Speaker 1: As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days
Speaker 1: in the field. This show is about translating my hard
Speaker 1: won experiences into tips and tactics they'll get you closer
Speaker 1: to your ultimate goal success in the field. I'm Remy Warren.
Speaker 1: This is Cutting the Distance. Welcome back everyone, Cutting the
Speaker 1: Distance podcast. This month, I want to do sort of
Speaker 1: a three part series on summer prep. Now, I know
Speaker 1: it's not summer yet, but I want to lay out
Speaker 1: some things that we can do during the summer, including
Speaker 1: things that cover rifle shooting, physical fitness, and bow shooting.
Speaker 1: So a little bit of something for everyone. This week,
Speaker 1: we're going to tackle precision extended rain shooting. I want
Speaker 1: to include everything you need to know to get set
Speaker 1: up and ways to practice. I want to cover the
Speaker 1: basics of shooting further and give you practical tips to
Speaker 1: make the perfect shot in hunting situations. But first, I
Speaker 1: want to share a story of a mountain white tail
Speaker 1: hunt I took last season. The sunt takes place in
Speaker 1: southwest Montana. Now, it had just been the end of
Speaker 1: the first week of the rifle season and I guided
Speaker 1: the whole week, actually packed out quite a few elk
Speaker 1: and was fairly tired, but on my days off, I
Speaker 1: do what I like to do, go hunting. So before
Speaker 1: the next group of hunters came in, my wife and
Speaker 1: I decided to go out and have a look around.
Speaker 1: I actually had a cow elk tag, so I thought, well,
Speaker 1: maybe you know, we might see a cow. Who knows
Speaker 1: and she had a deer and elk tag and everything,
Speaker 1: so we just just decided let's go out and see
Speaker 1: what we can find. We got out there just right
Speaker 1: before daylight, normal glassing spot I started glassing and Zach
Speaker 1: really looking for elk, and way off in the distance,
Speaker 1: about a mile and a half away, on the edge
Speaker 1: of this one opening, I saw some deer and I
Speaker 1: could tell that they were white tails. So I got
Speaker 1: my spotting scope out, started looking and there was a
Speaker 1: few dos and two bucks in there. Start kind of
Speaker 1: pushing the doughs around, chasing the dos, and there was
Speaker 1: one what looked like a pretty decent buck. So we
Speaker 1: decided let's go get a closer look. We end up
Speaker 1: moving pretty quick and cutting the distance about halfway, setting
Speaker 1: up the scope again, and I see that there's a
Speaker 1: pretty good buck in there. For this for the area
Speaker 1: that we hunt, we don't really get a lot of
Speaker 1: white tails. It's more mule deer country, but you can't
Speaker 1: really hunt mule deer unless you draw special tags. So
Speaker 1: they're like, oh sweet, there's two bucks in there, pretty
Speaker 1: good bucks. And I thought, no, let's try to get
Speaker 1: Danielle a deer while they're over there. Trouble wasn't moving
Speaker 1: around a lot, and the hill that they were on
Speaker 1: was really steep and pretty high up there, so I
Speaker 1: didn't want to go on the hill that they wrapped.
Speaker 1: Plus the way the wind was going just wouldn't allow
Speaker 1: that approach. So we're gonna come in. They were kind
Speaker 1: of onto this now our face, and we were going
Speaker 1: to come in on the snowy south face where we
Speaker 1: could see the whole hill and hopefully get a good
Speaker 1: steady shot across the canyon. It's the best way because
Speaker 1: you get I've I've actually stocked animals on this particular
Speaker 1: hill before, and it's so steep that you can't really
Speaker 1: see them where they're at below you. So if they've
Speaker 1: moved and you don't have a good reference there aren't
Speaker 1: there quick enough, then they're just gonna be gone. You'll
Speaker 1: never know where they went. But if you across the canyon.
Speaker 1: You've just got this great view of the whole hillside
Speaker 1: and you can sneak in, slip in, and make a
Speaker 1: shot across the canyon. So we work our way up.
Speaker 1: By the time we get over there, it's a little
Speaker 1: bit later. There's quite a bit of deadfall. We're walking
Speaker 1: through on the south side, and just like a lot
Speaker 1: of snow as well. Actually, the week before was super cold,
Speaker 1: like the temperatures dropped, and I actually think it's white
Speaker 1: maybe kicked off the rut a little bit early. Most
Speaker 1: of the time, the white tails don't start chasing like
Speaker 1: that until about a week or two later, but they were.
Speaker 1: They were getting pretty hot and heavy after it. I
Speaker 1: was hoping that those doughes would keep in that area
Speaker 1: and maybe keep them distracted. But four they moved off
Speaker 1: into one of the timbered sides. So we work our
Speaker 1: way up. We're in the snow. We don't see the deer,
Speaker 1: but we get about to where I planned from across
Speaker 1: the way, glassing of where we might be able to
Speaker 1: see him from. We sit down and get set up
Speaker 1: and I see a buck pop out down below us.
Speaker 1: I get my binoculars on it, and it's not the
Speaker 1: bigger buck, but I think, well, there's is a dough
Speaker 1: with him, so maybe that bigger bucks right around here.
