Impact of fatigue on shooting

My lightest shotgun, the M2, is 5.8lbs but I don’t find it whippy. Probably 2 reasons.

1) With a SA long receiver and a 26” barrel it is as long or longer than my O/Us that have 28” barrels, albeit over a pound or more lighter than the O/Us.

2) I find that if I do 3 things correctly it’s a stone cold killing machine. Solid cheek weld to stock (and I have shimmed it to shoot where I look), solid pull back into shoulder pocket when mounting and lastly FOCUSING on the bird and swinging through results in a hit.

Goof up any one of those things and a miss is a high probability. Just my two cents.
 
Goosemaster said:
5 miles is a LONG WALK!!
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Wednesday of last week we arrived at 3 pm, unloaded, drove 25 miles, began hunting around 4:15…dark around 5:30…4.8 miles…maybe I got back to the truck a bit later than that…normal thing…that field was light cover, easy walking…shot two right away adjacent to a huge cattail slough, lost one.
 
I dont normally call BS, but I LOL at that one. I run for distance and can tell you that you didnt "hunt" at 4 miles per hour. That is a steady light jog man! ^^^

Either your watch is off or you arent right with your times
 
Flushedup said:
I dont normally call BS, but I LOL at that one. I run for distance and can tell you that you didnt "hunt" at 4 miles per hour. That is a steady light jog man! ^^^

Either your watch is off or you arent right with your times
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I thought the same thing, fwiw! I just carry my I phone with me…I often walk at 3 mph..
 
Just looked at my phone, 9832 steps on 11/17…left home at 8 am, maybe I had my phone on me before I left in the truck…didn’t do anything but walk from house to truck…maybe .2-.3 was prior to the hunt, unloaded at 3pm when I got to my farmhouse...probably the case, phone said 4.8 for the day when I looked at it once back in the truck after the hunt.I would guess 4.25-4.5 miles in that rough timeframe of 80-90 minutes. A month ago a buddy gave me a garmin watch that tracks distance walked…my phone was exactly the same as that device. Like I said, light cover, first walk of the day, 3 mph not an issue…heavy cover? 2 mph…looked at my call log, I see I returned a missed call at 3:58, left the truck by 4…yup, started walking right then…walked 80 minutes minimum, maybe 90…my first outbound call was at 5:45 to my wife, called her right when I started driving..my buddy and I chatted only 30 seconds at the trucks..I probably farted around for 5 minutes when I got to my truck, gathering up 3 dogs. fwiw, had 22,850 steps the next day, 11.6 miles…we took an hour break for lunch…probably hunted 5 hours not counting truck time and lunch break. But hunting alone, first walk, light cover, no bird contacts after first 15 minutes of walking, 3 mph not unusual for me. Not saying it’s the way to hunt, but I hunt the way I hunt. Killed 3+ per day the rest of the trip, which is normal for me. My dogs dictate my pace as much as anything, I don’t collar them…once in a while my 2.5 year old female will have one on, but rarely. I estimated 75 minutes of walking initially, probably 90-95. Did 50,000 steps Thur-Sat…fri/sat were light days, great morning hunt Friday, good day Saturday as well. 8 miles is a typical day for me this season. I own a quarter, and when I hunt myself, I do 3 mph easy…light cover, mostly. Saturday was day 38 in MT/Dakotas this season, 24 have been pheasant hunting…the rest sharpies and Huns…I quit counting pheasants harvested at 50, suspect mid ‘60’s at the moment…no skunked days, a few at 1 due to rain, heat, or only having the last hour or so to hunt on arrival day, like last wed…a few 2 bird days, not many…most 3-4, a few 5+. Like I said in earlier post, I’d take a 1 bird day with full day of walking over a quick limit. But there may be a moral to the story…walk, walk, walk! With good dogs…and hopefully a gun you shoot well. If I came here to lie about my exploits it would include 60 yard shots, amazing dog work, and being propositioned by hot waitresses in the local tavern! Not my walking speed!😝. But I did have some spectacular shots Friday am, and my 6 year old has had some unbelievable finds this season after pointing beautifully…the dog work is what I remember…wow!!! One of my buddies who I hunt with wears a fit bit, and he’s about 5’7”…his device routinely reports that he had taken more steps than me, and has walked further…we’re afield the same amount of time. I’m 6’, have no idea how the I phone does/doesn’t factor in height, but my buddy says his fit bit does. I walk daily spring-fall on pavement, I know I’m a 3 mph walker when not stopping or being slowed by heavy cover…that first walk wed was that type of walk…it’s a WIA owned by DU…last year it had cover, this year it was 99% corn, which had been picked…the edges had some cover, was boogying to get to areas with cover, much of the walk was just picked corn. I own a 1/4 that is in WRP…light grasses…1/2 mile squared …easy to walk the 2 miles of edges in well under an hour…today or 20 years ago…cover was heavier then, but I was only 35! 😝
 
