Duke, I suspect we are opposite in many ways. The focus on target instead of crosshairs is mainly a shooting targets thing. I focus on my little circles and try not to get worried about the movement of my crosshairs (when not shooting from a really solid rest). With both 3D and shooting at game, it seems focusing on where I want to hit pulls the crosshairs right there. You probably shoot 100-200 deer (maybe more) for every one I shoot, so...

 

I wish ... I could shoot more target dots; but I live in the epicenter of The Kingdom of Liberal. Too anti-firearm and too many cops with nothing to do.

 

 

Hold it still when you shoot. Sounds stupid simple but thats all i do. I get either my bows or rifles shooting as good as they can. And then i just hold it still, I have always been able to shoot anything from old betsy to anyone's gun or a new whatever.

I took my brother in law Turkey hunting for the first time Monday the 20th. He took the slip on recoil pad off said it did't fit him. That had me scratching my head because its a youth 20 ga single shot. And he's bigger than me. I also told him you might have to shoot left handed. He said i can't i never shot left handed in my life. I told him just put the dot on the neck hold it still and shoot.

A few years ago i took my son in law on his first turkey hunt. He was using a bow. I called up 2 big gobblers. They walked right up to the decoys fooled around a min and walked with in a few feet to the side of his blind. After they left the country gobbling there heads off. I texted him are you dead are you ok. And i heard him unzip the door. I was in a raised box blind just above him and climb down. I ask why didn't you kill one of those birds, it don't get any better than that son. He quoted page 3 of the bowhunters how your supposed to shoot crap ( not really but he had a they always told me excuse). I said new rule see turkey kill turkey.

Sorry about the long drawn out post . But just hold it still and shoot the dagon thing.

 

Hold it still when you shoot. Sounds stupid simple but thats all i do. I get either my bows or rifles shooting as good as they can. And then i just hold it still, I have always been able to shoot anything from old betsy to anyone's gun or a new whatever.

I took my brother in law Turkey hunting for the first time Monday the 20th. He took the slip on recoil pad off said it did't fit him. That had me scratching my head because its a youth 20 ga single shot. And he's bigger than me. I also told him you might have to shoot left handed. He said i can't i never shot left handed in my life. I told him just put the dot on the neck hold it still and shoot.

A few years ago i took my son in law on his first turkey hunt. He was using a bow. I called up 2 big gobblers. They walked right up to the decoys fooled around a min and walked with in a few feet to the side of his blind. After they left the country gobbling there heads off. I texted him are you dead are you ok. And i heard him unzip the door. I was in a raised box blind just above him and climb down. I ask why didn't you kill one of those birds, it don't get any better than that son. He quoted page 3 of the bowhunters how your supposed to shoot crap ( not really but he had a they always told me excuse). I said new rule see turkey kill turkey.

Sorry about the long drawn out post . But just hold it still and shoot the dagon thing.

Reminds me … of a deer drive we had a few years ago. About 14 shooters with climbers and 8 drivers pushing about 500 acres of fields with 6' high weeds. Usually we put the best proven shooters in the front row. Put a somewhat new guy on the front line in the middle of the 500 yard hedgerow with 5 of us in it, running between a road and a river. Figured it might be good for the team morale to see someone new up front. Deer come filtering through, pause for a few seconds at the drainage ditch type stream in front of the hedgerow, then continue east as the drivers start to close in. Guy has a bunch of deer filter passed him and never shot. Everyone has radios for safety. I get on the horn and announce "Hey Mike, what happened that you didn't shoot?" "You got a 20lb trigger on that slug-gun or something?"

 

I read this stuff with a smile on my face. We are talking about hunting with an arrow:- ) I’ve lost count (long ago) of how many deer I’ve taken with an arrow during the last 55 years, none of them during the last 15 years while shooting crossbows off a solid rest. Over analyzing shooting methods for rifles shooting 300+ yards makes sense to me but resting my elbow on my knee or side when shooting deer out to 60 yards also makes sense for me. That’s not going to change. Neither is my sighting system. Put the dot behind the front shoulder.........dead deer

 

I can do all the right things learned from 65 yrs of shooting but a live target shows and its 'shoot, quick.' It works ... most of the time. Missed 3 of 15, and those were before I got the bow/arrow/broadhead combination right.

 

"Slow is … smooth and smooth is fast."

 

Duke your hunting story brings to mind an episode of a bear hunt I participated in a few years ago. I had already shot a bear so was just out helping as a driver and offered to let the guys from a camp hunt over by our place as we had numerous bears all summer. We put the watchers in all the runs I knew the bears normally frequented. After I took the drivers up the hill and we started the drive within a few minutes we heard shots and more shots and more shots finally when the shooting stopped a voice rang out on the radio " wow I never knew one bear could give so many guys so much fun". It turned out all of the watchers about eight got shooting except for one guy that was busy swinging on the neighbors wooden swing. When I asked him why he didn't shoot he said "well I was busy swinging and didn't think I would see a bear". The bear came right to him first but his rifle was over against a tree. That bear had at least twenty shots fired at it before it went down and then the guy at the end of the line put four more in with his 44 Ruger Redhawk.
I generally hunt by myself and I like the one shot and done routine, but this experience was one I'll always remember.

 

Sounds like … my one and only experience hunting NJ public land on opening day when I was a teenager. You could hear the course and speed of the buck running through the woods by the decibels of the shots being taken, and missed. I was posted somewhere along the Delaware River woods, heard the shots getting louder & louder; saw this poor scrub buck come running passed me with it's tongue hanging out from exhaustion & fear. I wasn't one to be taking pot shots even back then so I didn't shoot. Then I could hear the shots fading well off into the distance. Turned out eventually the poor B@$%^D succumbed to some 00 buck that I had given one of my cousins before sunrise. He blew off one scrub antler and killed it with a few pellets in the head & throat. Just spray & pray shooting.

Evidently the average NJ deer hunter is about equally qualified as the average PA bear hunter by you.