8 hours per weekend watching sports on TV. I'm sure I expect way too much from people. My hat is off to those with the patience to be professional guides. I couldn't handle it.

I was thinking about this thread again last night and I got'er all figured out. It's not that folks can't shoot, they all shoot, it's they can't hit what they are shooting at. Being a noticer and all, I noticed they do have reasons for their misses. So in no particular order here's a Top 25 list. Feel free to add more:

1. Sun was in my eyes.
2. I couldn't see it clearly in my scope.
3. It was too steep up/down hill.
4. I thought it was further.
5. I thought it was closer.
6. I was looking at the antlers.
7. I must'a bumped my scope off.
8. The clerk said it was all bore sighted and ready to go.
9. I was trying a different brand of ammo.
10. I was trying a different weight/brand of bullet.
11. I was trying a different brand of powder.
12. Must'a been the elevation change.
13. Wind blew off my shot.
14. I couldn't get a steady rest.
15. It was moving too fast.
16. I hit a (bush, branch, blade of grass) in front of it.
17. My scope mounts were loose.
18. I had the scope turned up too high.
19. My scope was fogged.
20. It's the first time I've tried this new gun.
21. I'm not used to this new scope.
22. I was shaking too bad.
23. The trigger is too heavy.
24. The trigger is too light.
25. I might'a flinched a little.

Here's 5 more for the more advanced misser's.:
1. The parallax was off.
2. I must'a canted the rifle too much.
3. I didn't account enough for the mirage image.
4. I didn't lead him enough.
5. He moved right when I shot.

On the one's that I've missed, I just flat missed. I guess I'm just a rookie in that regard.

Few would admit it, but egos are resposible for their fair share of misses.
Some just will not admit that they are not proficient enough with a firearm to be consistantly accurate at normal ranges, under field conditions.
They'd sooner take a butt kicking than seek help in becoming a better shot.

I did kind of get a good laugh yesterday morning. I run a Swaro. 6-18 with the tds on my STW . I had the eye relief screwwed all the way out for me, and never thought to tell him. Well at least it drew blood on one end. After the first shot, I dont think he could see real good, because of the blood running in his eyes. He now has a permanent reminder, betwix his eyes. So I think he was flinching a little the rest of the morning. This brings me to another addition to how my year has gone. I had 2 deer hunters 2 weeks ago, that had killed out on the second day, and decided that they wanted to kill an Audad. So myself, and one other guide,leave the ranch we were hunting, and head to my sheep ranch. My guy killed a 30 inch sheep, at daylight. We head back to eat lunch and see how the others guys morning went. He didnt kill anything, so we all got together for the afternoon hunt. We head to the area that we are going to hunt, unload the 4 wheelers and head out. I tell my guy, who is shooting a 300 weatherby, to take his rifle along, just in case we get into some pigs, and because we are on the 4 wheeler, I dont take my rifle, in which turned out to be a huge mistake. We get on some sheep, the other hunter gut shoots one, the sheep runs off about 350 yrds, and beds down. This guys shoots at him several more times, and just cant hit him. The sheep is hurt bad enough that he wont get up, but is still plenty alive, but is close to the neighbors fence. The hunter turns and looks at me, and says hes out of bullets. He had only brought 5 shells with him, and the others were back at the 4 wheeler, which was a good 2 miles back. I asked him if he would mind if I shoot, he said he didnt mind a bit, so I grabbed the 300 weatherby from my hunter. I touched it off, and the next thing that I know, is everyone is crownded around me, looking down at me, blood is pouring off my face, and nose, Im seeing stars. Come to find out, this guy is lt handed, shooting a rt handed rifle, but is right eye dominant, so he had his scope set waaaay back so that he could look across his rifle through his rt eye. Well it cooled me, and know I have a permanent reminder betwixt my melon. I did hit the sheep though, so all was good I guess. Ah the joys.

Toby Joe

Was guiding a grizzled old logger from Oregon one time for caribou, he'd taken an okay caribou but I spotted a nice one across the lake and talked him into going after it.

The stalk dang near did him in, he was wearing a full length oilskin duster, sweatshirt and stocking hat along with his daypack. After getting him to let me take his pack and dropping the duster, I encouraged, cussed and cajoled him into getting in position to make the shot, emphasis on the cussing part.

He was set up nice with his Ruger #1 in 7mag, had a good rest with the pack and bore down on the caribou at 200-225 away (before rangefinder days) he shoots and I see dirt fly up. "What the %$(&@* happened?" I asked. His reply "I missed azzhole, you ever missed any f...ing thing you shot at?" (redfaced) Uhh yeah. 2 more shots and we were moving into postition to take pics as the sun was going down, what a beautiful evening it was with a pretty caribou on the ground. Had to find our way back to the boat in the dark and only time to my recollection I've ever left any game in the field. I left him with one of my flashlights to signal me where he was on the shore as he was done in. Got the boat found him and thankfully a pard had set a lantern on the beach to guide us across the lake.

Can't begin to tell you the satisfaction it was cruising across the lake that was like glass for a change, with a tired but successful hunter who remains one of my favorites to this day. I really liked Don, and to this day, it helps me remember that everyone misses once in awhile. Thank God he was a logger, someone from a more gentle profession might of been asking for a refund after my motivational speech on the stalk.(grin)

That was over 10 years ago, but the memory is as fresh as yesterday. Twas a good time. There's some other stories that go with that hunt and that hunter, but for another day. The moral he was handy with that #1, but he missed once with it during our time together and no bsing on his part when he did, just "I missed....." He was the KIND.

My favorite excuse, and the one I use when I miss........

"I SUCK!"

LMAO, I used to shake my rifle, Now I just bang my head on the nearest tree and curse.

It is very hard for most people to have access to a range where they can shoot at 100, 200 and 300 yards.

They also don't do enough small game hunting, where the stalking and intense observation skills are the same as for big game. The shot opportunity, the decision, the reflexes, getting into position quickly and without spooking game, are all the same for crows, squirrels and rabbits.

What almost everyone can do is buy a good air rifle and air pistol and practice at home. They also make safe, silent varmint killers for rats, starlings, pigeons, etc. There are plenty of farmers and businesses at the edge of every town who will welcome the safe eradication of pests, and that is a great way to build trust and get access to untapped big game land.

I think most people don't practice or even shoot their guns to check them after they sight them in for the first time. I heard a hunter say he had not shot his rifle in 2 years at a deer or a target. The guy said he had not seen a good deer to shot and that his gun was still zeroed from 2 years a go when he bought it. I think it goes back to respect for the game you are taking. A lot of hunters now just hunt to kill and don't understand what hunting is all about. If you are going to do something do it right or don't do it. I have seen deer with their horns shot off, I guess the shooter was looking at the horns instead of aiming the gun.