To become a huntress - post 5

To master the practical shooting tests

Blogpost 5: To master the practical shooting tests

In addition to the theoretical test, that took a lot of my time for studying, there is also some practical tests that you have to do to pass your hunting exam (a practical test for shotguns, a basic rifle shooting test and a special test for class 1 rifles). Of course, you will practice this during your course, but how much you practice depends on what courses you take. As I did my course a bit on distance due to Corona, I have had to practice some shooting myself. I have been lucky to have my co-workers at Norma who have been able to help me with the practice. If you do not have someone who can show you, you can book a local shooting range to practice. I had also a lot of time to practice shooting during the days that I met Patric, but I wanted to feel confident in the tests so I practiced on my own as well.


Practicing with shotshells. 

One day we were practicing shooting at a shooting cinema. I thought this was a fun way to practice shooting as you can immediately see how and where you hit the screen. In a shooting cinema, you shoot on a large screen, and on the screen movies with game animals in different situations are played. This gives you the opportunity to really get the chance to practice both shooting positions, to shoot on running animals and situations where dogs are running after the animal for example.


Practicing at a shooting cinema with my co-workers.

Another important part of the practical tests is of course safe weapon handling and distance assessment. You must always have a safe weapon handling when you shoot, so this is something I have practiced automatically during my shooting practice. But even though it comes automatically, it can be a good thing to discuss it and rehearse it with those who know it and have been hunters for a while. In my case, I discussed it with people around me with more experience. I also do a thing when I am at the shooting range, and that is to talk loudly to myself when I practice shooting to remember the different steps. The distance assessment has been a little more difficult for me as I know myself that I have a hard time to estimate how far away things are and it is not very easy to walk around and guess distance to things if you do not have the answer on how far away it actually is. So this is why I suggest trying to find a way to practice this easily.

For me, as I said, it has been a security to be able to practice a little extra on the shooting as I know that when I stand there at the shooting range, my pulse is rising and I am getting a bit nervous. So these are my tips for the practical tests.

Have a nice day /Sofia, Team Norma

Related pages