Weapons & Marksmanship Fundamentals Core

Shooting Positions & Field Rests

Lesson 32 of 60 · Module 4, lesson 11

Your objective

By the end, you'll be able to choose and build the steadiest field shooting position the situation allows, use an available rest, and decide when no position is steady enough to shoot.

Judgment ~8 min

A buck steps into the open at 150 yards. From the bench you’d make this shot in your sleep — but you’re standing in the woods, heart pounding, rifle swimming all over him. The bench made you a shooter; the field tests whether you can build a steady position when it counts. This lesson is how.

Quick recall

Quick recall from Marksmanship Fundamentals — a steady hold comes mainly from what?

Bone support and your natural point of aim — not muscle Arm strength — holding the rifle up hard

Show answer

Correct: Bone support and your natural point of aim — not muscle — Right. Stable positions stack your skeleton under the rifle so muscle doesn't have to hold it. Every position below is a different way to get bone under the gun.
Not quite: Arm strength — holding the rifle up hard — Muscling the gun fatigues fast and shakes. Field positions work by replacing muscle with bone and ground contact.

The four positions, ranked by stability

Hunter education and the NRA teach the same hierarchy. More body on the ground = steadier. From most to least stable:

Prone — the steadiest. You’re flat on the ground, the most body in contact with the earth, so it’s the easiest to hold and the best for mastering the fundamentals. Legs spread, heels flat, cheek snug on the comb, support hand under the rear of the rifle. The catch: brush, grass, or terrain often block the line of sight.
Sitting — second. Three strong points of contact (seat, plus each leg/elbow). Sit, dig your boot heels in, and lock both elbows over your knees. Steady, fast enough to build, and clears low cover better than prone.
Kneeling — third. Down on the strong-side knee, sit on that heel, support elbow over the support knee — but only one elbow-knee connection, so it’s less steady than sitting. It’s quick and gets you a little higher over brush.
Standing (offhand) — least steady. Lots of air between the rifle and the ground means lots of wobble. Useful only when nothing lower works, and best reserved for close, easy shots — or braced on a rest.

Schematic of four shooting positions arranged left to right along a steadiness arrow. Prone is lowest and labeled steadiest; sitting is next; then kneeling; then standing, which is tallest and labeled least steady. Each shows a stick figure progressively higher off the ground. — Diagram (not a photo). The lower you get and the more body you put on the ground, the steadier you are. Always take the lowest position the terrain and the deer will allow.

Any rest beats no rest

Whatever position you’re in, a rest makes it steadier. Rests are the great equalizer — they let a hunter take a solid shot from a position that would otherwise be too wobbly. The common field rests:

Shooting sticks (bipod/tripod sticks). Cross-sticks form an “X”; rest the union of rifle and sticks in your support hand, lean into them, and adjust elevation by raising/lowering the sticks. They turn a standing shot into a realistic one.
A backpack. Drop your pack in front of you and rest the forestock on top — a near-prone-grade rest you carry everywhere. Squeeze or shape the pack for fine elevation.
A tree or post. Brace the back of your support hand against the trunk and the rifle against your hand — never the bare barrel against the tree (it shifts point of impact and damages nothing good). A standing-braced shot is far steadier than true offhand.

Edge case Two rest mistakes that throw the shot

Resting the barrel directly on a hard object (tree, rail, rock) makes the barrel bounce differently as the shot fires and walks your point of impact — rest the forestock or your hand, never the barrel itself. Bone-on-bone contact — like setting your elbow point right on your kneecap in sitting or kneeling — is a wobbly ball-joint; slide the elbow forward onto the soft muscle just past the knee so it locks instead of rolls. Small fixes, big difference at distance.

Build the shot

A real moment unfolds. Make the calls a steady hunter makes.

Decision

A buck feeds into the open at 150 yards. You're standing in light brush. Offhand, the crosshair is swimming all over him. What do you do?

Take the offhand shot before he moves

The reticle is never still. The shot sails high and back — a gut hit and a long, ugly track. 150 yards offhand is the textbook wound shot.

Drop slowly to a SITTING position and find a rest

You ease down, lock both elbows over your knees. The wobble shrinks dramatically. He's still feeding, unaware...

