if the guy has no time threw out the year to shot then he should at least set up a target at hunt camp the day before the hunt and see of his gun works at the very least ...I know a few guys that never touch there guns all year ,yet there is one fellow that shoots a old savage lever gun in 300 sav with just plain old irons ,he pulls it out the day of the hunt and hits every deer he shoots at ,,,I shot all my guns at least the week before the season .just to make sure thy are working right and on target ,I do this with my turkey gun slug gun and deer rifle .all the rest get shot all year ,Dutch
Do You Do A Rifle Pre-Season Dust Off?
- Thread starter ronecol
- Start date
Watched a guy shoot at a cow moose from about 80 yards on the edge of a clearing from a bush trail back in 1993.
I remember because it was the year I turned 45; the age dad always told me that your body starts falling apart big time.
Well I saw the bark fly off a birch tree about a foot over the cows back as soon as he squeezed off the shot from a rather new looking Ruger model 77 in 30-06 topped by a high end Bushnell scope.
The cow ambled off and the hunter was sure he had hit it as he had aimed the crosshairs right behind the shoulder in "the boiler room" as he described it.
I showed him where the bullet had barked the tree and that if his aim was true his scope was grossly off.
He said he hadn't touched the scope adjustments since he bought the gun off the rack a week ago and that "it should be right on".
It seems this guy figured because he bought it new off the rack that the rifle and scope combo should be sighted in.
He told me that he had never fired the rifle let alone sighted it in before the day of the hunt.
I shook my head and continued on.
Where do you even start with a guy that clueless?
Thanks to those responders who have never missed and took the opportunity to lecture and share their expertise and virtues.
A little more about the chap of whom I spoke which was not intended to throw him to the dogs but as an example of the need / desire for preseason shooting. First off he'd be the first tell you that he should and would like to get in some preseason shooting. He's also the guy that does most of the dogging so it's seldom he sees a standing or walking deer. He's quick to get his knife out and gut the deer regardless who killed it and then will be helping drag it out - every time. He's very safety conscious and has an excellent sense of direction. He also does more than his share of the cooking and other camp chores. Besides that he's just a nice personable guy who enjoys the camp comradery and is a pleasure to be around. He fully enjoys his brief time away from work which is pretty evident by the smile usually displayed on his face. If he misses more than most that's OK with us as he more than makes up for it many other ways and I won't be passing on to him any of the criticisms or insults hurled here… which no doubt were well intended.
A little more about the chap of whom I spoke which was not intended to throw him to the dogs but as an example of the need / desire for preseason shooting. First off he'd be the first tell you that he should and would like to get in some preseason shooting. He's also the guy that does most of the dogging so it's seldom he sees a standing or walking deer. He's quick to get his knife out and gut the deer regardless who killed it and then will be helping drag it out - every time. He's very safety conscious and has an excellent sense of direction. He also does more than his share of the cooking and other camp chores. Besides that he's just a nice personable guy who enjoys the camp comradery and is a pleasure to be around. He fully enjoys his brief time away from work which is pretty evident by the smile usually displayed on his face. If he misses more than most that's OK with us as he more than makes up for it many other ways and I won't be passing on to him any of the criticisms or insults hurled here… which no doubt were well intended.
It really doesn't bother me when people miss a lot, but people that miss a lot, also tend to wound a lot of animals, which does bother me. So I could really care less how nice the fellow is, or how much he helps out, if he is wounding game on a regular basis.
Still alive
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Rainy mosquito infested part of BC
For those of us who plan, pay for food, set up campers, get the proper tags, think for weeks to make sure all eventualities are covered, not making sure the rifle is in working condition and sighted in for the ammo it will use is probably the most expensive mistake you can make!
Not only can you miss the shot of a lifetime but, even worse, you could end up wounding the animal and leaving it to suffer.
Not only can you miss the shot of a lifetime but, even worse, you could end up wounding the animal and leaving it to suffer.
I have had the dubious "pleasure" of breaking out the dogs and tracking wounded deer and moose into cedar swamps and suchlike shytholes they like to go to heal or die.
If a guy can't be bothered developing and periodically tuning up his firearm and his own skills to a point where he is reasonably proficient at dropping his quarry on the spot he needs to volunteer for the less glamorous hunt camp position of "chief cook and dish washer".
I used handloads exclusively 15 years ago.
Cranked a lot of ammo thru that big blue Dillon progressive when I shot competitive pistol internationally but sold off all the handguns the press and a lot of accessories a couple of years ago.
Now I shoot mostly factory ammo in my rifles.
The 325 grain FTX ammo is crazy accurate in my 336 in 35 Rem and my Guide Guns in 45-70.
That Nosler "Trophy" Accubond ammo is giving me superb results in my 308 Win, 30-06 Sprng and 300 Win Mag rifles.
I use whatever works the best whether hand load or factory.
I keep the rifles and my skills tuned up.
I won't keep a rifle that won't do 1" or smaller 3-shot groups @ 100 yards consistently.
