How do you judge wind

[wjm1000]

Haha! I would say my first shot was a miss! Not random. Lol

Ssssss nobody's supposed to know that

 

[yobuck]

Very true but in PA it's e-legal to shoot at random.

So with a straight face now, tell me youve never killed any rocks during hunting season.
Especially when your about ready to pack it in for the day. lol

 

[wjm1000]

So with a straight face now, tell me youve never killed any rocks during hunting season.
Especially when your about ready to pack it in for the day. lol

We'll you are not allowed to have a loaded gun in your vehicle so you have to do something.

 

[yobuck]

That's until your sighter gut shots your game. Or injures it, but you do you.

Well my comments and opinions are only intended for those who shoot long range at animals.
And especially at the longer distances.
The sighter shot isnt taken at the animal, but something reasonably close to the animal.
As a rule, the shot will have little affect on what the animal does, other than alerting it.
It might also improve things by having the animal move slightly.
Consider now that im referring to white tail deer, some animals will certainly behave differently.
Call it whatever you will as for fairness, but first consider the whole aspect of hunting and killing animals to begin with.
But feel free to do what suits you, and whatever self imposed rules you choose to follow.

Years ago when we drove those same steep hillsides for deer, i took shots at running deer that i no doubt shouldnt have taken. And i doubt that there arent many others who couldnt claim doing likewise.
I will also add that over the years we have taken a few animals that had previously been wounded.
By whom would be impossible to know, due to the fact that it is all public land.
We also watched a lone hunter walking along the edge of a ridge top kill a buck instantly and it slid down the steep hill in the snow.
But he chased the other deer that were with the buck around a point, not knowing he even hit the buck.
And he never even came back to check for any signs he had hit it.
Near the end of the day one of our guys took over an hour to get to the dead buck, then he gutted and taged it and drug it down to a road where we met up with him.
We now call that spot ( stupid bush hunter hill ). lol

 

[dfanonymous]

Well my comments and opinions are only intended for those who shoot long range at animals.
And especially at the longer distances.
The sighter shot isnt taken at the animal, but something reasonably close to the animal.
As a rule, the shot will have little affect on what the animal does, other than alerting it.
It might also improve things by having the animal move slightly.
Consider now that im referring to white tail deer, some animals will certainly behave differently.
Call it whatever you will as for fairness, but first consider the whole aspect of hunting and killing animals to begin with.
But feel free to do what suits you, and whatever self imposed rules you choose to follow.

Years ago when we drove those same steep hillsides for deer, i took shots at running deer that i no doubt shouldnt have taken. And i doubt that there arent many others who couldnt claim doing likewise.
I will also add that over the years we have taken a few animals that had previously been wounded.
By whom would be impossible to know, due to the fact that it is all public land.
We also watched a lone hunter walking along the edge of a ridge top kill a buck instantly and it slid down the steep hill in the snow.
But he chased the other deer that were with the buck around a point, not knowing he even hit the buck.
And he never even came back to check for any signs he had hit it.
Near the end of the day one of our guys took over an hour to get to the dead buck, then he gutted and taged it and drug it down to a road where we met up with him.
We now call that spot ( stupid bush hunter hill ). lol

So are my comments and opinions.
Wind doesn't work like that. You shoot a spotter near the animal, I've seen mule deer just book it into another county, never to be seen again. To your point, I've seen them just stand there and let people shoot at them for 5 minutes too.

You offset too much, and your in a different wind angle. You shoot into the wrong part of the gust, and you're still off. You offset not enough and the wind takes a bullet that you have no idea where it's going at game.

Meanwhile, it doesn't take THAT long to get wind right for first round impacts.

My self imposed rules are just good marksmanship and understanding of wind. You see shooters miss their initial shot on a target and try to hold the correction, then miss again. It's called "chasing wind."

 

[yobuck]

So are my comments and opinions.
Wind doesn't work like that. You shoot a spotter near the animal, I've seen mule deer just book it into another county, never to be seen again. To your point, I've seen them just stand there and let people shoot at them for 5 minutes too.

You offset too much, and your in a different wind angle. You shoot into the wrong part of the gust, and you're still off. You offset not enough and the wind takes a bullet that you have no idea where it's going at game.

Meanwhile, it doesn't take THAT long to get wind right for first round impacts.

