With age we get better at the mechanics of shooting, and have well developed muscle memory even though our bodies are slowly falling apart.
In my 40’s a big floater settles right dead center of my right eye some years and not in others. A year ago I could barely read a tape measure and this year it’s floated off to the side so I feel lucky. I can definitely tell resolution in the shadows went down a little each year since the mid 40’s, same with night driving. Some optics look extra bright, for whatever reason and I’ll be gravitating more to those as the years go by.
There is also the “Butt Dust Test” where every toilet seat, unless freshly cleaned, has small lint and other butt debris on the seat. Young or old people either see it from a normal standing position or they don’t. I could see it until the mid 40’s then it depended on good lighting, then by 50 I couldn’t see the dust anymore . . . kinda miss it. How’s that for twisted. The lack of fine detail resolution happened so gradually it didn’t seem obvious on target, but now I’m shooting an 8x scope that feels like 6x used to, so I’m sure it’s related. We’re all limited more by wind than range, and wind skills have to be exercised to keep sharp. With worse eye sight judging wind clues is harder.
Other than vision, we get less steady and balance goes down hill - about early 50’s I could definitely tell standing has more movement. Even sitting is less steady, but sitting scores are pretty much the same. Granted with a busy schedule I don’t spend as much time actually shooting so muscles aren’t as in shape as they could be, and none of us have the muscles we used to.
I’ve always shot paper plates from different positions to determine my max range, so over the years it’s been fun to see how that has changed, but its mainly correlated to shooting more vs less. If I was going to prepare for an extra special hunt that demanded the best marksmanship I’d definitely keep up a regular dry firing routine, and get to the range every weekend even if it was only to fire half a box of ammo. After a long cold blowy winter when nobody is shooting there is a big improvement the first two months with as little as ten rounds a weekend.
I’ve always shot paper plates from different positions to determine my max range, so over the years it’s been fun to see how that has changed, . This year shooting off a tripod is fun and has potential to improve some distances, sort of. It’s still so early everything feels like trying to write left handed. With more muscle memory it will hopefully feel more natural going forward. I’ve never found shooting bags to be worth the effort in the field, but I should try one again to see if it makes more sense now.
