cherokee_outfitters

How does everyone practice for the upcoming hunting seasons? I hear all these questions for neck shots,running shots and of course you have to throw in long range. Not all shot will be those so how do you practice?

Myself I shoot alot of coyotes and jackrabbits running or not, off hand or on a rest. I go to the local range and play all day. I like to play around and do things like try to shoot shotgun hulls offhand and shoot off the tops of popbottles. We have a steel gong at our range which is 550yds and we shoot this offhand and on the bench. One fun thing is we take potatoes and put them anywhere from 100yds to 400yds and call them prarie dogs. Oh them Wyoming guys sure are lucky.

I love the shoot all the time and curious of how everyone does it and new ideas for fun shooting.

rcd567

That damn work gets in the way of a lot of shooting, but I usually get my targets at the produce section of the grocery store. Apples, oranges, grapefruit, ect. Set them out, and when you hit one, it explodes! No need to pick your targets up cause the critters will eat them. The positive reaction of the target exploding was a plus in teaching the kids to shoot. They loved it!

Course I do all my sighting in off the bench with an adjustable rest, out to two hundred yards.

And finally, I've shot a full steel buffalo at 600 yards with a black powder 45-70. It was a hoot! Once you figured the windage and elevation, a guy could hit it every time. Them old buffalo hunters really did make some long shots.

thndrchiken

At the range I'll shoot anywhere from 20 to 50 rds per session, from offhand, prone and seated. When I can get out to an area where I can stretch the guns legs, I'll use those orange clay trap/skeet birds or old soda bottles and milk jugs filled with water. I also try to shoot trap and skeet with the 12 ga leading up to the season to stay in practice for when you have to lead your target.

skeeter 7MM

I practice as much as possible wether that is at the range or chasing varmits. I both vary distance and shooting position as well when practicing.

stubblejumper

I practise at the range at distances out to 500 yards using prone,sitting and standing positions and using impromptu rests.I also try to get in some varmint shooting over the offseason.I manage to get in at least 200 to 400 rounds of larger centerfires plus over a thousand rounds out of my varmint rifle and several thousand out of my rimfire and air rifles.

jjt

besides praire dogs there are a million cottontails, jack rabbits, skunks, coons, crows, coyotes etc. that need to be kept scared of humans i find most to be challenging targets that keep my shooting skills in tune

James B

I take my deer rifles to the range in the summer and fall and check the zero and set them one inch high at 100 yards. All my shooting with these rifles is off the bench. where I do my hunting the shots are 100-225 yards. I always shoot at game from a good rest in one of my ambush spots. I do a little varmit hunting and do a lot of off hand shooting with my rimfires. My bad shoulder just does not allow me to do much shooting with anything bigger than my 223 NEF. When it comes to big game, I just don't take iffy shots. If I don't fill the tag then thats part of the game. The only unfilled tage that I have had were a couple Muzzle loader tags. A few years I just couldn't get within good range.

Wolf killer

I shoot rock chucks, prairie dogs & gophers at least once a week during the summer months. During the winter I shoot coyotes & fox.
I would guess that my varmit rifles account for 95% of my shooting. I only shoot my hunting rifles too "stay comfortable" with them. I hate burning a bunch of powder if I do not feel like I need to.
One thing I do & other hunters might consider doing the same? I make my final sight in trip to the range with my big game rifle, about 1-month before the start of hunting season. I do this just incase there is something wrong with my rifle, rings, bases or scope? I hate taking a rifle to the range the night before hunting season. There are just too many people there trying to check there zero.

rkbo

Back in oregon I did shoot a lot of rabbits, grondhog, etc.. with my deer rifle. Here in Vegas that doesn't happen. I was wanting to get my 12 year old used to hunting without a known range and maybe a suprize or two.

I had my foster kids make pig noses and ears out of construction paper. We filled 2 litter bottles with water gave em noses and ears and I hid them all over the desert. It was great fun. He'd spot one then we'd stalk up on it. Sometimes I'd tell him they've caught our sent take the shot!! The .308 makes a big splash and the best part of all is the bottles are easy to field dress.

Hiawatha

I know i do not practice near as much as i should. I spend about a week shooting each year before the season getting the rifle lined up real nice and tight varying the dstances from 100-300. However i get quite a bit of other shooting in throughout the year so i think this helps performance a bit. I hunt beavers for a few weeks in the spring and that requires you to be pretty accurate, also the odd skunk, porcupine, yote throughout the year. I know this isn't the same as shooting my large rifle but i feel anytime you can get out and shoot the better off you are.