How do you settle before a shot?
- Thread starter Alan
- Start date
Well I'm no newer shooter, but one of the things that both my Dad and several Army marksmanship instructors taught me early on was to completely zone out with each shot. That means that when you pull the rifle up to your shoulder or raise a handgun to shoot, empty your mind of everything but the shot, and place your full concentration on the shot. The only things that should be in your head are breath control, sight alignment, trigger press and follow through.
At the ranges that most of us shoot at things like wind, unless it's a hurricane, light, unless it's pitch black out and mirage will not affect the flight of the bullet enough to cause a miss if the basics are all in place when the round goes off. Things do change in competition when evaluating the variables mentioned but once you settle in for the shot that is the only thing that matters.
At the ranges that most of us shoot at things like wind, unless it's a hurricane, light, unless it's pitch black out and mirage will not affect the flight of the bullet enough to cause a miss if the basics are all in place when the round goes off. Things do change in competition when evaluating the variables mentioned but once you settle in for the shot that is the only thing that matters.
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2025
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- 25
A little twist to this question, but maybe don't think? When I was a teenager we would stand hunt the 1st weekend, then get a bunch of guys together and make drives. Easy to do back then because there was enough land and woods to go around. Its as changed from the past because now an 120 acre+ woodlot is now only enough for 1 or 2 people. But to continue, You often times didn't have time to think of the shot, just bring the gun, which has become an instinctive natural reflex, to your shoulder, swing on the running animal of choice and shoot it, not unlike like pass shooting a pheasant. For those that never had the chance to hunt pheasants in their backyard lets call it. like pass shooting a duck.
I love archery, still do and have taken my share, and missed my share, of rabbits. Once you get the knack of shooting a running rabbit with lead and all that goes with it, your just shooting instinctively and you may find you do that better than when something is sitting there and getting to your nerves. Btw, a recurve or long bow is what you want to use. You'll never be able to draw, hold, sight, holds some more, and shoot at something moving with a compound.
Now Im not advocating shooting at running game, but its what you did when driving deer or jumping on a brush pile for rabbits. To many times one sees the quarry way to soon and has time to think, way to much, hence my approach of not thinking at all.
I love archery, still do and have taken my share, and missed my share, of rabbits. Once you get the knack of shooting a running rabbit with lead and all that goes with it, your just shooting instinctively and you may find you do that better than when something is sitting there and getting to your nerves. Btw, a recurve or long bow is what you want to use. You'll never be able to draw, hold, sight, holds some more, and shoot at something moving with a compound.
Now Im not advocating shooting at running game, but its what you did when driving deer or jumping on a brush pile for rabbits. To many times one sees the quarry way to soon and has time to think, way to much, hence my approach of not thinking at all.
While I don't recommend shooting at running deer, I have done it twice and fortunately successfully. The first time, it was purely self-defense. I was walking along a creek when another flushed a buck out of the cornfield I was walking beside. I was at the end of the field and when the deer came out of he corn he turned to jump across the creek and didn't see me until he was already in the air almost running me over. Raise the rifle, didn't even get a chance to aim point in front of the shoulder as it came flying by at about 5 feet and pulled the trigger. The deer hit the ground on the other side of the creek, kicked a few times and was dead. That was about forty minutes into opening day.
The other time I was in my redneck blind and watched a nice 8 point come out of the woods at the far side of the field, run straight across the field towards me, heading for a deer trail that was about fifteen feet away. I stuck the barrel out the window and when the deer came running by I aimed over the scope for a spot about a foot in front of him and pulled the trigger. He piled up about 20 feet from my stand.
The other time I was in my redneck blind and watched a nice 8 point come out of the woods at the far side of the field, run straight across the field towards me, heading for a deer trail that was about fifteen feet away. I stuck the barrel out the window and when the deer came running by I aimed over the scope for a spot about a foot in front of him and pulled the trigger. He piled up about 20 feet from my stand.
