Looking to elevate your skills and become a better shooter? Here are tips to become more accurate on your next Colorado rifle hunt.
Train to Use Your Rifle Right
An effective hunter shoots with confidence, and to be completely confident, you must know your system well. There’s no time to pause and consult a cheat sheet in the field. Once you’ve set up your rifle, scope, and ammo, train with it until engaging with your targets is as easy as blinking. Part of this is organizing all the moving parts. Swinging your rifle into action and holding it steadily on target will be compromised if you have to range your target with a laser first – and you can’t remember what pocket you put it in. Make sure to think ahead and get to know your rifle.
Practice in Every Position
Practicing shots from realistic field positions is extremely important. Field shooting often forces us to shoot kneeling, sitting, crouching, standing, or leaning over trees, boulders, and brush piles, especially on a Colorado rifle hunt. So, you should practice shooting in those positions. But you should also practice shifting your body to get the most stability out of every position. The more contact your body has with the ground or other stationary object, the more stable you’ll be when shooting.
This is where using what’s around you comes in hands. Your hunting pack is a great way to support the fore-end of your rifle in the prone position. You can also lean on your pack (or lean back-to-back with a friend) to be more stable in a sitting position.
Ramp Up the Pressure
You usually won’t feel the pressure of hunting when you’re practicing. So gather some witnesses and add a time limit to emulate a real in-the-field shot. Grab a friend or two and set a goal like three shots on targets at three unknown distances in 15 seconds. Practice this and you’ll be able to fight off buck fever better.
Accept Some Wobble
Wobble is something you have to accept as a hunter. Especially when you’re out of breath, or wind gusts tug the rifle, or when you shoot without support. Insisting on a perfect sight picture, and you’ll hold the shot for too long. Practice and measure wobble from various positions so you can get a realistic idea of what you can expect. Try shooting from unsupported positions and after you’ve sprinted to the firing line. You’ll get a good sense if wobble is too great to justify a shot or if the sight looks shaky but not too shaky. Learning to recognize acceptable wobble will help you shoot better and faster.
Focus your Mind
The brain can be the most determinantal factor when it comes to your rifle accuracy. If you let your nerves and worries get the best of you during the moment of truth, everything can quickly fall apart. Stopping overthinking can be easier said than done, but overthinking your shot can spell shooting doom. Once you’ve got your eyes on your target, focus on your shooting sequence and nothing else. This will help your brain focus on the task at hand and help you get the job done.
Let us show you what you’ve been missing.
Let’s Get Hunting
We hope these tips help you during your Colorado rifle hunt. If you haven’t booked one yet but are looking for a mule deer or elk hunt, we’d love to be your guide. At Soap Mesa Outfitters, we provide the best guided hunts in Western Colorado and we’ll be happy to show you what you’ve been missing.
