Why so much emphasis on super fast prone shots?

[MT_Wyatt]

It seems like you came here specifically to pick this fight. I engaged with your original post even though I wasn’t sure it was in good faith.

If you don’t like the message here, it’s a free country. No one is making you stay here. But a few people telling you that the speed training is to simulate real world stress and test confidence and proficiency doesn’t make it a cult or tribe.

And a post that says, “I don’t think you need a rear bag, but I sometimes use one, and this is the one I use,” is hardly trying to force products on people.

Arguing that it isn’t a good thing to be able to do things under stress or without every last bit of gear seems a strange hill to want to die on.


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It's been a few years building (this prone ASAP idea) and not what I would even categorize as "recent." It's somewhat like the small caliber stuff - slow burn to critical mass. I once started a similar thread asking "how did this thing even get going?" in a similar vain, trying to understand what I was missing.

 

[mtnbound]

Most of my shots have been taken while standing, thanks to the brush of N Idaho, but I still practice kneeling and prone shooting just to make sure I am ready for any opportunity. I had my wife miss a shot at her first elk because she was standing. I had her drop to prone (no brush), threw my pack down so she had a stable platform, and she put the second round perfectly on target. I think if I had not practiced shooting from a prone position, I would not have even thought about dropping to prone, let alone making a stable improvised rest.

 

[MT_Wyatt]

I actually love these kinds of threads - I've asked the same question to myself many times, hell its a running joke with a few of my buddies.

The stress explination is a good one, and I would agree that part is sometimes lost or left out (or hasn't stuck with me). Practice is good, field positions are good. Questioning things is also good, when it doesn't descend into chaos. So far this thread has been great.

 

[cornstalker]

Do a bunch of coyote hunting. You will quickly see that the correct answer is "all of the above."

 

[Ramem7mm]

just thinking about all the animals I have shot I think majority of the animals I have shot have been prone. I have never thought about practicing my time to get faster I just do it when the situation occurs. I have shot several where they did get bumped or were already moving though and the best option was to get prone to get stable and take the shot. I personally think it’s the most stable and that’s what I feel most comfortable in so I will continue to do it.

 

[Beendare]

I just don't get it. I'm wracking my brain about the times when I needed to get off a prone shot fast and seconds mattered and I can't think of any. Not one.

I've seen plenty of times where an animal only gave a short quick window to shoot...then gone.

So far in my 4 decades of archery hunting, I have yet to see a lot of critters that give me all the time in the world to shoot.

There has always been some quick mental planning and urgency to getting off a good shot.

 

[justin davis]

We Had to do quick prone shots quite a bit this past year. My daughter’s javalena hunt. Multiple times coyote hunting etc

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Practicing to get better at a getting off fast accurate shots, no matter the position, has no downside.

One buck I killed last year was below me and busted me before I saw him. He was about to take off and he'd be gone with no shot opportunity. Ranged him, dropped to the ground, got into my rifle and killed him. It was over in a small handful of seconds. That's just one example.

I see this several times a year in AZ and in Mexico...
A lot of hunters take forever to get a shot off. They tend to be "curvy" so they cannot get comfortable on the ground; worse with rocks, cactus, roots, bugs, etc. This leads to a lot of fidgeting. They have a horrible process of identifying the location of the animal and getting the rifle on the animal. This leads to more fidgeting, moving back and forth between the rifle and optics. More messing around with trying to get them to spot where the animal is. Kick them out of the rifle, put them crosshairs on the animal and tell them to not move the rifle. They are suddenly deaf so they move the rifle and the poop show starts all over again. Eventually they settle down, they are in the rifle, the crosshairs are on the animal and now they cannot see the animal. Animal either then dies of old age or the shooter finally gets his head out of his butt and takes the shot.

Do practice the entire sequence and get it down to a handful of seconds. If you have to take the shot right away, you're all set. If you have to wait for a shot, no worries.

