Preventing getting in a blur for a shot.

[camsdaddy]

The other day I was in the woods and come up on a wild hog. All I had with me was my Glock 34. I didnt have a lot of time and a bad shot on a hog is a good shot. The hog paused and I took the shot. I got to thinking I aimed at the hog rather than trying to make a shot on a spot on the hog. I know when shooting a rifle I have spent a lot of time teaching my son to put the bullet in something important. When the hog came out I just went into a blur. How do I avoid getting caught up in the moment and make an effective shot. I know a 9mm isnt the best choice but it was a run what you brung scenario. I just want to work on this because I don't want to need to make a shot and shoot an attacker rather than shooting something important on the attacker.

[rjohnson4405]

For me, this comes back to shooting under stress and learning to do it.

As I recently found when some coyotes came charging in on our call when I expected them to be at 100 yards and they were at 30, I rushed a shot through a magnified optic. Got another chance later that day and did much better.

I think shooting in matches or scenarios like this (hunting and calling) where your adrenaline is up and the stress is on is a way to make sure you "do what you know how to do" when it really counts.

[alamo5000]

For me, this comes back to shooting under stress and learning to do it.

This.

In this specific instance it's not about running around trying to shoot with a high heart rate or whatever. I would equate it to 'buck fever'. Again, it's all about training. In this case I would say practice. Get a target shaped like a hog, and/or otherwise study out where you need to place a shot. Go over it over and over again until it's ingrained. It's sort of like a football player that can cover a receiver perfectly during practice, but as soon as there is a big crowd he forgets what to do and blows the coverage.

Getting buck fever of sorts can result in not only a bad shot but also can spook animals long before a shot is even taken.

Depending on how you hunt it might be nice just to go on a lot of 'nature walks' while concentrating on what you are doing, where the wind is blowing, the elements, etc etc.

[OfficeCat]

I didnt have a lot of time and a bad shot on a hog is a good shot.

It sounds to me like you had already made the subconscious decision that it didn't matter where you hit the hog, that a wounding shot was as good (or better?) than a killing shot. We don't need to get into an ethical debate but I'll say that when I'm deer hunting my goal is a quick, clean kill with minimal meat damage and when the rifle comes up it's aimed at a very particular spot, not just at the animal. I've done it enough times and put so much thought into it over the years that it's just something ingrained that I don't have to think about. A wounding shot isn't an option so I default to aiming for the vitals. A training analogy might be defaulting to aim for for the A zone on a USPSA target; if that's your ingrained experience you're probably going to be more likely to subconsciously aim for center mass than if all you ever shoot is steel challenge where a peripheral hit is just as good as a center hit.

[camsdaddy]

It sounds to me like you had already made the subconscious decision that it didn't matter where you hit the hog, that a wounding shot was as good (or better?) than a killing shot. We don't need to get into an ethical debate but I'll say that when I'm deer hunting my goal is a quick, clean kill with minimal meat damage and when the rifle comes up it's aimed at a very particular spot, not just at the animal. I've done it enough times and put so much thought into it over the years that it's just something ingrained that I don't have to think about. A wounding shot isn't an option so I default to aiming for the vitals. A training analogy might be defaulting to aim for for the A zone on a USPSA target; if that's your ingrained experience you're probably going to be more likely to subconsciously aim for center mass than if all you ever shoot is steel challenge where a peripheral hit is just as good as a center hit.

That could be it. When hunting deer I have the same goal. I want to make a good ethical shot without much meat loss. We look at wild hogs differently and stopping them from destroying property and multiplying.

I like the idea of a smaller target. I know they saying of aim small miss small. I think I just need to maybe try multiple smaller targets and have someone call numbers and take shots on a timer.

[Clusterfrack]

Great question @camsdaddy. I've been working on this all year. I am trying to get used to looking hard at a small spot on any target, and trusting my skill to put the dot or sights on that spot. In other words, don't just see the target, look precisely where you want the bullet to go on the target. It's harder than it sounds.

One thing has made the biggest difference in my shooting this year and I want to share it here and discuss.

Some definitions so we are all on the same page:

• Aiming: Aligning the front and rear sights (or dot) with the target, and maintaining that alignment until the gun has fired.
• Looking: visual perception of where you want the bullet to go.
• Target focus: looking with eyes focused on the target, while at the same time seeing the sights (or dot).
• Front sight focus: looking with eyes focused on the front sight, while at the same time seeing the target.

