When sighting in a gun or bow, it is imperative to remove as much human influence from the shot as possible. Sighting-in is not practice - it is a process to get your equipment shooting dead-on.
Gun hunters: use the best supports you can get your hands on. Sand bags or manufactured shooting rests are the best. For the ideal setup, touch the rifle as little as possible - your shoulder, trigger finger are all that are really necessary. Also make sure that nothing touches the barrel itself; your sandbags should be placed under the fore-end and not the barrel itself.
Bow hunters can't remove themselves from the sighting-in equation nearly as well as gun hunters, so archers should concentrate on good form. Go through a strict mental checklist to make sure everything is in order and done the same way for each shot.
Both archers and gun hunters should start sighting in at short distances. Twenty-five yards for guns and 5 to 10 yards for bows is not too close. Many hunters make the mistake of moving back as soon as their shot is "on the paper." Take advantage of the short distance to really fine-tune your shot. You can make almost all your adjustments at short range. In fact, both bow shooters and gun hunters can sight in at about 1-inch high at short range and be dead on at hunting distances.
The bottom line: sight in your equipment to make practice more enjoyable, but try not to mix the two!
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