Conroe Courier - Sports
Improve your chance to bag your ideal deer
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Here we are about three weeks into white-tail deer season and some of you deer hunters have already scored your first deer of the season; many have not.
Some hunters have not even seen a deer and others have missed the deer they have seen. Those who have missed their deer are anguishing over the cruelty of fate, stupid gun, cheap scope, loose scope mounts, poor ammunition, or any one of many, almost legitimate reasons.
Ever notice also how the deer that got away are sort of like the fish that got away in that they were always great trophy specimens. I know the only fish I have ever missed were all record breakers. The size and description are restricted only by the imagination of the teller of the tale and if you have ever sat around a campfire at a hunting camp or the coffeepot at a marina you know the potential vastness of the imaginations of outdoorsmen.
The reasons an angler will miss a fish can be many and varied. I can relate from experience a few of the reasons I have lost trophy fish. I had a championship largemouth bass wrap the fishing line around some brush and break the line. Or there is the time “someone” had the drag too tight on my reel and a trophy hybrid took off and snapped the line like it was a piece of thread.
Why I could relate many a tale, all true, of the misfortunes I have encountered while hunting and fishing if we were around a campfire or coffeepot, but that is for another time. Now we need to discuss hunters, why they miss their deer and cut through the mire to some real facts.
To be kind I am not even going to get into not practicing regularly at your local rifle range, because I have beaten that dog to death over the years, but the fact remains that the more you practice the better your chances of a successful hunt.
So let’s address consistency. Consistency means everything involved with shooting your rifle on the range and in the field must be the same for you and your rifle to perform the same way in both arenas.
It is generally known that factory ammunition is made in batches. Some ammunition brands and bullet designs will perform better in one gun than another. Every bullet will not perform the same in two rifles that came off of the assembly line back-to-back much less different brands of rifles. So in your quest for accuracy try different bullet types and weights and pick what works best in your individual rifle.
A deer does not know the difference if you use 150, 165, or 180 grain bullets in your 30-06, so use the one that groups the best. Once a brand, bullet weight and bullet design are found that give the results you are looking for be sure and get the same batch number of ammunition when you make your purchase for the season.
Other consistency issues are where and how you brace the forearm of your rifle when you are shooting. From where the barrel joins the action to the tip of the forearm will run about 11 or 12 inches on most sporting rifles. When on the range you place the forearm on the sandbag, let’s say right under the front of the scope, and for the first shot, all is fine.
After the recoil your rifle will have moved back on the forearm rest and most people will readjust the rear bag and leave the forearm where it stopped, three or four inches forward of it’s location for the first shot. If not moved back to its original location on the front rest the second shot will be off a considerable amount from the first shot.
As long as this is repeated with random placement of the forearm or the rest all that will be accomplished, as far as getting the best group from your rifle and ammunition, is you will burn a lot of ammunition, and probably make your shoulder sore. Your group will be spread more widely because of the one inconsistency of where the forearm is placed on the sand bags.
Always place the forearm rest in the same location under the forearm of your rifle. If you want to take this exercise to the optimum put your hand under the forearm because that is probably how you will shoot it in the field.
OK, let’s say you did what you were suppose to at the range and you get in your stand and here comes a big old buck that will tilt the Boone and Crockett records off the scale. If you place the forearm of your rifle on the unpadded 2x4 at the bottom of the window in your stand you will shoot high ever time.
Why? Because your consistency went south when you put the forearm on a hard surface when you had your rifle sighted in with a soft sandbag under the forearm. To eliminate that problem put your hand under the forearm and if everything else is consistent so will be your shot placement.
So to help hold down the tall tales of the one that got away this year, think consistency. Pay attention to every little detail of your shooting in the field just as you do on the range and you will have to come up with some other reason for missing that trophy deer.
Larry J. LeBlanc is executive director of the Texas Outdoor Writers Association and is a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Check out his website at: www.larryjleblanc.com.
LeBlanc Radio Show
Larry LeBlanc can be heard co-hosting The Outdoor Edge Radio Program every Thursday from 5 to 6 p.m. and every Saturday morning from 7 to 8 a.m. on KAFR, 88.3 FM. You can e-mail him at larry@theoutdooredgeradioprogram.com.
