I would like to know if any have had shots at game from the sitting position?

1. Do you use a sling?

2. How fast can you get to a good position from standing, and get a good shot off?

3. How far of a shot do you, would you, take for a deer sized animal?

I'm interested in how many people practice this type of shooting position.

Thanks,
Matthew J.

Best advice is to staple a 8" paper plate up at various distances and see how you do without rest.

The answer to your questions:

1. I use a sling
2. Not that fast. I would not attempt to drop into a sitting position if the game was relatively close and alert to my presence.
3. Sitting, with only a sling for support, I would take a shot at standing, broadside game (elk size) at 200 yards. Sitting, with a rest (tree, rock, etc). I would take the same shot previously described out to about 400 yards.

The answer to #3 really depends on your own ability. I read a good way of defining your shooting ability in Bugle magazine. It went like this.

From 100 yards, fire two different five-shot groups. Use a sling if you want, but nothing else to support the gun. Disregard the worst shot of the ten. Then take the average spread of the two groups (one four-shot group and one five-shot group) and divide the number 16 by that number. Finally multiply that number by 100.

For instance; say you shoot two 6" groups. You delete the worst "flyer", and then you have, for instance, one 4" group and the other 6" group. The average is 5". Divide 16 by 5, equals 3.2. Multiply that number by 100 and you have 320 yards. This is the maximum distance your skills can hit the 16" vitals (lungs) of an elk, 90% of the time.

This recipe for documenting your skills from any shooting position was given by Wayne van Zwoll.

Try it. I found something that surprised me. I was just as accurate standing as sitting. I was worst when kneeling.

I was best prone, obviously because of ground support. Any additional support other than the sling dramatically increased my "effective range".

Sitting while supporting my arms on my knees is one of my favourites. In my type of hunting, most shots are taken off-hand but if I have the time and the field of view is clear (no hindering vegetation) I sit. I don't use a sling.

Sitting, with the rifle supported by contact between elbows and knees, is one of my favorite hunting positions. Its reasonably fast yet much more accurate than standing. The best for accuracy is prone with a Harris bipod. The bipod is very handy and makes for near benchrest accuracy. Not all rifles shoot well with them but mine all do.

I have a few 10" steel plates on my range,one at 200 yds the other at 250, I use those for practice at different positions. With practice yu canget pretty good. Though I have to admit that shooting plates versus shooting at a good buck or bull is a bit different. I usually end up taking my time and going prone, as shots at game are too important to leave anything to chance.

Sitting is perhaps the most versatile field position, allowing a great range of horizontal and vertical movement while still supported. For those who can achieve a good sitting position, it should be just a hair less stable than prone. And if you use a speed sling (CW or Ching), you can sling up while dropping into position, adding almost no time to the process.

I was at the range last weekend to do a bit of fine tuning on this season's hunting rifles. From sitting w/o sling, I could keep all of my shots inside an 8" paper plate. With a sling, a bit better. I like the sitting position for a quick shot under 200yds. Past that, I am looking for some kind of rest.

I have found the sitting position second only to improvised rests for field shooting, and if you allow sitting with a rest to be called sitting it becomes number one. Kneeling is not stable for me at all. Prone is too low for good visability except in very open country, and lightweight rfles are not always prone friendly -- my distintive crescent scar between the eyes serves as a reminder.

Now your questions:

1) Yes, I find a sling helpful, but feel it need not be a special type or the traditional wrap any sling simply pulled tight against the back of the arm is quicker than the traditional sling position and very nearly as stable.

2)Pretty quick.

3)No matter the position or rest I like to be 200 yards or less for shots on game. My range has a nine inch steel gong at 300 yards that I seldom miss sitting, but that is not an animal that I owe the most humane death I can manage.

Fireplug

Use the setting postion when ever possible,like it better than prone{old fat F*****],for quick shots I find the old rice paddie squat faster then setting,and as long as you get the elbows ahead of the knees just as accurate

I grew up shooting in the Jr.NRA shooting program. We started out in the prone position, then sitting & finally standing.
Many of you may remember shooting for your ProMarksman, Marksman, Marksman1stClass, Sharpshooter patches and then all the different medals, up to the DistinguishedExpert.
My favorite position was/is the sitting position with a sling. It's not quite as accurate as prone but pretty close and a lot more comfortable.
It's also my favorite way to still hunt.
Another way I like to shoot is from a small fold up hunting stool. I use my mono pod that I use for my spotting scope/camera as a forarm brace for my rifle. It has a quick release head for the scope & camera. If I need it for a support I quickly remove the scope or camera and just rest the forarm and my left hand at the top of the monopod. It's as stable as the sitting position with the sling.

[ 10-13-2002, 00:36: Message edited by: CaptJack ]

1. I use a marksman's sling on appropriate rifles. I practice every week with one in four positions. Some of my woods rifles just have carry slings so I might assume the positions without the use of a sling. The decision on the use of a sling or particular position is a judgement call depending upon the urgency to fire, if movement would alert the game and the difficulty of the shot.

