Hunting Success, Trusting your Gear
As a hunter myself, I have to admit that occasionally all of the stars line up perfectly and I just happen to get lucky to fill a tag. I would also have to admit that in 30 years of hunting I can probably count these anomalies on one hand. I think if you were to take a poll, most hunters would fall on the side of agreement in this matter. The only way to be consistently successful in the hunting field is through experience, patience, and above all, trusting yourself and your equipment.
After several years of filling most of my tags year in and year out I had a year where I didn’t fill a single one. This really had me frustrated because the only thing I had done differently was change my equipment. I had went out and bought a new rifle and outfitted it with one of the best Nikon scopes that I could buy and assumed filling my tags would be easier. Needless to say I was wrong! The first shot I got with my new setup was on a nice muley that I had stalked to within 80 yards. I was lying on my belly and aiming up the hill; a shot I had made no less the 20 or 30 times before. Anyway, just as soon as the muley turned broadside I put the crosshairs on its shoulder and pulled the trigger. After rolling half way back down the hill and wiping the blood from my nose, I figured out I had missed the buck and had a nice circular cut running down the length of my nose from being scoped with my new rifle scope. This was on the first day of a planned 3 day hunt, so the missing the shot part wasn’t near as painful as the harassment I received at hunting camp for the remainder of the hunt. Also, after the humbling experience I couldn’t hit a thing the rest of the trip because I was too worried about doing more damage to my already miserable looking nose.
This is only one example of how trusting your hunting gear can make you a more successful hunter. I’m sure there are hundreds of other hunters out there that can tell you how they have missed a nice trophy by second guessing themselves or their equipment. There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting new rifles, or new scopes, or any other new items that come out on the market, just make sure you practice with them plenty before putting your pride on the line out in the field with them.
