Bad Shooting

[red rick]

I recently had rotor cuff surgery ( 10/26/16 ) the Dr. has not released me to shoot a 20ga. yet , but my arm is feeling pretty good and I am missing hunting and bored to death so I went anyway . My older friend that I rabbit hunt with invited me to go rabbit hunting with him yesterday . I bought a youth model 870 to take kids hunting this year , so I thought I could use it and shoot lefty . Well I missed the first rabbit so I went back too shooting right handed . That didn't help , I missed two more . All three of the rabbits I shot at were standing still about 30 yards away . I was using the factory modified choke and Remington #6 shot . I have never missed a rabbit standing still before and not many running . That was the worst shooting that I have ever done . I was the laughing stock of the day and deservingly so . I had a young boy shoot the gun after we finished hunting at a paper grocery bag . It didn't have a real good pattern , but I don't think I should have missed 3 standing rabbits . I ordered 3 chokes from Trulock today , a full , improved mod , and mod. . I will pattern it again when they arrive . I hope before the next time I hunt .

I still had a good day , the dogs ran real good and we jumped 9 rabbits and killed 8 . It would have been 9 if I hadn't missed . That was the only rabbit we lost and because I couldn't hit a rabbit , we had some long chases .

 

[LoonWulf]

Its good to hear your healing up from your surgery. Sounds like a fun day atleast, and i know how annoying it can be to miss over and over, i do that every bird season lol.
Buddy of mine who dosent usually miss has gone 0 for a bunch this year, he switched to a new shotgun and it shoots about a foot higher than he expects, didnt compensate for it too well lol. Course weve only gotten a couple dozen shots.

 

[Nature Boy]

Great to hear you're back in action.

Rabbit hunting with beagles is about as much fun as a man can have and still be legal

 

[.308 Norma]

Glad to hear you're getting healed up and you had a good day out hunting. I've never hunted rabbits over dogs because even on a good year there's not enough cotton-tailed rabbits around these parts to make it worthwhile. But it's still something I'd like to do someday.
Kind of an ironic story about hunting and rotator cuff surgery - a few years ago my wife tore her rotator cuff while she was out deer hunting with our oldest grandson. She had just gotten back to the truck and was climbing in. When she reached up to pull herself inside, her left rotator cuff popped so loud that even our grandson (who was driving) heard it go. He said, "Wow, did that hurt grandma?" She said, "It did, but not all that bad." So they went ahead and hunted for the rest of day, not finding any deer, and didn't come home until dark. My wife thought she'd just pulled a muscle or something. So she kept trying to heal it with ibuprofen and a hot pad for a couple of weeks before she finally called the doctor. That was one expensive deer hunting trip in terms of both the money and the time it took my wife to heal after surgery. The physical therapy wasn't much fun either.

 

[red rick]

As much as I like deer hunting , there is nothing like a good day rabbit hunting with good dogs and plenty of rabbits . My friends buddy dropped out 10 short leg beagles and they were some of the best rabbit dogs that I have seen .

My physical therapy just started not hurting too much today , so I know her pain .

 

[Patocazador]

I recently had rotor cuff surgery ( 10/26/16 ) the Dr. has not released me to shoot a 20ga. yet , but my arm is feeling pretty good and I am missing hunting and bored to death so I went anyway . My older friend that I rabbit hunt with invited me to go rabbit hunting with him yesterday . Well I missed the first rabbit so I went back too shooting right handed . That didn't help , I missed two more . All three of the rabbits I shot at were standing still about 30 yards away . I have never missed a rabbit standing still before and not many running . That was the worst shooting that I have ever done . I was the laughing stock of the day and deservingly so . I had a young boy shoot the gun after we finished hunting at a paper grocery bag . It didn't have a real good pattern , but I don't think I should have missed 3 standing rabbits.

I recently had open heart surgery and have had rotator cuff problems for years. It sounds as if the fear of messing up your surgery may be the cause of your shooting problem. As you know, shotgun shooting depends on the proper "flow" of events leading up to and continuing through the shot. Anything that disrupts any portion of the flow might result in a miss.

Wait until the doc releases you. That should put your mind at ease about your shoulder and your shooting will most likely improve as a result.

 

[red rick]

I was thinking the same thing , I was a little worried about hurting it , but my PT told me that I would have to do a lot to hurt it now .

 

[JackSprat]

As much as I like deer hunting , there is nothing like a good day rabbit hunting with good dogs and plenty of rabbits . My friends buddy dropped out 10 short leg beagles and they were some of the best rabbit dogs that I have seen .

My physical therapy just started not hurting too much today , so I know her pain .

One of the best we ever had was a bench legged beagle crossed with a Basset..She was a real slow runner,and was really smart.My Dad loved that dog,.She lived to a ripe old age,and even when she was too old to get around very well she was always Dads skinning buddy.

 

[Sniper66]

My nephew used to hunt rabbits with his 3 beagles. What a treat it was listening to the baying little hounds pursue the bunnies! Then watch him roll that rabbit with a single shot .410. These days we are lucky if we can find a rabbit other than the ones that haunt flower beds around my house.

