The 1 Thing You Learned- Rifles

[Oregon Hunter]

Definitely something learned from doing software... test, test.... and then... test some more! And verify everything works as you want it... WAY ahead of time! That way, when the time approaches you're not rushing... all relaxed... have faith in your setup because you've verified for yourself it should be able to do exactly what you're expecting to need it to do. Then it's just you focusing on finding them!

Be careful with practicing too much though, because then it takes away all your excuses

 

[Oregon Hunter]

YES! Tacticool as a trend is annoying! I have a ton of fun learning to be successful with and without gadgets. So, we can't discount what the precision rifle world has brought to riflemen and marksmanship. Rifleman are not tacticool, neither are hunters.

We need to keep preaching the end to tacticool! Keep preaching riflemanship and fun.

I just want to say that hunters can take a TON of information and learning that has come from precision rifle shooting, withoutthe tacticool. The luminaries in the arena are against the Tacticool, thankfully. They preach fundamentals more than anyone I have ever seen.

Notably, a Godfather and legend in precision rifle is Jacob from Rifles Only and his marksmanship started as a hunter and training hunters to shoot. It is shooting, after all.

Gadgets don't make a shooter, 100% truth. Shooters can make better shots with gadgets though... and without them too. Its about the fundamentals of marksmanship.

I know riflemen that actually carry LESS weight even with their new carbon fiber gizmos (including me). Many have left behind stuff traditional hunters still carry (including me). We are still hunters, you can say we are improving the shooting aspect of hunting. Heaven knows we need that after I have seen guts hanging out of deer a guy shot on the run at 50 yards...

The most successful elk hunter I know (30+ bulls) uses an old 300 Weatherby and plain binoculars. I'm the 1st to admit that I geek out on gear and probably spend too much of my mental time thinking about it. When I think of my friend Bob and his success, I think it came mostly from spending a lot of time learning really good spots to hunt.

 

[hereinaz]

The most successful elk hunter I know (30+ bulls) uses an old 300 Weatherby and plain binoculars. I'm the 1st to admit that I geek out on gear and probably spend too much of my mental time thinking about it. When I think of my friend Bob and his success, I think it came mostly from spending a lot of time learning really good spots to hunt.

Hunting is FAR more than shooting gear. I've got the best quality gear I can afford, lol, but, I've eaten a lot of tag soup over the last 6 years a rookie hunter. But, tag soup tastes so much better than no soup, and, thankfully I love every minute, hour, and day in the field.

My contribution to one thing I have learned about the rifle hunt is to err on the side of leaving stuff in the truck. Cause all the gear in the world doesn't put me into game, hard work does. But, when it comes time for the shot, what really matters is the hard work I put in to learning the rifle before I got my tag.

 

[Jsmalls273]

As I’ll be preparing for my first western hunt this year, I’ll be referring back and reading this whole tread.


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[TheGDog]

Be careful with practicing too much though, because then it takes away all your excuses

It's all you when the moment of Truth comes, so there are no excuses. Either were on top of your isht... or you weren't. I guess the big take away is making sure you review mentally whenever you've blown something. Why did it get blown? What could you have done differently? COULD you have done anything differently that might have changed the outcome in your favor? Sometimes the way the situation presented itself there was just only soo much you could do. Knowing the difference and taking the time to analyze and feel confident there was no other choices you could have elected to make in that situation will do a lot in terms of the negative event not shaking your confidence and instead furthering your resolve. Like educators do... change your mindset into thinking of them not as mistakes, but as "learning opportunities".

 

[30338]

Moved to high quality scope rails and rings. Nice tactical to practical application as far as I am concerned. Shorter suppressed barrels are more fun. And lastly, to each their own lol.

 

[Oregon Hunter]

Moved to high quality scope rails and rings. Nice tactical to practical application as far as I am concerned. Shorter suppressed barrels are more fun. And lastly, to each their own lol.

I really like the last line you said. We've all got our opinions and go through different phases on what we're into. Lots of people are fighting hunters, so it doesn't make any sense for us to fight each other

 

[Oregon Hunter]

It's all you when the moment of Truth comes, so there are no excuses. Either were on top of your isht... or you weren't. I guess the big take away is making sure you review mentally whenever you've blown something. Why did it get blown? What could you have done differently? COULD you have done anything differently that might have changed the outcome in your favor? Sometimes the way the situation presented itself there was just only soo much you could do. Knowing the difference and taking the time to analyze and feel confident there was no other choices you could have elected to make in that situation will do a lot in terms of the negative event not shaking your confidence and instead furthering your resolve. Like educators do... change your mindset into thinking of them not as mistakes, but as "learning opportunities".

You're right, it's so important to reflect back on what you did and try to learn from it rather than just keep repeating the same things. When I used to fight fires we would do after action reports to try to learn what worked and what didn't.