My self imposed rules are just good marksmanship and understanding of wind. You see shooters miss their initial shot on a target and try to hold the correction, then miss again. It's called "chasing wind."

I wish you continued success with your shooting.
Its unfortunate that we cant all meet up on a windy hillside someplace. lol

 

[wjm1000]

I wish you continued success with your shooting.
Its unfortunate that we cant all meet up on a windy hillside someplace. lol

If you get back to PA pm me and maybe we can do that.

 

[Ken61]

As a prairie dog shooter,I make my best estimate based on experience, fire a shot,confirm the impact with my spotter,if it is a miss I then make a correction. It works sometimes depending on the variability of the wind. Part of shooting is a science, part is an art.

 

[yobuck]

As a prairie dog shooter,I make my best estimate based on experience, fire a shot,confirm the impact with my spotter,if it is a miss I then make a correction. It works sometimes depending on the variability of the wind. Part of shooting is a science, part is an art.

And that shot would be called a (what) Ken? lol

If you get back to PA pm me and maybe we can do that.

Well pm me anyway, we can exchange email adresses and have some equipment discussions at least. I can send pics by email, but im not smart enough to do it here.

 

[yobuck]

There are of coarse a number of things involved in making a good shot at long ranges.
And there are also a number of things that can go wrong, even when our chosen system is used for making a shot.
But lets just say that we made a shot at just a target, like say a rock, or whatever your choice might be at say a distance of 1200 yards.
And the shot landed a foot low and about 3 feet to the right.
How would you make the adjustment in order to assure a second round hit?

 

[LRNut]

There are of coarse a number of things involved in making a good shot at long ranges.
And there are also a number of things that can go wrong, even when our chosen system is used for making a shot.
But lets just say that we made a shot at just a target, like say a rock, or whatever your choice might be at say a distance of 1200 yards.
And the shot landed a foot low and about 3 feet to the right.
How would you make the adjustment in order to assure a second round hit?

So you are one MOA low and missed the wind by 3 MOA...IMHO you don't have any business taking a second shot at an animal. Your initial wind call was waaay off to say nothing of the low shot.

At some point, a combination of the range, the group size your rifle shoots, the TOF, and the uncertainty of the wind makes a shot at game questionable. I know, some here are afraid to admit it, thinking their LR skills are like the Hammer of Thor, but at some point, the math just doesn't add up.

 

[Ken61]

I would hold a foot high and 3 feet left. I only shoot rifles that allow me to see the bullet impact and I alsmot always have a spotter.
Old School

And that shot would be called a (what) Ken? lol

It would be a serious attempt to hit my intended target using the best info I have. If It was off it would give me a baseline to adjust from.
I do have a verified 1121 yd prairie dog kill using that method. Luck or skill? I claim skill.

 

[yobuck]

So you are one MOA low and missed the wind by 3 MOA...IMHO you don't have any business taking a second shot at an animal. Your initial wind call was waaay off to say nothing of the low shot.

At some point, a combination of the range, the group size your rifle shoots, the TOF, and the uncertainty of the wind makes a shot at game questionable. I know, some here are afraid to admit it, thinking their LR skills are like the Hammer of Thor, but at some point, the math just doesn't add up.

Well you know what is said about opinions, and i certainly wont attempt to stop you from you having one as well.
But im not aware of any laws saying people need to be agreeing on any one of them.
Again, ive watched some of the worlds best long range target shooters not even attempt to read the wind flags before firing their first sighter shot.
Where the shot landed is all they need to make adjustments.
Thats why many ranges have clay birds placed on the dirt berms between the target frames as well.

 

[yobuck]

I would hold a foot high and 3 feet left. I only shoot rifles that allow me to see the bullet impact and I alsmot always have a spotter.
Old School

And that shot would be called a (what) Ken? lol

It would be a serious attempt to hit my intended target using the best info I have. If It was off it would give me a baseline to adjust from.
I do have a verified 1121 yd prairie dog kill using that method. Luck or skill? I claim skill.

That is old school Ken, and it works well for the most part.
But i am a bit more shall we say modest than you.
Id call it skill with a big splash of luck.
Especially at that distance on a prairie dog. lol

Have you ever done any experimenting with using the (one shot zero) method?
If your not aware of it, look it up.
Play around a bit with it, and prairie dogs would be a perfect place to play with it.
Just be carefull to remember what your doing when you first try it.
Ultimately, you might not even need a rangefinder, lol