 

[TxLite]

It isn’t always about getting a shot off quickly because you got busted. Sometimes you spot an animal in a small window that is quickly closing. Shaving off a few seconds to get a shot off can make a difference in the right scenario. It’s better to have the ability to do it and not need it, than need it and not have it

 

[Conrad101st]

Who hasn’t been walking a ridge and seen moving elk or deer between 200 and 600 yards and had to flop down, laser and fire? This is typical unless you are in a stand or sitting on a knoll. Even if I’m sitting, I prefer to shoot prone over my ruck verses sitting and using sticks.

I always go prone in a hurry unless it’s close.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Yes, being efficient with your weapons system is stupid....

 

[ehayes]

I believe I heard Form explain that it is a correlative score to field effectiveness. Meaning when someone has plenty of time in a real hunting scenario, their accuracy is about the same as when they perform the time test in a controlled timed 100 yard scenario.

 

[KurtR]

Better to have the skill and not need it then not practice and fumble the ball when an opportunity arises.

 

[Kurts86]

Adding a time element to otherwise low pressure flat range practice is a good way to create pressure similar to what exists in the real world.

Taking time and keeping score is a very common way to create pressure and benchmark skill standards in other shooting disciplines/training. They just haven’t been common been common in hunting practice.

 

[Marshfly]

Yes, being efficient with your weapons system is stupid....

I see you got the jump to conclusions game for Christmas.

This has zero to do with what you said.

Being proficient isn’t what I’m asking about all, though it seems most here made that assumption for some reason.

I simply don’t see all these rushed prone shot opportunities. I guess others hunt in ways that they do. But it seems lots here also don’t.

 

[Marshfly]

Who hasn’t been walking a ridge and seen moving elk or deer between 200 and 600 yards and had to flop down, laser and fire? This is typical unless you are in a stand or sitting on a knoll. Even if I’m sitting, I prefer to shoot prone over my ruck verses sitting and using sticks.

I always go prone in a hurry unless it’s close.

You shoot moving elk and deer at 600 yards?

Ok.
I guess we are hunting differently.

 

[Drenalin]

You shoot moving elk and deer at 600 yards?

Ok.
I guess we are hunting differently.

I’m sure you’re aware that animals at any distance move a little…stop, move a little…stop. BS responses like this are incompatible with your earlier claim that you’re actually curious about answers to the question you posed.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

You shoot moving elk and deer at 600 yards?

Ok.
I guess we are hunting differently.

I interpreted him to mean that he sees them moving, not that he shoots them while they are moving.

For me, coming over a ridge and seeing moving animals is a routine occurrence. Sometimes they are moving while browsing, other times they picked up your scent but not been fully busted, chasing a doe, etc.

If you get ready fast enough, you can often get a shot. That doesn’t necessarily mean being prone, but taking the best supported position you can get as quickly as possible is important. Where I normally hunt, ranges aren’t usually as long, but it’s always best to be supported if you can be. Never take a 4-MOA shot when you can take a 1-MOA shot.

I practice drills where I set a timer to go from standing to seated. That’s based on the seated 300-yard rapid fire from the USMC rifle qualification. In fact, I started doing yoga because I found that I needed more flexibility to do that kind of thing smoothly.

During muzzleloader season last year, I busted a nice buck out of his bed as I came down a ridge to cross a draw. As soon as I saw him, I dropped to my butt and picked a likely gap in the trees. He stopped at the top of the next ridge - about 140 yards away - and looked back. And as soon as he did so, I put one right behind his shoulder.

This is the terrain:

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[Marshfly]

I’m sure you’re aware that animals at any distance move a little…stop, move a little…stop. BS responses like this are incompatible with your earlier claim that you’re actually curious about answers to the question you posed.

Words have meaning. So not moving animals… got it.

Animals also often just move continuously.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Words have meaning. So not moving animals… got it.

The animals are still moving and have the potential to be gone at any time. That’s what makes getting into position quickly an important skill. Even if you wait for them to stop to squeeze the trigger.

You write like a caricature of an OCS or TBS instructor. You wouldn’t happen to be one, would you?


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