Hunting buddy who doesn't shoot well. Need advice.

[horsey300]

Got a friend that had the similar symptoms, so I nagged him into shooting with me more, starting with shotguns and varmint rifles and handguns all from various positions, then brought out the 06 again after I tweaked the trigger, now he's shooting freestanding and rested well enough for acceptable hunting standards and I worry much less. Along the journey I would offer good natured pointers about form and trigger control and he took it well. My favorite tool to this day is the blank in the chamber to watch the flinch.

 

[buck460XVR]

Lets face it for VA whitetails and Blackbears 150gn Partition at 2860fps is more than adequate. Any additional bullet grains only introduce another issue of flinching if it isn't already there. (TBD).

Lets's face it.......... he's still wounding deer and loosing them. Again, the problem is not what he is using. Flinch, buck fever, whatever, is a confidence thing. Sometimes one has more confidence in what they chose and not what someone else recommends. Again, could be the way the gun fits him or it could be how it shoots differently from how he rests it and how it shoots free hand. Ain't the size of the bullet that's wounding the deer.

 

[TN Outlaw]

Missing a deer's vitals, or the entire deer, within 50yds without some kind of extreme circumstances like the deer running or gun not being sighted in just points to too high of magnification on his scope imho.

Buck fever, understanding proper aiming on live game and scope magnification would be the first things I would address after knowing his equipment is ready to rock.

Maybe after checking his equipment, and making sure he knows where exactly to aim from all angles, and teaching lower X and larger FOV when in close to the animal, all you will have to contend with is buck fever. That is something that can be somewhat controlled as experience is introduced. I still get it and that's what makes hunting fun for me but I can control myself and what I need to do better now than I could as a youngster.

 

[Garandimal]

Practice snapping into field positions, dry-firing in field positions, and then shooting from field positions.

The Bench - is anathema to field shooting.

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GR

 

[Hookeye]

If you suck at the bench, you're gonna suck at all the others.
Being decent at the bench, tells you that you can shoot OK, and that you should work at other positions to get the same kind of results.

 

[Hookeye]

Most times it's the brain that's the problem, not the body or gun.

I aim hard, that focus makes me followthrough.
Think some folks get the aim and stop there, gives them the opportunity to flinch or peek.
You look at your sight, burn it through the animal and it should die.

Maybe the OP's buddy can't aim hard due to eyesight issues?

 

[Hookeye]

My eyes suck anymore, but were good for many years, so the proper shot process ingrained.
Did take the kid to PT this week, they have an eye chart on the wall.
I read it at a 30 degree angle, to the 20/20 line.........from 30-35 feet away.
Not too shabby, but not as good as it used to be.

Mine degraded to 20/15 in my 40's. Guess it's 20/20 now (mid 50's).

Funny, when you can finally afford the better shooting goodies, the eyeballs are screwed up.