Whats your most difficult shooting skill to master?

[Muddyboots]

What is the hardest thing for you to master when shooting?

Is it:
Reading wind
Cheek weld/position
Breath control
Trigger control
Sight picture
Or something else?

Let us know what is the bane of your shooting sucess. (Remember, misery loves company ).

Yes

 

[C-130 Dude]

I'm only in my early 50's and still shoot all the time and have since I was four shotgun, rifle and pistol. My weakness to this day is my heart still ponds out of my chest when I see a mature bull or deer. I guess it's the reason I strive for perfection on load development because my heartbeat is at least a full MOA!

So buck fever is your bane?

 

[C-130 Dude]

Mine has to do with hunting! Sitting or kneeling positions are my Achilles Heel! memtb

I hear ya on the knees thing. Mine are full of ground round.

 

[C-130 Dude]

The last 10 + years it hasn't been any mentioned before as neck pain causes all of the above and more. I used to shoot with a duplex up to 600 yards, make no optic adjustments on prairie dogs. Hit rounds on the run was pretty good. They are wylie animals! Wind wasn't an issue at that range when you shoot lasers (264wm). Most shots were either just over or under. Now it's more fun to train the kids!

And the kids are so much better than I ever remember me being.

 

[C-130 Dude]

Even at mid range, 600, wind call can be a problem. The same junior in the P100, no sighter match.

Here is her comment.

"Strong wind but consistent . I just shot poorly on my feet and didn't believe it was 4 mins of wind at 6. Dropped 2 points there and cleaned it after."

View attachment 481205

But she diagnosed the issue. Great!

 

[Calvin45]

Mine has to do with hunting! Sitting or kneeling positions are my Achilles Heel! memtb

Mine too. I'd rather shoot standing freehand than either of those

 

[Calvin45]

Mine also has to do with hunting. As far as what's actually led to screw ups it's been failing remember to "follow through" on moving targets during the actual trigger pull and recoil. Twice ive botched a shot and made a less than ideal hit on moving deer because I was leading them appropriately but then stopped continuing to lead when I squeezed the trigger. Felt silly both times. Both deer were still swiftly tracked and recovered but that's not the point and doesn't change that I screwed up and forgot what I knew when it counted.

The other thing has been range estimation, or more so gross underestimation of how flat rifles shoot, even the old 30-30 and .303 enfield I was raised on.

I don't think I've ever missed low. But when I was younger and more excitable and prone to overestimate the distance And underestimate the flatness of trajectory Lord knows I've shot clean over the backs of many deer. Hasn't happened in a while now.

 

[C-130 Dude]

Mine also has to do with hunting. As far as what's actually led to screw ups it's been failing remember to "follow through" on moving targets during the actual trigger pull and recoil. Twice ive botched a shot and made a less than ideal hit on moving deer because I was leading them appropriately but then stopped continuing to lead when I squeezed the trigger. Felt silly both times. Both deer were still swiftly tracked and recovered but that's not the point and doesn't change that I screwed up and forgot what I knew when it counted.

The other thing has been range estimation, or more so gross underestimation of how flat rifles shoot, even the old 30-30 and .303 enfield I was raised on.

I don't think I've ever missed low. But when I was younger and more excitable and prone to overestimate the distance And underestimate the flatness of trajectory Lord knows I've shot clean over the backs of many deer. Hasn't happened in a while now.

I know what your saying here. I bet I shot 15 feet over the first muley I shot at. Used a borrowed. 303 with ramp sights. No practice shots prior. Everything about that day was wrong. Lessons learned.

 

[Calvin45]

I know what your saying here. I bet I shot 15 feet over the first muley I shot at. Used a borrowed. 303 with ramp sights. No practice shots prior. Everything about that day was wrong. Lessons learned.

I did the same thing with my dads 30-30 as an 11 year old shaking with buck fever and an itchy trigger finger.

I had it in my head that the .30-30 was not a flat shooting round and sucked at eyeballing rough distance. Was convinced I needed a ton of holdover for a 300 yard shot that in reality was MAYBE 150 yards haha. A tiny cowboy could have been riding that deer and have been in little danger

 

[memtb]

Mine also has to do with hunting. As far as what's actually led to screw ups it's been failing remember to "follow through" on moving targets during the actual trigger pull and recoil. Twice ive botched a shot and made a less than ideal hit on moving deer because I was leading them appropriately but then stopped continuing to lead when I squeezed the trigger. Felt silly both times. Both deer were still swiftly tracked and recovered but that's not the point and doesn't change that I screwed up and forgot what I knew when it counted.

The other thing has been range estimation, or more so gross underestimation of how flat rifles shoot, even the old 30-30 and .303 enfield I was raised on.

I don't think I've ever missed low. But when I was younger and more excitable and prone to overestimate the distance And underestimate the flatness of trajectory Lord knows I've shot clean over the backs of many deer. Hasn't happened in a while now.

My most memorable misses with badly misjudged distances were late evening shots! I thought the animals were much farther than they were.

After a couple of these, is when I started using the sight-in method that I still use today. I use a 300 yard zero, .and swore a vow to myself to "never" do a hold over…… always "hold on hair"!

Using this method on my last Pronghorn, on a late evening hunt when there was not enough time for ranging the shot. I made a guesstimate of 400, held high on the shoulder, touched the trigger, and hit him high on the shoulder. Another 3 or 4 inches higher….I would have missed. Once getting to the "goat", I ranged back to where I took the shot from….almost exactly 300 yards! Yep, the bullet impact was where I was aiming! memtb

 

[C-130 Dude]

I did the same thing with my dads 30-30 as an 11 year old shaking with buck fever and an itchy trigger finger.

I had it in my head that the .30-30 was not a flat shooting round and sucked at eyeballing rough distance. Was convinced I needed a ton of holdover for a 300 yard shot that in reality was MAYBE 150 yards haha. A tiny cowboy could have been riding that deer and have been in little danger

When I shot at that muley, my elevation and leads were more than a 12ga by a mile. Not good.

 

[Window]

So buck fever is your bane?

Indeed it is and when it's not, I'll be hanging it up. In all seriousness, I started this obsession when I was four years old. I'm not what anyone would consider a trophy hunter as my entire family eats the majority of their protein for what we harvest ourselves. However, I can still feel the heartbeat in my throat when I see a mature deer or elk. Two years ago, the day Monday before Thanksgiving, my son was home from college and we were hunting in one of our small tracts of land and I saw the biggest buck I've ever seen with a gun or bow in my hand chasing a doe. He was 170" plus and I didn't get a shot. However, I sat in the stand for over an hour shaking like a leaf on a windy day. After it was all said and done I thought to myself, after all the years and all the animals taken, it still gets to me like a kid who just saw his first deer. Nothing better!

 

[C-130 Dude]

Indeed it is and when it's not, I'll be hanging it up. In all seriousness, I started this obsession when I was four years old. I'm not what anyone would consider a trophy hunter as my entire family eats the majority of their protein for what we harvest ourselves. However, I can still feel the heartbeat in my throat when I see a mature deer or elk. Two years ago, the day Monday before Thanksgiving, my son was home from college and we were hunting in one of our small tracts of land and I saw the biggest buck I've ever seen with a gun or bow in my hand chasing a doe. He was 170" plus and I didn't get a shot. However, I sat in the stand for over an hour shaking like a leaf on a windy day. After it was all said and done I thought to myself, after all the years and all the animals taken, it still gets to me like a kid who just saw his first deer. Nothing better!

I feel your pain!

 

[sendero72]

Shooting prone. Not a lot prone shooting around the soybean and corn fields.