Realistic hunting challenge

[Jack Ryan]

So, what's your practice regime for where and how you hunt?

Don't hunt 'em like they are Walmart paper and don't miss. It's hunting a life trophy animal, not a Youtube challenge.

 

[Chuck R.]

Don't hunt 'em like they are Walmart paper and don't miss. It's hunting a life trophy animal, not a Youtube challenge.

You're not one of those guys that shows up at the range a few days before the opener with a partial box of shells, puts 3 shots in a group the size of a pie plate at 100yds off a bench, and calls it good are you?

 

[.38 Special]

I am all for realistic practice, and figure this video might be a step in the right direction.

I still have concerns, though. The folks planning on taking shots at live animals in excess of five or six hundred yards really ought to take realism to the extreme: One shot from a cold, clean barrel, taken while cold/hot/tired/whatever, from a realistic field position, with a bit of time pressure, at a distance determined by whatever method you actually use in the field - and ideally, at a target which moves suddenly, randomly, and unpredictably.

When a fellow is capable of making that hit nearly 100% of the time, then he is ready for action. I know that there are people who fall into that category - but I strongly suspect that a great many people who think they are really are not.

 

[Hookeye]

Wont shoot a yardage unless its been practiced.
Used to make some thread the needle and long for platform shots when younger, better eyes, and had some ego.
Better shot than hunter.

Am older, lesser and lazy.
Maybe wiser?

Enjoy the hunt more than the kill.
Killed enough.

Anymore just want to get closer.

Haven't shot for a while, new to me rifle, not the best scope, yup, half inch at 100 w just a front bag.
Aint that rusty.

That said, I did get new glasses couple days before

 

[Hookeye]

Wont do NRL22 or shoot funky positions because of arthritis.
Aint gonna suffer for the sake of practice.
Do what I have always done and if won't let me take a shot so be it.

Varminting has mostly been prone w a bipod.
Not keen on dragging around a tripod.
A pack is something I will try shooting from this summer though.

Proly shoot out to 500 on range, see how it goes.
I don't have a 7mm or .257 mag at the moment

 

[Chuck R.]

Wont do NRL22 or shoot funky positions because of arthritis.
Aint gonna suffer for the sake of practice.

Funny you mention that..

We were practicing NRL22 on SAT out to 200yds; prone, off a tank trap and a folding chair (prone under, off the seat and off the top) and my buddy royally screwed up his back scrunching up to shoot between the seat and the back.

Now he can't shoot skeet/trap tomorrow, so yea we're rethinking the age VS capabilities thing.

 

[Hugger-4641]

Don't hunt 'em like they are Walmart paper and don't miss. It's hunting a life trophy animal, not a Youtube challenge.

That's a pretty dodgy answer.
Heres what I do:
At least two weeks before hunting season, I have already fine tuned my load, verified my 100yd and 200yd poi at my home range, gone to the 300yd range and practiced, and gone to my club range at least once to check the dope for whatever rifles I'm gonna use, and taped it to the back of my flip up lense cap. Last year I hunted with a. 270, a 6.5cm , 300wm, and 45colt. Obviously I only checked the colt out to 200 and the area I used it in didn't offer any more than that. The .270 was intended for use in an area that offered 300yds, so that was all I checked it at. The 300wm and 6.5cm were doped out to 600, but the 300wm is really the only one I might have considered trying that far. Before this I have also verified ranges of different trees or land marks in my hunting areas and have them noted in Hunt Stand and/or Google maps. I do use a rangefinder while hunting if time allows.
I do also practice offhand, sitting and prone using bipod, and standing with a tripod, and using a rail on my deck to simulate hunting from my tree stands that have shooting rails. I also practice getting into my stands, into shooting positions, and getting my safety off without making noise.
Reading wind is probably my biggest weakness, but that doesn't really come into play until 400yds or more.

 

[HB]

I think guys who practice regularly out to 600 are more likely to make clean kills on game than your average hunter. Your average hunter can’t hit squat if he has to get off the bench.

 

[WestKentucky]

He's got 5 or 6 of these videos out now and his son is in #3 or4. The only thing I don't agree with is how he shoots prone in every video so far. We don't always have that option so I'd like to see him shoot from a tree stand or using a stump or fence post for a rest. Those are real life shots I've had to make frequently at 300 to 400yds.

I hadn’t thought of it but I have to agree. The best whitetail I have ever laid down is the ONLY hunting shot i have ever taken prone. The buck was occupied with a doe that was standing for him so I had a little time. I was also cresting a rise trying to gain ground out of sight and taking advantage of a little wind and road noise as cover. Laying in the right-hand track of a double-track ATV trail I could barely see over the waist-high grass. I haven’t tried prone since because it just doesn’t work when the hunter is in anything but low grass or leaves. If your in an open field chances are it ain’t gonna happen. Hope for a fence post, make the hard shot, or pass the shot. If in the woods just find a tree to use. Prone seems to be primarily a target position. Sitting is pretty realistic, standing is the real deal.

