doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com So, how poorly do 'most' hunters shoot?

My experience mirrors what others have posted. As a child, we had a large farm with plenty of dove on it. Before I was old enough to hunt, I went along with my Father, Brother, Uncles, Cousins, and Grandfather. I recall a particular day when I was 12 and had a spare day to go shooting by myself. I had to rely on my Grandmother to take me out to the Farm and as I was getting gear together, she caught me taking a whole box of shells. This was anathema to her upbringing and she let me have a total of 12 shells for a days hunt. I took a limit of 10 dove that day with my Savage 311. I still think that was perhaps the finest bit of shooting I ever did. The last bird and last shot coincided, and while I've killed enough birds over the years to fill a warehouse, that last high crosser will be etched in my memory forever.

That said, after a season of heavy shooting, I went out on the last day of the year this past January with my best and oldest friend after quail. We put up a dozen covies and I actually ran out of shells before I ran out of birds, bringing a measly 4 quail home. I was shooting my favorite gun, but for whatever reason, I couldn't hit a thing. Regardless, that day with my best friend and our dogs will also be etched in my mind forever.

While I didn't directly answer the query of the OP, I will posit that it doesn't really matter how well a hunter shoots, it matters how well one hunts.

Rob.

I could say that how well you shoot does matter to the birds you cripple and don't recover, but I don't want to play Disney with quail and pheasants. Something in nature will consume that which we cripple and leave behind. That being said, the fence-sitting nonhunters--who are, by far, the majority in this country--can be pushed off the fence when they hear about hunters doing a lot of crippling rather than killing cleanly. For example, the landowner I referred to earlier might just as easily have decided that if hunters were going to cripple as many roosters as they killed on her property, then she'd keep ALL hunters out. Not good for any of us. We owe it to the continuation of our sport to recognize our capabilities and limitations, and to shoot within them. We should all make at least some effort to be better shots, because being a better shot is part--but far from all--of being a better hunter.

I used to live in, and I mean in, not around, some prime pheasant country. After the season was over and winter forced all game, deer included into visable herds, for lack of a better term. The rooster to hen ratio ran consistantly around 50/50. This is still too many roosters. About ten hens/rooster is on the low end. In ten years there I never observed less than close to 50/50. These excess roosters compete with the hens for the same food. Think about that for a moment. To be sure I am not advocating sloppy shooting or not caring for the game. I am stressing the point that roosters should be thinned out. As Col. Brown posted something will benefit from the crips. As long as they are roosters even the hens will. And for the exitable and/or color blind, don't shoot the brown ones, OK?!

Chief

It does worry me when I think I may have wounded a bird but if its a clean miss I just tip my hat to the bird and grin at my own foibles. I'm glad I live with myself cause I've had way more good free laughs than the law should allow.

To me there's nothing wrong with working to become a better shot, but I believe nonhunters will be fed what someone thinks they should hear. Another way to look at your example, those hunters were exemplary by their honesty, no account of questionable hunting technique, but maybe just unlucky on that day. It's possible that land owner was concerned about unauthorized trespassing. I really don't know, but the landowner seemed willing to allow the birds to be removed from her spread before the hunters showed up that day.

When I first read the story I assumed the landowner was upset because the permissioned hunter brought friends along without checking with her first.

Me too. Getting permission to hunt from a landowner doesn't give me the right to permit others.

Jay

Landowners want to know who is on their land. Having permission and then arbitrarily bringing others is a definite no-no because often slob friends tell their friends, and landowners have to contend with it.

Whatever it takes, whether at a trap range, in your backyard with a Trius trap, or a friend throwing clay birds with a hand held thrower, a swing or shooting for that matter doesn't come naturally, you have to practice. The greatest sniper of WWII when asked how he became such a great shot with a rifle, his one word response was, "Practice"

However, on the other hand, one of the best shots I've seen at a trap range with his Ithaca Model 37 froze solid at a blind flush of roughed grouse while out in the woods. Go figure!!!