 

[Sportsman247]

Biggest lesson I learned when we first started going at west is to slow down. We are flat landers and drive two days to get there. Then after we would hike in, we thought we had to cover 20 damn miles a day to kill something. Couple that with the elevation kicking our butts, by day three we had to take a good half day of rest just so we could make it the rest of the week. Since then we take each day in stride and only push if needed. It’s amazing that if you just slow down, enjoy the beautiful scenery and let the hunt play out as it will, the trip is so much more enjoyable.

 

[Oregon Hunter]

Biggest lesson I learned when we first started going at west is to slow down. We are flat landers and drive two days to get there. Then after we would hike in, we thought we had to cover 20 damn miles a day to kill something. Couple that with the elevation kicking our butts, by day three we had to take a good half day of rest just so we could make it the rest of the week. Since then we take each day in stride and only push if needed. It’s amazing that if you just slow down, enjoy the beautiful scenery and let the hunt play out as it will, the trip is so much more enjoyable.

You have a good point about slowing down. I'm wheelchair bound now so I do much more sitting and glassing. I used to have it in my head that the more ground I physically covered the harder I was working, which would somehow contribute to my success. Truthfully I probably walked past a lot of deer, which I get the chance to see now that I'm sitting still and glassing.

 

[Oregon Hunter]

Hey Roksliders! I just started another "1 Thing" discussion about elk. If you have anything you've learned about ELK, please share your experiences over on this thread The 1 Thing You Learned- ELK

 

[gjs4]

Hunting varmints with a bow and/or a 22 does more for hunting shooting development than long range gong ringing by it/oneself


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[madcalfe]

I thing I’ve learned about sheep/goat hunting would be the famous.... “ah we should be able to make it to that next ridge in a hour or 2 tops” yeaaaaa oook

 

[TheGDog]

Was just re-reading this thread and thought about another issue... on some Bolt-actions... ya gotta be careful while you're hiking in with them and keep checking to make sure the bolt has remained closed!

The Remington 783 in .223 Rem I've got... when it's slung over your shoulder... I had one instance where the freaking bolt had not only rotated to open... it also fell back and opened... and the cartridge had fallen out!

With that particular rifle I have to keep checking it with my hand during the hike out. More so when it's on my shooting side because then the bolt is likely able to have the brush possibly fuss with the bolt handle too.

The other bolt actions I have don't have this problem. The safety on the Savage locks the bolt down too. And on my boys lil CZ 452 American Scout .22LR the bolt is still quite stiff and needs to work-in more. So no worries there.

 

[JohnJohnson]

Good to see people are sharing good info. I've been using both eyes to get on target for awhile and trying to shoot with both eyes open as a habit anyway. I suppose I learned some lessons and reinforced others this year. One of the ones I reinforced is I'm not shooting/hunting unsuppressed ever again. I've cut barrel lengths across the board to accommodate my various suppressors but I'd highly encourage everyone to start shooting/hunting suppressed. It'll change everything for you. And it's not nearly as hard as you think it is to get one either.

I guess the other thing I learned is that good glass is something I notice and appreciate. It's a good place to spend my money and good binoculars enhance every outdoor experience I take them on (hunting or just recreational hiking).

 

[gjs4]

Good to see people are sharing good info. I've been using both eyes to get on target for awhile and trying to shoot with both eyes open as a habit anyway. I suppose I learned some lessons and reinforced others this year. One of the ones I reinforced is I'm not shooting/hunting unsuppressed ever again. I've cut barrel lengths across the board to accommodate my various suppressors but I'd highly encourage everyone to start shooting/hunting suppressed. It'll change everything for you. And it's not nearly as hard as you think it is to get one either.

I guess the other thing I learned is that good glass is something I notice and appreciate. It's a good place to spend my money and good binoculars enhance every outdoor experience I take them on (hunting or just recreational hiking).

Oh yeah- there’s one

Spend as least as much on glass as you did the gun


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[Oregon Hunter]

We’ve had an outstanding response from all of you on these “1 Thing You Learned” series. I just created a new forum thread about antelope. Head over to this link if you’d like to share one thing you learned about antelope, or want to shorten your learning curve for your next pronghorn hunt!

 

[Oregon Hunter]

We’ve had an outstanding response from all of you on these “1 Thing You Learned” series. I just created a new forum thread about cooking wild game. Head over to this link if you’d like to share one thing you learned about cooking wild game, trade food horror stories, or want to learn a secret for making the most out of your hard work in the field!

 

[Antares]

Don’t overgun yourself. Shot placement is more important than horsepower.

 

[rayporter]

know your rifle well. and know it will perform. tape the muzzle because you never know when you may get something in it.

if it is wet and cold check to see if you firing pin is frozen or the trigger has ice in it.

my bud sat for 20 minutes once watching a bull while he held a bic lighter to his bolt to thaw it so he could kill the bull.
once i checked my rifle before leaving camp and it was froze up. i took my rifle apart and held the bolt and trigger over the stove to thaw it, when the moment of truth came it went bang.