On PSTG and elsewhere, there has been a lot of discussion about how and why to use target focus with iron sights (also obviously with RDS). Front sight focus requires looking at and focusing on the target, shifting the focal plane back to the front sight, and then breaking the shot. This is slower than target focus because there is no focal plane shift.

I have been shooting target focus with irons for the past year, and it's taken a while to trust it --especially at distance.

My biggest recent improvement in shooting has come from improving my precision of looking at the intended POI. It's just like "aim small / miss small" in rifle shooting. For me it requires a ton of mental focus to create an appropriately small "sub-target" on a much larger target (e.g. image below).

My focus has shifted (so to speak) from primarily confirming the alignment of the sights, to primarily looking precisely at where I want the bullets to go. I'm looking forward to discussing this. Maybe it's something you've been doing for a long time?



Red dot added to represent where I am looking. Hits: 2A, AC to the upper A zone at match pace.

[CraigS]

I realize that the stress may be different but have you ever shot an idpa match? At least once every match someone on my squad makes the comment that his plan survived until the buzzer sounded and then went to he11. Your G34 is perfect. Ad a holster, 3-4 mags, and a double mag pouch, and enter in SSP stock service pistol.

[MickAK]

Try what I call focus-unfocus-refocus.

Look very intently at a small spot on an object and pay attention to what muscles around your eyes tense up. Learn to relax those muscles as you draw then 'refocus' them once you clear on where you're intending to hit. This helps avoid tunnel vision and 'blur' for me. You never actually lose vision focus so the name isn't very accurate, but I haven't come up with anything closer.

[Duces Tecum]

Perhaps you are overthinking this. If I understand correctly, you were surprised by the sudden appearance of (i) a threat animal (ii) startling close. Time to first hit was deemed, at some level, more important than precision. You succeeded in delivering an immediate body shot. If you then wished to place another bullet somewhere else, could you not shoot again, but this time -- the startle reflex having passed -- perhaps with whatever level of precision you cared to take?

I think you did just fine.

[okie john]

The other day I was in the woods and come up on a wild hog. All I had with me was my Glock 34. I didnt have a lot of time and a bad shot on a hog is a good shot. The hog paused and I took the shot. I got to thinking I aimed at the hog rather than trying to make a shot on a spot on the hog. I know when shooting a rifle I have spent a lot of time teaching my son to put the bullet in something important. When the hog came out I just went into a blur. How do I avoid getting caught up in the moment and make an effective shot. I know a 9mm isnt the best choice but it was a run what you brung scenario. I just want to work on this because I don't want to need to make a shot and shoot an attacker rather than shooting something important on the attacker.

You know what you need to do, you just got in a hurry and forgot to do it. Fortunately, it gets easier with repetition and you can train for it. That’s the point of action shooting games like IDPA, except that they’re focused on human attackers and not on hogs.

As for the hog, you didn’t expect to see one this time. You will expect to see one next time and that’s a start.

Now you need to use action-shooting ideas to re-create this scenario and train through it. I hunt blacktail deer on an island off the Washington coast. It’s hilly with very thick brush and a well-developed trail network. Based on decades of hunting there, I expect the deer to be 20-80 yards away and above me. If you stand on a suburban street across from a streetlight, the distance and angle from you to the streetlight is about the geometry of the shot. I also know that I’ll have 3-5 seconds to make the shot, so that’s the shot I train to make.

So break down the hog’s actions, then break down your actions. What was the geometry of the shot? How long did you have? Train for that.

I also helped to prepare my son and my brothers-in-law for that hunt. We made cardboard targets about the size of a deer’s body and placed them along either side of a trail for a stretch of 1-200 yards. Then we’d walk down the trail and engage the targets as soon as we saw them. (It helps that there are huge tree farms around here where this is possible.) I’d place the targets downrange, create a scenario, and brief the shooter, then we’d walk the trail with me behind them. Once the kids do this a few times, have them set up the targets for you.

Also bear in mind that shot placement on a hog is different than on a deer. The heart is much lower and farther forward. Check out some hog anatomy diagrams and build your targets based on that. In a pinch, you can turn an IDPA target 90 degrees and shoot for the corner of the lower shoulder.


Okie John