I find the guys who beat their chests about how well they shoot and preach about ethics tend to be the worst offenders...Its a weird psychology but happens a lot. Bad shots happen from time to time with everyone if you hunt long enough. Getting on the interweb and preaching really serves no purpose. If you know someone who isn't confident in their shooting maybe invite them out for a shoot and show them some tips.
Amen to that.
Unfortunately the use of dogs to track big game isn't legal in many provinces.
Everyone will make a bad shot sooner or later if they hunt enough, but some people ,make bad shots on a regular basis. As to inviting them out to shoot, some people always have excuses why they can't make time to shoot, but they can always find time to hunt. I no longer hunt with a good friend, because of this. We are still good friends, but we no longer hunt together anymore.
The lack of the tracking dog option makes a good anchor shot even more imperative.
If I'm not 100% sure of a good anchor shot the finger stays out of the trigger guard and the animal walks.
This is me. And, even then, sometimes things STILL go wrong. The more variables you remove, the greater success you will have. In the last 15 years (since moving to AB), I have lost two animals. None shot by me but one I shot a week later and couldn't figure out why I smelled gut, until I opened her up. My shot destroyed the heart, another had clipped the top of the gut. A shot my wife made a week before and we lost the trail in a heard of does.
I have, however, tracked 3 separate animals shot by me up to 8 hours til I found them. In each case I had taken a "less-than-optimal" shot. In the past 10 I have passed up more shots than I have taken, but have only had to chase one animal more than 100yds.
Patience and practice
-Ted.
My dad is one of those old boys that takes his savage model 99 308 out and shoots it the weekend before season opens. Shoots a couple shots to make sure it's still acurate and then puts it away after the season is over. All the deer and moose he has shot didn't know that he doesn't shoot all year, and we haven't had to track his animals very far if at all. Me I'm of the other camp, I love shooting and I shoot as much as I can. Just goes to show you don't have to shoot all the time, if you know your rifle and make sure it's poi hasn't changed since last year.
I don't do that much recreational rifle shooting during the year but absolutely take the hunting rifle out a couple of times before the season to sight in and practice. I do the same with shotguns. The competition guns get put away and I use the hunting guns to shoot clay targets during the season.
My rifles are mostly stainless models with synthetic stocks that aren't subject to POI changes due to wood swelling that the wooden stocked rifles are.
I use the Warne QD rings on my 336s and Guide Guns and have never experienced a significant POI shift after dismounting and remounting the scope on any of these guns.
I fire 1/2 dozen confirmation shots with any gun I plan on using to hunt as close as possible to the time of the hunt to minimize temperature differences.
Don't see much point in recreational shooting with ammo that sells for over $50 per box.
I have 22LR rifles and handguns that I shoot recreationally to maintain my offhand shooting skill level with.
I handgun hunt every fall in ME, NH, PA so maintaining my offhand handgun shooting skills are important also.
As of last August my handgun inventory is now stored stateside where the handguns are much more useful to me for hunting/sustenance and self/home/family protection.
I use the Warne QD rings on my 336s and Guide Guns and have never experienced a significant POI shift after dismounting and remounting the scope on any of these guns.
I fire 1/2 dozen confirmation shots with any gun I plan on using to hunt as close as possible to the time of the hunt to minimize temperature differences.
Don't see much point in recreational shooting with ammo that sells for over $50 per box.
I have 22LR rifles and handguns that I shoot recreationally to maintain my offhand shooting skill level with.
I handgun hunt every fall in ME, NH, PA so maintaining my offhand handgun shooting skills are important also.
As of last August my handgun inventory is now stored stateside where the handguns are much more useful to me for hunting/sustenance and self/home/family protection.
If the animal bites the dust close to the POA (point of aim) both in time and distance he is doing it right.
To most 1, 2 or 3 gun hunters the gun is a game harvesting tool and there are only so many shots in a barrel.
In this economy pounding 3 or 4 boxes of factory ammo down range is an expensive proposition as is rebarreling a shot out rifle or buying a new rifle.
- Location
- WMU248 near Edmonton
yes indeed
When I'm running the range I spend a lot of my time helping out shooters figure out why they are having problems and basic shooting tips (I run the range about once a month) so I don't get a lot of shooting in unless the range is quiet.
There are some 'experts' that shoot and think they are all sorts of special but are really not very helpfull. Not a proble for me, its my range.
I know that the nexe shoot in 2 weeks is going to be a gong show sorting out rifles and shooters as were in the middle of rifle season and didn't have a range day last month.
Point is as long as they get out and confirm zero and that they are able to shoot a reasonable group at a given distance then as long as they limit their shooting to a reasonable range they will be good.
I've hunted many years and have had some unfortunate incidents that required a lot of tracking and work, these are learning experiences, and I try to limit my shooting to easy shots as I know that my body will quickly tell me that work is hard and hurts.
Young guys that I've hunted with sometimes need to learn the hard way, by experience, you don't need to gut out too many gut shot animals before you learn that its not the way to do things.
