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Man, I to am a disgrace to my sport!

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I've already been told I was despised for my practice's or lack of, I guess it doesn’t matter that I've been deer hunting with the same rifle and caliber for the last 38 years, yet I've been told that if I don't practice regularly I'll never get familiar with it.

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pass the forty creek.

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Yep, we ain't tied up a jug in a while, It's about time.

post retracted, i'm not feeding this BS fire.

Cool_Hand,

My responses were not directed at ALL hunters who do not practice. And I never alluded to that. My response was in concurrence with the OP's suggestion that people need to practice with their firearms to become proficient with them. IMO, that practice can come in many forms. Years of experience being one of them. The group I sighted obviously does not have this level of experience to fall back on. Yet they employ minimal efforts to gain such knowledge. And, IMHO, that does all of us, the sport, and the game, an injustice. That's all I meant, and I'll stand by that.

And, we'll have to agree to disagree on this matter. I do feel that we all have the right to judge someone when their actions or in-actions, can potentially harm an activity we all participate in. It just gives the anti's more fuel.

As for me say that anyone who isn't practicing simply isn't making the time to do so. Here's what I said, read it all, not just what inflames you.

"Sure, we can all make excuses, or even have good reasons, why we don't get to shoot as much as we should. But the fact is, some just refuse to make the time for it."

That's probably more true than not. And if you won't even admit that to yourself, then I'm talking to a brick wall. Sure, at 67 you've likely been in the field many more hours than myself at 37. But I've been hunting all my life too (since I could walk). And I have no doubt that you, and most here who are contesting the OP's original message, are likely very capable while in the field. You are very likely in tune with your capabilities, and incapabilities. You know where to draw the line. The sad fact is, there are MANY WHO DON'T.


As for me threatening anyone, I just don't see where I did that. If you took it that way, I apologize. And by the way, a smiley icon is the indicator of a joke. Maybe a poor attempt at humor on my part, but an attempt non the less. As for me retaliating "in true form", I guess I might have. But when attacked, I defend. I guess some might see that as a fault, of which I have many.

Good day to you,
Jay

I truly beleive that there are olympic shooters that will wound animals, it has less to do with how proficient you are with you weapon and more to do with how proficient you are maintaining your composure. I am over a small lease in east texas and every year a few of my buddies want to "bowhunt", they are really good at a foam target but I strongly suggest they harvest two or three pigs with a bow before they ever send an arrow towards a whitetail. You may spend all year at the range and fall to peices when you get hair in the scope. On the other hand (like alot of guys on this forum) you may have spent a lifetime behind a weapon and only need to test your rifle for zero before taking to the field, I am one of those guys and hope I am not disgracing any of us.

I do beleive that every hunter needs to take at least three shots before taking to the field every year, I saw a couple of comments on here stating that some don't even shoot before heading to the field for the season, I would not agree with that, even the most expensive equipment can faulter. Nonetheless, time on the range will never cure a case of nerves, which, IMO is the main reason behind wounded animals.

I'm gonna stay out of this one.

a good back stop for air rifles??? how about a saw horse with a rug or piece of carpet draped over it.

I "think" I understand what you are talking about in the original post. We have 10 hunters probably about 6 have been hunting for years and can hit what they are shooting. They go to the range shoot a 3 or 4 shot group out of each gun they own and they are ready.

HOWEVER..... it's their kids I "dispise" (grown kids for the most part), they show up at the lease and use one of the guns dad checked, the only shots they ever fire are during season. SOME are shooting smaller guns like 223 and 22/250 and have been instructed to take neck shots!!!

So yes while I'm gald they have an interest in hunting I do dispise them when I have to go help them track and when they come in and say they missed. Just because the deer didn't drop right there or you walked up and took a quick look and didn't find blood does NOT mean you missed.

Gee thanks now ya got me steamin!!!!

The idea of shooting paper and transferring it to flesh is like shooting clays and transferring it to wing shooting. It's just not the same thing. Like others have said, and IMO, the only way for the unexperienced to get truly proficient at those things is to do them in the field with a good teacher backing them up.

