KNOW AND UNDERSTAND YOUR GUN

Editor's Note: Brian Pearson, the lodge manager at The Roost in Aliceville, Alabama, has been hunting deer for 25 years. His years of experience in the woods have taught him the importance of small details making the difference in whether or not you'll have success afield.

Question: Another reason people miss deer is they don't really know and understand their guns. What does that mean?

Answer: If a hunter doesn't harvest a deer when he has a good shot, often it's because he doesn't know what his rifle will do when he squeezes the trigger. When a hunter goes out to hunt, he's often only sighted his rifle in an inch high at 100 yards or dead-on at 100 yards. But he may not have any idea what his rifle will do at 50, 200, 250 or 300 yards. You need to shoot your rifle at those distances and to know what effect the range variation has on your trajectory. A lot of hunters think if they hold dead-on at 250 yards, they'll kill the deer, but that's not true with most guns.

Question: Why?

Answer: You've got such a variation in bullets, especially with the ballistics of today. Some guns sight in an inch low at 100 yards, and they're dead-on at 300 yards. Some vary as much as 6 to 8 inches at 300 yards. Eight inches is a lot of leeway, especially when you factor in human error: shaking, nervousness, buck fever, etc. However, the wind is the biggest factor that most hunters fail to compensate for when they're taking their shots at deer. Before you hunt, you need to shoot your rifle on extremely windy days to know what effect that wind will have on your bullets at varying distances.

Question: How should a gun be sighted in?

Answer: I like to sight my gun in about an inch and a half high at 100 yards. That gives you a 10-inch kill zone on a deer and an effective killing power out to about 300 yards. But you really don't need to shoot from as far away as 300 yards. Once you take a shot at a deer past 250 yards, the wind and human error will make most people miss. Very few people can make a shot at a distance of more than 250 yards.

Question: If you're an inch and a half high at 100 yards, what will you be at 250 yards?

Answer: At 250, you'll be about 2 inches low, which still will allow you to take a deer effectively. At 150 yards, you'll be dead-on.

Question: Would you say that most hunters don't shoot their rifles enough to shoot accurately when they have the opportunities to take trophy bucks?

Answer: Absolutely. Hunters spend all their time scouting, setting up tree stands and learning all they can about deer movement. However, if they don't spend enough time on the bench rests to become familiar enough with their rifles to shoot accurately when the deer present shots, they won't have successful hunts.

Write Brian Pearson at The Roost, P.O. Box 509, Aliceville, AL 35442, (205) 373-3147, to learn more about hunting deer.

Check back each day this week for more from Brian Pearson.

Day 1 - Reasons Hunters Don't Take Deer
Day 2 - How To Look For Deer
Day 3 - How To Avoid Spooking Deer
Day 4 - Know And Understand Your Gun
Day 5 - Why You Shouldn't Give Up On A Hunting Area

John's Journal