Why so much emphasis on super fast prone shots?

[Coyote Commander]

That's my point exactly. In my younger days consequences of a botched shot never crossed my mind until after the shot was taken. Best case scenario you miss worst case you wound and never recover the animal. Short of an already wounded animal why would you have to take a hasty shot? Either youre confident in your abilities or you aren’t and thats really what it comes down to.

I gave one such situation in my second post.

And countless countless others.


Here’s another.

Last light.

The buck you’ve been after for a week finally stands up out of the sage brush with just a couple minutes of shooting light left. You can’t get into a decent firing position at your position based on his, but if you can get to the next hill over 100 yards you might. But that will eat up precious time leaving you very little time to engage that target once you get in position.

Or one that happened to me last week.

Had a coyote come in sneaking in real cautious down a draw with heavy sage.

He wasn’t far, 300-350, but I was on sticks due to defilade and cover, and it was breezy.

He was gonna have my wind in another 200 yards so I was gonna have to figure something out fast. Luckily, he spotted the dog and spooked, lopeing off in the opposite direction stopping briefly on the far side at a little over 400 next to one lone sagebrush (which I had luckily ranged prior).

Again. I was gonna have just a second or two to get on him, settle and shoot. He was not gonna sit there for 20-30 seconds while I figured my stuff out.



I guess if you can’t see the advantage to being able to quickly, efficiently, and with some level of precision, engage or re-engage targets in real world hunting situations, there’s no sense discussing this further.

Not to mention, time, and money, are the safest ways of inducing stress and pressure into practice (both fun and competitive).

 

[Beendare]

A bit of a segue from the original question....

The Backfire Channel and Eric Cortina on Youtube have recently been doing a bunch of hunter challenges at long range. It has exposed a lot of guys that think they shoot better than they do at 400y plus.

These vids are also instructional as to what works.

 

[greyghostnw]

Just like anything. Practice enough and keep it simple. Results will follow.

 

[hp3]

Does anyone have tips for a better prone setup? I am fine off-hand, kneeling/sitting and off the bench but whenever I go prone, I end up with bruises.

 

[huntnful]

Does anyone have tips for a better prone setup? I am fine off-hand, kneeling/sitting and off the bench but whenever I go prone, I end up with bruises.

Lose some weight if you’re heavy set. Don’t throw yourself on the ground, it’s not necessary. Bipod, squeeze-able rear bag, ease down, kill animal, ease back up.

 

[hp3]

Lose some weight if you’re heavy set. Don’t throw yourself on the ground, it’s not necessary. Bipod, squeeze-able rear bag, ease down, kill animal, ease back up.

Sorry for the confusion, I meant bruises from recoil.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Sorry for the confusion, I meant bruises from recoil.

What rifle are you using? And what chambering? How much does it weigh? What are you using for front and rear support?

 

[huntnful]

Sorry for the confusion, I meant bruises from recoil.

Oh sorry hahaha.

Shoot a smaller cartridge, lighter bullet, heavier gun, or use a good muzzle device.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

I killed my elk and pronghorn last year from the prone position.

The elk was at 600 and worked out great as I ran about two miles down a ridge unseen to get to a good shot. I was able to climb up to a hump without my pack and use my Gunwerks bipod and my bino case. The shot was 600 yards, meat in the freezer.

My pronghorn was 534 yards, and was a hurry shot. I was hunting in sage that was about 18” high. I used my bipod on top of my pack to clear the sage.

Conversely, I shot a whitetail buck at 40 yards off hand because he pranced right out in front of me.

In years past, I’ve found I have had plenty of prone shots available, but I was unable to take the shots or flat out missed because the animals were spooked and on their way out.

While I don’t time myself and get into competition mode, I do practice getting into positions I would use for shooting once a year or so. I do find it productive as you can learn the limitations with your gear and create a system when you find yourself needing to take a shot. I don’t limit myself to prone shots though. I have trekking poles I practice with regularly for the shots with ground cover. I use my backpack, shoot off tree branches, etc. Going out on a mountainside shooting rocks from all these positions makes for a fun and interesting afternoon and really helps for any shot possibility.

I think when it comes to the lack of time on some shot presentations, it’s important to quickly identify which shot position is needed to get the job done and then efficiently get yourself into it and take the shot.