Speaker 1: So we sit and wait and watch, and as we're
Speaker 1: watching that, a bigger buck comes out up the hill
Speaker 1: aways chasing some other doughs and then stops and stands there.
Speaker 1: So I look at him and I'm like, Okay, it's
Speaker 1: a little bit further than I was thinking, and I
Speaker 1: definitely wanted to make sure that my wife could get
Speaker 1: a good shot on the deer that we're chasing. So
Speaker 1: I range the deer and I'm thinking, now, okay, he's
Speaker 1: up towards the top of the mountain. And the trouble is,
Speaker 1: by the time we get over to where he's at,
Speaker 1: he's definitely gonna be gone bedded for the day. So
Speaker 1: I tell Daniel, I'm like, okay, that bigger bucks up there.
Speaker 1: We could wait and see what happens, or you know,
Speaker 1: you could take this this other buck. She's like, well,
Speaker 1: we've come all the way, why don't you try to
Speaker 1: get that bigger deer, you know, because it was just
Speaker 1: a little bit out of her range that she felt
Speaker 1: comfortable with. And I was like, oh, you know, I
Speaker 1: like to stalk in and get closer. She's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but you've got this gun that you set up for
Speaker 1: shooting far you practice all the time, you could definitely
Speaker 1: shoot that deer. I was like yeah, She's like, well,
Speaker 1: then shoot it. I think she was just excited to
Speaker 1: see see the buck and wanted me to get a
Speaker 1: deer as much as I wanted her to get a deer.
Speaker 1: So I said, okay. I just said, all right, I'll
Speaker 1: shoot the deer. So I got set up with my pack.
Speaker 1: The hill was pretty steep, so I took my trekking
Speaker 1: poles and crossed the straps of the trek and poles
Speaker 1: to make a good shooting sticks out of him. Then
Speaker 1: I used my pack on my back and then her
Speaker 1: pack under my shooting elbow with my knee up. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was just like locked in steady range the deer,
Speaker 1: and he just was in that position. Dear do this.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they'll be chasing deer and then they just kind
Speaker 1: of stop and they just stare off into the distance forever.
Speaker 1: And he was just standing on the hillside, perfectly broadside, stoic,
Speaker 1: not moving. I ranged the deer, and then of course,
Speaker 1: as soon as I range and we get set up
Speaker 1: he just starts walking again toward where those does disappeared.
Speaker 1: I know, all right, it's gonna be now or never.
Speaker 1: If he stops again, this is gonna be the time.
Speaker 1: So he walks, walks, and then stops again. I range him,
Speaker 1: confirmed the range check. My actually had my ballistic app
Speaker 1: open and just he hadn't moved much. But I made
Speaker 1: a quick adjustment on the dial of my scope, settled
Speaker 1: in behind his shoulder, slowly squeezed the trigger just like
Speaker 1: the thousands of shots I've taken practicing shooting, pull the trigger,
Speaker 1: and the buck just drops, perfect shot. Well, as that
Speaker 1: happened after the report of the rifle, the other deer
Speaker 1: moved up from a canyon down below us, halfway between
Speaker 1: the deer that I just shot and where we were sitting,
Speaker 1: and that deer just stops on the hill site kind
Speaker 1: of looks around and then goes to feeding. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: look at Daniel, and like, do you want to shoot
Speaker 1: that buck? Just like yeah, So we switched positions on
Speaker 1: the rifle reload. I arranged the deer just the dial
Speaker 1: for this range, and I'm like, all right, the guns set,
Speaker 1: it's exactly where you want to shoot. Just put it
Speaker 1: right behind his shoulder. Pick that spot and just kind
Speaker 1: of talk her through the shot. She looks steady, she's steady,
Speaker 1: She squeezes the trigger, perfect shot, buck drops, rolls down
Speaker 1: the mountain. We just within I don't know, a couple
Speaker 1: of minutes of each other, just shot two bucks across
Speaker 1: the canyon with the same rifle, just adjusting for the
Speaker 1: two different ranges. You know, we're pretty excited. This is
Speaker 1: her second white tail buck, and it just happened to
Speaker 1: be at the top of the mountain where she shot
Speaker 1: her first white tail was at the top of the
Speaker 1: mountain in Elk country, where we don't really see white
Speaker 1: tails that often. I mean, there are plenty of white
Speaker 1: tails around, but to get them up in the mountains
Speaker 1: where you're normally chasing elk er mule there is just
Speaker 1: pretty cool, pretty fun for us. So we go down
Speaker 1: and it actually takes us quite a while to get
Speaker 1: down through the there's actually a creak in the bottom.
Speaker 1: It was pretty nasty with all the snow and dead
Speaker 1: fall and everything. Start walking up. We get to her buck,
Speaker 1: nice little white tail buck, and then we keep climbing
Speaker 1: up the mountain to where mine is and we decided
Speaker 1: that we were gonna try to get them both together
Speaker 1: because I figured, well, we could cut mine up here,
Speaker 1: but it's downhill, so we drug my buck down to
Speaker 1: the other deer. That way we could just process them
Speaker 1: at the same time together and get a photo and
Speaker 1: everything and then pack them out. And it's pretty cool
Speaker 1: because my mom and dad actually happened to be up
Speaker 1: at the same time as well. So we called them.
