Suggestions for shooting practice , for hunting?

All of the above, plus, face away from the target range. Chuck a pop can well over your shoulder, or have a friend throw it. Turn and try to hit it as fast as you can. This is a target acquisition practice I did in my days when we hunted with dogs. Chances are good you can't do this at a regular range, you'll need a sand pit.

Also, in the privacy of your own home, flip through a hunting magazine. When a pic of a deer pops up, put your finger on the kill zone as fast as you can. This is not as easy as it sounds for some folks. They all laughed at camp when I told them, then we all laughed again when they tried it. First attempts at pointing usually are gut shots.
 
If you have a safe place to shoot moving targets, put a game animal picture on a post attached to a R/C car and have somebody else drive the car.

I have done this with archery and is is a freaking blast.
 
John Y Cannuck said:
All of the above, plus, face away from the target range. Chuck a pop can well over your shoulder, or have a friend throw it. Turn and try to hit it as fast as you can. This is a target acquisition practice I did in my days when we hunted with dogs. Chances are good you can't do this at a regular range, you'll need a sand pit.

Also, in the privacy of your own home, flip through a hunting magazine. When a pic of a deer pops up, put your finger on the kill zone as fast as you can. This is not as easy as it sounds for some folks. They all laughed at camp when I told them, then we all laughed again when they tried it. First attempts at pointing usually are gut shots.
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That reminds me- when I was a wee lad, I used to love tossing a 1 qt. oil can (they were metal back then), shooting it, and trying to keep it moving. Worked great with a semi or lever .22, and with my Dad's Ruger Blackhawk loaded with 38 SP wadcutters and Mark II. Again, sand pit stuff (sans the Rugers, of course).
 
One thing I did different this year was sitting in a chair. Shooting sitting down was a bit difficult at first. then I would sit in the chair, stand up fast and then fire a shot as fast as possible at the target. I then placed two follow up shots onto the target. I did that until all three were kill zone shots. did that with a few different firearms, then took my best two for my accuracy and brought them hunting.
 
My Grandfather said he used to practice hitting running targets by putting a target inside an old tire then have my father take the tire to the top of a small hill or gravel pile and roll the tire downhill. He would wait for the tire to reach bottom scooting along the flat ground and shoot for the tire centre. He said a good steep gravel pile could get it going pretty good and often it would be bouncing across the flat ground making it more like an animal when they run.
 
One thing that has been mentioned yet is using paper or styrofoam plates. I'll staple up 10 of them on various stumps, posts, trees, etc. at distances of 50 to 150 yards. The plate is virtually the same size as the kill zone (MOD,,,,Moment of Deer) so anywhere you hit it you should have a deer that's going down. You could do the same thing with a smaller plate to represent the kill zone of a coyote. Practice shooting from all hunting position scenarios,,,,prone, kneeling on one knee, sitting on the ground, off hand, and standing using a tree as a rest.

See how many you can get out of ten. Do off hand shots for the shortest distances and prone for the longest. My goal is always to get 9 out of 10. Give your rifle enough time to cool between shots. Take your time at first to build your confidence, then speed up your "get into position and shoot" shots. After that have a friend call out numbers.

I wouldn't even practice moving targets until you can consistently hit stationary ones from the various shooting positions I've listed above. As far as hitting a moving target you really don't need to lead the animal when your projectile is flying down the landscape at 2800+ fps. but you do need to move your rifle at the same speed the animal is moving. Aim for the front shoulder and don't stop following the animal with your rifle as you pull the trigger. To me it sounds like you were trying to shoot at the yotes by firing in front of them.

You were likely leading them too much, thinking it would take some time for your bullet to get to them,,,,it doesn't,,,,happens almost instantly so if you were shooting in front of the animal that is exactly where the bullet would have gone since it gets there in just a scant few tenths of a second. The most important thing to being a good shot is trigger time,,,,,the more you shoot, the more the rifle feels like an extension of your body.

Get a snap cap for your rifle and practice dry firing at night in your house. Dry firing is one of the best exercises you can do to tell you whether or not you're staying on target. There's zero recoil and no noise so you're not going to blink, which isn't all that uncommon, on the sound of the shot. You'll know instantly whether your cross hairs stayed on the point of aim or you're pulling on the trigger instead squeezing off the shot. I like to put my cross hairs on the wick of a candle across the room. It's a great way to practice your breathing, as well.
 
kanook said:
If you have a safe place to shoot moving targets, put a game animal picture on a post attached to a R/C car and have somebody else drive the car.

I have done this with archery and is is a freaking blast.
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This is so cool and sounds like it would work well.... A tall flag on top of the R/C car to avoid hitting it.... going to try that over the summer.... Thanks for the idea, sounds like fun for all ages... :)
 
carverk said:
Both 22 and pellet guns are both excellent suggestions
Fancy targets don't get the job dun but the more shooting you do the better you will be
at home guys just walk the beach and shoot clamshells ,bull kelp,crab shells extra
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It's not so much about the fancy targets as keeping score, and the pressure of shooting in front of others.
 
