Like Any Hunt Things Start Off At The Shooting Range

[petrusg]

We spent some time hunting Blesbuck with two clients, needless to say, they got the animal they were after but we had a couple of mis shots as well as a wounded animal. So it just got me thinking why these things happen.

Like any hunt, things start off at the shooting range to ensure that the hunters rifles are shooting accurately and that they are comfortable before we head out to stalk our pray. The shots on the range are good and the hunters have no problem hitting a 2 inch block at a 100m so now as a PH you feel comfortable that your client will be able to shoot a heart/lung area shot with very little difficulty.

So you head out and you get a shot at an animal within range and the shot is not placed where it should be or at slightly longer range the shot is completely missed or the animal was shot so poorly that you have a wounded animal running around.

After this weekend I thought i’ll put together a couple of pointers so that this does not happen to you on your next hunt.

I think the most important advice I can give any hunter is that you need to practice allot with the rifle you intend to use on your hunt. Dont just stick to the normal 100m range that you are comfortable with, go to a range where you can shoot up to 400m, not many of us will ever take a 400m shot on an animal but what if you have to…. It is important to know how much your bullet drops at 200m, 300m and 400m if your rifle is zero’d at 100m. The only way you will ever be comfortable with shooting longer range shots as required with animal like Blesbuck is to practice at longer ranges until you are comfortable and know your rifles trajectory.

Its important to use the correct ammunition for your rifle, whether you are reloading or buying ammunition each rifle prefers a different grain bullet. The best way to start is by knowing your rifle twist and buying or reloading ammunition that is best suited for your twist. Once you have the right grain point for your rifle you will see significant changes in accuracy.

Your optics on your rifle is very important, make sure you have the best optics you can afford and that you have the correct magnification for your intended range. When you are hunting animal at 100m or less a 6X magnification works perfectly and is deadly but once you start increasing the range you will need to increase your magnification capability to ensure accurate shots.

Make sure you are comfortable both physically and mentally before taking the shot, it is easier to not take the shot than to search for a wounded animal. If you know your rifle and trajectory don’t let external advice from observers make you change you’re aiming point if you feel you have taken all factors into account.

Be comfortable with all styles of shooting. You might need to shoot off sticks or shoot lying or shoot sitting over a rock. Make sure you practice shooting in different positions and not just over the comfortable shooting bench at your local range.

The most important thing is that everyone has a miss or a wound shot in their lives. Get over it and ensure you clear your head before taking aim on the next animal or go back to the shooting range and practice till you know you are ready.

PH, Petrus Geldenhuys

 

[Fred Gunner]

Excellent Advice. My wife and I started shooting off the sticks this week at 200 and 300 yards. Our goal is 5 out of 5 hits on 6 inch steel plate at 300 yards.

 

[Shootist43]

Good advice no doubt. The problem for me is that most rifle ranges where I live (Michigan) are all limited to 100 yds. The thought of making a shot on an animal 400 yds. away almost scares me. I totally understand that hunters living in the "wide open spaces" consider 300 -400 yard shots to be the norm. In some ways I envy them.

 

[Ragman]

The thought of making a shot on an animal 400 yds. away almost scares me.

Me too. I won't do it and I live in Saskatchewan where there is lots of opportunities to do so. I'll always try getting closer even if there's a good chance the animal will spot me and take off. I've been hunting since 1981 and haven't had to shoot that far and hopefully that continues. Including my upcoming hunt in the Eastern Cape in July.

 

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Good advice......the only thing I would like to add is to shoot at "life size" game targets (if possible). There are life size deer targets, or you can make your own out of old refrigerator boxes. I realize that this may not be possible with with critters like elephant or cape buffalo, but smaller plains game such as impala or blesbok should be doable. There is a section on the website called "shot placement".....it's there for YOUR benefit!! Learn where the vitals are and where to aim; you won't regret it. I get laughed at a lot at the rifle range I go to when I shoot at these targets (esp. the crocodile head that I shoot at), but I really don't give a damn.......I know that when the time comes, I'll be putting my game down with one shot!!!
Besides.........shooting at bullseye targets gets boring after a while...............

