This article was in the Outdoors Section of today's Houston Chronicle. IMO, anybody that hunts with a rifle should read it.
Deer hunters must be as precise as possible
Dinner-plate accuracy from 100 yards is far from acceptable
By DOUG PIKE
Hunters preach to each other regularly about respect for wildlife and improving the image of the sport, but there still are so-called experts among us who call it dead wrong, set bad examples and make us all look foolish.
In addition to the expected, my mailbox on occasion receives unsolicited DVDs from various outdoors-related production companies. A recent one, not named because there's no reason to promote it, featured a "professional" outdoorsman narrating several trophy whitetail hunts and giving his take, in a separate segment, on the importance of shooting skills.
According to him, acceptable accuracy at 100 yards is the ability to hit a target the size of a dinner plate. That's like asking The Texans' Kris Brown to kick a 20-yard field goal with the uprights placed on each corner of the end zone or like Tiger Woods putting at a hole the size of a peach basket.
The star of this production, dressed to the nines in a sponsor's starched camo, continued with explanation that a bullet strike within that parameter should result in a clean kill.
(Make no mistake that clean kills are important to ethical and conscientious hunters. No sportsman wants to put himself or an animal through an exhausting search down a bloody trail in heavy cover.)
Any notion that dinner-plate accuracy is acceptible with scoped rifles at Texas' standard 100-yard (from box blind to feeder) range is absurd. That guy shouldn't be allowed to hunt Easter eggs.
Once adjusted, a rifle-and-optics package intended for deer hunting should be accurate enough from the bench to shatter a teacup every time the trigger is pulled. Skilled marksmen using quality firearms and ammunition can shoot through a teacup's dainty handle at football-field distance and never scratch the glaze.
More often than not, the fault of sloppy shooting is not with the weapon. Rifle barrels, if you'll excuse the cliché, are pretty much bulletproof. It's hard enough to knock a carbon-fiber arrow out of line; damaging two feet of thick-steel tubing sufficiently to wreck its accuracy permanently would require herculean strength. Even airline baggage handlers aren't up to that task.
Most deer rifles sold today are capable of three-inch or better accuracy at 100 yards, and average groups shot by experienced hands should be tighter than two inches. That's for guns that cost hundreds, not thousands of dollars, too, representative of what Texas deer hunters carry.
That is well short of military-sniper accuracy, but two-inch bench groups translate well in the field, critical because actual hunting situations introduce variables that can move bullets significantly off line.
Hunting takes hours, but opportunities for clean shots can come and go in a few seconds.
In that time, since deer have no bull's-eyes on their hides, the hunter first has to establish a specific target amid all that fur. Throw in the sense of urgency that rises if a deer seems somehow spooky and triple the anxiety level when that whitetail's head is covered in big antlers.
Accept dinner-plate accuracy at the bench, and you may miss the "X" on a real deer by a foot. More if you flinch.
That's pathetic from sand-wedge distance; a goof of that magnitude has potential to place the bullet in a non-lethal spot and leave a fine animal to suffer needlessly. No excuse.
Deer hunters don't always hit the exact spot at which they aim, but each of us has an obligation to get as close as possible.
My suspicion is that the DVD's host may have taped the questionable segment to establish justification for a poor shot that turns up elsewhere in the video. If that's the case, he should have omitted the hunt with the bad shot and used that time to show people how to sight a rifle - or maybe get someone to teach him the skill.
TROUBLE-SHOOTING
If your rifle seems incapable of grouping three bullets no farther apart than can be covered by a tennis ball, something is wrong either with the gun or the gunner. Here's a refresher on making yourself a better shot and, in turn, a better hunter:
• Make sure the scope is undamaged and attached securely to the rifle: The recoil of a high-powered round has potential to shake things (like fillings, in larger calibers) loose. Tighten the screws and visually inspect the cross hairs to make certain they're where they belong.
• Take your time: Warm barrels expand, even if only in microns, but the slightest change affects accuracy. Touch your wrist to the metal. If it stings with heat, wait before firing the next shot.
• Assess your personal shooting talent honestly: Before you blame the rifle for punching holes all over the paper, ask someone else to send a couple of rounds down range.
• Sample different ammo brands: Rifles tend to be more accurate with some loads than others. With ammunition, don't assume that higher cost is synonymous with greater accuracy.
