Sometimes when I’m in my own little dream world, I get to thinking it should be me instead of a guy like David Petzal who should be writing for the big magazines. David Petzal is a regular on the Field & Stream magazine staff, but I feel that he completely misses the point in his article “Shoot Offhand with Grace” in the current Vol. 125 No. 2 issue.

He begins his article by saying that he asked a South African professional hunter what he thought of American riflemen. The reply? “Bleddy awful……They’re afraid of their guns, they’re over-scoped, and they won’t take a shot unless they have a bench rest. None of them can shoot offhand.”

Petzal follows by telling us that when Teddy Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, and Robert Ruark hunted, they shot offhand. He then goes on to say that when today’s American hunter must shoot from his/her hind legs, he has a tripod to steady his muzzle.

To his credit, Petzal does recognize the fact that if you hit an animal in Africa, you pay for it whether it is recovered or not. Since an animal like a sable can run into five figures, tripods have become a permanent part of the African scene today.

If I wasn’t already turned off by Petzal’s logic, the following vain statement was his coup de grace. “Shooting offhand always looks cool, even more so when done with a lever gun and a cowboy hat.” Well, I like cowboys, cowboy hats, and lever-action rifles, but I’ve never been concerned about looking cool. It’s apparently important to some. Jim Shockey must think that his black cowboy hat is cool…..but that’s his trademark.

To further my point of view, take the time to read African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt. An incredible amount of wounded game was left for the vultures and Hyenas. Teddy would have done well to use a tripod, but to him, the game was inexhaustible at the time. He had zero consideration for the wounded animals.

I’ll continue to be outspoken about using a solid rest, bipod, or tripod. If you have read my books, you know that most of the game I’ve killed was taken with the use of a solid rest. This is true of most of my elk and all the deer I have taken in the last twenty years. Yes, I wanted to make certain that I bagged what I was shooting at, but far more im od & Nimrod iltz shing Enthusiast portant, I wanted to make a clean and humane kill. The thought of a wounded, suffering animal makes me sick to my stomach.

I’m not making excuses for myself or the American hunter. Offhand shooting skill is important. In spite of my tremor and peripheral neuropathy, I can shoot offhand. The Wyoming elk I dropped in 2017 was in a running herd. In 2007 I dropped a running cow elk in the company of two bulls. I regret that I couldn’t have used my tripod, but my shots were right on. They never heard the shot.

Petzal is right about our need to improve offhand shooting. There are times when we think an animal is too good to pass up and we don’t have the time to set up our tripod. For me, I can truthfully say that I’ve passed up most of those shots. However, it is apparent that in today’s world, Petzal’s opinion is far more important than mine.

One tool that lends itself to offhand shooting improvement is the .22 rim fire rifle and some empty pop cans. My only .22 is a Marlin Model 39A lever-action. Maybe that makes me little bit cool in Petzal’s eyes – especially if I wear my cowboy hat while practicing.

Based on reader feedback, my tidbits on SD homesteader life taken from Rose Tomac Tidball’s Taming the Plains was much enjoyed by all. With this “stay at home” virus thing, Betsy and I have been watching too much television including old “Gunsmokes.” Occasionally the Gunsmoke writers touched on some actual history. I watched an episode a few weeks ago where a drunk was making an effort to change his ways. He took a job in a general store to stay away from liquor, and wound up getting blitzed on vanilla extract. Rose relates a number of vanilla extract episodes.

See you next week.