What is the standard for good shooting in hunting conditions?

[2DaMtns]

during my Black Powder shooting days it was common to use a small styrofoam coffee cup at 100+ yards as a target in a shoot off. I could hit one maybe 8 out of 10 times with my Hawkin (34" Green Mountain target barrel 1-72" round ball twist) standing. Never tried it kneeing or sitting.

Now THAT is some good shooting.

 

[FishnhuntOR]

Aim small miss small is my Motto.
At 300 yard you should be prone.
I've been there and done that at 300+ yards standing position it didn't turn out well.

 

[KKG]

If you can stand up on your mind legs without using a sling or resting your rifle against anything and put five rounds into a 7-8" paper plate; well, I think you'll do fine. The plate needs to be at whatever distance you are expecting to be the farthest you'll be shooting at.

 

[No_Regerts]

I can hit a tea cup at 400 yards. With a few magazines

Adjust T&E and fire for effect!

 

[No_Regerts]

Aim small miss small is my Motto.
At 300 yard you should be prone.
I've been there and done that at 300+ yards standing position it didn't turn out well.

Agreed. You have to be realistic and that only comes by trying a bunch of different positions with various rests and distances. Why waste the chance at a buck or bull of a lifetime when the practice is fun? I love to shoot!

 

[Jamie6.5]

Aim small miss small is my Motto.
At 300 yard you should be prone.
I've been there and done that at 300+ yards standing position it didn't turn out well.

You should have someone teach you to shoot correctly from the sitting position.
I learned early-on that was my steadiest position in the field.
My longest shot of 340 yds (on an animal) was while sitting on a hillside looking out across a shallow swale.
That buck never knew what hit him.
If I can hit it from the bench I can hit it sitting.

 

[Geardo]

Serious answer.

I shot 1-2 thousand rounds the year before I went hunting with a rifle. I mostly shot sitting using sandbags to test POI shifts with different ammo and distance, but I also shot a ton from standing, sitting, and prone using my pack as a rest.

When the shot presented itself. It was 150 yards just like I had planned. I pushed my pack up ahead of me, and belly crawled into position, took my time, and made a perfect shot.

I don't have a standard for you, but when I took that shot, I knew almost exactly where to hold the bdc reticle, and I KNEW I was going to make the shot.

 

[Colts4me]

Hunting stories, oh boy

So I was the worst shot in the family and my three brothers always brought it up. So in the old days without bullet drop reticle and range finders you used the cross hairs of your scope to judge the distance of the deer. Over east there are not many trees around all you could be sure of was the body of a deer at 100 yards was 18 inches top to bottom. Once you ranged it in the cross hairs you picked your hold and pulled the trigger.

One season I crawled up on a herd of about 200 and picked a nice buck close to me. Ranged him and my rifle was set for 100 yards so by guess and by golly I put the cross hairs on the top of his back straight above the heart. The shot hit about 4 inches above his brisket and he was dead before I got to him.

Knowing your equipment from the balistics of the ammo to how to range an animal in those days made you successful. Having big herds helped too

 

[DeanMk]

You ask several related questions, so I'll address each one separately...

So everyone knows 1MOA is the benchmark of pretty good shooting at 100 yards off a bench or bags or what have you. Is there a generally accepted proficiency for shooting offhand, leaning against a tree, etc., from which a hunter may have to take a shot?

Drop the bird, down the elk, save everyone in your hunting party by killing the 1500lb. Grizzly that's charging your group.
Dead is dead. Most hunters will applaud your luck for being in an advantageous position to bag your quarry, rather than the specifics of the shot you took.
...and they'll also want to know where you were when you bagged your game.

Obviously, a lot goes into this, such as field conditions, your level of fitness, how exhausted you are, etc. But at what level of shooting would you be impressed by real world conditions shooting?

What would impress moi?
Putting the entire magazine into one slightly ragged hole at the farthest distance possible.
I would think that would impress anyone!

I've never shot an animal beyond 100 yards, as it was nearly impossible to see farther than that where I hunted growing up back east. However, where I live currently, I can see over 300 yards in several directions on the property, so I feel like I need to improve my skills. I figure anything beyond 150 or 200 yards will allow me to establish a more stable rest if I'm careful, so my goal is to be able to hit an 8" target at 200 yards. That's 4MOA, which seems doable, and is my goal. But all that aside, what's considered good at that range shooting from offhand or using a tree trunk as a rest?

While being a proficient shot does play a hand in "good hunting skills", it seems you might be over emphasizing that aspect slightly.
Remember, you're hunting.
The idea is to find and stalk your quarry until you are in an advantageous position in which to achieve a quick, clean kill.
Long shots (and yes, 200 yards approaches a "long shot") rarely accomplish this.
You'd do just as well to spend some time hiking around your property and get to know the lay of the land.
One game some guys play in the off-season is if they happen upon a deer in the woods, they try to approach it.
The trick is to get as close as you possibly can, touching or even petting it as the goal.
Try it some time. Not so easy.
If you can walk up on a deer in the woods, even "average" shooting skills will be good enough.
As someone posted earlier, "Minute of Heart" is all the accuracy you need.
This is why the "quintessential deer rifle" is a 120+ year old relic from the days of cattle drives and stage coaches who's effective range maxes out at around 150 yards.
You're not just shooting. You're hunting.


Dean

 

[bsa1917hunter]

I go by how far I keep a full magazine on a pie plate (standard 9 inch plate) under field conditions as the maximum distance I'd shoot at a deer. I call it "minute of pie plate". This changes depending on the rifle and shooting position. For me shooting a standard 7 1/2lb rifle with a 6x scope, thats about 100 yards off hand, 150 yards kneeling, 300 yards seated off shooting sticks or prone with no rest, 400 prone with a rest.

