You do keep a shooting log, don’t you? In the first century A.D. one Marcus Fabius Quintilius opined that a liar should have a good memory. Old M.F. should have added that if he did not have a good memory, he had better take good notes. What better example than the massive volumes of the Congressional Record. Shooters, who certainly never lie, but might lack total recall, could also benefit from a little note taking.

All of us want to improve our shooting. The best way to get better is to remember how we shot last time and develop a game plan to repeat the good parts and correct the bad ones. A good notebook makes this much easier.

Here are some of the things which were recorded after each shooting session over the past 35 years: date, weather conditions, shooting facility, directions and drive time to the range, gun, ammo, type of game being shot, number of targets fired at, hits, analysis of particular target presentations, observed successful techniques of other shooters, how the gun fit might be improved and anything else that comes to mind. Write about the difficult targets you hit and how you did it. Don’t just immortalize the misses. Then add a sentence about your goals for your next practice session or shoot. Read your notes quickly before your next practice. You will be surprised how it can help you focus. Later, the notebooks can be a source of pleasant recollections as well as valuable information.