 

[sierraone]

http://www.safaripress.com/buffalo-target-poster-life-size.html

Life size cape buff targets, you still have to have a backboard of some type to staple it to.

 

[Fred Gunner]

That tiny white speck at the top in the tree line...My baby and me hit that off the Sticks three shots out of five yesterday...not good enough yet.
This range is a 80 mile round trip from our home and we'll be there again Friday and Tuesday... and every week until we can hit 5 consecutive shots every time.
Only then will we ready for the 14 Thousand mile round trip to Namibia....

 

[sierraone]

Too far for me.....Good Luck!

 

[cagkt3]

Great post, I'd love to see other PH's post with some advice pointers that they have learned over the years.

 

[BRICKBURN]

..........
The most important thing is that everyone has a miss or a wound shot in their lives. Get over it and ensure you clear your head before taking aim on the next animal or go back to the shooting range and practice till you know you are ready. ......

Can not agree more on this point. Practice how to "get over it".

 

[johnnyblues]

Yes good advise for sure. You have to somehow get passed a missed animal. Just on my last safari I had a bushbuck at 150 yards on a downward angle and simply shot too high and to make matters worse I was having the hunt professionally video taped! Now keep in mind I had just shot a val rhebok at 300 yards several days before which is a smaller target but these things do happen. I had an opportunity several days later on another bushbuck and made it happen. If you have access at ranges that have 200 yard plus targets by all means buy shooting sticks and practice. FYI I shot my zebra and kudu in Namibia at 300 and 255 yards respectably , so it can happen if that's a good trophy and that is the only shot.

 

[Shootist43]

Fred Gunner, what caliber rifles and optics are you and your better half using?

 

[Fred Gunner]

Fred Gunner, what caliber rifles and optics are you and your better half using?

My Bride will be hunting with a T/C Encore in 30-06. 180 grain Swift A-Frame
I'm shooting my go to rifle for all my "big game" Hunts M77 Ruger Guide Gun in 375 Ruger. 300 grain A-frame & 300 gr. Accubonds
Both are topped with Trijicon AccuPoint scopes
Our 100 yard zero dope is point blank at 200 yards and drops at most 3" at 300 yards not enough to adjust elevation settings.
We're surprised and very happy that the ammo works so well at 300 that no scope adjustments are necessary.
Now it's just a matter of practice, practice, and more practice.

 

[Alistair]

Cant imagine this is new to anyone, but just in case, have a few pointers on 'effective' hunting practice. This is all based on the 'sporting rifle' discipline I shoot at the range, which is itself loosely based on the British Sporting Rifle Club disciplines and German hunter exam tests.

1.) Course of fire. Relate it to what you're going to do in the field. We tend to shoot 4x shots at 100 off double sticks, 4x shots at 100 sitting unsupported, 4x shots sitting with stick at 200, 4x shots prone off elbows at 200 and finally 4x shots prone off bipod or rucksack at 300. This is pretty much ideal for most British shooting and should be fine in Africa as well. Also good for wind reading and learning drops at the longer ranges. If you think it's useful and applicable for your shooting, by all means throw in a 400 detail as well.

2.) Targets. As said above, get something realistic. We use the German hunting test Roe deer with slightly improved scoring rings, which works well. The point is, shooting a 'deer' is different to shooting a bullseye, and it gets you familiar with aiming points. Using a life size target also gets you used to how big your animal looks at these ranges, which can help with range estimation in the field. Scoring for us is kill, wound, miss (The logic being that actually, for hunting, a 6" group is just as good as a 1" group as long as its centred in the right place). The actual numerical score is used as a tie break only. For the purpose of hunting practice, wound = instant fail.

3.) Kit. Be honest! Yeah, it's easier to post a good score with your range 6.5Creedmoor at 20x mag off quadsticks, but does it relate to the field? Try, as much as possible to use the exact kit you plan on using. Rifle obviously, but I'm also talking scope settings, sticks... if you're reloading between shots or have to top up a mag think about your planned ammo storage. Consider shooting in your hunting clothes etc. If you have a set trigger, do you plan on using it 'in anger'? This helps to not only get familiar with using your kit as you would in the field, but also highlights things that won't work for you.

