So what can go wrong? Well, let's take a closer look at that shot I blew in Texas. I was shooting an adequately accurate bolt action with a medium-powered variable. The cartridge was .308 Winchester. As you may know, the .308 isn't my cup of tea (I'm a .30-06 guy), but it's a very good cartridge and certainly capable of the shot I asked it to perform. It was an unfamiliar rifle, but, after all, I spend so much time shooting test rifles that unfamiliar rifles are darn near the norm for me. I checked it before we started the hunt; it was a couple of inches high, and the group drifted perhaps an inch left--not enough to make a change.

The point of shooting from a bench is taking the time to get it really right. I failed to do this on the hunt described in the story. I knew the rifle was shooting slightly left, but I didn't think I'd have a shot long enough for it to matter. I was dead wrong.

As I said, the buck was standing at about 260 yards, apparently broadside, head to the right. I normally shoot a cartridge that's just a bit faster than the .308 Winchester, and I normally sight-in a wee bit higher. Obviously, I hadn't anticipated a shot beyond 200 yards, but that's what I drew. Knowing I had a bit of drop to contend with, I think I held the horizontal wire right on the backline. I got that part right. The hit was a bit low, but if I'd planted it on the shoulder I'd have been just fine. However, I didn't. I am certain that the vertical wire was on the shoulder, but I now know that the bullet drifted about 15 inches left.

I wish I could figure out exactly how I did that. I can't, but I can come up with several contributing factors. Singly, none of them explains the error, but collectively? First, I knew darned well the rifle was shooting a wee bit left at 100 yards. I neither corrected the sights (when I could have) nor allowed for the difference. Technically, I shouldn't have been more than 2 1/2 inches left, so this is not an excuse, but when I squeezed the trigger I was starting the bullet drifting that direction.

Second, I failed to read the wind. It was a breezy day, but lying low to the ground for the shot, I couldn't tell what the wind was doing. Absent gale-force wind drift is usually not significant in the middle distances, but a smart shooter should at least take note and make a conscious decision to either allow for the wind or take your chances and ignore it. I honestly don't know where the wind was when that bullet left the barrel, but let's assume it was a crosswind that pulled me another few inches to the left.

Third, although I saw the deer as standing broadside, the video replay showed he was quartering away--not severely, but enough to narrow the target and place any error to the left somewhat farther back than it might seem. Not visualizing the deer's attitude correctly was probably my greatest error.

Finally, as you've undoubtedly figured out, I rushed the shot. Maybe I had time to remember the rifle was a bit left. Maybe I had time to properly figure the wind. Maybe I had time to study the buck more carefully. Or maybe he would have bolted. In any case, I didn't get him, did I? Far worse, I didn't exactly miss him. I lay down and was steady enough, or at least I thought I was. The buck was looking our way, frozen, so I thought I had very little time to get the shot off before he took off. My biggest worries were the distance and the hold. The former I got right; the latter I only got half right (which isn't good enough).

I'd have been better off taking just a few seconds longer to make sure I had it all right. But after all, it wasn't all that far. It was a very normal shot at very normal distance, the kind of shot that I would place in the vital zone almost every time. So I guess I suffered from overconfidence as well.

Shooting too slowly can be a huge problem, but it's better than shooting too quickly, before your computer has processed all the information. And that's what I did.