• Bottom line: Before you blame the gun for poor accuracy, get a second opinion.
Deer hunters must be as precise as possible
Dinner-plate accuracy from 100 yards is far from acceptable
By DOUG PIKE
Hunters preach to each other regularly about respect for wildlife and improving the image of the sport, but there still are so-called experts among us who call it dead wrong, set bad examples and make us all look foolish.
In addition to the expected, my mailbox on occasion receives unsolicited DVDs from various outdoors-related production companies. A recent one, not named because there's no reason to promote it, featured a "professional" outdoorsman narrating several trophy whitetail hunts and giving his take, in a separate segment, on the importance of shooting skills.
According to him, acceptable accuracy at 100 yards is the ability to hit a target the size of a dinner plate. That's like asking The Texans' Kris Brown to kick a 20-yard field goal with the uprights placed on each corner of the end zone or like Tiger Woods putting at a hole the size of a peach basket.
The star of this production, dressed to the nines in a sponsor's starched camo, continued with explanation that a bullet strike within that parameter should result in a clean kill.
(Make no mistake that clean kills are important to ethical and conscientious hunters. No sportsman wants to put himself or an animal through an exhausting search down a bloody trail in heavy cover.)
Any notion that dinner-plate accuracy is acceptible with scoped rifles at Texas' standard 100-yard (from box blind to feeder) range is absurd. That guy shouldn't be allowed to hunt Easter eggs.
Once adjusted, a rifle-and-optics package intended for deer hunting should be accurate enough from the bench to shatter a teacup every time the trigger is pulled. Skilled marksmen using quality firearms and ammunition can shoot through a teacup's dainty handle at football-field distance and never scratch the glaze.
More often than not, the fault of sloppy shooting is not with the weapon. Rifle barrels, if you'll excuse the cliché, are pretty much bulletproof. It's hard enough to knock a carbon-fiber arrow out of line; damaging two feet of thick-steel tubing sufficiently to wreck its accuracy permanently would require herculean strength. Even airline baggage handlers aren't up to that task.
Most deer rifles sold today are capable of three-inch or better accuracy at 100 yards, and average groups shot by experienced hands should be tighter than two inches. That's for guns that cost hundreds, not thousands of dollars, too, representative of what Texas deer hunters carry.
That is well short of military-sniper accuracy, but two-inch bench groups translate well in the field, critical because actual hunting situations introduce variables that can move bullets significantly off line.
Hunting takes hours, but opportunities for clean shots can come and go in a few seconds.
In that time, since deer have no bull's-eyes on their hides, the hunter first has to establish a specific target amid all that fur. Throw in the sense of urgency that rises if a deer seems somehow spooky and triple the anxiety level when that whitetail's head is covered in big antlers.
Accept dinner-plate accuracy at the bench, and you may miss the "X" on a real deer by a foot. More if you flinch.
That's pathetic from sand-wedge distance; a goof of that magnitude has potential to place the bullet in a non-lethal spot and leave a fine animal to suffer needlessly. No excuse.
Deer hunters don't always hit the exact spot at which they aim, but each of us has an obligation to get as close as possible.
My suspicion is that the DVD's host may have taped the questionable segment to establish justification for a poor shot that turns up elsewhere in the video. If that's the case, he should have omitted the hunt with the bad shot and used that time to show people how to sight a rifle - or maybe get someone to teach him the skill.
TROUBLE-SHOOTING
If your rifle seems incapable of grouping three bullets no farther apart than can be covered by a tennis ball, something is wrong either with the gun or the gunner. Here's a refresher on making yourself a better shot and, in turn, a better hunter:
• Make sure the scope is undamaged and attached securely to the rifle: The recoil of a high-powered round has potential to shake things (like fillings, in larger calibers) loose. Tighten the screws and visually inspect the cross hairs to make certain they're where they belong.
• Take your time: Warm barrels expand, even if only in microns, but the slightest change affects accuracy. Touch your wrist to the metal. If it stings with heat, wait before firing the next shot.
• Assess your personal shooting talent honestly: Before you blame the rifle for punching holes all over the paper, ask someone else to send a couple of rounds down range.
• Sample different ammo brands: Rifles tend to be more accurate with some loads than others. With ammunition, don't assume that higher cost is synonymous with greater accuracy.
• Bottom line: Before you blame the gun for poor accuracy, get a second opinion.