4.) Stress. Depends on what's available, but a bit of stress can make a difference for performance. One you can almost certainly use on the range is time stress. The method we use is to start standing, holding your sticks and wearing your pack with the rifle slung and un-loaded (if your range allows it, underloaded would be better). Upon the command, you have 60 seconds to assume your position and fire the 4 shots. This is good for the 'auxillary' bits of shooting. It's all very well being able to shoot a tiny group, but if it takes you 10mins to do it, is it really useful?
Physically stress is also sometimes possible. One option might be to put you target up, run back to 100 carrying your shooting stuff, then drop and immediately start shooting. Then rinse and repeat when falling back to 200 and 300.

A final thing to consider is zero. For a rifle to be used between 50 and 300yds, I zero my rifle at 200. For my .270win, this puts me within +/-1.5in from 50yds out to 250yds with a drop of around 5.5in at 300. Just makes that longer shot a bit easier than the customary 100 zero. Oh, and a useful tip, if you can only zero at 100, zeroing around 1.5in high is basically a 200yd zero anyway.

Hope this is helpful to someone!
Al.

 

[stug]

This is a fun shoot we do once a year. No shooting off a bench, all off sticks or freehand. It really opens your eyes, so to speak, especially the balloons.

 

[Shootist43]

Stug, your big bore shoot looks pretty realistic, it sounds like a "blast" pun intended.

 

[gesch]

Cant imagine this is new to anyone, but just in case, have a few pointers on 'effective' hunting practice. This is all based on the 'sporting rifle' discipline I shoot at the range, which is itself loosely based on the British Sporting Rifle Club disciplines and German hunter exam tests.

1.) Course of fire. Relate it to what you're going to do in the field. We tend to shoot 4x shots at 100 off double sticks, 4x shots at 100 sitting unsupported, 4x shots sitting with stick at 200, 4x shots prone off elbows at 200 and finally 4x shots prone off bipod or rucksack at 300. This is pretty much ideal for most British shooting and should be fine in Africa as well. Also good for wind reading and learning drops at the longer ranges. If you think it's useful and applicable for your shooting, by all means throw in a 400 detail as well.

2.) Targets. As said above, get something realistic. We use the German hunting test Roe deer with slightly improved scoring rings, which works well. The point is, shooting a 'deer' is different to shooting a bullseye, and it gets you familiar with aiming points. Using a life size target also gets you used to how big your animal looks at these ranges, which can help with range estimation in the field. Scoring for us is kill, wound, miss (The logic being that actually, for hunting, a 6" group is just as good as a 1" group as long as its centred in the right place). The actual numerical score is used as a tie break only. For the purpose of hunting practice, wound = instant fail.

3.) Kit. Be honest! Yeah, it's easier to post a good score with your range 6.5Creedmoor at 20x mag off quadsticks, but does it relate to the field? Try, as much as possible to use the exact kit you plan on using. Rifle obviously, but I'm also talking scope settings, sticks... if you're reloading between shots or have to top up a mag think about your planned ammo storage. Consider shooting in your hunting clothes etc. If you have a set trigger, do you plan on using it 'in anger'? This helps to not only get familiar with using your kit as you would in the field, but also highlights things that won't work for you.

4.) Stress. Depends on what's available, but a bit of stress can make a difference for performance. One you can almost certainly use on the range is time stress. The method we use is to start standing, holding your sticks and wearing your pack with the rifle slung and un-loaded (if your range allows it, underloaded would be better). Upon the command, you have 60 seconds to assume your position and fire the 4 shots. This is good for the 'auxillary' bits of shooting. It's all very well being able to shoot a tiny group, but if it takes you 10mins to do it, is it really useful?
Physically stress is also sometimes possible. One option might be to put you target up, run back to 100 carrying your shooting stuff, then drop and immediately start shooting. Then rinse and repeat when falling back to 200 and 300.

