Got to thinking after commenting and reading thread about bench tecniques

[JDHasty]

There was a lot of commentary about offhand practice. 

In the Master Hunter program a LOT of people have trouble qualifying offhand.  I had no trouble due to my extensive background in registered target shooting, particularly silhouette shooting and probably even more in walking around a prairie dog town shooting dogs w/my my CZ 22 Hornet, Kimber 22 LR & 22 magnum Savage/Anschutz and my Smith 41 for four decades.  IIRC the qualifying score is 60 on a B3 @ 50 yards rifle & 25 yards handgun. 

When I go to Montana to shoot I take a case of 5,000 rounds of 22 LR HP and a case of 2,500 Super-X JHP 22 Magnum ammo, plus 1,800 rounds of 22 Hornet and shoot about half of it up. 

It us uncanny how sharp you become after a week of offhand shooting compared to how ragged you are when you get there.  By the time you leave you are so much better that it is no comparison. 

I remember back when I was shooting smallbore silhouette @ Pe Ell, when I came home after being in Montana people would comment on how far less deliberate and "raggedy" my shooting style was, but my scores were still as high as before. 

All I can say is that there comes a point when shooting live animals that may go down or move at which my senses became so tuned to my rifles that it became instinctive when to pull the last bit on the trigger and with fine triggers the whole bit is not much, so the last bit is ever so little that unless one shoots thousands of rounds in a week that sense goes away pronto... even when you are still shooting hundreds of rounds/week.

When I was shooting registered trap targets we had a saying:  The guy that comes out to the range and shoots rounds of 15 or 16, but "never misses like he does at the range on birds".... doesn't have someone else keeping score when he is hunting. 

I was an AA Class PITA Trap shooter 96 minimum, I carried a 97 1/2 average, in the rain, in the wind, in the snow and the only way I could do that was by shooting 100 practice targets three nights/week and then about five or six hundred registered targets on the weekends.  W/shoot offs that equaled close to a thousand rounds every week during the season

When you shoot that much, particularly at that level, THAT is when you"never miss" when hunting.  I don't shoot well, for me, today - and more than one of my friends say:  It is because we are getting old, but I don't think that is the case.  I still leave a Montana prairie dog shoot as finely tuned as I ever did, even though I don't go in as good as I did when I was shooting silhouette.... but then again: someone else isn't keeping score.  Ha Ha 

I hunt big game, when I am using my rifle and not a Deerslayer, w/a Harris tall bi-pod attached to the front sling swivel of my rifle.  I think the added weight out front helps my offhand shooting and if I spot an animal far enough away I can pull out the legs of my bi-pod drop to my butt and shoot w/out it spooking - that is what I default to.  It is also what I do a LOT of when walking a prairie dog town or what is my preference when shooting chucks when not at one of our benches shooting long range w/a 204, 222-250 or 243. 

Practicing shooting at the range offhand is a skill that big game hunters should, me included, do more of.  But equally, if not more important to me is practice in flopping down on your butt while simultaneously pulling your bi-pod legs out and then getting solid even when you are faced with being in an uncomfortable position is just as important to me... and I don't know that I could have ever gotten decent at that skill w/out shooting varmints, lots of varmints, lots and lots and lots of varmints.

   

[kentrek]

Can't agree more with the quality of practice you get from varmint hunting.....eso with archery tackle 

[Bill W]

I never was a big fan of shooting offhand while hunting.  Over the years I've had about 14 different shooters cards, mostly rifle.    When I was shooting 50' indoor .22 with a 12 to 20x scope I used to call offhand "shooting skeet".  I'd squeeze off as the crosshairs broke the edge of the target and it would hit "close" to the center.

I found peep sights way easier for me to shoot as I didn't have to watch the crosshairs wander so much.

Somewhere right after I moved to the Seattle area I went to a turkey shoot at Issaquah.  One of the silhouette shooters was there and the aim was to pop a small, somewhat tethered balloon that was wiggling around in the wind (at 100 yards).   I never broke any but this one shooter broke 4 in a row.  I ended up shooting smallbore silhouette with him at Kenmore back when those matches were being run.

I suppose I could have put a short post here and say if a person did most of their practicing offhand the rest of the shooting would fall in line.

[Alchase]

I suppose I could have put a short post here and say if a person did most of their practicing offhand the rest of the shooting would fall in line.

 

You prepare for the worst and hope fore the best.
If you practice and become proficient "offhand", when out hunting you will be more confident in your abilities when you do not have shooting sticks, tree, rock, etc... to use as a rest.
Shooting silhouettes with a .22 is a fantastic way to improve offhand shooting.
Plus it is dang fun!

[jrebel]

Define "off hand" for me.  Does this include a kneeling position with elbow on knee?  or is this truely standing upright and shooting off hand.  I shoot a lot and practice in every scenario possible.  I have shot multiple deer at very close range standing with no support / rest.  I would limit those shot distances to very close.....say sub 100 yards.  I will and have however taken a one or two deer from a kneeling position at approx 250 yards with great success.  I prefer a rest....but sometime this is not always an option. 

Most of the hunters I know (or have known through the years) just don't shoot enough.  They shoot a couple rounds a year to make sure they are sighted in at 100 yard and they go hunt.  Sad, but true......

[Alchase]

Define "off hand" for me.  Does this include a kneeling position with elbow on knee?  or is this truely standing upright and shooting off hand.  I shoot a lot and practice in every scenario possible.  I have shot multiple deer at very close range standing with no support / rest.  I would limit those shot distances to very close.....say sub 100 yards.  I will and have however taken a one or two deer from a kneeling position at approx 250 yards with great success.  I prefer a rest....but sometime this is not always an option. 

Most of the hunters I know (or have known through the years) just don't shoot enough.  They shoot a couple rounds a year to make sure they are sighted in at 100 yard and they go hunt.  Sad, but true......

I think you pretty much nailed it.
If you practice, and become proficient, you will be ready "for any situation" whether you have a handy rest or not.