Expert shooters share their advice on how to shoot better. Here's my favorite:
Stay with the Big Picture
If I may be so bold, I think I gave an aspiring hunter some of the best advice on a pronghorn hunt several years ago. The hunter was from the east and had never seen a pronghorn, much less hunted or killed one. This individual was consumed with caliber, scope, scope reticle, sling type. It got so bad that during the few weeks before the hunt, this hunter was bugging me daily—sometimes several times a day—about minutiae that would be of consequence only on a sponsored hunt, which this was not. The questions came fast and frenetic. It got down to a difference in bullet manufacturers—same weight, same general construction—which one would kill a buck?
I sort of lost my patience at that point and blurted out: “The first rule of hunting or shooting is P.T.F.T!" The hunter looked quizzically at me and I explained, "Pull The Freaking Trigger!"
We all get a little too wrapped up in gear occasionally. I've done it, too. However, once you have a suitable arm—something that will fling a bullet with reasonable accuracy—sighted in with, again, a reasonably accurate load, it's time to paste the cross-hair on the critter and let fly. Everything else is feathers on the dog.
Dave Campbell, AmericanRifleman.org Contributor
Posts
