Long range shooting skills vs traditional hunting skills

My Pa always said if you an put a bullet inside a dinner plate at 100 yards you will never go hungry. I grew up eating wild game so I guess he wasn't too far wrong.

That concept should not preclude us from practice beause shooting is a perishable skill. It is the type of practice that matters. A few years ago I included a new challenge at our family and friends annual shoot. One target, 50 yards away, off hand, no rest, 3 shots in 15 seconds.

After seeing some of these people shoot very impressive bench rest targets at 300 yards I was not surprised to see all the grimaces, sad shaking heads, and expressions of WTH?? when they looked at their 50 yard targets.

Bench rest long range shooting and hunting are two very different disciplines. Similar, but not the same, tools required.

I have spent considerable time trying to think up SAFE ways of shooting at moving targets and have not come up with anything that makes me smile. A remote control vehicle is as close as I have come, and it would work well, but you just gotta KNOW it's going to get hit at some point or other.

A tip I learned from my Pa in regards to distance "guesstimation". Whenever you are walking somewhere look ahead and pick a spot. Guess the range then count your steps to that spot. You can do this in a town or city, a parking lot, nature walks, anywhere works just fine. The skill does develop, but it takes time and practice....Hmmm..sounds like any other skill development doesn't it!!??

Range estimation beyond 300 yards with the naked eye simply isn't in the cards for 99% of human beings. The physical ability and skill set simply isn't there.

By all means continue punching holes in paper. I believe it is our moral (and should be legal obligation) to be competent shooters. Just match the practice to the desired type of shooting.
Regards,
Dave​
 
Practice do good, all the repetitive moves you make, trigger release, control breathing... Applied to a hunt, you wont have to think about it, i just become second nature instinctively... JP.
 
NL-Hunter said:
Excellent thread, thanks OP.

I for one was almost swallowed up by the long range rifle wave that is sweeping the nation, came to my senses at the last minute. .30-06 is plenty for what I hunt, in hindsight I should probably have gone the .308 route.

Originally from Europe I was surprised to see that you do not have to do a shooting test here to get a licence. Do a Firearms/Hunter Capeability Course (paper) and apply for licence.

Where I came from you had to prove your skills to get your tags, if you could not show your proficiancy with a rifle, you did not get a licence. There are even areas now that the shooting test is partially completed on a moving target.

Long range are for a select few, most with appropriate equipment would wound and maim animals at longer ranges. It takes a lot of practise and equipment that can hit same area every time you pull the trigger to pull it off. A package rifle and walmart ammo may do it once, equipment has to be able to repeat task every time under every type of condition.
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Y'know it's funny, I had to shoot a target at 30 or 40 yards with an open sighted .22 rifle for the practical part of my hunter's safety in the early 90's. Guess actually being able to shoot a gun doesn't matter much anymore..... I actually failed it, put five rounds in a neat little circle about two inches above the six inch bull (0 out of 5), the irons were a little different than my own .22. He passed me anyways, it was the only group shot that day you could cover with one hand.
 
caramel said:
Practice do good, all the repetitive moves you make, trigger release, control breathing... Applied to a hunt, you wont have to think about it, i just become second nature instinctively... JP.
Click to expand...

One of my favorite 'bored at home' drills is to take aim with my scope at a point and practise cycling the action while staying on target. Invaluable for follow up shots.
 
There is definitely a lot of long range hunting talk. For me, being very new to hunting. But not to new to shooting or long range shooting, I prefer to get as close as I can, but I practice to be able to make shots off tall bipods or sticks out to some further ranges in the even I can't get closer. I have not shot at a coyotes on several occasions because I couldn't close the distance and the conditions weren't right for me to make a shot at the further ranges.

However there is all this talk about "what if its a bad shot" and it only seems to be pushed onto guys that try to hunt at longer ranges. I know and have talked to a bunch a lot of guys that have wounded and not recovered, or completely missed deer at 100M or less. It's not just the long range guys that make bad shots. Something as simple as a decent sized twig could make your awesome heart shot into a terrible gut shot at under 100m. In fact this happened to my hunting partner last deer season. Maybe 80M he is 100% certain he broke a clean shot at the boiler room. It took us for ever to find the game. Bullet hole in his guts, bit of intestine came out the hole and prevented any external bleeding.
There was definitely some small twigs and under growth that very well could have deflected his bullet.

