practice visualizing the shot
What helped me harvest a first deer -2 days ago- was repeated visualizing practice exercises. It took 8 day or partial day trips to get my first buck. So I saw a lot of deer during those hunts.
Here's what I did to practice visualizing the shot:
For example whenever I saw a Mulie while their season was closed, or a Whitetail doe during WT buck season, I would shoulder the rifle and place the reticle on the exact spot where I would have taken the shot had that sex or species been 'in season'.
If the 'practice' deer was walking I'd track it through the scope or 'ambush' it at the next opening in the trees. If it was busy feeding and looking up from time to time, it would present shots from multiple angles. I learned that quartering on or away shots do not look like picture-perfect broadside opportunities. To a first-timer like me non-broadside presentations can be quite disconcerting, so the practice helped settle me down.
Anyhow, all that visualizing (and sometimes even dry firing) helped when that little buck strolled up head-on from 70 yards away. Up went the rifle and off went the shot. Three leaps and it fell dead like tossing a 100# sack of potatoes.
Half the heart was shredded and there was much lung damage.
To conclude, you have to be quick with whitetails for their senses are very keen. This year, visualizing helped me act with confidence, quickly.
edit:
Andrew, you beat me to that piece of advice. Last year was my first time hunting deer and I screwed up because of anxiety and lack of familiarity with a number of matters, incl. being freaked at how far a 50yd deer looks like at 2x when I was used to 10x and 18x target optics. That deer looked like it was "500"yds out and I shot below it due to not following through.
Good luck CarJunkie.
What helped me harvest a first deer -2 days ago- was repeated visualizing practice exercises. It took 8 day or partial day trips to get my first buck. So I saw a lot of deer during those hunts.
Here's what I did to practice visualizing the shot:
For example whenever I saw a Mulie while their season was closed, or a Whitetail doe during WT buck season, I would shoulder the rifle and place the reticle on the exact spot where I would have taken the shot had that sex or species been 'in season'.
If the 'practice' deer was walking I'd track it through the scope or 'ambush' it at the next opening in the trees. If it was busy feeding and looking up from time to time, it would present shots from multiple angles. I learned that quartering on or away shots do not look like picture-perfect broadside opportunities. To a first-timer like me non-broadside presentations can be quite disconcerting, so the practice helped settle me down.
Anyhow, all that visualizing (and sometimes even dry firing) helped when that little buck strolled up head-on from 70 yards away. Up went the rifle and off went the shot. Three leaps and it fell dead like tossing a 100# sack of potatoes.
Half the heart was shredded and there was much lung damage.
To conclude, you have to be quick with whitetails for their senses are very keen. This year, visualizing helped me act with confidence, quickly.
edit:
Andrew, you beat me to that piece of advice. Last year was my first time hunting deer and I screwed up because of anxiety and lack of familiarity with a number of matters, incl. being freaked at how far a 50yd deer looks like at 2x when I was used to 10x and 18x target optics. That deer looked like it was "500"yds out and I shot below it due to not following through.
Good luck CarJunkie.
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