What makes one a "good shot?"

[rjthehunter]

When I decide to harvest an animal, I know that once I pull the trigger, there will be an animal to clean.

Practice makes a good shot better. But some people just don't have the knack or knowledge for it. My cousin and uncle won't shoot over 100 yards with rifles. They just can't shoot, they flinch, they jerk the trigger, and I try to teach them, but it offends them. So I just keep my opinions to myself now

 

[Sask hunter]

Two things I have done the last few years I feel like really helped. Loads of waterfowl hunting and lots of gopher shooting. If a guy is good at it and has the time coyote calling in the winter and shooting 50 or so of them is excellent practice too.

 

[OntarioHunter]

It's very very dependant on the person and situation. I know guys that can blow up milk jugs all day long with long range rifles up to and including 1000 yards consistently but can't drop a bird with a shotgun to save their life. I also know guys that seemingly can't miss any bird in range regardless of species and speed but are lucky to hit anything with a handgun.

I scored very well on my qualifications for the sheriff's office when I was a reserve. 99.8%. I had one barely outside center mass. That didn't impress more than a few. They all said, "Well it's different out in the field." I agree with that. But about a year later we got called to an aggressive dog call. Two cars pull up, dog turns and crouches, I hop out, he zeros in and sprints barking and growling. I drew and fired one shot. He dropped and slid to a stop about 5 feet from me. THAT solidified that I was a good shot in everyone's mind. I've always considered myself a good shot with a handgun or rifle.

That being said, I'm going pheasant hunting tomorrow with the guys. Unless that thing comes up and licks the end of the barrel Napolean Dynamite style it's pretty safe from ending up in my bag.

Sounds like your shotgun doesn't fit. Try patterning it. I can make just about any gun work at the trap range where I'm shooting high gun (mounted to shoulder). But at the skeet range I have to shoot low gun (ready position) or I'm no good. From low gun I can see the targets better (bad left eye) and no time to overthink the shot. But shooting quick from low gun requires a shotgun that fits me perfectly. Low gun skeet is great practice for wingshooting.

 

[Farmerj]

The more I learn about shooting, the less I realize I know. It’s a maddening circle really

 

[F250]

I have a couple of friends that make me look silly on the range shooting at paper. BUT : put a live big game animal in front of either of them, and they have trouble keeping rounds on a sheet of plywood !

 

[shrapnel]

I have found that I don’t need Dave Petzal or any other writer to tell me if I am a good shot or not…

 

[pilsner]

David E Petzal just did an article on this exact topic this week. Worth a read.

 

[HSi-ESi]

You are only as good as your last shot.

 

[noharleyyet]

The same way you get to Carnegie Hall...

 

[2rocky]

I'm going to say that you become a "good shot" when someone else proclaims it as so. Then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

I've watched my father shoot deer on the run in the neck, but miss an easy shot standing still. Since he broke his collarbone last year, he has had trouble shouldering his rifle and shotgun. I guess at 80 that happens.

 

[Don Fischer]

I’m a better hunter than a shooter. Keeps it interesting.

Lot to be said for that. The hunter close's all the distance he can before shooting. His ego doesn't allow him to make a bad shot! Poor shot placement is not an option, rather it is an excuse for taking a shot that should not have been taken in the first place and/or not practicing enough shooting to actually be skilled at it! Anybody can point a gun and pull the trigger, shooter's do it with purpose! Hunting is about finding the animal and getting in range for a sure shot. Shooting has nothing to do with hunting, shooting is about killing! Shooter's know that bad shot's don't kill and bad shot's are tried because of ego!

I have watched a good number of so called hunter's sight in rifles over the years and a huge number of them are terrible shot's but have the good enough attitude. I have seem and known shooter's that couldn't get a decent shot on game for no other reason than they though they were good enough to take that low percentage shot. Then come's the excuses for why they missed. Good shot's become asassin's. They will only take the abaolutely sure shot, they have no need to brag about how hard the shot may have been only how dead the animal was.

