I have always been a believer in practicing from field positions more than spending time on the bench, that is when load development is done. Finally found the load that shoots the most accurately in my Huntington .475 SRH, and today did some shooting with bfrshooter from a stand. We set up plastic bottles around the stand at a variety of distances up to 60 yards, and shot off the stand. It was a lot of fun, and useful. Here are a couple a pictures of the day's activities.......

bfrshooter getting ready to once again take me to school with a handgun. He's always bitching about his failing eyesight, rheumatism, arthritis, shaky hands, blah, blah, blah.......don't believe a word of it!



Yours truly shooting bfrshooter's .45 Colt Vaquero -- great revolver, by the way!

Looks like fun.

Fun indeed, but really useful practice. We set the bottles up in every diraction, forcing the shooter to practically contort to get the shot off sometimes -- you know, the reality of hunting!

Well, we didn't quite get 60 yd's but the bottle did bounce a lot. Next we are going to come up with targets of pigs to set out. We can get maybe 75 yd's in one direction. Sure beats sitting at the bench.
My friends and I have shot a pile of deer from that stand. Bioman shot a nice buck with his .44 from it. It was a bang-flop too, his first revolver deer.
Whitworth fell in love with the Vaquaro!

That Vaquero is one sweet shooting piece!! Great trigger, and dead-nuts accurate!

That's great practice and a hell of a lot of fun to boot....

Yup, the realer the betterer. To that end a fella might want to practice wearing his safety harness, just to see if fall protection interferes with his shooting. Is the homebuilt ladder stand your own design? Looks sturdy.

nordrseta -- bfrshooter built it and I'm pretty certain he designed it. It is very stable. I don't wear harnesses (I know I should) on a stand that has this much space. When they are small and narrow, I feel more of a need to be strapped in.

i'm another one that don't wear the harness but you setup good practical shooting

There is a belt around the tree and is used when hunting because I doze a little. But the stand is so stable and has a large seat so it is pretty safe to just sit in it. It is sure a lot safer then standing on a ladder painting the house.
I have had only 1 problem in the years it has been up. Some coon decided it was the ideal spot for a bathroom one year.

Did you sort the raccoon out?? If not, maybe we need to do some varmint hunting!

Excellent way to practice.

I was surprised how different things were when I took my first shot from a stand. Before that I had only fired my .454 SRH in a range setting, putting all shots within about 5" at 50yds standing unsupported. I figured I was good to go.

Skip ahead to me in stand, target whitetail out around 50yds. I looked through the scope and thought to myself "This is a bit diff'rnt" just before touching off round #1, which I pulled high and grazed the animal's back. Fortunately it only hopped a short distance and round #2, which was also pulled high, broke the spine.

My second animal appeared shortly thereafter. A whitetail doe, cautiously making her way through the woods. I drew down on her when she was between about 50 and 70yds, I think. This time I calmed down, focused, and made an ideal shot through both lungs putting her down after a short run.

A little bit of practice beforehand would have saved me the anxiety experienced with the first animal. Lesson learned.

Hey, no harm no foul! As long as you learn something, then it's a good thing. I enjoy this type of shooting over traditional range time by far.

Animals look a LOT smaller from a stand. 40 yards on the ground looks close but not when you are up in the air.

Shots from a treestand will pull high.I always shoot lower than center of mass.Bow or revolver.