700yd practice, calling wind sucks!

[S-3 ranch]

Are those things normally found where you hunt?


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“Keep on keepin’ on…”

Yes , some times I laser mark every 100 yards down a road or field I hunt and put survey tape on a limb or drive a stake in the ground ( and study the grass or tree movement in comparison to the streamers)
When I put fingerling fish in the lake and water turkeys are eating them so we have to take them out so they are good practice
They get in the dead trees to dry off it’s 700 yards to the 1st tree and 900 +/- to second tree and I have survey tape to show the difference in wind at different points so I can adjust my POA ( when friends are over we make a game of it and spot for each other)
But I am using a 26 inch 300wm with 180gr or a hot load 264wm with 140 nosler BT , not my hunting rifle on LD practice ( kinda cheating)
I also have a marlin 22lr I shoot pigeons off the barns ( about 150 yards away)

 

[West2East]

Went out again to validate at the 700yds distance using 147s for my upcoming antelope hunt. The 147s definitely group better and give a lot more confidence.
Wind was very tricky today at my position it would feel like 5ish from 1 o'clock at the target it would be 5ish from 3 o'clock. For my first shot I held about 1 min right of the target, I missed by about 4 moa right of the target... wind hold ended up being about 3 min left when it was calm to 4 min with a gust. Which for my gun is about a 8mph full value left to right.
I videoed my shots again so I may upload it later. I did notice my recoil is coming left and back. I can normally spot the shots, but just barely getting the scope back to the target area in time. I worked on my cheek weld and I don't think that's it. I don't feel like the gun is coming straight back.
Any tips?
Shooting off of a bipod and with my hand and rangefinder in its case as a rear bag.

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[Southern Lights]

You've basically run into reality. I have shot a lot of long range. Out to 400 you can be pretty sloppy and still do OK with wind unless it's really howling. From 400-600 wind calls are a significant error. Beyond 600 it's extremely easy to make a bad wind call and make a horrible shot on an animal.

Everyone has a "1/2 MOA" rifle on the bench. In the field almost everyone I've seen is a 2-4MOA shooter. Maybe really dialed in competition shooters are 1.5 MOA in the field, but they practice constantly many thousands of rounds a year.

 

[Southern Lights]

For the record, this weekend I made a 680y cold bore first round hit on 12" plate with my 270 shooting Barnes LRX129 of all things. But I wouldn't shoot at an animal at that distance.

I did however have a shot on a deer at 130y with my thermal and missed it because I took too long screwing around trying to shoot off my pack sitting in total darkness. I pushed aside the pack out of frustration and went to my loop sling, but the deer had heard me and ran into the trees.

The moral of the story here is that when hunting getting a bead on an animal at long range sounds cool, but getting closer and into position quickly to make the shot is often what matters most.

 

[West2East]

For the record, this weekend I made a 680y cold bore first round hit on 12" plate with my 270 shooting Barnes LRX129 of all things. But I wouldn't shoot at an animal at that distance.

I did however have a shot on a deer at 130y with my thermal and missed it because I took too long screwing around trying to shoot off my pack sitting in total darkness. I pushed aside the pack out of frustration and went to my loop sling, but the deer had heard me and ran into the trees.

The moral of the story here is that when hunting getting a bead on an animal at long range sounds cool, but getting closer and into position quickly to make the shot is often what matters most.

I've spent a lot more time this year practicing positional shooting, quickly kind of based on the shoot2hunt 100yd target. I set up my 9x13 plate at like 350 and practice quick prone, kneeling and sitting shots and just the practice alone has helped confidence at that range and what is doable and with what I can do it in.

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[Southern Lights]

The best thing I ever did to improve my shooting wasn't any LR school (I've done a few). Rather, it was the $50 Appleseed course which drilled in how to use a loop sling and how to get NPOA quickly. No other course came close to field practical hunting that I use constantly. The hunt I messed up this weekend would have been a piece of cake if I just used the loop sling sitting and didn't try to get fancy shooting off a pack.