Spotting - line of sight of spotter vs shooter

[Aegis]

For a varmint hunter, spotting usually means finding a target, the shooter corrects after that. Someone at the same shooting table or even close can tell you to go out to the edge of the field, move left to the fencepost with the yellow sign and come in till you see it.

What I have noticed is that unless they are pretty much sighting down the same line, vertical and horizontal, they can't tell if a miss is right,left,up or down as their point of view is different. It works best if you are behind the shooter as much as possible and down low. I know for sure that a slightly high shot to a sitting shooter looks a mile high to a standing spotter.

What's the norm for a spotter that is actually calling out corrections? How far out from the shooter's line of sight can they be and still be affective?

 

[Temp9]

In my experience, the spotter should get as close to straight behind the shooter as possible. Obviously, this doesn't always happen. The amount of deviation from the shooters observation to the spotters observation will not only depend on the distance between them, but also the distance of the shot and the terrain near the target. The further away from the target that the shot impacts, the further off the spotter will observe the shot compared to where the shooter will observe the shot. For example, if you're shooting somewhere that the target is a foot in front of a tall berm, the spotter could be 15 feet away and still get an accurate read on which direction the bullet landed. On the other hand, if you're shooting on uneven terrain, the bullet may miss the target and travel another 50 yards or more. In this case, a spotter four feet away may observe a leftward shot to the right of the target, or vice versa.

This brings up an important point. Always, always, always attempt to spot your own shot. You, as the shooter, have the exact, perfect location for spotting your shot. The information the shooter sees from his/her position will be more accurate than a correction a spotter can give you. So even if you have a spotter, spot for yourself!