Speaker 1: We're like, hey, we got I think, I don't even
Speaker 1: remember if i'd service and m I send them an
Speaker 1: in reach message bucks down and they ended up working
Speaker 1: their way over to us to give us a hand
Speaker 1: packing them out. They cut up the deer, packed the
Speaker 1: deer out, and it was just a great day getting
Speaker 1: a buck like a double with my wife across canyon
Speaker 1: in the mountains on some white tails. When I introduced
Speaker 1: this week's podcast, I think I call it precision extended
Speaker 1: range shooting, and what I'm really talking about. Other terms
Speaker 1: for it could be long range shooting, could be precision shots,
Speaker 1: further shots, shooting further whatever you want to call it. Now,
Speaker 1: I know that there are a lot of I mean,
Speaker 1: there's there's just so many sides to everything, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, you can't talk about anything in hunting sometimes
Speaker 1: without it offending someone or someone else saying that it's
Speaker 1: wrong or this is right or whatever. That's not what
Speaker 1: I want to get into. What I want to get
Speaker 1: into is how to make you a better shot, so
Speaker 1: no matter what the yardage is, you can make a good, clean,
Speaker 1: ethical shot. So before we get into it, I will
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about the ethics and kind of
Speaker 1: define some of this stuff. You know, if I think
Speaker 1: about when I started hunting, or probably when maybe most
Speaker 1: people it, or listening to the started hunting growing up
Speaker 1: out west, three yards was kind of like that magical
Speaker 1: mark that that's a far shot, but it's doable shot,
Speaker 1: you know, shot that you can make, and it's kind
Speaker 1: of in some instances was the range that a lot
Speaker 1: of elk or deer might particularly be at now that
Speaker 1: three hundred yard you know, if I remember back, I
Speaker 1: probably would some of my rifles we would sight in
Speaker 1: it like three inches high at a hundred or four
Speaker 1: inches high at a hundred, and then we kind of
Speaker 1: just eyeball or guess the yardage of the animals because
Speaker 1: what we didn't have was laser range finders. They either
Speaker 1: didn't exist, or we didn't have them, or the technology
Speaker 1: wasn't good enough to even really work that well. So
Speaker 1: we would just estimate range and line up our shot
Speaker 1: and shoot and things would look either too far or
Speaker 1: too close, and over the years, or to me or
Speaker 1: even just in general people, there was probably a lot
Speaker 1: of more missed animals or even potentially wounded animals, just
Speaker 1: based on like guessing the range. There's so many times
Speaker 1: where I'll be walking up a canyon, I think how
Speaker 1: far is that? You know that's got to be four
Speaker 1: hundred yards and it's to fifty. Or you look at
Speaker 1: and you know that's gotta be three hundred yards and
Speaker 1: it's seven hundards. In the mountains, man, it can be
Speaker 1: very difficult to judge ranges, especially when you're looking across
Speaker 1: the canyon or on the same hillside. You know, on
Speaker 1: the same hillside things always look a lot closer, but
Speaker 1: when you're looking across the canyon, things often look further. So,
Speaker 1: you know, we didn't have this ability for what I
Speaker 1: would consider precision shooting. It was a lot more guesswork
Speaker 1: and a lot less hundred percent knowledge of where your
Speaker 1: bullets going. So when I talk about longer range shooting
Speaker 1: or precision extended range shooting. And I'm not necessarily talking
Speaker 1: about shooting a thousand yards, but I am talking about
Speaker 1: at every yard, and you're shooting knowing exactly where that
Speaker 1: bullets going. So whether you've got a hundred yard shot,
Speaker 1: three hundred yard shot, or a five hundred yard shot,
Speaker 1: you know the drop of your rifle. You know you're
Speaker 1: hold in your point of impact and where that bullet
Speaker 1: is going to end up, and because of that, you
Speaker 1: can take a more precise, more ethical shot. Now, I
Speaker 1: definitely have seen the rise in popularity over the years
Speaker 1: of you know, extreme long range shooting, shooting at eight
Speaker 1: nine yards, and I've also seen the rise of just
Speaker 1: the backlash and the opposite of that as well. You
Speaker 1: know where I personally stand. I mean, when I'm hunting,
Speaker 1: I like to get as close as possible, but when
Speaker 1: I'm shooting or practicing, I love to keep an enjoyment
Speaker 1: of shooting my rifle and shooting it at far ranges
Speaker 1: keeps it interesting, exciting and as fun and makes those
Speaker 1: close shots seem super easy when you're out practicing a
Speaker 1: lot and shooting wafer grid distances. Let's just break down
Speaker 1: some of the yardages and what maybe will kind of
Speaker 1: classify them. So I would say it depends where you're from.