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I am heading to be Iowa this afternoon. If I like hunting there and find the towns to my liking, I am going to relocate this summer. So far my trips up there to visit my daughter have been promising. Cost of living seems cheaper.
 
I'm into fitness stuff... If you are using the GPS on your smartwatch, then it's going to be 100% accurate in the distance traveled. I have a Garmin Fenix and I created an "activity" on it called Pheasant Hunting. But if you are counting steps, each brand is going to vary significantly. FitBit seems to over estimate steps by quite a bit, or maybe other brands under estimate them, I don't know. I have seen some studies where someone wears multiple kinds of step counting watches and they all had very different numbers by the end of the day (like from 5,000 steps on one to 20,000 on another). To me, steps are very inaccurate but GPS cannot lie on distances.
 
I know pretty well how far I walk on average while bird hunting…3 mph sharpie hunting, 2.25 mph most days pheasant hunting. Love sharpie hunting..,light cover, great geography, great time of year despite heat some of the time…
 
westksbowhunter said:
I am heading to be Iowa this afternoon. If I like hunting there and find the towns to my liking, I am going to relocate this summer. So far my trips up there to visit my daughter have been promising. Cost of living seems cheaper.
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Hope you have a great trip.
 
Chestle said:
My lightest shotgun, the M2, is 5.8lbs but I don’t find it whippy. Probably 2 reasons.

1) With a SA long receiver and a 26” barrel it is as long or longer than my O/Us that have 28” barrels, albeit over a pound or more lighter than the O/Us.

2) I find that if I do 3 things correctly it’s a stone cold killing machine. Solid cheek weld to stock (and I have shimmed it to shoot where I look), solid pull back into shoulder pocket when mounting and lastly FOCUSING on the bird and swinging through results in a hit.

Goof up any one of those things and a miss is a high probability. Just my two cents.
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You close your left eye.
 
benelli-banger said:
No epiphany, but my shooting really can go south the longer I’m afield…yesterday was a great example. Shot very well the first hour, ok the hour after that, then all bets were off the last few hours! It was the second full day of hunting, but we did walk 5 miles wed afternoon…11.6 Thursday…ended up at 7 Friday…not huge amounts of physical output, but I’m guessing the cumulative effect was catching up. Not the first time I’ve noticed how different my shooting is early vs late in a full day….a few of my shots early would make my top 25 best ever shots! And a few later would make me totally forget those great shots!😩
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I haven't noticed it so much hunting, but in trap shooting I know if I am getting tired or haven't eaten anything for a long time, it will affect my timing and my scores go way down. Once I notice it, I may as well quit for the day because it isn't going to improve until I get some rest.

It probably affects my ability to hit pheasants too, but I only have to make three good shots there. ;)

Jerry
 
Jerryv said:
I haven't noticed it so much hunting, but in trap shooting I know if I am getting tired or haven't eaten anything for a long time, it will affect my timing and my scores go way down. Once I notice it, I may as well quit for the day because it isn't going to improve until I get some rest.

It probably affects my ability to hit pheasants too, but I only have to make three good shots there. ;)

Jerry
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Kinda like my golf game :unsure:
 
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