Do you practise shooting off hand?

[Macarena Man]

The ability to pick up a hunting rifle with a hunting scope and five rounds of hunting ammo in 270 or larger, and lay all five into a six inch group at 100 yards offhand on demand is a very high skill level.

It is certainly attainable for a fit hunter with a good rifle, but as pointed out, it is rare to see anybody get on their hind feet.

Just a few tips on off-hand shooting .....

If you are able to shoot your rifle in a safe place, or an unloaded rifle works too. Have your rifle slung as you would in the field. Spot your target, start counting seconds (1 and a 2 and a 3) smoothly and methodically un-sling your rifle and get on target. Practice this, and combined with a proper stance (forward leg - about 65% of your weight) you will be able to shave a second or two off your times, and be unflustered by that 190+ mulie who is about to disappear.

If you are just starting to be quick and smooth with your actions, a lower powered scope with a long eye relief will help you get on target faster. Learn to shoot with both eyes open, it will help you in dark brush hunting, on moving game.

You will be rifleman before you know it ......1 and a 2 and a 3 ......

 

[joe-nwt]

This is a pet peeve of mine. All the Great White Hunters armed with Super Ultra Spectacular Short Magnums who only practice from a bench with a lead sled, never offhand!

Wow. You must be a busy guy keeping track of the shooting habits of all those people.......

The gopher patch is a great place to hone offhand skills in the off-season.

 

[LarryG]

Offhand shooting is one my favorite part of trips to the range. It is a great way to practice and be reminded of your limitations.
The toughest kind of shooting though is in gusting wind offhand, even with a bipod.

 

[Turkeyslayer 1300]

I shoot offhand almost exclusively.

 

[Dogleg]

If you ever see someone shooting offhand at the Saskatoon range, come over and say hi. It'll be me.

I don't practice offhand as much as I used to, but can keep nearly all of them on a 8 inch black of a pistol target at 100 yards with a few in the white. I like shooting my 12" round plate or newer 14" square plate at 220 on my own range; sometimes I miss it. I can go years without shooting an animal offhand, but then there were will several in a year.

When there's a hunt for something big looming I'll do quite a bit fast of close range blamming with a big gun. If I ever really needed to make shot that would be the time. Don't remember why I took a picture of this one but I do remember it being 23 shots and right before an elephant hunt..416 Rigby.

 

[Northman999]

I've been practicing off hand more and more, after a couple of years of doing too much shooting just off the bench with sandbags.

You really cannot get too much practice shooting in all sorts of positions if you want to be effective in the field.

 

[Boomer454]

I don't shoot off hand for groups. I do my sighting at the bench then shoot at "real" distances in field positions.
I always have a small back pack when hunting that I keep my lunch, water etc in. I also always carry a light jacket or something for filler so I can use the pack as a rest if need be. That way I can go prone if I need to but don't have to muck with a bipod.
As far as off hand, I set up milk jugs of water out to about 300 yards and shoot until I can hit them consistantly. I'll go through three or four boxes of shells a year like this to keep in practice.

All that said, if I can get steadier I do. I can only think of one deer in 25+ years that I shot off hand, and that was at about fifty feet!

My two cents…

 

[Neo]

When there's a hunt for something big looming I'll do quite a bit fast of close range blamming with a big gun. If I ever really needed to make shot that would be the time. Don't remember why I took a picture of this one but I do remember it being 23 shots and right before an elephant hunt..416 Rigby.

Dogleg, offhand groups like that with a DG rifle indicate far, far too much practice. In certain circles, it may even be considered cheating

Myself, by far and away the best thing I ever did to improve my field shooting was taking up metallic silhouette shooting several years ago. It was nothing short of a revelation how that improved my results from every field position imaginable, even though the silhouette game is entirely offhand. I think it's simply a matter of everything else seeming so very easy after you've spent a summer learning how to knock over the turkeys and rams.

 

[Dogleg]

I think it's simply a matter of everything else seeming so very easy after you've spent a summer learning how to knock over the turkeys and rams.

You can say that again. There were other little nuances that I picked up from offhand shooting. I think that learning to shoot with moveing crosshairs was one mental hurtle to over-come. Then I had to get it through my head that squeezeing a trigger while the reticle was moveing toward center was better than when it was about to leave center. A hard one was to learn to fire the first time the crosshairs came on target instead of the second or seventeenth time.