Speaker 1: But three hundred fifty yards we'll call a far shot,
Speaker 1: and then three fifty it maybe we'll call that long range,
Speaker 1: and then you know, five hundred plus we'll just call
Speaker 1: that really long range. So me personally, I think that
Speaker 1: with the modern rifles, with the right rifle for the
Speaker 1: right application, you know, the right caliber and the right
Speaker 1: bullet and everything's right. You know, five hundred yards with
Speaker 1: most rifles is very doable shot these days, with the
Speaker 1: right practice, knowledge and everything. Yes, guns can shoot further,
Speaker 1: yes they that is far, but that's kind of like
Speaker 1: my personal benchmark of what's too far for me personally.
Speaker 1: Can I shoot my rifle a thousand yards? Yes? I can.
Speaker 1: Do I shoot animals a thousand yards? Me? Personally, No,
Speaker 1: I don't. Is it possible? Yes, So there's always these
Speaker 1: back and force but I don't want to get too
Speaker 1: deep into that. I just want to acknowledge that and
Speaker 1: then kind of move on because I think that what
Speaker 1: the real value of what I'm talking about here is
Speaker 1: just understand your rifle equipment to make those good shots.
Speaker 1: And that way, if you are out and have a
Speaker 1: hunting situation where a deer or elk or whatever steps
Speaker 1: out at three four you can make a precise, exact shot,
Speaker 1: and because of that, you will be more effective at
Speaker 1: both harvesting and more successful because you know that you're
Speaker 1: going to hit what you're shooting at. We're gonna first
Speaker 1: start with the equipment portion of it. Well, well, let's
Speaker 1: break it down into the categories. I guess first we're
Speaker 1: gonna go You need a rifle obviously, and that rifle
Speaker 1: is going to have ammunition, and then you need a scope.
Speaker 1: On top of that rifle, you also need a range
Speaker 1: finder and something to steady your shot. Let's start with
Speaker 1: the rifle. Most most rifles out there now, they're built
Speaker 1: fairly well, you know I I prefer a more precision
Speaker 1: type rifle. So when I practice and shoot out at
Speaker 1: the range at further yards, I've got a sub all
Speaker 1: my rifles or sub m A. So what an m
Speaker 1: o A is is a minute of angle or essentially,
Speaker 1: in layman's terms, an inch at a hundred yards, So
Speaker 1: it's kind of a standard. It's actually not exactly an inch,
Speaker 1: but we don't need to go into too much detail
Speaker 1: for what we're talking about We're talking about holding an
Speaker 1: inch group in a hundred yards, and then generally that
Speaker 1: kind of factors out as the distance goes. It maintains
Speaker 1: that inch per hundred yards. But I think, you know,
Speaker 1: most production rifles now should shoot at least at that
Speaker 1: If you've got a rifle that shoots one m o A,
Speaker 1: you're probably pretty good at shooting out to five yards
Speaker 1: or even practicing it further ranges. But the better the rifle,
Speaker 1: the better your groups will be at those extended ranges. Now,
Speaker 1: a lot of that is also going to come down
Speaker 1: to matching the right ammunition to your rifle, and what
Speaker 1: that is is you got to think about it like this.
Speaker 1: You know, every gun might shoot a little bit of
Speaker 1: AMMO a little bit different, but you also need to
Speaker 1: find a bullet that not only shoots well out of
Speaker 1: your rifle, but has good performance when hunting. Me personally,
Speaker 1: you know, I have shot pretty much every caliber out there,
Speaker 1: almost every make of rifle, and I've shot a lot
Speaker 1: of different bullets. I've shot everything from match grade precision
Speaker 1: amm O to you know, core lock hunting bullets, and
Speaker 1: I try to find the sweet spot in between for
Speaker 1: the rifle that I shoot. I look for ammunition that
Speaker 1: is both accurate but also has what I would consider
Speaker 1: killing powers. So a lot of the really high BC
Speaker 1: bullets don't really and there's a lot more on the
Speaker 1: market now than you know when I started out. But
Speaker 1: the ballistic coefficient of a lot of bullets that shoot
Speaker 1: really well for further ranges may not necessarily be the
Speaker 1: best for hunting. So I try to find that good
Speaker 1: mix of a bullet that shoots well, has a good
Speaker 1: ballistic coefficiency, but also has great hunting performance. You know.
Speaker 1: I think once you've got your rifle, the thing that
Speaker 1: has advanced the technology of just precision shooting at any distance,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, outside of the rifle, has got to
Speaker 1: be the optics, both on the rifle as well as
Speaker 1: the advancements of range finders. If you know the exact
Speaker 1: distance of your target, and you have a scope that
Speaker 1: you know the holdovers or you know, can adjust for
Speaker 1: that exact range, overall, you're gonna be a lot more accurate.
Speaker 1: So when we're talking about scopes, there's a couple of
Speaker 1: different options out there. I like any scope that has
Speaker 1: I actually use an adjustable turret scope, So I've got
Speaker 1: I shoot a lot of Vortex stuff. One of the
Speaker 1: scopes that I've used for years was the Vortex Viper HSLR,
Speaker 1: which is just kind of a lighter version of five
Speaker 1: to sixteen power magnification adjustable turret and mostly a lock
Speaker 1: t windage cap and exposed elevation turret, so the elevation turret.
