Preface

Long-range shooting has become extremely popular in the last few decades. More and more people continue to join the folds of precision rifle shooters, pushed forward by marketing campaigns from every rifle manufacturer out there. Long-range shooting has infiltrated many activities, but perhaps none as controversial as hunting. With so much activity in this practice, I figured it was a good idea to discuss building long-range hunting skills.

Every gun manufacturer out there seems to have at least one long-range model now. What used to require a huge investment in time and money, can now be purchased at your local Sportsman’s Warehouse. When I started out in precision rifle shooting, the only way you could get a suitable rifle was to build it. But today you can get pretty impressive results from common names like Ruger or Savage.

This lowering of the entry requirements has caused the general hunting public to run a train on the long-range shooting and hunting scene. And for those who wish to do it well, and as ethically as possible, it will still require some dedication the same as it always has.

The Why

If you hunt long enough, you will see animals go unrecovered. We have all seen someone either through negligence or no fault of their own make a poor shot, that ended up in loss of the target animal.

I used to think that most (surely not all) long-range hunters were better than the average hunter when it came to ensuring recovery of their animal. Mainly because the dedication and effort required to hunt like that typically resulted in some serious diligence and practice. Conversely, the numbers of non-long-range hunters who simply pulled out their daddies rifle once a year to plug a deer on the back end of their property might not be so diligent. And there are significantly more casual hunters than dedicated hunters out there.

As technology has allowed lower and lower costs to get into the long-range game, it seems more and more folks are following the trend. I don’t mean to disparage some of these people, but there is no doubt a number of them who buy into the marketing and thinking their purchase has made them ready. Essentially its the “now I’m a sniper” platitude.

Most of us want to hunt ethically. So in the interest of helping those who might be new to long-range hunting, I have gathered my thoughts to give you at least a starting point to building long-range hunting skill.

The How

There is no substitute for practice, things like dry-fire and other activities are helpful. But when it comes to judging distances, wind trends and the other conditions necessary to be an effective long-range hunter, you need real world practice. I make no claim to be a particularly exceptional shooter, but this is how I have practiced and built a skillset that I think most would find useful.

I spend a lot of time in the mountains where I also hunt in the spring and fall. In order to hone my shooting skills I spend my time there both observing and engaging with the landscape. Every morning the wind comes down these canyons, and in the afternoons it goes back up.

On any given day I will practice by picking out random targets that closely mimic what I would see during a hunt. I pick out small targets, smaller than a deer’s kill zone for example, usually a small rock surrounded by dirt. And I pick them out in places where a deer might appear, and not always in an easy and comfortable position to engage. The range to these targets varies every time, depending on conditions and what I choose to practice on.

The whole idea is to present myself with a challenge every time, I evaluate each target as though it were an animal. I evaluate the range to the target, the angle at which I am shooting and the wind conditions between me and the target. Using the ballistic app on my phone, any other information I have as well as known data from previous engagements I come up with a firing solution. And after thinking long and hard about it, and making adjustments, I fire a single shot.

Making sure I followed all the best practices with breathing, trigger pull etc. I usually get a really good idea, based on my point of impact from that shot, whether I’d of gotten a deer, elk, or otherwise. Sometimes you miss by a little, other times you center punch the target. This practice also teaches you to shoot in such a way as to spot your own shots. Which is incredibly valuable if you are going to be any good. You must be able to spot a hit or miss to evaluate your tactics.

I would then move, hiking to a new location, and start over again. Following this practice over and over, creating realistic hunting scenarios is excellent for sharpening your skills. And the more you do it, the more common first round hits will come.

The Where

I would repeat the process wherever I might hunt. Whether that be at 9,000 feet high in the Rocky Mountains, or at 2300 feet in the parched desert badlands. Different density altitudes will greatly change the performance of your rifle, so if you are going from Oklahoma to Montana you will need to acclimate both yourself and the rifle to the change.

I always like to get out and shoot a bit when I’m in new territory. Getting in more practice can only improve your odds of making a good shot. And changing up the variables of where you shoot will help you build a knowledge base of basic changes and how they affect you and your rifle.

The goal of these practices should be making that first shot as close to perfect as you can. After all, the first shot is worth all the rest. If you mess up the first shot, you may never get the second shot that would have been perfect.

Conclusion

Repeating the process outlined here, has helped me refine my shooting skills. Make sure that if you are not hitting where you intend to, understand why. If you don’t know why you are missing, you are just wasting ammo. Figure out why you missed, and how you could have corrected or anticipated it. Or if its even possible you could have anticipated it, which sometimes is the case. Thats why its called hunting. But don’t let your lack of effort and practice be the excuse for such a miss.

-CBM