The “shoot/don’t shoot” decision is yours alone. No matter what pressure you’re under, if you aren’t confident you can place the shot in the vitals, don’t fire.

You simply must choose bullet performance that’s appropriate to the game being hunted. Why do I consider this a skill? Because it requires the dedication to do your homework. In most situations there are many good choices, so read and study (and take all hype with a grain of salt) and make sound choices.

Make sure you understand the performance characteristics of the bullet you are choosing, and then make sure you understand the velocity and trajectory of your chosen load. The only way to be certain of these characteristics is to actually chronograph your load and then verify the trajectory by shooting at actual ranges.

GET STEADY--FAST. One of the biggest complaints most guides have is that their hunters are too slow to get into position for a shot, which translates into lost opportunities. Many hunters either have no plan for getting steady or are so rigidly tied to just one position or means of support that they are totally lost if the preferred technique won’t work.

Sure, it’s good to have a preferred technique--and you should practice it religiously--but you should also practice as wide an array of shooting positions as your imagination and range of mobility will allow. This includes shooting unsupported from the classic positions: standing, kneeling, sitting and prone. Then modify all of these positions by adding something solid to rest on, over or against.

The goal is to learn how to get steady and shoot accurately from as wide a variety of positions as possible and also to get into position quickly. With experience you will develop an instinctive knowledge of what is going to work in a given situation.

READ THE SHOT. On most ranges, you know the range, you can read the range flags for wind, and you’re probably shooting on level ground. In the field, you must read all of these things, and you must be able to do it quickly. Rangefinders are great, but there isn’t always time to use them (and perhaps one of their greatest attributes is how they can, through practice, make you better at quickly judging range by eye).

Similarly, there are now laser rangefinders that will give you the correction for an uphill/downhill shot. But, again, time and conditions won’t always allow their use. Nor, in my view, is it practical to attempt to memorize precisely how various angles affect your trajectory. You just need to know roughly what the effect is at various ranges as angles increase.

Reading wind and adjusting correctly for it is one of the hallmarks of a truly great rifleman. You have to test not only the air but study the grass and leaves at midrange, and at the target, and come up with a solution.

In the end, you need to combine these skills to read the shot and then be able to execute it before your quarry wanders off.

BACK UP YOUR OWN SHOT. Americans tend to rely on our first shot alone. African professional hunters call it “admiring the shot”--firing a deliberate first shot then waiting to see what happens. You try to make that first shot as perfect as possible, but after that all bets are off--especially if that shot connects and the animal is still up. The second shot can be crucial in preventing a lost animal and with dangerous game may well be even more important than the first shot--and the presentation is very unlikely to be better.