Yep, that's what I go by as well. The guy that said his dad said don't take the shot unless you can hit a soup can, probably had to eat a lot of soup (tag soup).... Lets not kid ourselves here. We can all be the best shots behind our keyboards, but we know our limits and when we should and shouldn't take the shot on a live animal. If you don't, then you need more practice to know yourself and your equipment better... Another forum I frequent quite a bit had a shoot going called the Carl Ross positional match. It was a timed event and was excellent practice for field positions. I'll be honest here and tell you that there were some professional shooters there that were shooting 17/20 for score. That doesn't mean they would have missed a critter at that range (100 yards), it just means there's always room for improvement... With that being said, 95% of the deer and elk I've shot, have been shot in the offhand position. That for damn sure doesn't mean I can hit a can of chili beans every time at any range. Pie plate/paper plate works for my needs as well......

 

[No_Regerts]

Yep, that's what I go by as well. The guy that said his dad said don't take the shot unless you can hit a soup can, probably had to eat a lot of soup (tag soup).... Lets not kid ourselves here. We can all be the best shots behind our keyboards, but we know our limits and when we should and shouldn't take the shot on a live animal. If you don't, then you need more practice to know yourself and your equipment better... Another forum I frequent quite a bit had a shoot going called the Carl Ross positional match. It was a timed event and was excellent practice for field positions. I'll be honest here and tell you that there were some professional shooters there that were shooting 17/20 for score. That doesn't mean they would have missed a critter at that range (100 yards), it just means there's always room for improvement... With that being said, 95% of the deer and elk I've shot, have been shot in the offhand position. That for damn sure doesn't mean I can hit a can of chili beans every time at any range. Pie plate/paper plate works for my needs as well......

This. I've missed my intended spot by quite a bit and still tagged my buck. My last buck was hit high through the top of the shoulder and broke the back. I was trying to hit about 8 inches lower and four inches further to the right. Still dead.

 

[bsa1917hunter]

This. I've missed my intended spot by quite a bit and still tagged my buck. My last buck was hit high through the top of the shoulder and broke the back. I was trying to hit about 8 inches lower and four inches further to the right. Still dead.

Join the club my brother. We all want to make the most humane kill shot we can. This is why we make sure everything is dialed in on our loads, our scopes, our rifles and equipment. We are damned prepared and try to be the best marksmen we can be, but we are not perfect. I have made shots like that. But you know we won't pull that trigger unless we are certain we are going to make a humane kill... We owe that to the animal we hunt. We know the kill zone size of the critters too and on a deer it is about the size of a volley ball, maybe a bit bigger. This is why we focus on the center of that pie plate and use it as a good reference for that kill zone...

 

[No_Regerts]

Join the club my brother. We all want to make the most humane kill shot we can. This is why we make sure everything is dialed in on our loads, our scopes, our rifles and equipment. We are damned prepared and try to be the best marksmen we can be, but we are not perfect. I have made shots like that. But you know we won't pull that trigger unless we are certain we are going to make a humane kill... We owe that to the animal we hunt. We know the kill zone size of the critters too and on a deer it is about the size of a volley ball, maybe a bit bigger. This is why we focus on the center of that pie plate and use it as a good reference for that kill zone...

In all reality, he probably went down faster after having the spine cut. I've double lung shot deer that went amazingly far and almost always down into some hard-to-get-to crevice.

 

[bsa1917hunter]

In all reality, he probably went down faster after having the spine cut. I've double lung shot deer that went amazingly far and almost always down into some hard-to-get-to crevice.

I hear that. That shot puts them down on the spot.

 

[MrMillspecer]

Everyone should know their limits. Dizzyj can hit a 2" rock with open sights with his AR-15 at 100 yards standing. I've seen it . But he shoots more than he brags. And has great eyesight.

 

[Joe13]

Everyone should know their limits. Dizzyj can hit a 2" rock with open sights with his AR-15 at 100 yards standing. I've seen it . But he shoots more than he brags. And has great eyesight.

Thank goodness there are good scopes out there cuz my eyesight is one of my big obsticals.

 

[bsa1917hunter]

Thank goodness there are good scopes out there cuz my eyesight is one of my big obsticals.

I don't know what "obsticals" means, but I agree about having a good scope.

 

[Joe13]

I don't know what "obsticals" means, but I agree about having a good scope.

Just that I need a scope and can't rely on irons past 100 yards or so.


I don't wear glasses except in strange places driving at night and shooting without a scope.

 

[The Heretic]

Minute of Heart at whatever range your shooting at

This.

Does the animal go down with the shot?

I've only ever had to take a second shot once while hunting, and that was because I was stupid and believed someone who told me to take a neck shot to not waste meat - but the second shot put the deer down (deer was running like a raped ape and it piled up with a shot through the shoulders - which ruined a lot of meat).

When I went hunting for the first time I missed a shot with my dad's scoped .30-06. To be fair, I had never shot his rifle before (IIRC) so I don't know where it was shooting for me at any range, and it was a close up head on shot and I was not knowledgeable enough to know where the rifle would hit at that close range, so it probably went right over the deer. I have not missed since.

Interestingly, when not hunting, I have not missed, but I have had to take multiple shots to put down small animals with a centerfire pistol - these were animals that had been mortally wounded by a car hitting them.

 

[Tully Mars]

Minute of Heart at whatever range your shooting at

Around here lately it's been MOS-Minute of Squirrel