If the game is moving and at less than 70 yards I would hold the forend out a ways and fire as soon as the sights began to move on the animal. This might take one second but more time if the view was obstructed by a tree for instance.

It's easy to say I would fire in a second but first I must identify the game and make sure of the backstop. So my view might to to the game and then back to the vital area to let the shot off. This of course takes longer.

If I were to fire a shot at game from the my offhand marksman's postion there would have to be a specific reason such as a hill in front of me so that I could not get into a lower position. Even then I would be tempted to climb the hill unless the game was about to spook.

The question is a good one but the details affect what one would do.

3. Depending on the circumstances I might take a shot at a deer up to 300 yards. But I would rather not get one than have to look all over for it and explain everything to myself afterwards.

In conclusion I am a very strong advocate of the marksmans sling but I don't push it on someone who did not start out with one.

[ 10-13-2002, 00:55: Message edited by: Don Martin29 ]

I use a sling.

I now use the Ching Sling and, for hunting guns, won't be without one.

I like the sitting position as a shooting platform.

I put up eight-inch paper plates at 200 yards and rack off a full magazine -- "at combat speed," so to speak. This is with my .35-caliber wildcat, the ".35 Bear Buster," which is a .444 Marlin necked down to .35 caliber. I'm sending 225-grain Game Kings downrange at 2635 FPS muzzle velocity.

This practice and these loads helped me take a caribou at a lased-after-the-fact distance of 214 yards, from a hasty sitting position with a sling, across a lake in Quebec.

I always practice on the paper plates before a hunt. If I can't get them all inside the plates, again and again, I either change the load or move closer.

Russ

I will not shoot at an animal over 75 - 100 yds. from standing. Up to 200, maybe 250 yds, kneeling will do, but sitting is much better.
I don't own a rifle that won't take a shooting sling, and I always go into the field with one.
I much prefer the CW sling. But, I use the military style as well.
A really good sitting position depends on getting the elbow on the flat in front of the knee, not on the knee. If I can achieve this, I'm good to at least 300 yds. With my 12 lb. .308, I've shot six inch groups at almost 550 yds. Get it right, and it really works. E

1. I use a sling, but only to carry my rifle.

2. Pretty quick, maybe 3-5 seconds but I've never used a stop-watch.

3. I killed two Caribou with one shot each from the sitting positon and the shots were only about 20-seconds apart. First 'bou was standing broadside at 350 paces (measured by my hunting partner). Just as I touched off the shot he turned his head; bullet entered his neck and exited the end of his nose. Needless to say he didn't go anywhere but down.

Second 'bou started running but in the wrong direction for him. He was at a full run, 175 yards away. I tracked him in the scope with horizontal crosshair on his shoulder and I pulled the vertical to the tip of his nose and fired. Bullet entered just behind the shoulder and out the other side. He slid about 20-feet.

I like the sitting position but don't realy practice it.

I use a sling on all my hunting rifles. I keep them adjusted to permit using what we called in the Army a "hasty sling." I find that the sitting position is very useful. Where I can, I try to rest the rifle as well as I can against a rest or vertical supports.

The best intentionally doped out rifle shot I ever made on an animal was from the sitting position with a full (non-hasty) sling rested upon against an Arcadia tree at a kudu up a mountain 309yds away with a 90 degree cross wind at about 30 mph. My first bullet was a hit on the animal who was facing me with his left shoulder closest to me at about 45 degrees which penetrated the lung and spleen. He turned around and faced me with his left shoulder closest. My second bullet criss-crossed his body with the first. I have never seen so much blood around an animal in my life. He was bled out. I recovered the second 200 grain Sierra Gameking just under the skin. It was perfectly mushroomed. Ku-dude

I've probably taken 80% of my big game from sitting position. Unless walking through thick brush they are usually too far away for off-hand. And there seems to always be something in the way that prevents the use of prone. So I sit.

It's very fast too. I'm not talking about wiggling around into some "proper" target shooting position--simply sit your but on the ground, rest your arms on your legs somehow and BANG! I practice that way alot and am accurate to about 300 yds that way.

For longer shots when I have more time (better have more time--you don't want to rush long shots) wiggling around into a more proper position and using a Harris bi-pod doubles that.

Sitting is my prefered position without a doubt, its much more stable than off hand and no matter where you are it can be an option. That alone is reason enough for me to use it to a great extent. Prone is great but seems difficult if not impossible to use under many circumstances. A tree or boulder can give a better rest but they are not always handy, knees are. I make it a habit to use it when shooting even my .22 and have taken Deer @ roughly 250 yds from the sitting position.

I dont think of it as a quick shot position at all, thats where off hand comes in. If Im close enough to go off hand and need quick then sitting down is not the answer, for more distant shots if a superior rest is not available, it becomes my #1 option. Its been my observation that when shooting over 150 yds or so that the time needed to sit is generally much easier to find than in close quarters.