Originally Posted by joshm28
Originally Posted by Mbrock
Originally Posted by auman
Good info above concerning having two points of contact to hold steady. Also, wherever you are hunting (ground or stand)go ahead a practice how to hold and visualize the shot. I like to do it as soon as I sit down and get everything adjusted. Every opportunity I’ve had has lasted 3-5 seconds on a big deer.

Yep. I have my sons “practice” taking a shot on the first deer out some times. That way we can resolve any issues before anything they want to shoot appears. I do it too. I’ll often draw my bow or pull my rifle up to replicate a shot opportunity. You’re right on big deer. You often get a few seconds. Gotta make it count.


First thing I do when I get in a stand. Check all my potential shot angles, see what might present issues, etc. it helps…

I grew up with a pellet rifle and 40 acres to roam. Nothing beats shooting from “a rest” than practice. I’m always applying forward pressure into my rest as others mentioned. It’ll clean up the figure 8 significantly. The buck I shot Wednesday was from shooting sticks, in a turkey lounger. From the time I saw him until I shot was less than 25 seconds and that included me shifting my sticks 30 degrees to the left. I just go on autopilot once I determine I’m pulling trigger. The adrenaline happens after.

There are two key points here, pellet rifles and practice! I used to be really into pellet rifles and shot thousands of times at various targets with very inexpensive ammo.