I've been hunting State Lands for years. I finally joined a club this year. I spent hours scouting and preparing my stands sites. My rifle is shooting 1 MOA at 100 yards. Everything was perfect.

This past Saturday (opening day in NC) I reach my stand location at 5:30am, I'm all set-up and comfortable in my Viper by 6:00 with an hour before sunlight. As the sun rises a can't wait until the 7:04 shooting time. At 8:45, a decent Doe appears 75 yards from my stand. I hunt for meat the first week so I decide to take her. My heart rate increases, and excitement level rises! She's has no clue I'm there, she's relaxed, in no rush, and is in a clear cut. I had all the time in the world. So what do I do, I raise my rifle quickly and fire off a round and MISS. She runs back to the hardwoods and is GONE. No sign of being hit - no blood - Nothing.


It gets worse! I head to my second stand at 11:30am just to see if here was any new tracks. This is a ground blind I plan to hunt with my son on Monday (no school). I didn't expect to see deer there at noon. Sure enough, tracks all over the place. I was please and headed back to my truck. I'm 100 yards from my truck (parked on a logging road) and I catch movement just around the bend. Next I see antlers. He saw me first and stopped for one more look just beind a small bush, but I can still see just behind his shoulder. I raise my rifle (no rest availabile) and fire. No blood, no sign of being hit - I look for two hours. It this point, I'm sick to my stomach. I figured my scope was off after bumping it against the tree. I set up a gallon of water in the sand pit and shoot (from a rest) at 125 years. Perfect hit.

My learnings for the day! I'm getting better at selecting stand locations. I need to relax and use a rest when shooting. I've been hunting for several years and have never had this happen, never mind twice in 3 hours.

Has this ever happened to you? Will the shots mess up the deers patterns and if so, for how long? I honestly don't expect to see the buck again. I'm hunting the second location this moning with my son. It's been two days and I pray I didn't ruin it for him. It will be his first deer.

I have had that happen, but the gun was off a little, fixed it and the sand pit and it is dead on now.

Also, that buck will be back, trust me

I can tell you what helped me - even after years of shooting and hunting. Helped me not only to shoot better, but also be more relaxed, "automatic", and confident. Being cool and confident is critical and practice can really help that.

I specifically and religiously practice ACTUAL hunting shots while at the range. After checking zero, there's no more sitting at the shooting bench trying for bullseyes. My only goal is hitting the kill zone with every shot, but trying to improve quickness and ability to do it in difficult body positions.

Now I sit on the ground, lean against posts, lay on the ground, use random available rests, shoot off-hand, etc. etc. I wear the jacket, pants and gloves similar to what I expect to wear hunting. I wear the same hat and glasses (to make sure neither interfere with gun position and sighting). If the gear I wear interferes or binds, I try to find something else to use. For example, if you practice in jeans and a light jacket, but are wearing bulky bibs, jacket and gloves when hunting, all those clothes can certainly affect your ability to move into shooting position and get the gun on target. They interfere with movement, bind, make you jerk, etc. etc. The goal is that I feel the same shooting in the field as at the range.

I practice actual hunting shots. I draw a red line on my targets about the size and shape of an actual kill zone for the animal I will be hunting. For a fun and easy to see facsimileof a whitetail kill zone, a 1 gallon plastic jug filled with water sitting atop something is about the right size and shape and you know right away if you hit it. One time use only though (I collect a bunch througout the year).

Then, I practice bringing the gun up, getting on target and shooting. In every hunting position using no or makeshift rests. Again, the goal isn't tiny groups, but functional, killing shots.

As one of many examples, I'll stand with my gun as if I'm walking. Maybe from that position, I'll practice off hand, no rest shots. I might also practice quickly sitting down and using a sitting position - or quickly kneeling to use a nearby rest (like a bench to represent a log or rock), or quickly lay down for a prone shot.

I might practice sitting against a post (e.g. a "tree") and then try to shoot at a twisted position as if the deer approached from behind and to the right, for instance.

People at the range look at me strange - but I rarely see anyone else doing this. Sometimes people practice prone shooting, but most shooting I see is sitting at the bench.

I've found that my speed / accuracy rate is better if I take the time to quckly sit or lay down because I am very quick at making an accurate shot from those positions compared to off-hand shooting while standing.

Even the simple act of quickly sitting or laying down - holding a gun, in bulky clothes - is worth practicing, believe me, it's not easy to do it quickly without fumbling the gun.

At first this is very slow. You ONLY do it as fast as you can do it accurately (again - this is HUNTING accuracy, not competative target shooting). If this is slow, so be it - practice at that speed. Speed up the sequence only as far as you can do it accurately. We're not talking "snap" shots, but deliberate, methodical, practiced sequence of bringing the gun up, getting the target and pulling the trigger without jerking. If you're good, and practice, this may end up being a snap shot, but maybe not.

Bottom line, you need to be automatic in doing it as fast as you accurately can. Then, you will be much less likely to do it at a quicker, "panicky" unaccurate way.

Plus it's fun and I enjoy it!

I have to agree with Zeke...Practice shooting without the rest. I practice this a lot and all kidding aside I'm better at hitting moving targets then still ones! I think with moving targets I let instinct take over before I have time to think and mess it all up.LOL!....Good luck...Jim