Home Hunting Hunting Tip: Master These Field Shooting Positions

Hunting Tip: Master These Field Shooting Positions

November 12, 2015

When hunting you’re not always going to have a convenient rifle rest or a stable shooting platform. There aren’t many bench rests out in the wild. So practicing various shooting positions and maintaining accuracy can be critical in making those ethical shots at game. In this video, Ryan Cleckner, a former Army Ranger sniper and instructor with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, demonstrates a number of handy of shooting positions are useful to have in your repertoire . . .

Practice these at the range and you’ll be prepared to make those difficult shots as accurately as possible when you’re in the field. It could be the difference between a trophy on your wall and venison in the freezer or a miss and a lost opportunity.

28 COMMENTS

Tom in Oregon November 12, 2015 At 20:14

Great tips. Worth watching.
- David B November 12, 2015 At 20:32
  
  Glad to see Andy’s write up, but where has David Codrea been? It’s like he’s fell off. What’s the scurtlebutt?
Dyspeptic Gunsmith November 12, 2015 At 20:20

Great tips. And I couldn’t agree more.

This is why people should investigate 3 or 4 position shooting, especially with a real .22 target rifle that will weigh about what your hunting rifle will weigh, will have similar dimensions and fit.

And learn how to use a sling – not a carrying strap – on your rifle. A sling is the single most useful aid in helping stabilize your rifle, bar none. I’m completely befuddled when I see someone humping a rifle over hill and dale here in Wyoming that has some fancy-pants bipod on it, but they’ve got some cheap POS strap on it. How often are you going to shoot off a bipod when you’re on ground covered by sagebrush, rabbitbrush and forage bunch grasses? Very rarely. How often will you shoot from the kneeling, sitting or off-hand positions? Almost all the time.

If you want to support your rifle in hunting situations with firm supports, you’re better off learning how to use shooting sticks, IMO, than affixing a bipod to your rifle.
- jwm November 12, 2015 At 20:43
  
  Prone just don’t work in the field.
- Accur81 November 12, 2015 At 20:58
  
  I haven’t done a ton of research, but I’m partial to the Browning X-Cellerator (sp.?) sling. It’s easy to get good stability and adjustments even when switching in and out of hunting layers.
  
  I got set up for long range only to take 40 yard shots 2 seasons in a row. Maybe this year I’ll take a long shot, but I doubt it.
  - jwtaylor November 13, 2015 At 10:26
    
    Mountain Shooter Slings are the best I’ve found.
    As an aside, I share your long range experiences. Last year, I trained for months to take 600 yard kneeling shots for a west Texas ram hunt until I was absolute solid. Did a lot of load development for that range as well. Spotting a big Black Hawaiian ram on an opposite hill, well over 800 yards, I took an ATV around the hilltop I was on to get to the base of the hill the ram was on, hoping to get close enough and shoot up at him.
    When I got to the other hill he was standing in the road at the bottom of the hill staring at me. 75 yard shot at the most.
- ropingdown November 12, 2015 At 23:21
  
  Sticks have long seemed like the best option to me. Effectively you’re bringing your own tree along. Many of the alternate positions don’t seem very suitable for medium-bore shooting. Sticks seem to allow a consistent shouldering of the rifle, obviating (for me, at least) “scope eye.” For those wishing to test their new HD or Retina screen, scope eye can be investigated here: http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/11/12/how-to-avoid-scope-bite/ Talk about upping your game….
jwm November 12, 2015 At 20:23

Did I miss the Ted Nugent full auto helicopter position?
Rob C November 12, 2015 At 20:34

How about the “peeing with your rifle propped up against a tree out of reach” position, or the “in your tree stand with rifle attached to rope still on the ground” position??
- Roymond November 13, 2015 At 15:16
  
  LOL
  
  I was half-squatting to take a dump once when a nice buck came ambling around a big stump and into the clear. I froze, slowly picked up the rifle, popped him in the heart, and finished my business while watching him run forty yards and collapse.
  