 

[Hookeye]

Funny you mention that..

We were practicing NRL22 on SAT out to 200yds; prone, off a tank trap and a folding chair (prone under, off the seat and off the top) and my buddy royally screwed up his back scrunching up to shoot between the seat and the back.

Now he can't shoot skeet/trap tomorrow, so yea we're rethinking the age VS capabilities thing.

Tweaked mine at work last night. Left early snd crashed on couch. Just woke up snd seem better....
So went to bed LOL

Weather changes been rather dramatic lately so ive been grumpy all week.

Try to hit the range this weekend. BTW i shoot most of my deer offhand, but all have been sub 200.
Ive gone prone a few times, sitting or using a rest.

Know folks that if you mention stuff over 100, or talk of offhand, they think youre lying.

 

[OS/N]

Most of my deer hunts are early season in wooded areas with a carbine at under 100yrds. While the weather is still mild. Game is never in the same place, position, distance, and you normally only have a couple seconds to make a perfect shot that usually has to be made free handed.

If for some reason I need to hunt in the later season I move to open areas and use more rifle. 200 to 300 yard shots are the most common and make the most sense. The longer distances in that range require a stable shooting position.

Bench shooting and field hunting have little in common other than you should set your sights on a bench before you go afield. If you can't hit a target at 400yrds every shot including the first one on the bench with hunting ammo you should maybe limit your hunting distances to 200 and under. 200 yards would be your effective shooting distance under general conditions.

 

[H&Hhunter]

I’ve been shooting various targets from water filled jugs to buckets filled with rocks to “North American target rocks” at various ranges from various field positions for decades. I do it in the wind, in the rain, in the snow and the heat wave.

It teaches you what your limitations are and where you need to improve and what shots are doable on game and what shots you should pass. And here is a hint, longer ranges are one thing, how many of you practice short range snap shots or quickly dropping into a stable field position for a stable medium range shot and getting off a shot or two quickly and accurately? There is more to using a rifle than hitting stationary targets at long range.

I find the vast majority of hunters to be severely lacking in the art of the rifle. When I say that I don’t mean they are all lousy shots but most cannot use their rifles to their full potential. Nor do they even know what the potential of their rifle actually is.

 

[Hookeye]

I happen to also shoot movers. But theyre kinda close LOL. Really dont think about it. I see a deer and its a yes or no deal. If yes they i position my body to take the shot in the middle of my zone of movement. Same for birds w shotgun. Square up and point the toe where youre gonna kill it.

With compound ill adjust my butt on the treestand seat and square up hips. Have only shot one deer w recurve sitting. But compound take half of em sitting. Its comfy.

Indecision i think a possible.factor in making bad shots. Lack of commitment.

Of course being able to commit comes from knowing you will make the shot, and that comes from practice.

Too many shoot hoping to hit.

Dunno why some think thats an OK mindset.

Never subscribed to it.

 

[Hookeye]

Im very comfortable behind a rifle.
Small groups.off the bench builds confidence.

I got new cold weather clothes and that changes how the gun fits, stock length and scope position

For me thats more of a concern.

 

[Hookeye]

BTW i am super.picky on scope height and rifle fit.
It does make snap shooting way easy.
Honestly my 760.in .35 rem is dang near a magic wand in the woods

 

[Hugger-4641]

I shoot sillouet with my Henry and have done a lot of hunting with iron sights on 30-30 and 22lr, so I'm probably more comfortable than most with moving targets. Back in my teens I had a neighbor gave me the nickname "4 shot" because he'd have me shoot rats around his hog barn. When I started helping him, he'd put a propane torch down a hole, they'd come out another hole, run out across the feed lot and along the fences and I'd shoot them with an old Winchester 22lr with iron sights. Of course if they ever stopped, they were toast, but if I could get four shots off at a running rat he was done every time. Amazingly, I never hit one of his hogs either. After a year or so of this I was down to one or two shots most times on a runner, but he still called me "4 shot". No respect
I am still pretty good at moving targets, but even from a rest I've cut my effective range down to 200yds max unsupported and/or with iron sights. If I can't sling up then I'm probably not going much past 100yds with irons.

 

[H&Hhunter]

When I got my first double rifle I read about double rifles, handling them, accurately shooting them, reloading on the move etc etc.

I then took it out and made sure it was regulated for my load, and bought all the components I could find a 50 BMG reloading press and started shooting and reloading.

I took it out to my lease in Texas and shot hogs and coyotes and jack rabbits and floating sticks and rocks. I got so familiar and comfortable with the rifle that I could handle and shoot it like big .22. I could reload it without looking while walking, throw it up to my shoulder and pop a target or a hog on the run out to 100 ish yards with perfect confidence. I wound up running over 2,000 rounds through that poor old .470 NE in the first year I owned it. So many that I had to send it back to the maker to have it tightened up for my first Africa trip with it.