A final thing to consider is zero. For a rifle to be used between 50 and 300yds, I zero my rifle at 200. For my .270win, this puts me within +/-1.5in from 50yds out to 250yds with a drop of around 5.5in at 300. Just makes that longer shot a bit easier than the customary 100 zero. Oh, and a useful tip, if you can only zero at 100, zeroing around 1.5in high is basically a 200yd zero anyway.

Hope this is helpful to someone!
Al.

Thanks for the thoughtful information. I have never been formally taught rifle shooting techniques. This new to me and valuable. Thank you.

 

[BobT]

This is a fun shoot we do once a year. No shooting off a bench, all off sticks or freehand. It really opens your eyes, so to speak, especially the balloons.

This looks like a lot of fun! It looked like the guys who seemed most comfortable with their rifles popped all of the balloons.

 

[stug]

This looks like a lot of fun! It looked like the guys who seemed most comfortable with their rifles popped all of the balloons.

The first guy to shoot them all wasn't using his own rifle, but does have one similar of his own. The last guy was me. The previous year I missed them all! Was trying to shoot too quickly, so slowed down a bit this year.

 

[siutis]

Cant imagine this is new to anyone, but just in case, have a few pointers on 'effective' hunting practice. This is all based on the 'sporting rifle' discipline I shoot at the range, which is itself loosely based on the British Sporting Rifle Club disciplines and German hunter exam tests.

1.) Course of fire. Relate it to what you're going to do in the field. We tend to shoot 4x shots at 100 off double sticks, 4x shots at 100 sitting unsupported, 4x shots sitting with stick at 200, 4x shots prone off elbows at 200 and finally 4x shots prone off bipod or rucksack at 300. This is pretty much ideal for most British shooting and should be fine in Africa as well. Also good for wind reading and learning drops at the longer ranges. If you think it's useful and applicable for your shooting, by all means throw in a 400 detail as well.

2.) Targets. As said above, get something realistic. We use the German hunting test Roe deer with slightly improved scoring rings, which works well. The point is, shooting a 'deer' is different to shooting a bullseye, and it gets you familiar with aiming points. Using a life size target also gets you used to how big your animal looks at these ranges, which can help with range estimation in the field. Scoring for us is kill, wound, miss (The logic being that actually, for hunting, a 6" group is just as good as a 1" group as long as its centred in the right place). The actual numerical score is used as a tie break only. For the purpose of hunting practice, wound = instant fail.

3.) Kit. Be honest! Yeah, it's easier to post a good score with your range 6.5Creedmoor at 20x mag off quadsticks, but does it relate to the field? Try, as much as possible to use the exact kit you plan on using. Rifle obviously, but I'm also talking scope settings, sticks... if you're reloading between shots or have to top up a mag think about your planned ammo storage. Consider shooting in your hunting clothes etc. If you have a set trigger, do you plan on using it 'in anger'? This helps to not only get familiar with using your kit as you would in the field, but also highlights things that won't work for you.

4.) Stress. Depends on what's available, but a bit of stress can make a difference for performance. One you can almost certainly use on the range is time stress. The method we use is to start standing, holding your sticks and wearing your pack with the rifle slung and un-loaded (if your range allows it, underloaded would be better). Upon the command, you have 60 seconds to assume your position and fire the 4 shots. This is good for the 'auxillary' bits of shooting. It's all very well being able to shoot a tiny group, but if it takes you 10mins to do it, is it really useful?
Physically stress is also sometimes possible. One option might be to put you target up, run back to 100 carrying your shooting stuff, then drop and immediately start shooting. Then rinse and repeat when falling back to 200 and 300.

A final thing to consider is zero. For a rifle to be used between 50 and 300yds, I zero my rifle at 200. For my .270win, this puts me within +/-1.5in from 50yds out to 250yds with a drop of around 5.5in at 300. Just makes that longer shot a bit easier than the customary 100 zero. Oh, and a useful tip, if you can only zero at 100, zeroing around 1.5in high is basically a 200yd zero anyway.

Hope this is helpful to someone!
Al.

Outstanding information. On behalf of all, thanks for taking the time to put this together.