We Americans are fond of lists, and there’s nothing wrong with that. When it comes to rifle shooters, we’re an organized lot anyway, and grouping ideas into lists appeals to our sense of order. This particular list is self-explanatory, but the reason it’s important may not be so evident. For hunters in particular, it’s easy these days to get all wrapped up in the arms race--equipping oneself with all the latest gear and the fastest, flattest calibers--and forget that being a good field shot requires a set of mental and physical skills you can’t buy at any store or in any catalog. Here are 10 skills I think every serious rifleman needs.

MOUNT A SCOPE. I’m the clumsiest, most non-mechanical person in the world, so properly mounting a scope, though very simple, is a challenge for me. But I believe it is essential to do this for yourself because otherwise it’s impossible to make sure you get the eye relief right for you and ensure there is no canting. And when accuracy problems arise, we so often want to start hacking on the bedding or other drastic steps when so often the real culprit is a loose or improperly assembled mount.

Mounting a scope properly is a simple matter of reading the directions and following them, step by step, using properly fitting tools and taking your time to make sure you’ve got it right and tight. There are little tricks to learn, too, such as thorough degreasing, roughing the inner surfaces of the rings and judicious application of thread-locking compound.

BORE-SIGHT AND ZERO. Collimators are good and laser bore-sighters are better, but I haven’t yet found any device to be as precise as good old-fashioned bore-sighting. There are few things more frustrating than going to the range and wasting time and bullets trying to get a new rifle or a newly mounted scope on paper, and in the field, old-fashioned bore-sighting by eye--simply aligning the bore at a target or object, then adjusting the scope until it is alignment--is a handy way to check your rifle if you fall or miss an easy shot.

Reading the shot is a crucial skill that combines recognizing the effects of wind, angle, position of game and more. The ability to do this all quickly and surely will lead to success in the field.

With practice you can become very proficient at bore-sighting by eye. The catch, of course, is you must be able to remove the bolt or, in the case of a single-shot, open the action so you can look down the bore. With other action types, a collimator is the only option.

Properly zeroing your rifle is a purely mechanical exercise in which you attempt to remove as much human error as possible to ensure your zero is exactly where you want it and also determine the level of accuracy your rifle is delivering with a given load.

This isn’t about shooting but primarily about benchrest technique. Any good rest, from high-end rigs to plain old sandbags, will work just fine. Both butt and fore-end should be secure so the rifle is on target with no muscling. The supporting hand should snug the rear sandbag into the shoulder and should not touch the rifle. Zeroing cannot be rushed, and should be verified and re-verified with a cold barrel.

UNDERSTAND YOUR BULLET. American riflemen tend to be enamored of both velocity and accuracy, but provided you have enough of both to get the job done, neither is as important as the terminal performance of the bullet. All over the world I see hunters using loads that I think are somewhat (and sometimes wildly) unsuited for the job at hand simply because they were the fastest or the most accurate.