John Niehouse mentioned a blurb in another post about sighting in a hunter's rifle for him... Got me to thinking about a couple of things ....


A> How has silhouette shooting changed your outlook on shots taken in the field?

It has all but RUINED my ability to listen to a good "Shot of a Lifetime" tale around the campfire.... All of a suden I am explaining to Jim Bob why his 25-06 sighted in at 100 yards can NOT POSSIBLy be 'Dead On' at 650 yards!!!! Talk about stiring the pot at camp....


B> Do you not feel the urge to 'Sight In' your rifles right before the hunt?

Many times while tree rat hunting I feel the need to shoot a knot to make sure the windage is right... And just where do you hold on the Rat when he is 57 yards out? Rifle is zeroed at 44 yards (chickens)... now, with a 2-7X28 Weaver...where on the cross hair is 2 MOA??? Exactly????


C> Has you experience from the bench with HP not shown you that a 'clean' bore is a horrible thing for those 'First Shots'?

By the way, many times afield, these are the only shots...and we SHOULD be conserned for the animal's rights to a humane harvest. Tell me you would take a 400 yard shot with a freshly cleaned bore? You better have it sighted in that way! I quit cleaning my HP's that I hunt with.... Pick them up with a cold, fouled bore and they are dead on....


D> Have you ever had to defend / explain to a 'Fudd' (as in Elmer Fudd) any of the above?????

Just some off topic thoughts I have had in the past....

Chicken, does an "animal's rights to a humane harvest" mean what I think it does? If so that explains the behavior of black bears in the Utah mountains.

A) Silhouette shooting has changed my outlook on shooting in the field. I look for support where ever I can get it! It even helped last fall when I couldn't get any support. After letting everyone else take a shot, I pulled my left elbow into my torso, sighted in on that black bullseye on the north bound deer and took the shot offhand. Happily at the last instant I nudged the shot off the little black spot and took him through the left ham, breaking the pelvis and spine. Not a record book trophy but a modest 4X5 rack and really good fillets on the grill.

Other lesson from silhouette; don't shoot more gun than you can handle. I shot a medium weight 30-06 instead of a heavy barreled 300 magnum with bipod and emmense scope that is so popular here.

b) I don't sight in the rifle right before I hunt. I shoot it once a week after I practice with my smallbore gun. It is already sighted in when I go hunting.

c) Yeah, I know about the clean bore effect. The bore is pretty clean but has at least three shots through it from the last practice. The last practice is also the time I make sure that everything on the gun is ready for the hunt. It saves fussy around at 2:30 in the morning.

d) It's a rule; never explain to the audience. If they don't understand the first time then they aren't ready. If they ask then maybe they are. Last fall no one asked but they did say, "What a great shot." They only appropriate reply is, "Thanks."



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