Skill, not stuff 2026 challenge

[BLJ]

I'm not gonna have any excuses for misses

Wind.

 

[goalie]

Wind.

Sucking at reading the wind is a reason, not an excuse.

The cure to sucking at reading the wind is more and better practice.

The purpose of this (for me) isn't to get to zero mistakes, but to make the mistakes I do make less frequent and much smaller.

 

[madtinker]

Every year I am tempted to buy a new rifle, and every year I say “if I spent $1000 dollars on ammo and/or training, that would get me better results than a new rifle”, then I don’t do it and everything stays the same. So this year I am committing to doing more shooting, with a friend who is better than me and can help figure out if my rifle needs some tweaking or if the problem is all me. Then, I need to practice enough that I can actually improve.

 

[Speaks]

Bird hunting is my passion much more than big game. I actually dont think I have bought anything new for that either this season or the last. My kit is just dialed in how I want it and there is really nothing I want to add.

Same with fishing, other than backfilling a broken rod and a few lost lures getting 1:1 replacement I just dont have anything new I want.

As I have gotten back into big game hunting and wanting to up my shooting game over the last year I have bought a bunch of stuff. I think I am at a stage now where I just go out and use everything hard for awhile and make sure what I have is working, and likely sell off some stuff.

I honestly cant see buying much in 2026. One exception is a pair of Rokstock lites if I can manage to get my hands on them.

 

[sodaksooner]

I'd like to become more proficient with a shotgun. I only have one, a 2nd hand Benelli Nova I picked up years ago from my brother. He is a bird hunting addict and I have never really done it seriously. I'd like to learn from him but we live 12 hours apart. I have cheap access to skeet, trap, and sporting clays so I really have no excuse other than to get out and do it, at least the shooting part. I am trying to get him to modernize his archery setup and do some 3d with me, so it'd be a nice back and forth.

Need to keep practicing with the rifle and do more load development.

Would like to start loading for my AR.

I need to develop some proficiency with saddle hunting. I am most of the way there with gear, and have used a hybrid out of a tree stand, but I hunt a lot of public and it seems to be a good way to get in and out quickly.

 

[BLJ]

Sucking at reading the wind is a reason, not an excuse.

I’m going to have to reevaluate then.
That’s always been my go to.