will be the first time been hunting in almost 7 years

[homersipes]

Was at my in laws house the other day and my brother in law was telling me he know where there are a couple of big bears.  I have wanted to get a bear for a LONG time, so got me all excited, drug the gun out yesterday and did some shooting, havent shot in about 7 years

not bad for bein rusty   I dont shoot off of a bench or a rest, sling only.  I put a spent shell in before I started shooting and let me tell ya did I have one heck of a flinch   so I was watching some bear videos last night and came across this one pretty funny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uswRbzlhixQ

[SmokinLoon]

Good shooting... for 25 yards.   

Be sure and use different positions while practicing.  I've been lucky over the past 15-18 years while hunting game animals, most of my shots I've able to go prone and take my time and guess-imate the ranges, wind, etc.  On a few occasions I've been surprised and for some reason I've instantly dropped to one knee before firing.  Those kneeling shots always seemed to work out for me though.  Not once have I eve taken a shot from standing without using a tree for support.

That kneeling thing was a hard habit to break while going through law enforcement training.  When the sim guns started firing the first thing I'd do is drop to a knee and raise up the rifle, and almost instantly get a paint pellet right to the face mask.  After some encouragement from the instructor (aka Sgt Hartman from "Full Metal Jacket" style), I learned the "move-n-fire to cover".   

[Rich46yo]

Looks like "minute of Animal" to me. To many American shooters are obsessed with putting bullets thru the same hole while practicing, which means to much bench shooting. That, and many ranges dont allow free handed shooting. I know the best practice I ever had was for many years I belonged to a hunting club where during the off season we would set up 5 to 10 life sized animal targets and go from station to station shooting from realistic positions. Kneeling, standing, off sticks, snap shooting...ect. It was great practice.

Bench shooting has its place. I do it often trying to hone a load to a rifle, which is fun. But its a mistake not to practice realistic shooting if your a hunter. Putting bullets in the boiler room is all that matters. Good luck on the hunt.

[homersipes]

thanks, was at 100 yards though   yeah I agree Rich, bench shooting isnt much practice for hunting, thats why I use my sling to shoot offhand, I had a friend that taught me how to use the sling for a support as he used to say a bench is used to test the gun and a sling offhand tests the shooter.