Not just long range guys make bad shots. Well yes I agree they have a more things at their disadvantage, one thing they usually have thought is time. Time to assess the situation, get a good range, and wait for a good shot. Unlike some guy that is trying to make a shot on a moving animal in the timber. He has a completely different set of issues on his hands.
 
I often will exercise my distance judging skills ( I'm a bowhunter too, that makes distance judging very important) by mentally judging a distance then checking with the rangefinder.
I'd just as soon shoot a cold animal, they taste better. If they are running; well, another day.
 
The best training ground for this type of activity, can best be utilized in a place with a generous amount of off season varmint shooting outside of the big game season, in countryside that is rifle friendly.

Such as the prairie grasslands of Southern Saskatchewan.

IMHO....
 
I killed my first deer while he was walking slowly away from me, about 125 yards off. I waited and waited for him to stop for a clean shot, but he wouldn't, so I let fly. Took three shots, and at least two went through his lungs, so it all worked out. Since then, every deer I've shot has been with buckshot at under 20 yards, and I prefer it that way.


I do think hunters should practice on moving targets if they plan to shoot at them, but it isn't easy to do. You need a buddy to help, and a safe place to practice.

I duck hunt a lot, so I would feel quite confident shooting at moving game at waterfowl ranges, but past that ... not so much.
 
There is no intent our (son and I) part to shoot long range at big game animals while hunting, however; we are prepared just in case there is a long shot. Our preference is to get as close as we can to the animal, or to set-up for an ideal distance (under 200 yards). We prepare by shooting very flat shooting cartridges, such as the 240, 257, 270 and the 300 Weatherby. Other cartridges we also utilize is the 7mm STW, 300 WSM and the 6.5x284 Norma. These rifles, not all, are utilized during the year for preparedness of the animal we may pursue.
The rifle range is commonly used, shooting off the bench and prone at various distances. Results of practicing often reflect great results in the fields with one shot kills. Case in point, this year my son was drawn for a North American Pronghorn buck, we scouted for 6 days and at the same time hunted the Ring Neck Pheasant. After finding the best buck, my son decided to hunt him because it had a lot of character.
Long story short, we pursued the buck on foot, stalked and finally crawled to as close as we could. The 240 Weatherby with a 85 grain Nosler Partition is most flat shooting, therefore; there is very little bullet drop. It only took one shot and the buck was down, distance, 353 paces. Moral of our stories, know your rifle, know it's capabilities, practice, do your homework, know your quarry.

Monday October 20th, 2014

 
Heh, I went the other way. My hunting rifle is a 300 Blackout.

I figure I'll probably never even see any deer 500 meters away, and honestly I figure the closer I am when I take the shot the less chance that I'll lose track of the animal if it runs which I figure it probably will.

I try to practice offhand shooting as much as possible, because I figure that if I can get decent accuracy in practical situations, if I do happen to have time to sit down and use a rest and all that I'll have a great shot whereas the experience may not translate in reverse.

Plus I appreciate the personal challenge, considering that my first 100 shots with a rifle were lucky to get within 12" of the target at 40 yards. Last time I went out I put the last 3 within 3" getting the rifle sighted in at 100m.
 
"Long Range Shooting Skills vs. Traditional Hunting Skills"

Great title for the thread.


I'd say a long range hunters and "trads" are both at the complete opposite ends of the hunting spectrum and they're definitely niche groups. I'd also say serious hunters from both groups are equally as ethical as one another, they just enjoy doing the same thing a little differently.

Some people take pride in their ability to take a shot at the furthest possible distance, with the latest and greatest, most precise equipment available... where others take pride in their ability to get as close as possible, using equipment the cave men were using.

They can both easily make a bad shot, just like someone hunting from 100 yards with their grandpas shotgun can. So long as they're doing their absolute best to ensure that there is no suffering for the animal, go nuts and have at it. It's all hunting.
 
Why is it assumed that a long range shooter can't be a skilled hunter? Just because a person is capable of killing game at long range doesn't mean that they would choose a long shot if they could get closer.

I get a kick out of these "skilled hunters" who poo poo long range shooters skills while carrying scoped flat shooting rifles instead of open sighted 30-30.
 