Speaker 1: If you're kind of new to this whole thing, I
Speaker 1: mean I start talking about this stuff is stuff that
Speaker 1: I've talked about in every hunting camp ever, so stuff
Speaker 1: that I feel like a lot of people know. But
Speaker 1: also I know a lot of people listening to this
Speaker 1: podcast or kind of like new to some of this stuff,
Speaker 1: and maybe a lot of you maybe have been hunting
Speaker 1: a long time and you know, see people with this
Speaker 1: kind of stuff but don't really know enough to jump
Speaker 1: into it or haven't taken the time to research a
Speaker 1: lot of it. So I'm going to kind of do
Speaker 1: some basics, but also just some info for everyone as well.
Speaker 1: So actually the scope that I just started using now,
Speaker 1: and you know, some of these you can invest as
Speaker 1: much as you want into long range setups. There's guys
Speaker 1: that have twenty dollar long range rifles that are made
Speaker 1: for specific tasks for shooting targets that really far ranges.
Speaker 1: But then there's that kind of in between where you're
Speaker 1: a hunter and you're just looking to be as precise
Speaker 1: as possible at ranges that you feel comfortable at, and
Speaker 1: that might not necessarily mean shooting five hundred yards. It
Speaker 1: might mean shooting three hundred yards, but shooting that three
Speaker 1: hundred yards exact every time scope that I've been using,
Speaker 1: you know, recently, I've I've talked about the you know,
Speaker 1: I work with Vortex, the Razor h D l h T,
Speaker 1: which is their light hunter tactical, So it's got features
Speaker 1: of the tactical but also really good for hunting. Lighter weight, locking,
Speaker 1: elevation and windage and all that kind of stuff. A
Speaker 1: lot of the features that you want in long range
Speaker 1: shooting or precision shooting, but in just more of a
Speaker 1: hunter model. So there's those kind of scopes where you
Speaker 1: can adjust the turret and what that is I'm adjusting
Speaker 1: the actual main cross hair for the exact yardage that
Speaker 1: I'm shooting. Now, there's other scopes that are really great
Speaker 1: for hunting that are more of a holdover scope. So
Speaker 1: there's different kind of radicals every rifle scope manufacturer now
Speaker 1: pretty much has one um they've got different names. Some
Speaker 1: of them are like steady alignes in there where they're
Speaker 1: like the BDC or the loopholes is like a Boone
Speaker 1: and Crockett radical or something of that effect. And what
Speaker 1: that is is at a certain magnification, there's your main
Speaker 1: cross air, and then there's other lines or marks on
Speaker 1: below that main cross air that represent different yardages. And
Speaker 1: there's so much technical stuff when it comes to some
Speaker 1: of this. So I'm trying to do a brief rundown
Speaker 1: overview right now, but for most of those it's not
Speaker 1: a first focal plane scope. So what happens is as
Speaker 1: you adjust the zoom, you know, the value that those
Speaker 1: represent changes. So mostly they work when they're on full magnification.
Speaker 1: But that's another great option, especially if you don't want
Speaker 1: to have to get super technical with the moving a
Speaker 1: turret and all that kind of stuff. You can shoot
Speaker 1: your gun at high power magnification. Their lines in your
Speaker 1: scope that will represent varying yardages based on your bullet,
Speaker 1: your rifle caliber and whatever, and those scopes can be
Speaker 1: put on any gun and then through practice and shooting
Speaker 1: you'll know what each one of those lines represents, so
Speaker 1: when you're out in the field, you can use that
Speaker 1: as your hold over, so you'll hold over the back
Speaker 1: of the animal, use a different crossair in the scope
Speaker 1: for different yardages. Now, the other thing we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about laser range finders. I mean, to be able to
Speaker 1: show you precise you need to know the exact distance
Speaker 1: and knowing that exact distance and then knowing what that
Speaker 1: exact distance represents in your rifle. So that's the other
Speaker 1: step of it is either having shot it and knowing
Speaker 1: what those ballistic lines mean, or also using in conjunction
Speaker 1: if you're going to be shooting a lot, either a
Speaker 1: ballistics app or what we call a dope chart or
Speaker 1: a drop chart which shows the drops and how to
Speaker 1: compensate for the drop. So that's the equipment and everything
Speaker 1: in a nutshell. Now we're going to get to the
Speaker 1: fun part of the actual going out and shooting your rifle.
Speaker 1: When it comes to taking a shot, therefore, basics that
Speaker 1: pretty much doesn't matter. The range whether you're shooting it
Speaker 1: a hundred yards or seven hundred yards are the same,
Speaker 1: So you first have to know the range, then you
Speaker 1: have to know your holdover or your drop compensation. Then
Speaker 1: you have to steady the gun and then you just
Speaker 1: have to shoot the target. Put the crossair where or
Speaker 1: by shoot the target, I mean put the crossair where
Speaker 1: it's supposed to be and squeeze the trigger. If everything
Speaker 1: else is in line and you do that correctly, you
Speaker 1: will make a perfect shot. And it really is as
Speaker 1: simple as that. The real challenge part is understanding or
Speaker 1: making sure everything involved in putting that bullet where it
Speaker 1: needs to go or the rifle is set up in
Speaker 1: a right way. As a guide and outfitter, before we
Speaker 1: would go out and hunt, we would always have people
Speaker 1: shoot their guns at the range before we go out,
Speaker 1: and that's I think obviously you should do that anytime
Speaker 1: you travel or whatever you want to just reverify the zero.