 

[red rick]

We don't have many Quail here anymore , but we still have plenty of rabbits . I was invited again today for a rabbit hunt , but I couldn't go because my nephew is going to have a shotgun wedding in three more weeks ( it was a planned wedding in May , but things happen , she's pregnant ) and they are having a party for him today at 2:00 . I hope he is not like a rabbit .

 

[Dog Soldier]

Rabbits are hunted by stalking on the High Desert. I have never seen dogs or shotguns used for the Desert Cottontails and Hares. The .22 Pistols, small bore rifles and archery are the most common used. I am sorry to hear of your health problems. Here is a rabbit hunt in Wyoming for you to enjoy.

 

[Bullseye]

As a kid, we went hunting rabbits with shotguns. I'd have my leather front chaps canvas pants and a bright orange vest.
Kicking and stepping on brush piles. My buddy had a Springer spaniel that knew how to hunt. We would go hunting cottontail, grouse and pheasant, all in one day sometimes. I did pretty good back then.
Oh to be a kid with all that energy. I did lose interest in rabbit when I found worms cleaning them up.
I'll stick to eating flying game. I don't think we are allowed to use anything but shotguns hunting on rabbits in PA.

 

[red rick]

Thanks for the video . That looks like some good ground to drop a pack of beagles on .

 

[Panfisher]

I do sorely miss my beagles, gave them up after a diagnosis, but that is beside the point. I once bought a youth sized shotgun for rabbits and couldn't hit anything with it. After looking a little closer the short stock was causing me to shoot high on everything, it simply didn't fit. If yiu shoulder it with eyes closed and see the barrel between the receiver and bead it is too short, a slow careful aimed shot won't catch it, but a quick snap shot would go high every time.

 

[red rick]

I think that is what is with happening with me , thanks . Sorry to hear about your diagnosis and having to get rid of your beagles .

 

[buck460XVR]

I think that is what is with happening with me , thanks.

While a poorly fitting shotgun will greatly impede accuracy on flying and running game, it should have little effect at a stationary target when you are focused on the bead and sighting down the barrel. Either the gun is patterning poorly(which is usually more evident at stationary targets) with the loads being used and there are huge holes in your shot pattern or you are not sighting down the bore. A Modified choke generally delivers a 40 inch 100% pattern at 35 yards and rabbits are easy to kill with only a few pellets. This means your POI was off by almost two feet from POA. While a different choke may improve the pattern, it won't change the POA vs POI.

 

[Stony]

Dog...that video sure is nostalgic for me. I grew up in Western Nebraska and hunted a lot of that area from Scottsbluff over to Casper Wyoming. As a younger guy I spent a lot of time walking the stubblefields of Nebraska as well as wandering the open areas covered with sage like in the video. We hunted everything from deer and antelope down to rattlesnakes.
At age 12 my father bought me a 37 Winchester 12 gauge and no rabbit, pheasant, duck or other varmit was safe from then on. Whenever I managed to scrape together a couple of bucks I'd buy another box of 2 3/4 inch high velocity ammo that would kick the beejesus out of me....but loved every minute of it.

 

[Milt1]

I recently had rotor cuff surgery ( 10/26/16 ) the Dr. has not released me to shoot a 20ga. yet , but my arm is feeling pretty good and I am missing hunting and bored to death so I went anyway . My older friend that I rabbit hunt with invited me to go rabbit hunting with him yesterday . I bought a youth model 870 to take kids hunting this year , so I thought I could use it and shoot lefty . Well I missed the first rabbit so I went back too shooting right handed . That didn't help , I missed two more . All three of the rabbits I shot at were standing still about 30 yards away . I was using the factory modified choke and Remington #6 shot . I have never missed a rabbit standing still before and not many running . That was the worst shooting that I have ever done . I was the laughing stock of the day and deservingly so . I had a young boy shoot the gun after we finished hunting at a paper grocery bag . It didn't have a real good pattern , but I don't think I should have missed 3 standing rabbits . I ordered 3 chokes from Trulock today , a full , improved mod , and mod. . I will pattern it again when they arrive . I hope before the next time I hunt .

I still had a good day , the dogs ran real good and we jumped 9 rabbits and killed 8 . It would have been 9 if I hadn't missed . That was the only rabbit we lost and because I couldn't hit a rabbit , we had some long chases .

Red Rick, at least you got off your duff and got out there in God's beautiful nature. You're my kind of man and I'm proud of 'ya!

 

[red rick]

I redeemed myself a little today , I only shoot 1 rabbit but I didn't miss any . It was not a good day for rabbit hunting it was 77 degrees today and we hunted a new place . We only jumped 3 rabbits and we got two . I used my Weatherby 20ga. SA-08 today with a Trulock IM choke in it and I didn't worry about hurting my shoulder , I hardly felt it when I pulled the trigger . At least I got that monkey off my back , I didn't want to end the season with 3 misses in a row . I might have been a little too cautious because I saw all 3 of the rabbits , but I only took a 95% shoot .

 

[zb338]

It's a brand new gun you really should shoot it on paper to see where it's hitting.
It might not be you.

Zeke

 

[red rick]

I might do that Monday . I haven't pattern the Weatherby either and I want to do both . I did buy a couple of Trulock Precision Hunter Chokes for them and I would like to compare the patterns against the factory chokes .