What do you do to stay calm?

[Alan]

So, I've figured out you can't totally get rid of nerves. You just have to deal with them. Before I take a shot, I try to breathe and remember the basics. What do you do to stay calm?

 

[Shane]

I remind myself the shot is routine and breathe slow while letting my nerves settle naturally.

 

[ProCarryNAustin]

Breathing is a huge part of the process for me. Control the breath and your body/mind should follow.

 

[TADD]

There is no substitute for trigger time. Shoot enough to develop a routine, for gripping the firearm, cheek rest, breathing, and trigger break. Focus on a precise location for shot placement. Follow the routine. Try to take your mind off “the moment” until the animal is down. Then, immerse yourself in the moment and be thankful. This is just my strategy. Hope it helps.

 

[Drycreek]

There is no substitute for trigger time. Shoot enough to develop a routine, for gripping the firearm, cheek rest, breathing, and trigger break. Focus on a precise location for shot placement. Follow the routine. Try to take your mind off “the moment” until the animal is down. Then, immerse yourself in the moment and be thankful. This is just my strategy. Hope it helps.

Pretty well what I do. At my age, I have taken so many shots at game, that I no longer get too nervous. Funny thing, I think taking up bow hunting in a target rich environment helped with that.

 

[Deleted member 153]

Agreed… trigger time and breathing skills are both great ways to make an accurate shot to be successful. Also spending time in your stand testing….easing your rifle into position without drawing attention by bumping something. Moving nice and easy while monitoring your game and not drawing attention. Even testing those one time situations where the animal is in an area where you have to be in an odd position to get a shot. Always scanning the area for any change in shadows or the slightest movement. So many stories where that great once in a lifetime opportunity came and went because someone bumped the rifle or knocked something over in the stand or their jacket brushes against something and they gave themselves away…

 

[Drycreek]

Agreed… trigger time and breathing skills are both great ways to make an accurate shot to be successful. Also spending time in your stand testing….easing your rifle into position without drawing attention by bumping something. Moving nice and easy while monitoring your game and not drawing attention. Even testing those one time situations where the animal is in an area where you have to be in an odd position to get a shot. Always scanning the area for any change in shadows or the slightest movement. So many stories where that great once in a lifetime opportunity came and went because someone bumped the rifle or knocked something over in the stand or their jacket brushes against something and they gave themselves away…

I remember hunting hogs one night several years ago. Two hogs entered my food plot headed toward the corn I had laid out on the ground. As I started to get my 6.8 SPC out the window I barely bumped the blind in the dark. Dog gone hogs GONE !

 

[BrotherHubb]

In the sniper school I attended (FBI) we were constantly reminded of the respiratory pause, which is when you exhale completely, the lungs are deflated which lessens bodily influences. Focus on the crosshairs more than the target and accept that you and your scope will move, rarely do we have everything perfectly still. Steady pressure on the trigger and the shot should be a little surprise. Look up Carlos Hathcock’s shot card routine, it’s a great guide from one of the best snipers ever.

 

[Kwaynem]

I usually breathe out and forget to breathe again if the shot is no longer there then I’m panting trying to get regulated again

 

[LDB]

If I need calm and peace I think about my best half. Best life partner in the galaxy as her completely accurate shirt says (and the reason I gave it to her). Works every time. I know that's not an answer exactly to the intended question, but it is an answer to the overall question.

 

[Mike6158]

Pretty well what I do. At my age, I have taken so many shots at game, that I no longer get too nervous.

Same. I have more trouble with bumping things in the blind than I do staying calm. I usually watch the "target" for a few minutes (if I can) and that relaxes me.

Put a few thousand rounds through a 7mm Rem Mag, 338 Edge, and 6.5 PRC (combined not each) and you'll either find the calm place or shoot crappy groups