I went through 7 pails of wheel-weights one summer trying to get the knack. Now, I just brush up a bit, now and then.

 

[c-fbmi]

The problem with doing all that offhand practice, Dogleg and Neo, is that when you get over to Africa and you make a nice snap offhand shot in the first day or 2, you are expected to be able to repeat that every day on further and further away animals usually running. Have you guys noticed this? Then if you miss, and it does happen, the PH and tracker look at you like you grew a second head all of a sudden. I have found a couple good shots in the first couple days leads to ridiculous expectations as the hunt moves along.
I don't know about you guys but I'd rather shoot offhand than use sticks, I've never been able to master them.

 

[c-fbmi]

If you ever see someone shooting offhand at the Saskatoon range, come over and say hi. It'll be me.

I don't practice offhand as much as I used to, but can keep nearly all of them on a 8 inch black of a pistol target at 100 yards with a few in the white. I like shooting my 12" round plate or newer 14" square plate at 220 on my own range; sometimes I miss it. I can go years without shooting an animal offhand, but then there were will several in a year.

When there's a hunt for something big looming I'll do quite a bit fast of close range blamming with a big gun. If I ever really needed to make shot that would be the time. Don't remember why I took a picture of this one but I do remember it being 23 shots and right before an elephant hunt..416 Rigby.

When you say "close range", Dogleg, what are we talking? I had a target similar with somewhere between 20 and 30 .470s in it at 10 and 20 mtrs. Not quite as snug as yours but all inside 6" for sure and most in about 3". I would shoot several other guns then I'd grab the double and put 2 as quick as possible, but still aimed, in the target, first at 10 then at 20 yds and I was shooting clays at 50 fairly consistently but slower and more controlled, all offhand. Then I ended up taking my .375 anyway.
I think a "dry land" hunt for hippos would be a fantastic hunt for the .470, gobs of fun and not just a little exciting too.

 

[rgv]

You can say that again. There were other little nuances that I picked up from offhand shooting. I think that learning to shoot with moveing crosshairs was one mental hurtle to over-come. Then I had to get it through my head that squeezeing a trigger while the reticle was moveing toward center was better than when it was about to leave center. A hard one was to learn to fire the first time the crosshairs came on target instead of the second or seventeenth time.

Those were the two things for me as well to break through to Master back when I shot NRA high power.

Learning what Tubbs calls the 'approach' where you drive the sights onto the target and anticipate the arrival with an aggressive trigger finger, and even more importantly that your first sight picture is your best one.

 

[Neo]

The problem with doing all that offhand practice, Dogleg and Neo, is that when you get over to Africa and you make a nice snap offhand shot in the first day or 2, you are expected to be able to repeat that every day on further and further away animals usually running. Have you guys noticed this? Then if you miss, and it does happen, the PH and tracker look at you like you grew a second head all of a sudden. I have found a couple good shots in the first couple days leads to ridiculous expectations as the hunt moves along. I don't know about you guys but I'd rather shoot offhand than use sticks, I've never been able to master them.

Funny, I thought I was the only guy that happened to! Only when it happened to me, it wasn't offhand. It did, however, involve missing a long shot at the biggest kudu I'll ever see (and, even more disturbingly, the biggest kudu my PH had ever seen -- and his largest up to that time with a client was 61"...). As for the growing two heads thing... Well, let's just say things got awfully quiet in the hunting party for awhile...

As for the standing-position shooting sticks, I had my doubts the first time I started using them, but have grown to love them. I guess it wasn't that much of a transition, as I've been using shorter sticks from the sitting/kneeling position for most of my hunting career here at home. The only problem with the tall sticks is that you need a second person to manage them for you -- but for the conditions I've hunted in Africa so far, they really do make a huge difference, at least for me.

 

[22to45]

I once stepped off the porch of a country house, back when coke came in bottles, and shot the neck off a coke bottle that was sticking out of the garbage at 75 yards with a jungle carbine after saying that was my intention. The fellow I was visiting was very impressed, and I never let him see me shoot again.