Speaker 1: Not only am I re verifying the zero or having
Speaker 1: people reverify the zero their rifles, but my real intention
Speaker 1: is to watch the way that they shoot and see
Speaker 1: how their gun performs. And many times that's why I've
Speaker 1: shot some any different rifles, and so because I pretty
Speaker 1: much sure always shoot everybody's rifle that comes out anyways,
Speaker 1: but most the hunters that would hunt with us pretty
Speaker 1: much had never shot more than a hundred yards, or
Speaker 1: live in a place where they can't shoot more than
Speaker 1: a hundred yards, but they're coming on an elk hunt
Speaker 1: where you know, the average elk shot might be two
Speaker 1: fifty two three hundred and that would be a long
Speaker 1: shot or or three times as far as they've ever
Speaker 1: shot in their life. Most people, most hunters, have probably
Speaker 1: shot most of their animals or white tail hunts um
Speaker 1: within fifty yards or less. So then to come out
Speaker 1: and you know, be expected to shoot far when you've
Speaker 1: never done it before is a long, long ask. But
Speaker 1: we would always watch and see how everybody would shoot.
Speaker 1: I mean there's so many times where I would see,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody shooting at paper hundred yards and it's
Speaker 1: just kind of the gun being all over the place,
Speaker 1: and really just looking at the way that they shoot,
Speaker 1: and you know, the rifle and they're set up in
Speaker 1: their scope and just seeing like, okay, their equipment is
Speaker 1: not that great and the way that they're studying the
Speaker 1: rifle is not that great. But then what I would
Speaker 1: do is I always have my rifle. They're one of
Speaker 1: my rifles, and I've got a five yard gone at
Speaker 1: our range, so you know, like different yard and gongs
Speaker 1: and say, okay, what we're gonna do. We're gonna shoot
Speaker 1: my gun first day. It's like scott a muzzle break
Speaker 1: as zero kick, Like, honest to god, you will not
Speaker 1: feel this going to go off. If you're going to
Speaker 1: pull the sugar on this rifle, you have to listen
Speaker 1: to the way that I tell you to shoot it.
Speaker 1: Otherwise it's just wasting my ami. And everyone pretty much
Speaker 1: agrees like yeah, I'll shoot that sounds good, And I'm
Speaker 1: like okay, and we're gonna shoot it. That five gone.
Speaker 1: There's no way I can hit that because but they
Speaker 1: don't realize is the center of the target is the
Speaker 1: same size no matter how far or whatever. As long
Speaker 1: as that cross hair is set right, you should hit
Speaker 1: what you're aiming it. And I'll know if you don't
Speaker 1: or if you move, or if you didn't make a
Speaker 1: good shot, because it won't hit where it's supposed to go.
Speaker 1: So I set my rifle and say, okay, here's how
Speaker 1: you steady the rifle. You can shoot it like this.
Speaker 1: You put the sandbag, the stock is rested on something,
Speaker 1: the four ends rested. Okay, one hand on the gun.
Speaker 1: You're gonna slowly squeeze the trigger, I set the scope,
Speaker 1: and every time anybody has done that, they've center punched
Speaker 1: the five hundred yard gone first shot. Every time, everyone goes, wow,
Speaker 1: that's incredible. I need one of these. And it's not
Speaker 1: necessarily anything that their rifle can't do, but it's just
Speaker 1: having it set up in a way that I know
Speaker 1: when I adjust the gun, and I know that yardage,
Speaker 1: and I've shot at a hundred times more than that,
Speaker 1: but at that target, you know where that bullet's gonna go,
Speaker 1: and that's all that it really amounts to. So having
Speaker 1: the rifle where you can set it up and have
Speaker 1: something where you know the difference between shooting it two
Speaker 1: hundred and three hundred yards is substantial enough that if
Speaker 1: you have a good point of impact reference, whether it's
Speaker 1: either adjusting your main scope or having some kind of
Speaker 1: radical in your scope that shows you your hold, you're
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot more precise shooting every yardage, every distance.
Speaker 1: So the key is to get out and start practicing
Speaker 1: some of these things. Practice shooting. When you go out
Speaker 1: to shoot, shoot at some of these further distances, and
Speaker 1: shoot at targets or gongs or whatever at the distance.
