Throughout all of the spring and summer months, I make it a practice to enjoy a few hours of shooting every other week. As much as I enjoy the feel of a smooth cork handle, the sound of a fly line hissing through the air and the dimple of a dry fly alighting, it’s not enough.

My hunting habits seem to require regular sensory stimulation, like the feel of fine checkering to the fingertips and cool smooth wood against the cheek. Sighting down the barrel, feeling the recoil, smelling the mingling perfume of Hoppes No. 9 and gun powder all fortify me for the trek through warm weather to finally reach autumn.

Summer shooting isn’t a new practice for me, and in fact the Maine sportsmen who fine tune their rifle and shotgun skills year around are abundant and widespread. Despite aging myself, I’ll reveal that my custom of summer target practice began with shooting rats under my Dad’s close supervision at the local dump after hours and on Sundays. Not only did I learn firearm safety, proper shooting techniques and small game hunting tactics, but I was performing a health service to the community. Those were the good old days.

Rifle training

Open dumps are a thing of the past and so therefore is the chance for youths or adults to target practice on vermin. Over the years however, most local sporting organizations and outdoor-oriented clubs have developed several alternative, everyday shooting opportunities. Bench-rest target ranges out to 100 or 200 yards are common practice sites constructed and maintained by many fish and game clubs.

One of the finest big game hunters I know is a crack rifle shot. Year after year he fills his deer tag in Maine, and usually a couple of other states. No matter if the whitetail is running, leaping, sneaking through thick brush or standing broadside in a field at over 200 yards, this modern day Davy Crocket makes the shot. Ask him why he’s such a fine shot and he’ll give full credit to a pellet gun.

In the basement of his house is a miniature target range with paper bulls eyes, metal spinning targets and miniature tip-over animal forms. During the winter and when the weather is inclement the rest of the year, at least three times a week my friend practices shooting with his moderately expensive, but very accurate pellet rifle. Spring through fall he visits the local rifle range weekly and practices with a different rifle each outing. It’s not just an old adage, especially concerning shooting: Practice does make perfect.

Several important subtleties of properly carrying, shouldering, aiming and firing a rifle require practice to be quick and dependable, and one or two outings to the range a week before hunting season isn’t adequate. Shooting experts recommend that every week or two, in addition to target practice, each sportsman spend at least 15 minutes handling their favorite rifle. In an open room (garage, basement, den), repeatedly practice mounting, swinging, and aiming at a pre-set target from the three most likely positions of carrying the rifle while actually hunting.

Imitate actual hunting situations by walking, having each foot on a different level and actually squeezing the trigger with a snap cap or spent shell in the breech. Weather permitting, and if you have a large enclosed backyard so neighbors and passerbys don’t oversee, or if you’re luck enough to live rurally where such sights aren’t a problem, do your walk, aim and fire routine outside.

Visit your nearest rifle range at least once a month throughout the summer with one or more hunting rifles and fire no less than 20 rounds per outing per long gun with no more than three shots at one setting. Shoot from offhand, standing, sitting and prone positions, as well as from the bench. Fill in the time between shooting the big gun by practicing with a .22 rifle. Fundamentals are the same for properly handling and firing any rifle, and a .22 offers lots of practice with minimal cost.

Hunters who live far from standard rifle ranges will have to improvise with paper targets, balloons, mechanical targets or plastic or tin containers (never glass) at the nearest gravel pit. Plinking provides family fun as well as sharpening the shooting senses. Several generations have been introduced to firearm safety and proper shooting technique with .22s and .410s in dumps and gravel pits. This style of summer shooting worked than and it will work now.

Scattergun practice

Similar in-house and backyard shouldering and sighting rituals will enhance balance and increase shooting precision for shotgunners as well as riflemen. One company even produces a battery operated laser insert for shotgun barrels which helps track the swing and pinpoint the sight picture. Nothing however takes the place of regular range work.

Many rod and gun clubs have skeet or trap fields, and sometimes both, and open shooting hours are available most weekends and at least a couple of week nights. Some shooting hours are open to non members, while other events are for members and guests only. Check the phone book or ask at the local gun shop and contact a nearby club for info.

When possible, visit a clay target range that offers a sporting clay course. Such courses are built to simulate actual hunting conditions and shooting opportunities with targets presenting from every conceivable height, angle and location. Visit a sporting clays course every couple of weeks and you’ll truly be prepared for fall bird hunting.

If your location precludes visiting a regulation clay target range, you’re probably far enough from civilization to create your own skeet shoot in a nearby field. Twenty five dollars will go a long way toward buying a hand thrower and a small case of clay targets. Then it’s just a matter of locating a wide open field far from roads and houses where friends can take turns flinging the bird and swinging the scattergun.

If several friends and family members are going to enjoy regular get togethers, pool a few dollars apiece and purchase a sturdy multi-feature, manually operated thrower that is portable, yet can be affixed in a stationary position for the duration of the shoot. Such machines create a greater challenge by adding speed and distance, as well as lateral and vertical range to thrown birds.

For a bit more excitement, most portable machines throw doubles and a few even throw triples. Growing up among Aroostook County’s farm and forest land, backyard skeet was a regular summer pastime, and each outing was a blast (pun intended). It will train novices and fine tune old pros for the upcoming fall flights of waterfowl and quick flushes of partridge and woodcock.

Live targets

Shooting practice at inanimate objects serves a purpose, but nothing provides the challenge of gunning live targets. Unfortunately, during the warm weather months when time and conditions are conducive to training, open hunting seasons are scarce. One challenging quarry is available as of mid-July, when the split season for crow reopens. These wily, wary varmints offer excellent long range gunning for riflemen and shotgunners can practice calling and wing shooting. Successfully hunt crows regularly through the summer and you will truly be prepared for fall feather and fur shooting.

If you’re fortunate enough to live within a reasonable driving distance of a pheasant hunting preserve, a couple of shoots will aid your goal of autumn preparedness. Live birds flushing from cover while a gunner deals with uneven terrain and field conditions lends to perfect practice conditions. Some bird farms even have fast, flighty quail to release, and these small game birds will truly sharpen your shooting skills. Preserve hunts will also help the gunner get his body in shape as well as his reflexes, and the tasty wildfowl tablefare is just another benefit.

Summer months pass quickly and there’s lots of casting, canoeing and camping to fit into these wonderful warm months, nonetheless, autumn is just over the next knoll with its myriad of colors, smells, sounds, and many hunting opportunities. Several seasons open in September, are you ready? It’s not too late to get on a summer shooting schedule.

Outdoor feature writer Bill Graves can be reached via e-mail at bgravesoutdoors@ainop.com

PHOTO BY BILL GRAVES

The author visits the rifle range at the local fish and game club at least every other weekend during the summer to practice shooting skills