I hear ya Dan....I had a guy (friend of my brothers) come out to our place with a 30-06 that he had never fired....he brought 4 shells ..which he used to "sight in" his gun...used all four....i had a box of 30-06 in the cabin but they wre a different grain...this chucle head said..I'll jus compensate for the lighter grain....he was barely on paper with the first 4!...needless to say I wasnt happy...the place had been quiet for MONTHS looking forward to the hunting season..then some jackass brings his "toy" out there and wants to fire off rounds...rediculous

I agree completely about the pressure of being in the field trying to shoot something vs being at the range. I too have seen some of the best bench shooters blow easy shots in the field. But that doesn't mean they aren't proficient with their weapon. They just aren't in that situation. And the ones I've seen that pursued it, became aces when in the field. Often excelling at a very fast rate. Why? Because they have a fundamental knowledge behind them, and an understanding of what their weapon is and isn't capable of. They know their own limits and don't push past them. And when they do blow a shot, they ain't blaming it on anything but themselves.

Nothing can take the place of actually being there, and doing it. I've read, and heard many combat veterans tell me, "no amount of training can prepare you for the reality of combat". But ask them how they would have fared w/o any training and you get something like, "You can never train too hard or too much". And often, among the one's I've spoken with, their reason is, "in combat you act and react, there is no time to think. You just do what has been drilled into you during training." Most comments like this coming from my grandpa, and his WWII buddies.

Now I understand we're not in combat when hunting. But the training principle is the same. If you do something so much that it becomes habit/second nature, things just kind of fall in place when your under pressure, and the shot just kinda happens with little effort. When it's not habit you have to work for it, and that's more often when things go wrong. That's my experience anyway.

Jay

WOW at the arrogance.....well said HWY, I felt the same way...who is he to set who is and is not a disgrace to the sport....

I think there is some truth to the statement that if you need practice you need to practice but if your not wounding animals then who are you to say how much practice a man should have...

Me, I love to shoot, and shoot all year long. and still have missed some deer, yea I said it...

My dad, if he shoots before he hunts pops off a round or two and I've never seen him miss....

to each his own....

The only thing I can add to this lame arsed subject is:



















I like tacos.

Cool Hand,

I think this subject was originally directed more so to less experienced hunters, those that still have the “pounding hearts, throbbing arteries, heaving lungs, spurting adrenal glands, and brains that screw up even when everything else is working.”

I just don’t have that heartthrob or thrill anymore. I am that guy that can shoot one round per year and take a deer to the locker plant. However, I don’t shoot them anymore. I didn’t say that I don’t hunt them anymore. My hunting experiences from now on are for my son. I pay for one gun now. We eat about all the venison we want to.

As far as practice, I have worked with him with a few different routines. He has been shooting a 270 since he was eight. Each routine is geared toward something along the lines of the subject here. One particular routine that I have him doing is sitting in a chair with some homemade shooting sticks in front of him. I have a target at 100 yards with about a four inch zero drawn. This scenario assumes that a deer is seen and coming our way. I have him put the gun on the sticks, but look away. From when I say now he has five seconds to shoot. He rarely, more like never, has a shot out of the four-inch circle.

That was last year. He just turned thirteen and is so used to recoil, more like cocky to recoil, that he shoots a 300 Weatherby this way now.

That's a good Christian reply.

Thank you for the compliment. Did I say something that doesn't apply to you? You've already admitted you don't go to church. Maybe the best place for you is on your knees. Only direct your praise at God, you don't owe me a thing.

Oh, since YOU brought it up, whats wrong with Christianity?? I know..............this ain't gonna be pretty!!! Oh, and your responce was not meant to be confrontational either?????

Don't know how I missed this one this long....

Random Thoughts after reading the whole thread:

I have seen natural shooters that do fine. I have seen marksmen miss.

I do think firing a few shots to check zero everynow and then is a good idea.

I know some of you can shoot one or two shots a season and be perfect. That's not the norm with the shooters we see and train.

I never saw anywhere here where PRACTICE was bad. Some choose too, some not, but I don't think anyone will argue that practice hurts your chances.

Here's an analogy. I was once seriously into golf. I played a ton, practiced more, practiced somehow everyday. I'd have friends or acquaintances that said they shot 77. One of two things usually happened, either when we played they had the worst day of their life and it was a 92, or they shot 77......with five mulligans, 6 foot wedges, and picking up 7 4 footers.

Shooters are the same. Most are not as good as they say, sadly. It's rarely the rifle that causes 12 inch groups.

To each there own. No way would I judge you competent or incompetent without seeing you shoot in person.

You nailed it Vernon as far as I'm concerned!!!!!

Hahaha at the guy who thinks that shooting a deer rifle on a bench has ANYTHING to do with shooting at animals.

All bench shooting does is create bad habits...