Arizona Hunting Club & Outdoor Adventure Group

Practice Shooting at the
Gun Range or the Archery Video Range

The most important thing you will ever do in the hunting scenario is shoot your weapon over and over. Practice makes perfect. Go through the same procedure on the gun range as you would in the field.

For guns it is important to know where that safety is by touch. Learn how to click it off automatically without looking to see where it is.

Also, learn how that scope works. Where does your cheek need to be on the gun butt to see nothing but the crosshairs and the target. If you see any black when you first look through the sites, that isn't good enough. You need to practice throwing the gun up and being able to see through the scope perfectly within half a second.

A deer and an elk can run several hundred yards in 2-3 seconds. Don't give them a chance to get away.

For bows, the same is true. If can't nock an arrow and find the peep sight immediately, that isn't good enough. You need to practice until it becomes second nature.

Also practice shooting by looking beside the actual peep site. You never know when it will be full of water when you come face to face with a 7x8 bull elk. Be ready to adjust to whatever conditions Mother Nature throws at you.

If you have an archery tag, the coolest way to learn to hunt is to go to the Archery Headquarters shop in Chandler. Take a friend with you and see who is really the best shot at hunting live elk, deer and even polar bears. They have a video machine that shows a movie of your favorite game animal walking through the woods like they do in real life. Sometimes you have clear shot, sometimes you don't.

When you shoot, you win points for how close you shoot to the animal's heart. This by far the best way to learn where the heart is from every single angle, regardless if it is quartering away or toward you. You will be surprised at where you think the heart might be and where it really is.

Practice makes perfect and you will get used to seeing the animals in the forest. In real life, when you see big bull twenty yards away, you won't freeze. You will shoot right where his heart is like you have done a thousand times before.

My kids and I go shooting there all the time. If you really think you are a bad-ass, try turkey hunting with a bow. :o)