Alsatian

Flags: Please elaborate on "confidence." What do you meant there? Is that different from positive mental attitude?


I agree with the positive mental attitude. Last year I had one opportunity to shoot an elk, a 5x5 or a 6x6, no trophy, just a nice honest bull. I had been day dreaming, sort of surrendered to the expectation that after three days on hunting (this was Tuesday morning, season opened Saturday) without seeing anything, I probably wouldn't see anything that morning either. But then this bull walked out. It was close to the limit of my comfort-zone on shooting distance. Because I had a defeated mind-set, I could not collect myself quickly enough to evaluate the opportunity with composure. I had about 10 seconds from when the bull first showed up and when the opportunity was past. I saw him right away -- he had walked out of a draw where I anticipated elk might emerge from as an escape route. I got my scope on him within about 2 seconds of his appearance. I passed on the shot, which was probably good. If I had been composed, however, I could have paid more attention to keeping the crosshairs steady on the shoulder of the elk and I could have more accurately assessed my ability to make the shot. I feel that if the range is not too great, I can see how well I will shoot by how much my crosshairs move. This year I plan to bear this experience in mind and be ready all the time and not defeated.