Speaker 1: But you're gonna first set up your rifle and understand
Speaker 1: the drop of your rifle and the ballistics of your
Speaker 1: bullet that correlates to your rifle and your point of
Speaker 1: impact for the varying yardages. So that can be done
Speaker 1: either through a ballistics app. There's so many different ballistics
Speaker 1: apps out there. I know, everybody that shoots a lot
Speaker 1: has a ballistics app that they swear as better than
Speaker 1: the last. You know, maybe it just depends on the
Speaker 1: gun and the bullet and there's different formulas and all
Speaker 1: this stuff, and many of them you have to adjust
Speaker 1: and build out yourself anyways. Stuff like there's Apple users
Speaker 1: that use like shooter app. I've used for years one
Speaker 1: called street lock because it was free and worked really
Speaker 1: good on my phone with my rifle and had good
Speaker 1: luck with it, and other people have had terrible luck
Speaker 1: with it. So there's so many just different applications and
Speaker 1: other things. But having something like that. Even most rifle
Speaker 1: scope companies have some form of ballistics calculator there where
Speaker 1: you can kind of use your bullet data, use your elevation,
Speaker 1: use all that kind of info the inputs to get
Speaker 1: the right output, and then you're gonna take those outputs
Speaker 1: and practice them in the field and see exactly where
Speaker 1: you're shooting at different yardages. So many hunters are guilty
Speaker 1: of this, and I think it's a time thing. But
Speaker 1: also you know, they go out, they shot the rifle
Speaker 1: last season, they shot it at the range a couple
Speaker 1: of times before they went out hunting. Then they go
Speaker 1: out hunting all season, they put it away, they go
Speaker 1: out and they shoot it the day before they go hunting. Okay,
Speaker 1: at hit paper, We're great, We're good to go. Doing
Speaker 1: that is fine, and some people are successful. But if
Speaker 1: you go out and actually practice at varying yardages, of
Speaker 1: varying distances and varying elements and varying terrain, you are
Speaker 1: going to be so much more successful when that shot
Speaker 1: opportunity happens. You don't want to be the guy that
Speaker 1: tells the story of how the one got away. You
Speaker 1: want to be the guy that tells a story of
Speaker 1: how you spotted something you got And you know that
Speaker 1: when you get in within range, when you pull the trigger,
Speaker 1: whatever you're shooting at is going to be hit perfectly
Speaker 1: and dropped. And that right there is what I would
Speaker 1: consider the ethical portion of this. You know, so many
Speaker 1: times people talk about the ethics of long range shooting
Speaker 1: or shooting too far or whatever. But what I'm talking
Speaker 1: about is the ethics of being a hunter that knows
Speaker 1: that when you go out, whatever you're shooting at, if
Speaker 1: you're gonna pull the trigger, it's going to get shot
Speaker 1: perfectly and be a quick, humane kill. And that comes
Speaker 1: through repetition and practice. And I can't stress that enough
Speaker 1: that yes, you know, for many people, rifle shooting is
Speaker 1: easy and can be boring and expensive if you're just
Speaker 1: shooting at a hundred yards at paper and trying to
Speaker 1: get a group. I personally don't like sighting in rifles
Speaker 1: that much. I don't like shooting in a hundred yards.
Speaker 1: To me, it's like trap shooting. It's like kind of
Speaker 1: you aren't good unless it's exact, and it can be
Speaker 1: tedious and a little bit boring. But what I like
Speaker 1: to do is I like to go into the field
Speaker 1: and take practice. What would be more like sporting plays
Speaker 1: where I actually like to practice in the field varying yardages,
Speaker 1: shooting at different targets, whether it be a gong thing
Speaker 1: that I set up, or even just what I would
Speaker 1: consider like shooting roving where I'm shooting a small rocks
Speaker 1: or various objects in the distance at varying yardages in
Speaker 1: hunting type scenarios or terrain. Now, obviously there's a lot
Speaker 1: of factors that you have to consider for this safety
Speaker 1: being the number one fire danger of being number two,
Speaker 1: and once those things have been considered, you know, having
Speaker 1: a good back stuff and other things, it's perfectly safe.
Speaker 1: I like to get out, and it's a great way
Speaker 1: to make one or two, you know, like even if
Speaker 1: you can only make one trip during the summer, you
Speaker 1: can shoot it a range. You know, practice with your
Speaker 1: rifle as often as possible. But if you can make
Speaker 1: a trip where you can go out and shoot varying
Speaker 1: yardages in the mountains at different types of ranges, you
Speaker 1: are going to be a lot more successful in the
Speaker 1: long run. Now, what happens if you do not have
Speaker 1: a range available to you where you can shoot further distances,
Speaker 1: or you don't have the ability to do those kind
Speaker 1: of roving type shots at varying different targets or whatever.
Speaker 1: You know, I think one thing that can really help
Speaker 1: everyone out, and I've done a podcast on shooting positions
Speaker 1: and steading the rifle. I can't remember what episode is.
Speaker 1: You have to go back and find it. But I
Speaker 1: think that there are things that you can do at
Speaker 1: even fifty or a hundred yards, and some of that
Speaker 1: is going to be one shooting your gun and knowing
Speaker 1: where those different lines or how to adjust your rifle
Speaker 1: and figuring out the ballistics for your gun. You can
Speaker 1: do that, you know, with a chronograph and your bullet
Speaker 1: information and your scope and getting all that dialed in
Speaker 1: with your ballistics type stuff and just knowing the ballistics
Speaker 1: of your rifle. Now, the best way is to actually
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to prove that. And maybe you can
Speaker 1: only reach out to three hundred yards or find the
Speaker 1: longest range you can wherever you're at and check some
Speaker 1: of those ballistics, because they will be off a little bit,
Speaker 1: no matter how good the ballistics calculator is. But for
Speaker 1: the most part, out to five yards, most of them
Speaker 1: are pretty dang close or close enough. For government work,
Speaker 1: maybe you might be talking like a sixteenth of an
Speaker 1: inch off or something. But for practical applications, the real
Speaker 1: thing that you want to practice is the other parts
Speaker 1: of getting the shop. So remember we go back to
Speaker 1: those four things of making any shot, knowing the range,
Speaker 1: knowing the holdover, steadying the gun, and then shooting the target. Well,
Speaker 1: the last two you can practice at any range steadying
Speaker 1: the gun and shooting the target. And that's gonna mean.
