rifle hunt — Blog — Late to the Game Outdoors

Cheek Weld Riser | Custom Fit Your Rifle for Cheap

One key (but often overlooked) component of proper shooting technique is the cheek weld. The idea is that you stabilize the front of your rifle on a pack (or a bipod if you’re fancy), get the butt of the rifle stabilized and nestled firmly in your shoulder, then bring your cheek down to rest on the stock giving you a perfect line of sight through your scope. Piece of cake, right? Well…not always. If you’re one of the vast majority of hunters out there shooting a standard production rifle with a molded stock (like I am), then the odds that your stock, the scope height, scope diameter, necessary eye-relief, AND the shape of your face are all going to line up perfectly out of the box…well, if it does, you should probably stop and buy a lottery ticket on your way home from the range, ‘cause you’re a lucky dude.

Always Bring the Barney Fife Bullet: Lessons Learned the Hard Way

It was the 3rd morning of a rifle mule deer hunt in the desert southwest of Phoenix. I had been drawn for big game in AZ at least six times over ten years, and still had yet to bag my first animal. Due to scope issues with my rifle, by this point in the hunt I had missed two large bucks, and burned through a whole box of ammo trying to sight in again. We arrived before dawn on that third morning and I was determined that this was the day my slump would end. As I gathered my gear and loaded up my rifle, I found myself with four rounds in the gun, three in a spare magazine, and one lonely .30-06 round sitting in the box. “I’ll just leave this in the Jeep,” I thought to myself. “After all, who could possibly need more than seven rounds to put down a deer? Plus, who walks around with a loose bullet in their pocket? I’m not Barney Fife”...