....I'm gettin to fat an lazy to drag some 200lb smelly beast 500+ yards thru all manner of rut and stubble... I prefer shooting em 50 yards or less... But I'll stretch that out a bit farther if I have a helper along.
 
kennymo said:
One of my favorite 'bored at home' drills is to take aim with my scope at a point and practise cycling the action while staying on target. Invaluable for follow up shots.
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A few years back I started a little dry firing drill that I do most days during the hunting season. Out the back window of my home there is a house about two hundred yards away, I snap the rifle to my shoulder, flip the safety, "shoot" one of the whirly birds off the roof in under 5 seconds, and then cycle the action. You get really familiar with your rifle (about the time I started this routine I became a lot more sold on the "one gun hunter" theory) and learn some good tricks to improve your field accuracy which IMO are often a little different than the techniques I use to shoot groups off of a bench. Just about every animal I've killed since I started doing this happens exactly the same way, I decide if I want to kill it, I decide if I can kill it, and then it is dead with another round in the pipe without even thinking about anything else. I'd have to say its done me more good than the range time I put in, which is also very important.
 
NL-Hunter said:
Excellent thread, thanks OP.

I for one was almost swallowed up by the long range rifle wave that is sweeping the nation, came to my senses at the last minute. .30-06 is plenty for what I hunt, in hindsight I should probably have gone the .308 route.

Originally from Europe I was surprised to see that you do not have to do a shooting test here to get a licence. Do a Firearms/Hunter Capeability Course (paper) and apply for licence.

Where I came from you had to prove your skills to get your tags, if you could not show your proficiancy with a rifle, you did not get a licence. There are even areas now that the shooting test is partially completed on a moving target.

Long range are for a select few, most with appropriate equipment would wound and maim animals at longer ranges. It takes a lot of practise and equipment that can hit same area every time you pull the trigger to pull it off. A package rifle and walmart ammo may do it once, equipment has to be able to repeat task every time under every type of condition.
Click to expand...

Newfoundland eliminated the shooting test for big game some years ago after amalgamating the federal CFSC with it's own hunter education course. I was told that part of the reason for eliminating the shooting test was due to potential liability issues because of the lack of access to approved shooting ranges. Newfoundland and Labrador is a big province that is sparsely populated resulting in few approved ranges existing. Most shooting tests were conducted in local gravel pits as a result. Having seen the results of this new generation of hunters up close, I fully support reinstating a required shooting test. Too many animals are being wounded unnecessarily and wasted and there are too many incompetent hunters who are now relying on technology to compensate for a complete lack of actual shooting skills and ability.
 
I do a little of both I guess, long range and traditional......

First thing, practicing at shooting at distances of 300-500 meters makes me a better 50-150- meter hunter/shooter.

Second thing, many of the shot opportunities I get on yotes are well in excess of 150-200 meters simply because everyone on the family tree has had a chance at him first before I got a call. When I call on a relatively unmolested farm, the opportunities are usually well within 150 meters.

Either method of hunting is fine with me as long as people put the time into either method in order to become proficient.

About the target gun vs hunting gun....
Many out of the box, factory stock rifles with good factory ammo are capable of accuracy at distance even enough to take animals at that distance.
The monkey wrench is in taking the time to practice with that accurate rifle/ammo combo at all distances and keeping that info so that it can be referenced again at that distance when needed.

I spent the last couple of days from noon until dark setting up and getting a couple of guns ready for season. Then testing all different kinds of factory ammo, zeroing, scope settings and also the trips back and forth to the targets is time consuming and tiresome along with religiously recording the environmentals, the hold, the call, the actual POI. Not many are likely to put that amount of time in for every one of their guns nor can they.

I was pleasantly surprised with a newly acquired out of the box stock rifle that afterwards shot a hunting round and a match round to the same zero and then after a taking a water break and then a hill climb, put 3 cold bore rounds of Fed. GameKing well inside 1 3/4" @ a lasered 350 meters.

Anyway, my 2 centavos

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Good thread fellas., hope it stays cool an not turn into a pissing match.


Ive just recently started practising in the 'long range' catorgory, for the early parts of my hunting life , I shot deer within 100m an most not far from under my feet but not with more understanding of the Deer an what the yare doing an where, im finding that if I can practise hits out to 400m I will be able to get better chances at bigger mature trophy stags in the high country.

Ive also got access on a property, not many others do but what I have on my side over the others, is I CAN shoot the critters at 300-350 an hopefully 400m soon, so the deer are a lot more undisturbed/ not bothered about the guy way down in the Farmland.. as opposed to the guy walking around the ridges.


Apart from that, Im 100% all about 'Trad-style' Walk them Up hunting and love every aspect of it..


my pointless post :)
WL
 
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