Top 5 Ways to Miss Your Deer

1.) Forgetting to sight-in and clean scopes. Sights and scopes can get bumped while cleaning, handling or transferring from gun cabinet to deer hunting woods and back again.
2.) Using different ammunition than used to sight in with.
Different bullet weights and even various ammunition brands will shoot differently from the same rifle.
Make sure you stock up on the same brand and bullet weight of ammunition, the brand and weight you sighted in your rifle with, before you head to the deer hunting woods.
3.) Taking free hand shots.
Free hand shots are the least effective for deer hunting, because in many situations you are not rock solid when shooting.
If you don’t have a good rifle rest in your tree stand or blind when you are deer hunting, use your knee to steady your shot.
Another option is shooting from the prone position, but don’t try this from a tree stand.
Always try to use a solid rest before taking the shot.
4.) Not enough perfect practice.
There is more to shooting a rifle and becoming a good shot than just simply sighting in your rifle.
The more you can practice with different shooting scenarios, the better you will become at handling your deer rifle.
5.) Not knowing your shooting limitations.
This is really simple. If you don’t feel you can make a long range shot, don’t shoot.
At times, some deer hunters let their egos take over.
Only shoot the distance you have practiced for. This will keep you from wounding deer.
How can you avoid missing your deer the next time you go deer hunting?
• Sight in your deer rifle several times before deer season arrives.
• Remember to deer hunt use the same brand and bullet weight of ammo you used to sight in your deer rifle.
• Always use a solid rest when taking a shot.
• Perfect practice. Perfect practice. Perfect practice.
• Take shots only at distances you are comfortable shooting.

Is Your Deer Hunting Rifle Shooting Straight?

Image via Wikipedia
Remember back at the range when you fired the first bullet from your well cleaned gun?
You noticed it was the only bullet that was out of sync with the other rounds you shot. All of the bullets after that first shot hit perfectly.
Very few deer hunters clean rifle barrels between shots when at the rifle range. This means we are actually judging how well our guns shoot through “dirty” barrels.
In the scenario above shots fired after the very first shot seemed most accurate.  Test the shooting accuracy of your gun by shooting two 3 shot groups.
For one 3 shot group clean the barrel after each shot.

For the second group shoot three consecutive shots without cleaning in between rounds.
Pay close attention to the very first shot out of the clean barrel. Notice if it strikes the target differently than subsequent shots.

If it does, your rifle may perform better after a shot has been fired.  Remember, the first shot at a deer is usually the most important one and often times the only one you get.

If your gun performs better after a shot has been fired through the barrel, consider safely firing one shot through your barrel before you head out deer hunting.  Clean your gun after shooting, but remember the first shot out of your clean gun will be the least accurate.  Why clean your gun if it shoots poorly when clean?  A dirty barrel will shorten the life of your deer hunting rifle, perhaps causing rust and deterioration. If left extremely dirty, your gun may become dangerous to shoot.