Learn to work the action and/or reload quickly, and always be prepared to keep shooting when necessary. On almost every animal I have ever lost, I had an opportunity to fire again and for whatever reason failed to do so.

KEEP COOL. It is extremely normal to be excited in the presence of game. If you are not excited when a shot at a beautiful animal is imminent, then I strongly recommend you get your kicks elsewhere. It’s okay for your heart rate to go up, and it’s okay to have to do some serious deep breathing, but you must learn to control it.

There is a proper timing for almost any shot, and I believe it is mostly excitement that causes too many of us to rush our shots or sometimes to wait too long. It takes experience to learn how to keep buck fever at bay, and experience in the presence of game can take years to acquire. The best thing I know to do is to take deep breaths, try to relax, and concentrate on the critical shooting basics of sight alignment and trigger squeeze.

KNOW WHEN NOT TO SHOOT. Even if you have practiced well and can get ready quickly, the time needed to take an accurate shot isn’t always within your control. What you can always control is whether you squeeze that trigger or not. If you’re alone, you have self-imposed pressure to get the job done; if you’re with a companion or guide, you may have someone screaming in your ear, “Shoot!”

Checking your zero applies to all rifles in all calibers with all types of sighting equipment. A proper zero proven by a good group is one of the best confidence builders in the world.

Perhaps most important in deciding whether to shoot is your analysis of whether you can make the shot or not. We all miss, and there’s no shame in missing, but you should not attempt a shot unless you are dead certain that you can get the bullet into the vitals, and only you can determine--based on your skill and experience and the current conditions--whether you have a shot or not.

There’s also the issue of what might happen next. In mountain hunting, for instance, you might have a perfectly acceptable shot, but you must consider the possibility of the animal falling--destroying meat and trophy or making recovery too dangerous.

HIT MOVING TARGETS. One of Jack O’Connor’s great quotes is that animals are “just as big moving as they are when standing still.” There are moving shots and then there are moving shots. It depends on speed and distance. If you’re an experienced shotgunner, or if you practice a lot on moving targets (jackrabbits with a .22 are unbeatable practice), then you might be able to take genuine running shots at fairly close range with confidence. For most of us, however, a genuine flat-out running animal, especially beyond point-blank range, should raise the “no shot” flag.