Arizona Hunting Club & Outdoor Adventure Group

Learn Your Weapon's Safety Features

Learning Your Weapon's Safety Features

Whether you shoot a gun or a bow, learning your weapon's unique shooting procedures and shooting characteristics will improve you odds significantly. Also familiarize yourself with the gun or bow's safety features to ensure your safety while hunting.

If you shoot a rifle, do some homework on what trajectory different types of bullet weights and powder grains will provide for your bullets trajectory path.

My favorite rifle for both deer and elk is a .270. The bullets come in several bullet weights and power grain configurations. Buy a box of three different bullets. Go to the local gun range and figure out which bullet class seems to be the most accurate at different ranges of 100 yards, 200 yards, 300 yards, etc.

The same is even truer for archery. I personally prefer archery season because it gets you in the woods first, teaches you to actually hunt because you need to be within 30-50 yards of the animal and will literally make your heart beat so fast you'll think it will pop.

My favorite bow is a 60-70 lbs. bow, set at about 65 lbs. It delivers more than enough speed to stick a carbon broadhead arrow half way into an deer or elk. The purpose is not to shoot an arrow all the way through an animal.

I buy a dozen arrows at the beginning of each season. I setup a hay bale target and start the process of figuring out which arrows hit the mark and which ones do not. I shoot the arrows in groups of 6. I take the best 3 arrows and the worst 3 arrows and put them in two piles.

Once I know which group of 6 arrows is hitting inside the bull's-eye every time. I put a #1 on the fletching with an ink pin for the arrow that hits the bull's-eye every time. The 2nd most accurate arrow gets a #2 and so on, until all of the arrows have been numbered.

In the field, I would not use a #1 arrow to try to make a 60 yard shot. I might not even try the shot at all, but if I did I would use my #5 or #6 arrow because I know if I miss, I won't ding up my best arrow.

The same is true for bullets. Know which one will work best for the yardage you are trying to shoot.