ewolf
Just so you know that your method is against the rules of the IBO and the ASA so it may not be a good idea to give a young person that type of advice without pointing it out.
What JimPic said is the best way to do it.What I have done is buried bricks ground level in 5 yard increments out to 60 yards on my shooting range.This gives me a visual of 5 yard increments to the target eveytime I shoot.Eveytime you are practicing you need to make it a habit to judge those markers each and everytime to get it down to a fine art.Also try to invest in a rangefinder and go out in the woods and start trying to judge different landmarks and check yourself against the rangefinder.Also, learning the targets is crucial.They are all different sizes so you need to make as many shoots as possible to learn what they look like at certain yardages.
When I have done my best shooting was when I was able to just look at a target and I knew the distance before ever judging the ground.That is another step,always look at the target first and ask yourself how far is it.Then start judging the ground all the way to the target.Then,judge to halfway and then double.If all of these methods come out with the same number,then shoot.If they don't come up with the same number,take an average and poke and hope.
Seriously,I don't usually take an average because one numbver will stick in my head as the one but there are time when I have no clue and have to take an average or just an educated quess which is all we do anyway.
