HOW-TO
Shoot Better Faster
By deliberating too much, you can miss your chance. Here's how to get that shot off quickly.
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"Acceptable aim." I had to redefine that terms after the pronghorn episode. The buck had run into a distant valley, spurred by a shot from another quarter. I'd followed, angling to intercept him when he slowed. The plan worked, and I spied him at 300 yards before he saw me. At 150 yards brush and terrain permitted a sitting shot, and I should have been satisfied with that. But just a few more steps would give me a poke from a steadier prone position. Hunched over, I dashed forward, flopped down and snugged the sling. The buck had only to walk into my reticle, now all but dead-still. And he would have. But two does spotted me and made off. The buck rocketed past at full throttle; I had no shot.
GOOD ENOUGH IS GOOD ENOUGH
It's good policy to shoot only when you're confident of a kill. Sport in hunting is in the finding of game, not the shooting. While a shot may be the trip's climax, it's not properly an adventure. When you trigger a round, the result should be a lethal hit every time--or almost every time. Be as sure as an assassin, and you'll rarely miss or cripple game.
On the pronghorn hunt last year I had a chance at two fine bucks the first day. I botched both. The antelope that sped through my scope field came along a couple of hours after I'd stalked another. I'd fired at that one, prone, with a super-accurate Dakota .25-06. Low in the grass, my rifle had been steady. But a perfect sight picture won't prevent bullet deflection or shorten the distance. I can't say why I missed, but it's clear to me now that a shot from the sit earlier and closer would have been smarter. I'm sometimes a slow learner.
You may have once blazed away at game, hoping for a hit. In my feckless youth I did, and then I got religion from a shooting coach who didn't like nines.
"If you can hit the 10-ring once, you can do it again," insisted Earl. "Take care with each shot, and you'll do it almost every time."
Because competitive shooters can ill afford a bad letoff, perfect shot execution became my goal.
Naturally, I failed. So I took more time with each shot to eliminate fliers. A couple of state prone championships and a qualifying score for the Olympic finals resulted. Meanwhile, my performance on big game improved, provided I had time to sling up and build a solid position. But I noticed, too, that animals I once would have shot ran off before I managed a sight picture. Practiced deliberation had made good shots better, but the urgent shots were suddenly beyond me. My first deer had tumbled, on the run, at 90 yards in timber. I'd kill two more sprinting whitetails before I got a standing shot. By the time I'd become somewhat accomplished on the smallbore circuit, my reflexes had been dulled by discipline. Any deer that moved was safe.
If you're not hitting game, you'd best be candid with yourself. Why blame rifle, ammo or scope? While bullet deflection can cause you to miss, it shouldn't happen often. You're responsible for each shot--for readying the rifle before the hunt, then holding it, aiming it and loosing the bullet.
A gust of wind or a last-second shift of the target at long range can scuttle your best efforts, so to expect a killing shot every time is unrealistic. But a miss or crippling hit should be as rare as a visit from a movie star, even if you're not a particularly deliberate marksman. You can always decide not to shoot; you'll sometimes get a better opportunity. And when you don't, the worst you've done is allow an animal its freedom.
For all the emphasis on long shooting these days, it's still true that most big animals live in or near cover that precludes long shots. My last five big-game kills came at 50, 80, 125, 75 and 70 yards. But close shooting can deny you the luxury of time. In each case, I had to shoot as reticle movement diminished to an acceptable level. To wait for a motionless sight picture would have been to lose my chance.
Confidence has a lot to do with fine marksmanship. Doubt that you'll hit well, and you probably won't. Intrinsic rifle accuracy matters, but you don't need one-hole groups to inspire confidence. Under field conditions, you'll do well to hold two minutes of angle, even from prone or with a rest. Figure four MOA sitting or kneeling. Shoot into six minutes consistently offhand, and you'll be a top-flight game shot.
LONGER HOLD, MORE WOBBLE
Speed and precision are mutually exclusive. You cannot be extremely fast and extremely accurate at the same time. But you can be slow and inaccurate. On the hunt, you'll profit from practice that forces a cadence fast enough to leak the occasional poor shot.
Acceptable aim is what you're taught for defensive shooting, where center shots aren't necessary and speed can be crucial. It's also the mantra at Gunsite Academy's hunting-rifle school, where instructors Eric Olds and Il Ling use timers to expose targets only long enough for "first picture" shooting.
"Begin the squeeze as soon as the sight is on target," says Eric. "The longer you hold, the more you wobble. The more you wobble, the longer you'll take to squeeze, the more likely you are to jerk."
