Summer’s Here

Hey y’all. Now that summer has finally made it and the 4^th of July is almost on us, many of you will, no doubt, turn your thinking to getting your bows, rifles, muzzle loaders and slug guns sited in. Although the weather is nicer and you can shoot in short-sleeved shirts, this can be a misleading time of the year.

Without exception, every fall one or more of my friends has a horror story about missing a clean shot in deer season. One had trouble drawing his bow in his tree stand. Another had a problem shouldering his rifle properly. And then there is the one who had trouble acquiring his target in his scope. Do any of these fit you or someone you know? You would be surprised to find out how many people will answer yes to one of these scenarios. The culprit…those short-sleeve shirts! If you are not surprised, you probably have had it happen to you.

When you sight in a weapon, you should wear what you will most likely hunt in, coveralls, camo suit, winter coat or whatever. Maybe that’s why some people prefer to wait until the chilly days of fall to sight in. The reason for this is very simple. With light clothing, your firearm will fit you a certain way. It comes up to your shoulder in a particular manner. The rifle or shotgun fits your cheek in a particular manner. Your line of sight through the scope is also in a particular manner. There you are shooting little tiny groups on your 100 yard target, once you were sited in, and feeling wonderful.

Deer season comes along and you are faced with a decent shot on a nice buck…and you blow it. Infuriated, you blame your scope, your rifle, your dog…everything but what most likely is the villain here…bulky clothes. Actually, I should say clothes that are bulkier than the t-shirt you were wearing when you sited in. All those extra layers of warmth are also extra layers of cloth and insulation. Your weapon cannot possibly fit you the same as it did in the summer. Not being able to see through the scope easily is the biggest offender in this drama. Depending on your hunting clothes your cheek could be as much as an inch different in placement than it was in the summer. The next most common is the rifle butt hanging up in the armpit of your coat as you try to shoulder it. A good friend of mine missed a chance at huge buck in the Rangeley Lake area of Maine because of this. By the time he had the weapon in position, the big white tail had vanished.

I know I usually am telling you ways to save money, but being frugal applies to time and aggravation, as well. If I can save time and aggravation, I have then done something worthwhile. I am going to give you a couple ideas to do exactly that and make sure you don’t blow the shot of a lifetime. First, check your rifle or shotgun’s recoil pad (if it has one). If it is an inch thick, consider reducing it to a half inch pad. Then come fall, the weapon will come to the shoulder much easier. I have seen a rifle need an inch and ¼ reduction in length of pull to accommodate for the difference in summer and deer season clothing. Set your length of pull for hunting and adjust for target shooting in warmer weather. This will save a lot of aggravation. This is easily done with a slip on recoil reducer for your shoulder. These are available at most sporting goods stores and through most of the catalogs. Do this and your favorite rifle or shotgun will not let you down.

As for archery equipment, unfortunately, there is no quick and easy fix. That’s why a lot of folks have a bow that they shoot with all summer and then have a hunting bow. But that means spending more money…and you know how I feel about that. So, take your only bow and sight it in for summer, shoot merrily away until about late August and then put on the hunting clothes and resite the bow for hunting season. This will let you avoid not being able to get your site picture properly and save you buying a second bow. It’s definitely worth the few minutes time it takes to readjust your site pins.

Sighting in distance is easier for archery equipment. The normal is 10, 20,30 and 40 yards, although some of the folks with the new high tech bows and carbon arrows with little tiny broad heads tell me they are good to 80 yards. Remind me not to hunt with them. The best way to get land closed to our use is to wound some deer and not be able to recover them or have some farmer cut a farm tire (or one of his kids) on an arrow that was flung too far. Be a better hunter and keep your range reasonable.

Now rifles, on the other hand, are a different sort entirely. There are many experts, all with different ideas as to what the best way to sight in is. Here I go saving you something, again. This time, I am going to save you ammo and unnecessary exercise.

Years ago, I read an article in Outdoor Life, by a fellow named Wooten (I believe his first name was Jim) entitled Point of Aim Sighting. Point of aim simply means that you put your crosshairs on the deer, elk or whatever and squeeze the trigger. Well in the last 30 some years, that article has saved me countless steps and countless ammo. I am a believer in testing theories put forth by experts prior to accepting them as valid. So I tested Mr. Wooten’s theory, which was quite to the point. He suggested sighting in at 25 yards. He cautioned that his method will require a rock solid shooting rest (he recommended the Lohman Shooting Vice). After firing the first round at 25 yards, rather than adjust crosshairs (or whatever reticle you are using) to move the bullet hole to the center of the target, sight on the center of the target and move the crosshairs so that they center on your bullet hole. That’s it, you’re done. You are now dead on at 25 yards and according to Wooten, if you use a 30-06 you will be about 1 ½ inches high at 100 yards an back on zero between 215 and 230 yards, depending on load.

I tried this on several different calibers and found it to 100% accurate. Dead on at 25 yards is good for most Northeast white tail hunters, where shots seldom exceed 200 yards. If you have one of the hot new short magnums or a 300 Win Mag (probably my favorite all around caliber), you might want to add one step to the sight in procedure. After sighting your crosshairs in on your bullet hole, on the 25 yard target, lower your crosshairs ( for newer hunters, this means the center aiming point of whatever reticle you happen to be using) one inch (about 8 clicks if your scope is ¼ minute clicks. You will now have a point of aim from 25 to about 300 yards. In other words, you now will be able to hold right on the vitals anywhere within that range. A shot at a 300 yard target, using your hunting load, will tell you exactly. From experience, I can tell you that you will be somewhere between right on and 3 inches low. 3 low inches at 300 yards will put your animal down, if you are holding in the center of the vitals (which most of us try to do at that range).

There, I have saved you a lot of ammo and lot of trudging back and forth to the target. I always get a chuckle out of that one. I will be beside some guy at the range. He fires his group, looks through his expensive spotting scope then walks down to look at the target.

I urge you to try this method, if you don’t already use it.

That’s all I have for now, but I hope you get the idea. Practice does NOT make perfect…proper practice makes perfect. Hey, when you hit the outdoors this summer, take a youngster along. It’s good for both of you. And remember, enjoy the outdoors…just do it cheaply. God Bless.

Hollister DeLong

America's Frugal Sportsman

Tags: Hunting Archery Optics

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