Crazyjjk: You bring up a great point in your posting and observations! And directly I will give a specific answer to your inquiry. But in my 4+ decades of Big Game Hunting I have recently attained the ability to be able to observe a new Hunting companion shooting at Big game and I then can estimate how much that Hunter shoots during a year!
Time and again I see unfamiliarity and lack of experience with a persons own Rifle resulting in misses in the game fields and/or wounded game along with poor shot choices and bad timing and lack of Rifle support or sling usage etc etc etc.
I am grateful over the years I have become a much better Big Game shot due to lots of shooting every year! I shoot lots of Varmints year round and this is the main reason that I have become a better Big Game shot!
Just a few days ago I had to make a killing follow-up shot on a low gut shot Antelope that an "acquaintance" of mine wounded! He simply was not capable of even getting his Rifle into a steady shooting position for a follow-up shot due to his unfamiliarity with field shooting!
I made a decision and put that trophy out of its misery with one well placed shot from my Remington 700 Sendero in caliber 270 Winchester equipped with a Leupold 8.5x25 scope and tall Harris bi-pod. I am not bragging when I relay that this was a 400 yard shot. The trophy was standing but staggering along and unable to run.
Needless to say I will not be "accompanying" that "Hunter" in the future!
A person in my opinion should have the respect for the Game he (or she) Hunts to fire at least 60 (or better yet 100!) rounds of ammuntion a year through their Rifle and much of that should be in the field and not over a bench.
Back to me.
I fire at least 3,000 rounds of rimfire ammuntion (17 HMR, 22 LR and 22 Magnum) each year at Varmints. Two years ago I kept specific numbers and I fired 4,000 rounds of rimfire ammo that year at Varmints. Along with this amount of rimfire I am certain I average 2,000 rounds of centerfire ammo expended per year at Varmints, at the range and a few shots a year at Big Game.
Last year I killed 3 head of Big Game with a total of 3 shots and this year so far I am 2 with 2!
I offer these reasons for my recent success's on Big Game (in descending order of their importance) in my opinion: the field shooting of thousands of Varmints each year, good triggers and trigger control, only firing at unspooked Big Game, using good Rifle support when firing, patience when waiting for good shot placement (lethal shots only!) and lots of scope power matched with very accurate arms and ammo!
There is just no replacement for shooting practice - no matter how much good intentions a Hunter has! We need to practice. When I lived in the Seattle area I had friends that would ask me (every fall!) to take their Rifles out and check their sight in! I love shooting and Hunting so much that I would do it for them! Probably this was a mistake! I should have turned them down and offered them my assistance when they went to the range to shoot.
Its great to live in Montana where year round field shooting at live targets is easily accomplished without travelling great distances!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Hmmmmm......yes, yes I hear you.

I have shot a lot of long range( out to 800 meter) with various calibers, that is from the bench. Offhand practise @ 50 and 100 meter with a .308 carbine since I shoot most of my deer at that distance. I also shoot regularly sporting clays which aids me also a lot shooting running deer with my rifle out to 100 meters. I carry a deer hunting rifle at the ready, without scope caps and sling in my pack, scope at minimum power like 2x. When the deer appears at ultra short range, say within 10-50 yardsI need to mount the rifle while sliding of the safety in the same move and swing my body with the target with both eyes open. By that time I have decide to fire or not. I fire as soon as the but sits in the shoulder pocket and the crosshairs hit the target. More or less shotgun style. How much time? May be 2.5-3 seconds? At longer range 50-100 meter I need ofcourse somewhat more time to settle the crosshairs and for a deliberate swing with lead. I get occasional shots out to 100 meters with the whitetail standing and looking at me. Again mount immediatly and squeeze. Try to get that shot of, offhand in 3-4 seconds. At that short range there is no time to dither for a rest. You got to have the confidence to shoot offhand out to 100 meter.

"LONG RANGE HUNTING".

In the field this is quite a different shooting proposition then on the comfie range in good light with high definition targets, and a thermos with sandwiches at hand.

In the field on a shivery cold Alberta November morning or evening in a field ambush, sitting behind forked sticks or prone with bipod I find 200-300 yards a maximum depending how cold and dusky it is. 400 yards is my comfort max for deer shooting, in very good light and if I am not cold, under 0-wind conditions in prone or rock steady sitting field positions aided with bipod or crossed sticks. If cold I am just too uncomfortable to be able to shoot far, prone or sitting even with forked sticks or bipod.

If any wind at all I do not push beyond 300 yards.

That is my comfort zone. However I rarely ever have shot a deer over 300 yards ( 3 antelope between 300-400 yards).

In field ambushes as just described I pre-range with my rangefinder on landmarks. When deer come out I do not have to fiddle and dither. I then already know the range.

The bulk of my 80+ deer were well within 50-150 yards.

I usually smile when I read nimrods preparing for their 500-600 yard deer, many of them having no clue about calculating wid drift. Many of them, rather green having watched Tom Beringers "SNIPER" movies, totally enamoured with the larger magnums, not being aware that such equipment is strictly for the "experienced graduates". Now they are going to play "SNIPER". With their large bulky rigs and oversize scopes with bipods, scope caps and sling they never be able to get a shot of when a nice buck jumps up from 20 yards away or closer and scoots. I often see people so equiped seriously handicapping themselves for the quick fire now close in shots of scooting deer.

Please do not get me wrong I am not ridiculing the newcomers in this field. I too went through the school and learned by trial and error.

And........................where I have hunted in the last 40 years( Quebec/Ontario/Alberta)

90% of the shots were within 150 yards and needed to be taken now, not 10 seconds from now. Many deer here get away because the dude is too bussy unclicking scope caps/finding safety/trying to find deer in 14 or 10x scope, fidle with the power setting, then trying prone, then kneeling, then......................O shucks where is that deer now...........................?????

Anyway I am dwelling off thread and start repeating myself. You get my drift .

My 2 cents worth.

I'm also from upstate NY and get in about 5 to 6000 rounds per year between shooting hunting rifles, sporter rifle, high power competition and practice.