Outdoors Calendar
Saturday
Concealed Handgun Classes, new, 9a.m. to 7 p.m., Shooters Station, (936) 588-3333
Sunday
Sunday morning tournament, Stow-A-Way Marina, (936) 856-4531
Some hunters have not even seen a deer and others have missed the deer they have seen. Those who have missed their deer are anguishing over the cruelty of fate, stupid gun, cheap scope, loose scope mounts, poor ammunition, or any one of many, almost legitimate reasons.
Ever notice also how the deer that got away are sort of like the fish that got away in that they were always great trophy specimens. I know the only fish I have ever missed were all record breakers. The size and description are restricted only by the imagination of the teller of the tale and if you have ever sat around a campfire at a hunting camp or the coffeepot at a marina you know the potential vastness of the imaginations of outdoorsmen.
The reasons an angler will miss a fish can be many and varied. I can relate from experience a few of the reasons I have lost trophy fish. I had a championship largemouth bass wrap the fishing line around some brush and break the line. Or there is the time “someone” had the drag too tight on my reel and a trophy hybrid took off and snapped the line like it was a piece of thread.
Why I could relate many a tale, all true, of the misfortunes I have encountered while hunting and fishing if we were around a campfire or coffeepot, but that is for another time. Now we need to discuss hunters, why they miss their deer and cut through the mire to some real facts.
To be kind I am not even going to get into not practicing regularly at your local rifle range, because I have beaten that dog to death over the years, but the fact remains that the more you practice the better your chances of a successful hunt.
So let’s address consistency. Consistency means everything involved with shooting your rifle on the range and in the field must be the same for you and your rifle to perform the same way in both arenas.
It is generally known that factory ammunition is made in batches. Some ammunition brands and bullet designs will perform better in one gun than another. Every bullet will not perform the same in two rifles that came off of the assembly line back-to-back much less different brands of rifles. So in your quest for accuracy try different bullet types and weights and pick what works best in your individual rifle.
A deer does not know the difference if you use 150, 165, or 180 grain bullets in your 30-06, so use the one that groups the best. Once a brand, bullet weight and bullet design are found that give the results you are looking for be sure and get the same batch number of ammunition when you make your purchase for the season.
Other consistency issues are where and how you brace the forearm of your rifle when you are shooting. From where the barrel joins the action to the tip of the forearm will run about 11 or 12 inches on most sporting rifles. When on the range you place the forearm on the sandbag, let’s say right under the front of the scope, and for the first shot, all is fine.
After the recoil your rifle will have moved back on the forearm rest and most people will readjust the rear bag and leave the forearm where it stopped, three or four inches forward of it’s location for the first shot. If not moved back to its original location on the front rest the second shot will be off a considerable amount from the first shot.
As long as this is repeated with random placement of the forearm or the rest all that will be accomplished, as far as getting the best group from your rifle and ammunition, is you will burn a lot of ammunition, and probably make your shoulder sore. Your group will be spread more widely because of the one inconsistency of where the forearm is placed on the sand bags.
Always place the forearm rest in the same location under the forearm of your rifle. If you want to take this exercise to the optimum put your hand under the forearm because that is probably how you will shoot it in the field.
OK, let’s say you did what you were suppose to at the range and you get in your stand and here comes a big old buck that will tilt the Boone and Crockett records off the scale. If you place the forearm of your rifle on the unpadded 2x4 at the bottom of the window in your stand you will shoot high ever time.
Why? Because your consistency went south when you put the forearm on a hard surface when you had your rifle sighted in with a soft sandbag under the forearm. To eliminate that problem put your hand under the forearm and if everything else is consistent so will be your shot placement.
So to help hold down the tall tales of the one that got away this year, think consistency. Pay attention to every little detail of your shooting in the field just as you do on the range and you will have to come up with some other reason for missing that trophy deer.
Larry J. LeBlanc is executive director of the Texas Outdoor Writers Association and is a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Check out his website at: www.larryjleblanc.com.
LeBlanc Radio Show
Larry LeBlanc can be heard co-hosting The Outdoor Edge Radio Program every Thursday from 5 to 6 p.m. and every Saturday morning from 7 to 8 a.m. on KAFR, 88.3 FM. You can e-mail him at larry@theoutdooredgeradioprogram.com.
Outdoors Calendar
Saturday
Concealed Handgun Classes, new, 9a.m. to 7 p.m., Shooters Station, (936) 588-3333
Sunday
Sunday morning tournament, Stow-A-Way Marina, (936) 856-4531
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