 

[Neo]

I once stepped off the porch of a country house, back when coke came in bottles, and shot the neck off a coke bottle that was sticking out of the garbage at 75 yards with a jungle carbine after saying that was my intention. The fellow I was visiting was very impressed, and I never let him see me shoot again.

Shooting is like any other career. The key to greatness is knowing when to stop

 

[captonion]

I once stepped off the porch of a country house, back when coke came in bottles, and shot the neck off a coke bottle that was sticking out of the garbage at 75 yards with a jungle carbine after saying that was my intention. The fellow I was visiting was very impressed, and I never let him see me shoot again.

LOL....I had a similar thing happen to me...

I was hunting ground hogs about 20yrs ago with a friend. We were walking from field to field, when a partrige flew off the stone fence about 40yrds in front of us. Before it cleared the old road I swung on ot with my open sight 22Mag. Fired, and folded it right there...He still tells everyone about that shot, that ''I KNOW'' would never happen again in a million years..

 

[Dogleg]

The problem with doing all that offhand practice, Dogleg and Neo, is that when you get over to Africa and you make a nice snap offhand shot in the first day or 2, you are expected to be able to repeat that every day on further and further away animals usually running. Have you guys noticed this? Then if you miss, and it does happen, the PH and tracker look at you like you grew a second head all of a sudden. I have found a couple good shots in the first couple days leads to ridiculous expectations as the hunt moves along.
I don't know about you guys but I'd rather shoot offhand than use sticks, I've never been able to master them.

I usually get the PH who thinks that nobody can hit anything unless the muzzle is shoved in its ear and its asleep. It takes a day or too for them to make the adjustment, and then I do whatever I want.

I don't care for standing sticks that much, prefering to shoot from standard positions. If a longer standing shot is needed trees tend to be available. It seems like they get so used to the sticks that they get them set up even when there are better options.

 

[Neo]

It seems like they get so used to the sticks that they get them set up even when there are better options.

Yes, that certainly is true. On my last hunt over there, I had one lost shot opportunity very early in the hunt as I dropped into kneeling position for a 75 yard shot on a zebra and immediately had the PH ordering me to stand down in no uncertain terms. I complied without another thought, assuming that there was an unsafe condition of which I was not aware and he was. Turns out, he simply couldn't believe I was going to take a shot without the sticks he had set up. Before anyone could get their knickers in a knot over it, the animal in question crossed an opening about 150 yards away and I elected to resolve the matter by shooting it quite handily from that same kneeling position. After that, things worked out much more smoothly -- the sticks would get set up every time a target was selected, but it was up to me whether or not to use them. Most often, I did -- but not always.

To tell you the truth, I think it's simply part of a broader issue. PH's do essentially the same thing in the same area on every hunt -- the only real variable is the client, and they do pretty much everything they can to minimize its impact. I think that does tend to get them into a rut -- which is made worse by the fact that most clients are there for their first African hunt, and tend to feel that their job is to do as they're told. From a hunter's perspective, it can take a lot away from the hunt if you feel like you're not really in control of the experience -- and from the PH's side, things can start seeming pretty repetitive as they try to cookie cut the hunt for African Newbie #87. I think this is one of the real virtues of longer and/or repeat trips with a good PH -- after a bit of time hunting together, some mutual trust and rhythm gets established -- and things become much more enjoyable for everyone involved.

 

[c-fbmi]

I usually get the PH who thinks that nobody can hit anything unless the muzzle is shoved in its ear and its asleep. It takes a day or too for them to make the adjustment, and then I do whatever I want.

I don't care for standing sticks that much, prefering to shoot from standard positions. If a longer standing shot is needed trees tend to be available. It seems like they get so used to the sticks that they get them set up even when there are better options.

I'll take a tree any day over sticks, I find that I lean into the tree and kinda get a very solid triangular stance/rest. You simply cannot do this with sticks.
I did have some good shots sitting down and using one leg of the sticks for my forward hand/forend rest, in the same way you'd use a sapling, best use of sticks I've found yet.

 

[Varmit]

I'm glad to hear that some other people don't like sticks. I thought I was doing something wrong because I could never seem to get a steady hold with them either.

I like the sitting position and if I can get my back against a tree or rock when sitting it is real solid.