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Shooting Drills

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Shooting Drills

Postby 7mmfan » 03 10, 2023 •  [Post 1]

We all know that, most of the time, the shots we're offered in the woods aren't off a shooting bench, or on a perfectly flat unobstructed plain like your backyard archery range. What do you do prepare yourself for real life shooting scenarios?

When I used to shoot archery, I would shoot from kneeling, squatting, sitting and turned positions. It was amazing to me how turning your body just a little would change everything. Focusing on my anchor point really helped me a lot. We would go out into a big field near my house and one guy would walk the target an unknown distance out into the field while the other had his back turned. You had to turn, estimate the distance and shoot as quickly as possible. In those days, we capped our range at 40 yards, so it wasn't to difficult, but our bows were older and slower and we shot big aluminum arrows so if you were off by 5 yards, it made a big difference.

As a kid preparing for my first rifle hunt, my dad did a couple of shooting drills with us that were excellent and have stuck with me. Note: we rarely if ever shoot at a range. Most of our shooting is on managed timber land in clear cuts, or on NF land near our home. We have/had a few locations that were safe to perform these drills. Probably the best one is similar to the unknown distance archery drill. One guy would walk into the clear cut and place 3 or 4 water filled milk jugs in unknown locations. Once set, the shooter would walk the road until he spotted one and then have to choose his shot: freehand, prone, off pack or shooting sticks, off a nearby stump, etc... Your goal was to shoot in less than 10 seconds from when you spotted it. Some of the jugs would be close, 50 yards, some would be mid range, and if we had room, some would be out there, 300 yards or so. As a kid, range finders didn't exist, we had to estimate yardage. This drill was critical in learning to estimate yardages out to 300 yards. The same time frame exists when I do this drill now, but I do have a range finder and have to fit it into my time frame if I'm going to use it.

The other drill was a swinging milk jug. We had a spot that was ideal for this, not many are, but we were able to string a rope way up in a tree and hang a water filled milk jug from it. You'd then get that jug really swinging back and forth, and then have to try and shoot it freehand from 50-100 yards. It was an excellent drill for shooting at moving game with a scoped rifle and I'm confident was the reason I was able to easily kill my first buck as he trotted across in front of me at 80 yards. I had practiced that so many times in the summer leading up to that first hunt at age 13 that it was an engrained skill at that point.

Go ahead an share your favorite shooting drills, I'm sure someone can benefit from them.
I hunt therefore I am. I fish therefore I lie.
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Re: Shooting Drills

Postby Swede » 03 10, 2023 •  [Post 2]

It has been years since I had any shooting drills. In the past I did stump shots. I would travel through the forest until I saw a rotten stump then take a shot at it doing some of the same things you describe. Now I just target practice at known ranges. I have markers out or have measured distances to significant objects close to me tree stand. When game comes around, I stand and shoot if I want it. Then I sit back down and wait awhile. I have never shot a critter sitting or kneeling. I missed an elk once shooting from a kneeling position when my arrow hit a limb.
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