Speaker 1: You know, if you're taking a shot that's at a
Speaker 1: further range, the gun has to be more steady than
Speaker 1: at a close range because you have less margin of error.
Speaker 1: So figuring out and practicing steadying that rifle and shooting
Speaker 1: positions at the range, at your range where you aren't
Speaker 1: just shooting from a lead sletter a bench, but you're
Speaker 1: setting up your pack, You're you have maybe something to
Speaker 1: steady the rifle, bipod um, something to steady the butt
Speaker 1: of the rifle, like getting the full guns steady. Where
Speaker 1: when I take a shot, I like the gun to
Speaker 1: be pretty much set up where if I didn't wasn't
Speaker 1: on it or touching it, it can still be pointed
Speaker 1: at whatever I'm shooting at. Then I just can slide
Speaker 1: in do the work of pulling the trigger. But everything
Speaker 1: else is set up as far as the drop, the
Speaker 1: hold over, the guns steady itself. So practice getting that
Speaker 1: gun steady no matter where you are, and then knowing
Speaker 1: your different drops, and then understanding how your bullet drops,
Speaker 1: and you can even do that if you're shooting at
Speaker 1: a hundred yards, you know, try shooting the different lines
Speaker 1: and seeing where that's grouping and how high it is
Speaker 1: at a hundred and just understanding and getting good visual
Speaker 1: picture of the ballistics of your rifle. And by doing that,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be more efficient in the field and you're
Speaker 1: gonna be more precise at varying ranges, whether it be
Speaker 1: two yards or five hundred yards. But that's just gonna
Speaker 1: really extend your effect of kill range and make you
Speaker 1: more successful when it comes to the chance of finding something,
Speaker 1: pulling the trigger and making a clean kill. This summer
Speaker 1: is really going to be the time to do the
Speaker 1: things you can to practice to make you more efficient
Speaker 1: in the fall. And that's really what I want to cover.
Speaker 1: So if you're a rifle hunter, you've got a rifle tag,
Speaker 1: take it upon yourself to say, Okay, I'm gonna understand
Speaker 1: my gun better this year. I'm going to practice shooting
Speaker 1: more this year. It's like, even if you shoot great
Speaker 1: groups every time you go out, just go out and
Speaker 1: take some shots. Maybe I know it can be a
Speaker 1: pain in the butt to have to find a range,
Speaker 1: to get there, to get all your stuff whatever. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's just formulating a plan of saying, Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go out and I'm gonna shoot one round a week
Speaker 1: at the target and make sure that that one shot
Speaker 1: you take is a perfect shot. But having some form
Speaker 1: of regular practice throughout the summer and committing to it.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking about, was just committing to a
Speaker 1: few small things you can do to make you better
Speaker 1: when the fall season rolls around. Talking about committing to
Speaker 1: things to make you better, we're gonna also cover this
Speaker 1: month a few other things that you know, stuff that
Speaker 1: This is all stuff that I do throughout the summer,
Speaker 1: try to find time and make time for it to
Speaker 1: be better when hunting season rolls around. So next week
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about some fitness stuff, some things you
Speaker 1: can do because a lot of the hunt comes down
Speaker 1: to your physical preparation. Whether you're in shape or out
Speaker 1: of shape, it doesn't matter. This is for everyone, and
Speaker 1: it's things that you can do to make you better
Speaker 1: when the season comes around, so you can just get
Speaker 1: over that next ridge or be better than you are
Speaker 1: right now. And then after that will cover some things
Speaker 1: you can do for shooting your bow in more inclement
Speaker 1: weather or more like situational archery shots. I also really
Speaker 1: appreciate all that. You know. We did the Q and
Speaker 1: A last week, and I've got a ton of more
Speaker 1: questions this week just from stuff that people have sent in,
Speaker 1: So keep those coming because we will jump on another
Speaker 1: Q and A here pretty soon. I'm trying to save
Speaker 1: some of my favorites and and answer those. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it's crazy out there right now.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of stuff going on, and you know,
Speaker 1: is shaking down to be one of the most interesting
Speaker 1: years as far as just things that are happening outside
Speaker 1: of the norm. But I think there's some great opportunity
Speaker 1: this fall, and I keep looking forward to that, and
Speaker 1: I've been doing a lot of just like being prepared
Speaker 1: for when I get my opportunities this year and the
Speaker 1: things that I can do to stay sharp and stay
Speaker 1: on it. And I keep trying to do those things
Speaker 1: and focus on the time that I'll have spent in
Speaker 1: the field ahead. So until next week, shoot straight and
Speaker 1: we will catch you later.