On that trip I killed a wildebeest at 258 yards off a standing rest. I killed a warthog and an impala with snap shots at close range. I killed my first elephant with a side brain shot at 35 yards or so and swatted a Cape buffalo bull in full charge inside of 15 yards.

The PH and tracker both commented on me being the most proficient iron sighted double gun client they’d ever had in camp. Clients with double guns generally scare the hell out of professional hunters, because most client hunters do not have the required skills and practice to properly use a double gun.

Realistic practice, lots of cycles and a bit of study in the art of your chosen rifle type go a long way in the field.

I knew that in ten modern lifetimes I’d never become proficient with a double gun shooting African mega fauna. But I could shoot hundreds of hogs and coyotes and rabbits while on foot with a double gun. Jump shooting wild hogs is an excellent simulator for African DG. The terrain and cover is very similar and hogs many times when scattered will run towards you perfectly simulating a charge.

Make your training opportunities count where and when you can.

 

[nick22]

My normal practice is standing shots on a 6" gong at 50 yards either with my ruger .223 bolt gun or my .22lr CZ. I will then move to 100 yards to a 12" steel plate both of these are offhand I also have a plate at 250 yards that I drop into a kneeling position for. If it gets longer than that I need sticks or go prone. Whatever you do once your rifle is sighted in and load developed stay away from the bench I haven't seen those in the field.

 

[Hugger-4641]

My normal practice is standing shots on a 6" gong at 50 yards either with my ruger .223 bolt gun or my .22lr CZ. I will then move to 100 yards to a 12" steel plate both of these are offhand I also have a plate at 250 yards that I drop into a kneeling position for. If it gets longer than that I need sticks or go prone. Whatever you do once your rifle is sighted in and load developed stay away from the bench I haven't seen those in the field.

Actually a couple of my blinds/stands are pretty much a bench type shooting position.

 

[dobedo]

I don't agree. My offhand limit on a whitetail is about 200yds. Yeah on good days I could do better but not consistently. Around here at least, at 300yds or more there's really no reason to shoot unsupported. You should be able to shoot prone, sitting, or find some kind of rest to shoot from at that distance.

Maybe if you are wide open country however, that goes out the window when hunting in heavily wooded areas.

 

[Hugger-4641]

Maybe if you are wide open country however, that goes out the window when hunting in heavily wooded areas.

Just the opposite. If I'm in woods I'm not likely to get a shot more than 100yds anyway and have done that offhand a lot, but I have also used the side of a tree as a rest many times.

 

[Hugger-4641]

Either he read this thread or we were a bit prophetic. He seems to have humbled himself a bit in this one:

One shot challenge #7 ( I didn't want to upload this )

The one shot challenge continues with the mule deer from a different position. #7

youtu.be

 

[Chuck R.]

Either he read this thread or we were a bit prophetic. He seems to have humbled himself a bit in this one:

One shot challenge #7 ( I didn't want to upload this )

The one shot challenge continues with the mule deer from a different position. #7

youtu.be

Like I said, the tripod has a learning curve.. and that was 405yds and it looks like very good conditions wind wise.

I do like his videos though, he's realistic. Fully agree with what he's talking about at the 9:00 minute mark to the end, where he compares his prone supported to his kneeling off the tripod. He said he'd feel comfortable with a 800 yard prone shot on an elk, vs maybe a 400 yds shot kneeling with the tripod.

That's probably the biggest benefit to this type of practice, learning capabilities based on conditions and your support.

 

[Hugger-4641]

Like I said, the tripod has a learning curve.. and that was 405yds and it looks like very good conditions wind wise.

I do like his videos though, he's realistic. Fully agree with what he's talking about at the 9:00 minute mark to the end, where he compares his prone supported to his kneeling off the tripod. He said he'd feel comfortable with a 800 yard prone shot on an elk, vs maybe a 400 yds shot kneeling with the tripod.

That's probably the biggest benefit to this type of practice, learning capabilities based on conditions and your support.

Agreed. I was wondering about his tripod set up when I watched this. My tripod set up rests further back on the forearm so the rifle is more balanced. I may have to compare his to mine and see which actually works better for me.

 

[Chuck R.]

Agreed. I was wondering about his tripod set up when I watched this. My tripod set up rests further back on the forearm so the rifle is more balanced. I may have to compare his to mine and see which actually works better for me.

So does mine:

Similar position, just using a bag on the tripod head:

I've had Arca rails installed on my longer range rifles just FWD of the magazine floor plates to achieve a better balance. Buuut, I don't think the position is the culprit. The kneeling position is just a harder position period. You can make it a little more stable using a backpack or a bag to "fill" the void between your chest and knees giving your elbows a little more support, but it's still probably not going to be as stable as sitting.