  I used to hate being in a stand, so I’ve only rarely had any good shooting position. I think my most solid standing shot was when I gripped two slender vine maple coming from opposite directions, held them together to make a V, and set the stock on my knuckles.
Jjimmyjomga November 12, 2015 At 20:48

I like his sling detachable sling design, neat idea, and the one pinching 1 bipod leg against a tree is a good one too.
- Roymond November 13, 2015 At 15:20
  
  The bipod trick is great!
  
  Makes me actually think about getting one — I never have, because here in the Coast Range of the Pacific NW, prone is generally useless.
Hoplopfheil November 12, 2015 At 20:50

I have to use a bipod and a folding chair because the Mtn. Dew makes me shake too bad to land a shot otherwise.
- jwm November 12, 2015 At 20:53
  
  Dude, that Mountain Dew will kill you faster than my first wife’s meatloaf.
  - 'liljoe November 12, 2015 At 21:43
    
    Why is he eating her meatloaf?
    - ChiDog November 12, 2015 At 22:21
      
      LMFAO
      
      Is that a new euphemism?
  - Hoplopfheil November 12, 2015 At 23:19
    
    I’m sure your wife is a lovely lady, but I promise you I’m doing nothing untoward with her meatloaf.
    - ropingdown November 12, 2015 At 23:28
      
      -“former wife.” I don’t see why he’d mind.
    - jwm November 13, 2015 At 07:27
      
      crazy former wife. And not just my opinion. Judge gave me the kids.
      
      But you do anything you want with her meatloaf. If you don’t mind leftovers.
    - HJ November 13, 2015 At 10:30
      
      I’ll pass. I don’t stick my meatloaf in crazy.
American Made November 12, 2015 At 23:26

I loved the sitting and standing portions of the requirements for Rifle & Shotgun Merit Badge when in the Boy Scouts decades ago. Sadly many shooters I know, even younger ones, are still stuck in the “prone” position and/or always rely on mechanical aids like bipods when hunting and target shooting.
- Roymond November 13, 2015 At 15:21
  
  One of the best shooters I ever knew trained by shooting at partly-filled water jugs bouncing along on ropes behind a pickup traveling across uneven ground at 15+ mph, while standing in the truck bed with no support.
  
  Another, named Dan, was required by his dad to hit targets hung from branches moving in the wind while he was in a swing on their backyard swingset on whatever trajectory his dad pushed him on — I watched him once peg a buck right in the heart as the buck charged leaping out of thick brush while Dan was jumping over a rotten log. Best shot I’ve ever seen.
  - American Made November 13, 2015 At 16:05
    
    Now THAT’S training!
Cliff H November 13, 2015 At 02:57

Aren’t these just Militia-effective positions disguised as FUDD fodder?
- Brian K. November 13, 2015 At 08:24
  
  Not at all. Don’t many people hunt with 30-06, which was famously used in the M1 and BAR?
36IDRedleg November 13, 2015 At 10:39

What about us OFWGs that aren’t so limber anymore? I have my own answer. I know, more PT, Other than that, there are always shooting sticks. As an NRA Instructor and BSA Shooting Sports guy, I have learned that shooting is an athletic sport like any other and requires physical conditioning, all forms of PT, and practice, practice, practice. Nuff said!
Rifleman762 November 13, 2015 At 13:21

“Pockets of the knees” this is bad advice for the sitting and kneeling positions. The back of the elbows should be touching the front of the knees, as seen here:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7iIv0Iy4Fg4/T4wbQsePxbI/AAAAAAAAGf0/cXqTeL77o3Q/s400/IMG_3284.jpg
(kneeling)

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s127/jeep45238/Range%20Time/Appleseed/Photo74.jpg
(seated)

Attend an Appleseed to get better advice on the seated and kneeling positions.

Also, a hasty or loop sling should absolutely be used in the standing position.
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