TRAINING FOR THE HUNT - JOMH
Using the sniper community to increase your lethality in the field will benefit you significantly when the terrain does not allow you to get close to the target. Snipers have spent the last 20 years testing engagement theories in mountainous terrain. No matter if it is two or four-legged targets the end state is the same. We all want to maximize the chance of a lethal first-round impact on our target. Now you can take our lessons learned and apply them to your next Colorado elk hunt.
Being a Western hunter myself and also observing these types of hunters in the field I see many similarities to the military sniper. I am not saying they are the same, but there is a crossover that will benefit the former. The ability to make stable, repeatable, and accurate shots in less-than-optimal positions while knowing how the environment will affect your projectile are two of the biggest lessons we have learned. The failure of those two things is the most prominent factor hunters have cited as to why they have missed their targets.
If you fancy longer engagements, you should have a deep understanding of marksmanship. I define “long-range” as any shot that the environment needs to be accounted for. Now, reading that you are probably thinking, doesn’t it always need to be accounted for, and you are right, it does…See where I am going with this? As the distance to the target increases, the percentage of a lethal first round hit on the target decreases. Knowing what to look for and how to problem-solve through it will open your field of view to new opportunities, shots, and information you may be missing at your current level of training.
