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Gun Practice:
Don't be a Bench Warmer
Gun practice and sighting in a rifle are not accomplished at the same time. Do some hunting-situation practice away from the bench rest.
Give it a Rest
Do some gun practice using your knees, a tree or other stable rest, since that may be all you have in a hunting situation. I have killed a couple of elk leaning back on my pack with my knees up and in front of me to brace the rifle on.
It’s surprising how much some tree branches moves, unless you’re right up against the trunk of the tree. It is often helpful to have done some gun practice using your front hand to anchor to a tree trunk, while at the same time letting your rifle rest on that hand. You might prefer doing this from one or the the other side of the tree. Try it both ways. A partner, if available, can lean on the tree trunk with an open hand and his wrist becomes a stable rest.
This is especially helpful if the shooter has small hands and the tree trunk is large.Try shooting offhand during gun practice at some closer distances. Sometimes a shot presents itself fairly close with the animal staring at you. All you may have time for is an offhand shot. Be aware of your limitations in this situation. Personally, anything much over 50 yards is pushing it for me. I prefer to have a rest if there is time, if an easy offhand shot is not a safe bet.
Try Shooting Sticks
Sitting bi-pod shooting sticks that break down or telescope into two or three sections are probably the most convenient to carry and use. I usually carry them fully extended, tucked in between my back and backpack. When I see an animal that does not see me, I can immediately pull them out and drop to my butt. It takes a few more seconds to set them up in front of you and then to put the rifle on top of them. Then you have to know how to quickly adjust the elevation of your gun. It’s important to learn through gun practice with sticks that you can more easily lean the sticks forward or backward to lower or raise the front of the gun. It is not necessary to separate the legs of the sticks in order to do this. Get to know this procedure during gun practice, rather than in a hunting situation.  Tripod shooting sticks  that are long enough to use standing up add bulk and more steps to set up from a broken down state. While standing you’re rifle will still not be as stable as when your back side and legs are anchored to the ground, in addition to the sticks.
Resting the gun on someone’s shoulder is not a good idea. The shoulder volunteer is not that stable, no matter how hard he tries to be, especially when expecting the explosion. Common sense says it just isn’t safe anyway.
Put Your Brand on 'em!
Early on my youngest son was having trouble with blinking and flinching and it was causing him to shoot poorly and inconsistently. I taught him some visualization that helped him (and myself) to avoid the anticipation response. During gun practice it might help to get in the habit of imagining your gun as a branding tool. You are going to “brand” a cross (your crosshair brand) on the target (animal or paper). Take a big breath and let it all out. Take another comfortably full breath and let half of it out. Then hold your breath. Put the center of the “cross” exactly where you want it to be “burned on”. Hold it steady and begin to squeeze the trigger, while you imagine burning the cross on the target.
Marry the Rifle and Scope, Divorce the Explosion!
Forget about the explosion. The explosion should surprise you. Let it. Your task is to squeeze the trigger while the reticle of your scope is held steadily where you want it. The explosion is the gun’s responsibility. The explosion is not your focused goal. Holding steady, on a very small spot on the target while you squeeze the trigger is your focus. Your crosshairs will disappear for a second with the recoil. If you have properly sighted in your rifle, the spot where you last saw your reticle on the target is where the bullet should hit, or below it if you had to hold high. When my youngest son started using the branding imagery, he began shooting accurately at the range and during gun practice. The improvement was dramatic. A couple of weeks later, after successfully tracking an elk herd, he was holding his “crosshair brand” on an elk at 275 yards. He used a stable tree trunk while he was on his knees for stability. He slowly “branded” the animal right behind the front leg. As I watched through binoculars, the gun went off. The elk ran briskly out of sight into adjacent trees. I saw no evidence of a hit before it quickly disappeared. I asked him if the shot surprised him. He said it had. I asked where he last saw the crosshairs. He said, “Right behind the leg”. I told him, “Then your elk is down”.
We knew the scope was “married” to the rifle with good mounts. We had spent the time to carefully sight it in for zero at 200 yards with the same premium ammo we used in the field (Federal Premium Vital Shock High Energy, 180 grain for 300 Win Mag). The shooter divorced himself from the explosion and let it surprise him while he was still in the on-going process of simply holding and squeezing, while using the branding imagery. Sure enough, the elk only ran about 30 yards and dropped dead. The bullet hit at his point of aim. His very first elk was down.
Practice Hold Over
Learn through gun practice where to hold over at different distances. A range finder is helpful, but many scopes are set up to help you estimate distances while looking at an elk or deer through the scope. Zeroing in at 200 yards is common with high powered rifles, since little or no elevation adjustment is needed out to 300, or so, given a 6 to 8 inch drop with premium ammunition. If you don’t know how far an animal is, but you know significant drop will probably occur, it may be safe to hold on or slightly below the spine, above the lung area. With an elk, it’s best to get the bullet into the lung area to avoid having to track a wounded animal for long distances. During gun practice guess distances and check with a range finder so you know your limitations, preferably in the terrain you’re going to hunt in. Most of us find that we just aren’t that good at eye-balling distances, especially over up and down terrain.
Use a Small Caliber Rifle for Gun Practice
Another practice tactic is to practice with a small caliber rifle. It’s cheaper, so you can shoot a lot. Since there is no kick, no flinch develops. It’s best to avoid fast shooting with a semi-automatic rimfire, which teaches the shooter not to take careful shots. Take your time, just like you would with a big rifle, making every shot count. When you move to big guns, pretend it is a .22. Don’t anticipate the big boom! Let it surprise you.“Stump shooting” or hunting small game is a lot of fun during the off season and keeps good shooting habits sharp. A gopher at 100 yards is tough to hit and requires good focus skills. In the summer of this writing we’ve burned through a brick of .22 shells and eliminated over 150 gophers to the ranch owners’ delight. There’s nothing worse than
tracking a wounded elk
until the blood sign disappears. Gun practice is an important key to successfully putting a bullet into an animal’s boiler room after all the hard work it took to set up the shot. Put the time in and your chances of closing the deal rises dramatically.
Download free paper targets for gun practice here.
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