Pass immediately — too far

Safe, but premature. 150 is well within a steady rifle's range — you just needed a steadier position. Don't pass shots you can make steady; pass shots you can't.

Check the calls

Knowledge check

You have time and the terrain is open and flat. Which position should you build for the steadiest shot?

Prone — the steadiest of the four Standing — you'll see over the grass better

Show answer

Correct: Prone — the steadiest of the four — Right. With time and a clear line of sight, prone puts the most body on the ground and is the easiest to hold steady. Take it when terrain allows.
Not quite: Standing — you'll see over the grass better — Standing is the LEAST steady position. If brush blocks prone, step up to sitting or kneeling — but don't choose the wobbliest position when you don't have to.

Knowledge check

You're braced beside a tree for a standing shot. Where should the rifle contact the tree?

Brace the back of your support HAND on the tree, rifle resting in your hand Lay the barrel itself against the trunk for maximum steadiness

Show answer

Correct: Brace the back of your support HAND on the tree, rifle resting in your hand — Yes. Your hand is a cushion between hard bark and the rifle — steady, and it keeps your point of impact true.
Not quite: Lay the barrel itself against the trunk for maximum steadiness — Resting the bare barrel on a hard surface bounces it as the shot fires and walks your point of impact. Always rest the forestock or your hand — never the barrel.

Take it to the woods

Steady positions are a physical skill — you have to drill them, not just read them. Run this at your next range session (and dry-practice them at home first):

Field-position range drill

0/7

Safety Muzzle downrange, ear + eye protection, four rules in force the whole drill.
Built a PRONE position, found natural point of aim, put 3 of 3 in the vital zone.
Did the same SITTING, both elbows locked over the knees.
Did the same KNEELING, support elbow forward of the kneecap (no bone-on-bone).
Built a STANDING shot braced on a post or off sticks — felt how much a rest helps.
Practiced resting the FORESTOCK (not the barrel) on a pack and on a brace. Rest the forestock or your hand, never the barrel.
Practiced dropping into a steady position QUICKLY — speed matters in the field.

Sources

Official and authoritative references retrieved for this lesson:

NRA / American Hunter — “Training to Shoot from Field Positions: Prone, Sitting, Kneeling and Standing”: https://www.americanhunter.org/content/training-to-shoot-from-field-positions-prone-sitting-kneeling-and-standing/
Hunter-Ed (IHEA-USA) — Firing Positions: Prone (prone is steadiest; best for the fundamentals): https://www.hunter-ed.com/national/studyGuide/Firing-Positions-Prone/201099_92888/
Hunter-Ed (IHEA-USA) — Firing Positions: Sitting: https://www.hunter-ed.com/national/studyGuide/Firing-Positions-Sitting/201099_92890/
CMP / USAMU Service Rifle Team — FAQs on shooting positions & natural point of aim: https://thecmp.org/training-tech/shooting-tips-from-the-usamu-service-rifle-team/usamu-faqs-shooting-positions/

If you remember nothing else

Stability ranking, most to least steady: PRONE, SITTING, KNEELING, STANDING. Take the lowest, steadiest one the terrain allows.
Steadiness comes from bone support and contact with the ground — prone wins because the most body touches the earth.
ANY rest beats no rest: shooting sticks, a pack, or bracing on a tree turns a wobbly position into a solid one.
Rest the forestock (or your hand on the rest), never the barrel directly — and never rest a bone-on-bone joint like elbow-on-kneecap.
If you can't get steady enough for a clean hit, that's a PASS. A bad position is a wounded animal.

How ready do you feel?

How ready are you to drop into the steadiest position a real hunting moment allows — or to pass — instead of taking a wobbly offhand shot?

Before you go — a quick look back

Distributed practice: one fast recall from an earlier lesson keeps it from fading.

Quick recall

From Marksmanship Fundamentals — once you're in position, how do you confirm the rifle is settled on the target without muscling it?

Show me the answer

Show answer

Correct: Show me the answer — Find your natural point of aim: settle in, aim, then relax — if the sights drift off, shift your whole body until the rifle holds on target with you relaxed. A field position is only as good as the natural point of aim you build in it.

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