Many decisions we make in life are all about compromise, and shooting and hunting are no different. It’s rare that we can have everything we could possibly want—more often than not, we end up having to compromise a little of one thing to get more of another based on what’s most important to us. In the firearms world, a lot of these compromises are very individual—so here are a few compromises I’ve made that I have personally found to be worth the trade-off.
1. I Choose Physical Discomfort Over Being Unprepared
Look, I’ll go ahead and admit it: I’ve been carrying concealed for years and I still haven’t gotten to the “I forget it’s even there” stage. Carrying a handgun on my belt is still a little bit physically uncomfortable for me and probably always will be. But I’d rather give up a little physical comfort for the knowledge that I’m prepared to defend myself and my loved ones if I’m ever forced to.
2. I Choose Concealability Over Capacity
Bigger handguns are easier and more comfortable to shoot, and they allow for more ammo capacity. Smaller handguns are easier and more comfortable to conceal. For me, I choose to give up some capacity in favor of a gun that’s smaller and easier to hide. I carry a subcompact that holds 12 rounds of 9 mm ammo. Sure, I could have 18 rounds in a Glock 17, but the concealability of a subcompact suits me and the way I dress. The size compromise is definitely worth it in my book.
Now, this particular compromise comes with a few caveats: One, consider carefully how low you go capacity-wise. For me, I’m not going to settle for carrying a two-shot Derringer no matter how tiny and easy to conceal it is. And two, never compromise on size to the point where you can’t shoot the gun well. A super tiny micro-compact you can’t control enough to shoot accurately is not worth carrying.
3. I Choose Lower Recoil Over Maximum Terminal Ballistics
When it comes to hunting, I am most definitely not in the “bigger is better” camp. I’m not recoil-shy, but I still don’t want to take a beating if I don’t have to. My primary deer rifle is a 7mm-.08, which offers all the performance I need on deer without packing a heavy kick on my shoulder. I’m also a big fan of the 6.5 Creedmoor and the .243 Win for deer. Yeah, the 7mm Rem Mag offers heavier bullets than my 7mm-.08 and the .25-06 shoots faster, but if I don’t need it, I don’t want to deal with the punch. That said, there is a compromise I make in the opposite direction…
4. I Choose a Higher Pellet Count Over Lower Recoil
When I’m turkey hunting, give me a 12-gauge and its higher pellet count over a lighter-recoiling sub-gauge gun. I missed a turkey with a 28-gauge once, and though it wasn’t the gun’s fault, it got in my head and made me superstitious, and now I won’t hunt birds with less than a 12-gauge if I can help it. And a 12-gauge turkey gun hurts my shoulder like nothing else I’ve ever shot, but screw it—I’ll take the pain for the peace of mind the bigger payload gives me.
5. I Choose Accuracy Over Speed—Sometimes
My handgun shooting is not as good as I want it to be. About the only way I can consistently hit bull’s-eyes is to slow myself way down and really let the report of the gun surprise me like instructors are always saying. This is ridiculously slow the way I do it, and I’m working on this through dry-fire and at-home practice with my MantisX system, but every time I push my speed up too far too quickly, my accuracy tanks. For now, because I mostly practice with self-defense in mind, I am willing to give up a little speed for accuracy. After all, you can’t miss fast enough to win a gunfight.
6. I Choose Speed Over Accuracy—In Competition
There’s one exception to the above rule, where I do choose speed first and let accuracy suffer a little, and that’s in competition. Specifically, when I shoot a Steel Challenge competition, what matters is hitting the steel plate and moving on to the next one as quickly as possible. In this case, any hit anywhere on the plate counts. If I’m dead-centering every hit, I’m probably going too slow. In this case, I’ll speed it up and let my hits fall anywhere on the plate—there’s only hits and misses; no such thing as marginal hits in this kind of competition.
7. I Choose Bulky Warmth Over Cold Mobility
This specifically regards hunting clothing. I’ve gotten better about dressing in thinner layers over the years, but one thing I absolutely don’t want to be when I’m in the woods or on the water is cold. Yeah, extra layers add bulk that make it harder to move freely, but it’s a trade-off I am more than willing to make when I’m sitting still, as in a deer stand or a duck blind. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as too much insulation in my deer-hunting boots, even if that means I can’t hike very far because it feels like I have cement blocks on my feet. If I must walk a long way, I reconsider this, but if I’m getting dropped off and then sitting still, wrap me up like a mummy and I’ll be toasty warm while feeling like the marshmallow man.
8. I Choose Comfort Over Flexibility (to a point)
Similarly, I have learned that most of the time, if I get uncomfortable, I’m not going to last all day in the woods. To this end, I have taken to carrying a little seat into the turkey woods and sitting in two-man permanent treestands. Yeah, the seat is a pain to haul around and it makes me a little more likely to stay put than to jump up and move right away. And yeah, I can’t move my treestand if the deer are moving somewhere else like I could with a climber—but I have plenty of room to stretch out and organize all my stuff. This might even cost me an animal on occasion, but you know what else costs me animals? Cutting out at 9 a.m. because my legs fell asleep while I was leaning against a tree waiting for a turkey.
One Caveat
Now, most compromises have limits. That’s the nature of giving up one thing for another—eventually, if it goes too far, it’s no longer worth it. There are times I need maximum mobility when I’m hunting and I’m willing to accept that I’m just going to be cold in order to dress light and be mobile. There are times when I simply can’t make my CCW work comfortably with the place I’m going or the thing I’m wearing, so I leave the gun at home.
This is simply what works for me. You might make different choices—just recognize that you can’t always get everything you want, and everything is a compromise based on what’s most important to you.