Once I get a rifle dialed-in off the bench I practice off-hand shooting. My 22 Hornet is a good rifle for that because it shoots consistent sub MOA groups off the bench and I know it's me if I can't keep all shots on target.

Handloaded it's inexpensive to shoot plus it goes bang like a bigger round so it more closely simulates one of my hunting rifles.

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Get a big empty water jug and a couple hundred feet of rope. Put an anchor out in the field you can run the rope through. Have a buddy pull the rope from behind you, which will pull the jug towards the anchor point. This creates a moving target, you can adjust the angle of pull however you want.
 
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the spank said:
My Grandfather said he used to practice hitting running targets by putting a target inside an old tire then have my father take the tire to the top of a small hill or gravel pile and roll the tire downhill. He would wait for the tire to reach bottom scooting along the flat ground and shoot for the tire centre. He said a good steep gravel pile could get it going pretty good and often it would be bouncing across the flat ground making it more like an animal when they run.
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That's how I practice moving targets...... if you are creative, you can get some scrub between you and the target so you have to find a shooting lane also.....
 
MD said:
Why the 100-yard dash?
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To simulate your increased heart rate at the sight of your quarry.. the fear of failure/missed opportunity!
I usually start out well, clam shot 1 and 2 then panic on shot 3 and hail Mary's on 4-5 ! Need to stay calm through all shot opportunities to make the most of them......Can be hard to do when your mind knows that with each bound your target is moving faster and farther away, increasing the shot difficulty!

The run is to try to simulate some of the above. Not sure it's the best drill? but try holding steady offhand while breathing hard.
 
Dry fire at home with snap caps with a concentrated effort on the fundamentals of shooting. You should have 4 dry fire sessions at home for every 1 live fire range session. Try it for 30 days and see what happens. Listen to Chris Sajnog's book "Navy Seal Shooting" for the details. I did last year and after 35 years of shooting, I could not believe how much I was able to improve in a very short time. I was rewarded by dropping 2 of the biggest whitetail bucks I've ever taken.
 
I shoot ground squirrels during the summer with my small centerfires at ranges to over 300 yards. If I can hit targets that small at those distances under field conditions, big game will be easier.
 
cdn1canhunt said:
To simulate your increased heart rate at the sight of your quarry.. the fear of failure/missed opportunity!
I usually start out well, clam shot 1 and 2 then panic on shot 3 and hail Mary's on 4-5 ! Need to stay calm through all shot opportunities to make the most of them......Can be hard to do when your mind knows that with each bound your target is moving faster and farther away, increasing the shot difficulty!

The run is to try to simulate some of the above. Not sure it's the best drill? but try holding steady offhand while breathing hard.
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I think the mental part gets easier the more you keep at it. I used to get a bit keyed up shooting coyotes, but it's not the end of the world if you miss because they're going mach 2. Coyotes are just a moving target to me now. Exciting, yeah, but calm exciting.

Another thing to consider trying, is ranging your area (in your head or with a rangefinder) so when a coyote peels out, you already have an idea in your head on bullet drop.
 
As you write that you have, for practical purposes, achieved technical proficiency somewhere around an expert level, your challenge is psychological. The best way I have found to practice the psychological aspects of the shooting sports is to decide you want to win something (or to achieve a similar level of consistent performance on par with what you are capable doing in private practice) and then go compete against others for it.

A good example of this would be to participate in RifleChair's youtube "Cabin Fever Challenge", or the similar "hunter-marksman-excercise" I posted last year as part of my Master's degree research project. My point - try to create a psychological challenge that inhibits your physical ability (social pressure and risk to your ego are excellent examples), then work on and test strategies to help you with this challenge.

Cheers, and good luck! Hope you have as much fun as I do...:)

Brobee
 
If you're interested, here's the standardized test I use to practice for hunting:

  • 8 inch diameter circle target (click here to download)
  • 100 meter range, either formal or informal - anyplace that's legal and safe
  • Any hunting rifle - optics/irons all good, any caliber, any action
  • 2 rounds standing
  • 2 rounds kneeling
  • 2 rounds sitting supported
  • 2 rounds sitting unsupported
  • 2 rounds prone
  • Time measured from first shot to last shot (easily accomplished if you video yourself)
  • Score = ((#Hits*100)/time^0.33))*0.5, time measured in seconds

And here's the distribution of scores from a couple hundred people who did the test last year:

HMC_Distribution.jpg


Where do you fit in? To anyone who runs this challenge - I'd love to collect the scores of any run you do!

Cheers,

Brobee
 
Brobee, still very interested in seeing more half sized poster targets from you.

I have shot the bears so much I am using the nose as an indicator for the location of the heart and lungs, cheating, I need some new targets!
 
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