ah yes, the wonderful shooting bench. a great invention. it really is! how else could we fine tune our ammo until we can shoot they eye out of a gnat at 400 paces. the only trouble is, that way to many can only hit something from that same rest. the bench is a wonderful tool. for load development and zeroing scopes. perhaps even breaking in a new rifle, or making sure a scope will not move under high recoil conditions. however, as soon as the first cool spell hits, in my book, it is time to walk away from the bench, in favor of shooting stix, a tree, or a good old knee. now it is time to sharpen OUR skills. the ammo is precise, the scope is zeroed, now comes the weakest link in the chain. man (or woman). we really are the weakest link in this high powered, scoped out, recoil padded high speed rock chucker. it is our lack of control that sends so many bullets to die a meaningless death. buried in an oak or maple tree, instead of doing its rightful job. way to many humans blame inanimate objects for their own short comings. the more i mingle with both sexes, the more i notice the men doing so more often than the women do. i am not sure if it is our frail ego, or just the fact that our buddies will razz the tar out of us. at least until it happens to them. the bottom line is we need to shoot at least a couple of boxes of ammo before the hunt, AWAY from that %$&@ bench. remembering the basics as you shoot. and dissecting each shot so you LEARN WHY that last shot went 8" to the right, or 4" low, or both. then, and only then, will YOU be ready for the hunt.

"USTA" - meaning "was once able"!

I "usta" be able to do all the above exercises.

I'm not an invalid by any means, but I've experienced the "onset" of "age" induced impediments! ergo: sand bags and shooting benches in box blinds.

BTW! Nice bull!

Ha, we were doing this with air rifles in my backyard not 2 hours ago. We use the 2 inch shoot-n-see's stuck to wooden stakes and take turns doing calisthenics. Doesn't help with recoil, but it's fantastic for breath control and so cheap it's almost free.

Kudos to your pal on his successful hunt. This shooting prep would seem good for Bear Hunting, as well.

A friend of mine is a big time bow hunter, he shoots a hand made long bow and has taken moose, elk, deer, even antelope with it.
His normal routine is to jog at a fast pace approximately a mile and a half from a river bottom up to a ridge point (about 80ft of elevation change)kneel and shoot at a couple of 3D targets spaced at intervals up and down the slope of the ridge.

Shooting from a bench or rest at the range will tell you how well your rifle will shoot but standing on your own two feet will tell how well you, yourself can shoot. If you can keep three shots out of 5 in a 6 inch bull at 100 yds you are an average shooter 4 out of five is really good.This only applies to those that have no handicaps. Any time I see a big game animal it gets my heart rate going a mile a minute. Force your brain to control your body and make the shot, after all it is the brain that controls everything.