Long Range Shooting Schools|Getting Comfortable
So what exactly do you learn from long range shooting schools? For the Outdoor Solutions schools it’s a lot more than just pulling the trigger. One of the basic and most important things that we go over, especially on our day two hunting course is getting comfortable to take the shot. Now I don’t necessarily mean comfortable like in a Lazy Boy but comfortable enough to be confident in your shot. Have you ever been on the range or more than likely in the field when you’re ready to take the shot but you just can’t get comfortable? You possibly have that feeling that; man this is not going to be good? Even though it’s probably not something you think about for long range shooting, there are a good number of small techniques we teach to help you make the shot.
One of the main positions and truly one of the steadiest outside of a bench and gun rest is the prone position but when it comes to hunting and those with limited mobility the prone position can be used in a very limited manner. For me personally, the prone position put to much pressure on my lower back and I have had four knee surgeries on the same knee so getting up and down can be a challenge. When it comes to hunting; how many times have you really shot from a prone position? Like most hunters, I have been hunting since I was a kid and I can honestly count on one hand the number of shots I have taken in the field from the prone position. So in our long range shooting schools we offer several other techniques that we believe are just as good and steady as the prone position.
There are a good number of tools to use in the field to help you get steady. You obviously cannot take all of them when you’re packing in on a back country elk hunt, so you have to pick one maybe two at the most that are your favorites and practice, practice, practice with them. One that everyone is familiar with is the adjustable shooting sticks. My shooting stick of choice and the ones we use in our classes are from BogPog, in either their tripod model or the bipod version. At times I even carry both with me, depending on the hunt and if I have the room or the weight allowance. When using shooting sticks, we utilize two different methods the most. One is teaching the students to load up the fore stock of their rifle in the shooting stick so that the legs create back pressure which will keep you steadier as compare to just laying the rifle in the saddle of the shooting stick.
Another method we teach by utilizing shooting sticks is to use more than one pair. We recently utilized this method in our last long range shooting schools at our Texas location with a gentleman that had a pretty serious issue of getting steady from just about any position. This was on day two during our hunting course portion, from a seated position we had our student load up his fore stock on a tripod like mentioned earlier and then we utilized a second tripod to put under the elbow of his shooting arm to keep him steady and prevent the dreaded barrel circle that we have all experienced. It worked like a charm for him and he was on target for both shots!
If you are a hunter, especially if you have plans to go out West on a big game hunt, you should consider one of Outdoor Solutions Long Range Shooting Schools before you go. Why spend thousands of dollars on a big game hunt only to have a trophy of a lifetime present itself at a distance you are not comfortable shooting or even worse, taking the shot and wounding an animal! Outdoor Solutions schools start back in in the spring of 2019 at our Texas location and continue on in late spring at our Utah location. If you are interested in learning more you can call the Outdoor Solutions office at 918 258 7817.