By Marcus Raab, National Coach Trainer,
NRA Education and Training

Prepare for success before you head out into the field this autumn by revisiting the fundamentals of shooting.

Whether you are shooting at paper targets in a competition or shooting at a big-game animal, the shot that hits the mark uses the same fundamentals. The fundamentals of aiming, breath control, hold, trigger control and follow-through always apply.

Aiming
   You may not use your hunting rifle on a regular basis, but you need to know how it operates. Equally important is how to use the sights to aim and how to adjust them so your rifle hits where you are aiming.
   You will also need to know how to handle shooting at different distances.
   In most competition shooting, the target is at a known distance. In hunting situations, the game will never be at exactly the same distance for which you have sighted in. This requires you to understand a little about the ballistics of the particular cartridge that you will be using.
   Depending on your particular hunting situation, you will sight-in your rifle at the range or distance you think you’ll be hunting. For example, if you are hunting whitetail deer in a wooded area, where typical shots are 50 to 75 yards, that should be the range at which you sight-in your rifle. If you hunt in open country, shots may be much farther—200 yards or more.
   Regardless of the sight-in range, you should also try some shots at closer or farther distances so you know where your rifle hits (and how to compensate for that) when a longer or shorter range shot presents itself.
   Learning what your rifle can do will give you more confidence in your equipment.

Breath Control
   It is quite obvious that you will have a tough time holding your rifle still if you cannot pause your breathing long enough to aim properly and pull the trigger smoothly. This can be really challenging when the physical exertion required to get to a shooting position within range of a nice buck is more than you are in condition to deliver.
   The emotions and thoughts that run through your head at times like that can also contribute to your physical excitement and make it a challenge to hold still.
   Being in good physical condition can help you control your breathing long enough to deliver a good shot. Practice your shooting by taking a couple of deeper-than-normal breaths followed by a controlled, smooth exhale. On the first exhale, move the safety switch to fire; on the second exhale, place the sights on the correct point of aim in the vital area of the animal. This is the beginning of what competition shooters call a shot plan or routine.

Trigger Control
   Immediately begin applying pressure to the trigger in a smooth, continuous manner while keeping your focus on maintaining the correct sight picture. As long as the sight picture is still good and within the animal’s vital area, keep squeezing the trigger so smoothly that you really do not know when the gun will fire. If you know when the rifle will fire, you are no longer focusing on maintaining the correct sight picture. You risk anticipating the shot, tensing muscles and jerking the trigger. These can lead to poor follow-through, a missed shot, or, worse, a wounded animal that may get away. If the shot is a surprise, you will have executed good follow-through. The rifle should settle back onto the target area so you can execute a second shot if necessary. Remember to cycle the action if your rifle is not a semi-automatic.

Hold
   We have not talked about hold yet, but it is critical to good results in the field. Obviously, if the deer is close the vital area is comparatively large and the holding ability of the hunter is less important than for a shot at a deer 225 yards away. For shots at longer distances, you should use the most support available. A knapsack rested on a rock or tree stump can make for a steady rest for long-range shots. Before the season, you should make some practice shots from all the likely shooting positions you may encounter during your hunt. Shooting from these different positions will probably give slightly different bullet impact points on the target due to the changes in how the rifle recoils. To be a complete hunter you need to know these differences and consider them in the field.

Conclusion
   When you make the choice to be an ethical hunter, you take on the responsibility to study and understand your quarry, its habits, the terrain, the vital organ areas for a clean, humane kill and so much more. Your marksmanship skills are also an important part of the fantastic sport of hunting. Make sure those skills are honed and up to the task by knowing your rifle, how it works, the ballistics of the ammunition you intend to use, controlling your breathing, aiming correctly and smoothly squeezing the trigger for a surprise shot that takes the game with a clean kill.

Editor’s Note
Keep an eye out over the coming months for more articles covering the fine points of marksmanship!