FL-NC
Member
I finally talked Mrs. FL-NC into giving hunting a try (she can shoot guns just fine, but has never killed anything). We got her a license, and started training. Part of the training was showing her photos of deer in different positions, and having her put the tip of a pencil on the desired impact point. Suddenly, it dawned on me- its almost the end of the calendar year- and I have a 2018 calendar of whitetail deer photos that is almost done! I cut out the photos from Jan-Oct 2018, and use them as targets for her to practice with using a 22 today- no extra marks, just the deer photo- exactly as it will be from the blind- and firing seated in a chair with a camera tripod for support. Not only does this allow a new hunter-in-training to ID the desired aiming point, he/she becomes "accustomed" to aiming at something that looks exactly like the game animal (we don't hunt or eat bullseyes). After her performance on my calendar at 25 yards with the 22, she shot at 50 using my suppressed Ruger American ranch, on the same Thompson life size deer vital targets that I use when patterning buckshot and prepping for x-bow season. This is adequate for the small food plots we will be hunting on.
As an aside, the army at one time did all of their marksmanship training using bullseye targets. They later switched to targets that look like people. The reasoning was that it makes soldiers more accustomed to aiming at a human form, so that the first time they do it isn't in combat.
I just thought I would share this in the hunting thread, as I think this is a valid way to train new hunters. Besides, I'm pretty sure we all have some old field & stream, American Outdoorsman, or similar magazines laying around that could be put to the same use!
As an aside, the army at one time did all of their marksmanship training using bullseye targets. They later switched to targets that look like people. The reasoning was that it makes soldiers more accustomed to aiming at a human form, so that the first time they do it isn't in combat.
I just thought I would share this in the hunting thread, as I think this is a valid way to train new hunters. Besides, I'm pretty sure we all have some old field & stream, American Outdoorsman, or similar magazines laying around that could be put to the same use!