 

[Bullshot]

I’m not sure if I am the villian or not in your post. But I do know that I don’t and can’t place my shooting on a pedestal, I’m not an assasin. I try to get close enough. I have made some spectacular shots, and missed some easier ones, including ones I WAS sure I wouldnt miss. I would never take those 700 yard rifle pokes or 100 yard bow shots! Ever. I Don’t own any complicated knobs and turrets. Not a savant at trajectory math. But I’ve done this long enough, brought home lots of game. Succeeded more than lost. I always try to carefully sight in. I don’t have the best range equipment, no chronograph, usually limited to a 100-yard range. I am probably a 1.5 MOA shooter on my best day using factory ammo with my decent scoped rifles. Open sights call
it 2-3 MOA? I have missed on game. And I’ve made a couple bad shots over 3 and a half decades. I’ll yield that most (all?) were my fault. Who’s else would they be? Learn from them and try to do better. I don’t think anyone can “aim” for 100%. But you assess your situation, your skills, your equipment, and then for most mere mortals there is an uncertainty with physical reality, emotions, weather, distance, ammo, etc etc. You try to limit, but cant eliminate. If you screw up you try to learn from it.

 

[Raisin Bran]

I’m not sure if I am the villian or not in your post. But I do know that I don’t and can’t place my shooting on a pedestal, I’m not an assasin. I try to get close enough. I have made some spectacular shots, and missed some easier ones, including ones I WAS sure I wouldnt miss. I would never take those 700 yard rifle pokes or 100 yard bow shots! Ever. I Don’t own any complicated knobs and turrets. Not a savant at trajectory math. But I’ve done this long enough, brought home lots of game. Succeeded more than lost. I always try to carefully sight in. I don’t have the best range equipment, no chronograph, usually limited to a 100-yard range. I am probably a 1.5 MOA shooter on my best day using factory ammo with my decent scoped rifles. Open sights call
it 2-3 MOA? I have missed on game. And I’ve made a couple bad shots over 3 and a half decades. I’ll yield that most (all?) were my fault. Who’s else would they be? Learn from them and try to do better. I don’t think anyone can “aim” for 100%. But you assess your situation, your skills, your equipment, and then for most mere mortals there is an uncertainty with physical reality, emotions, weather, distance, ammo, etc etc. You try to limit, but cant eliminate. If you screw up you try to learn from it.

Nicely worded! A refreshing brisk of fresh air in a stale, stuffy “breathe through your mouth” topic.

 

[David58]

When I decide to harvest an animal, I know that once I pull the trigger, there will be an animal to clean.

Practice makes a good shot better. But some people just don't have the knack or knowledge for it. My cousin and uncle won't shoot over 100 yards with rifles. They just can't shoot, they flinch, they jerk the trigger, and I try to teach them, but it offends them. So I just keep my opinions to myself now

Credit them with knowing and staying within their limits.

David
NM

 

[brocksw]

I don’t zero my Hoyt “high”

 

[willy]

Shooting a lot when young, like has been mentioned, but I think there is an innate quality about shooting that some people have and some don't, most don't. It has to do with eye and mind picture and eye and hand coordination. They just go the it factor.

 

[Redman]

Confidence...

This but not just in yourself but your firearm. I have a gun I have been pully my hair out because it just won't perform to "my" standards. I threatened to sell it bought another rifle to replace it and while waiting on the rifle I changed seating depth yet another time and put a muzzle brake on it....Now it is shooting to my standards. Will I keep it or move it down the road? It will have to prove itself in hunting situations before I regain confidence in it.

 

[Raisin Bran]

View attachment 250801

 

[rjthehunter]

Credit them with knowing and staying within their limits.

David
NM

Honestly, after seeing them try to sight their rifles in at 100 yards, they shouldn't shoot past 50 yards with a rifle. They've "missed" just as many deer as they've hit. They're the people you don't want hunting near you.

Sitting there one day, I hear 3 shots ring off in quick succession from my uncles direction, and I'm like what the hell is he doing.
I texted him and said "well is it dead???"

He goes "oh the deer was running, but I missed it"...

Well how do you know you missed it. There's no way you went and looked in that time...

So after I got done hunting that morning, I went over to him and told him to show me where it was so I could look for blood or any sign of a wounded deer. We walk 200 yards from the stand he was in, in the brush and he's like it was running through here... I turned to him and asked what the F*** are you doing shooting at a running deer, though all this brush, from 4x your capable distance. He shook his head, shrugged, and said I don't know.

Unfortunately I've laid into him about shooting and the shots he takes. He needs to be in the woods where 40 yards is his furthest shot. Especially if he's never going to practice shooting to get better at it. He hasn't shot a deer in a few years now thankfully.

A good shot knows where his bullet is going to end up when the trigger breaks and the shot rings off.

 

[cwitherow]

It has been touched on a few times here but to me a good shot is also knowing WHEN or when NOT to shoot, assuming we are talking about hunting scenarios. This would apply to big game and birds.