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Lets think about this--if you come for a tune up 3 days before, after not touching your gun for several months, you are not going to be used to the gun or the recoil. What happens is you go into panic mode, and nothing you will learn will have time to go subconscious and even more important you will have several mismounts and the recoil will cause you to become sore, right before you go. So you have spent all this money to go on a great hunt and you are already sore and thinking about all the things you have just learned. This is a recipe for disaster. Your great trip wont be as much fun as it could have been. As you get on your hunt, you are having to think about everything therefore you will not just think of hitting the target. You are not going to perform as well as you could. The time to take a shooting lesson for your hunt is 1-2 months before you go. That way you can practice the things you will learn in your lesson and they will become more subconscious and more natural. You wont have to think how to hit the bird all you will need to do is look at the birds head. You will have plenty of time to practice and get used to the gun and the recoil and practice your gun mount so you will enjoy your trip. Seeing someone's arm all bruised up is not my idea of a good time. Practice your gun mount. Practice sitting down and shooting, practice with a coat on, practice looking at the heads of the birds in your yard---but give yourself a chance to make your hunt successful by taking your lesson early. You and your instructor can problem solve, then through conscious repetition you can make it subconscious. If you don't have to think about the mount and where to look and how to hit the bird and all you have to do is to look for the head of the bird, your hunt will be more successful and of course more FUN. Back
to Article Directory Here's a story about a wonderful lady that came to us for lessons before she made her first trip to Argentina. This would be the first time she got to hunt and wanted to do well. This was to be a family trip. The mother and father in law and her husband had all been shooting forever and were very good shots. Her father in law had told her to use his old 28 gauge Remington 1100. Perfect gun. It did not hurt and she got really good with it. She started her lessons 3 months before going with a lot of time for her to practice in between lessons and the trip. She came to the lesson with an empty cup and we filled it. She was very determined and a great student because she understood that the lesson was only a part of the process. She took the information home and practiced it and she progressed well. She was ready. She had practiced with the gun and was comfortable with it and she knew that she could hit targets with it. They all arrived in Argentina and the first morning out everyone got out of the bus and all stood around. She thought this was weird, but it was the first morning. All of a sudden, she was presented with a new gun. Her first reaction was--where is my other gun. The one I am used to shooting. They had not thought to bring the other gun only the new gun. It too was a 28 gauge automatic, but it was different than the one she was used to. You all know what happened next, the birds came in and the shooting began and she couldn't hit anything. This gun felt different, but more importantly it was not the one she had practiced with and had confidence in. Her first shooting experience in Argentina was ruined and it went on for 2 more days. This was such a nice gesture for the family to give her this new gun in Argentina, but hopefully we can all learn from their mistake. She was uncomfortable with the new gun, they all felt bad that they had put her in this position, so everyone's trip was tainted a bit. She called us as soon as they returned and told us this sad story. She was mortified because she had worked so hard to do well and couldn't hit anything with this new gun. She felt bad that they felt bad. We have since then, fitted the gun so she will be ready for next year. So what's the moral of this story. Practice with the gun you will be using, especially if you are a new shooter. More advanced shooters can usually pick up any gun and shoot it, but the novice shooter can not adapt as well. Just be mindful of the other person and how they feel. It seems as we all get better, we forget how the beginner feels and how insecure they can feel when something new is put into the equation. Shooting Hard Targets The first thing everyone in our clinics want to do is to learn to shoot hard targets. Our first question is, what is your definition of a hard target. What may be hard for one person, is not for another. Once we have established what is hard, we can go from there. You can only improve when you have isolated the problem. If all right to left targets are hard for you, then your goal will be to go and in your practice hit only right to left angled targets. Hit them close to the trap, in the middle of their flight path, and then further out. Be comfortable with all angles and speeds, so that none of the targets on a course are hard targets for you. We are always amazed at the ranges that present really hard targets. There was a range here in Texas that got great glee from throwing ridiculously hard targets. The shooters got tired of going and being humiliated and therefore, they stopped going. When a master shooter shoots 75, you know how the D and E shooter shot. Are they going to come back and do that again. I don't think so. There is a way to throw targets that can not all be broken, but at least the lower class person wont feel embarrassed. Let the person beat themselves, not have the targets beat them. We also are surprised by the tournament shooters that go and just practice these really hard targets. Not all the targets on a course are going to be hard. The majority are going to be close and fool you with angles and speed. Go to the skeet range and have confidence in your ability to hit anything that comes within you and 25 yards. Be comfortable in hitting it anywhere you want to. Your practice will be better spent on making all targets and all trajectories within 25 to 30 yards-dead. If you only work on that 50 yard crossing target, you are not getting the full benefit out of your practice. You will only see maybe 10 of those targets. The other 90 will be those close ones, that have a little curve on them and are at your feet. Remember the courses at the US Open. Nothing was really far away, but they were very deceptive and probably the best targets I've seen in a long time. Many a shooter grumbled off the stands where the targets were really close and fast. How can I miss that, it was right at my feet. Sound familiar. All were very hittable, but you didn't. Do you need to practice those 50 yard crossing targets, yes of course you do. More importantly, you need to be confident that you can hit anything between you and 30 yards anywhere you want to hit it and at any angle. Practicing only hard targets, gives you permission to miss the target. Practice hitting each of those easy targets. That makes your score better. That is the goal of shooting.
Still Stopping the Gun The only time you will stop the gun is when you look at it. You must maintain HARD FOCUS on the target all the way through the shot. If you are just focusing on the target the gun will go where you are looking, but the instant the eyes drift back to the gun, you will stop. Your goal is to remain totally focused on the front edge of the target, and don't check the gun to see where it is, just let it go. You must Trust your point and your subconscious to put the gun where it needs to go. The best analogy to this is: As you are merging onto a freeway, how far in front of that next car do you have to be so you don't get smashed. Far enough. It is not an exact science, you feel your way. When the time is right, you start pushing down on the accelerator to get there. The same way with a shotgun, just merge into the lead. You have a scattergun, put the gun somewhere toward the front of the bird and pull the trigger. The lead picture can be thought of as a window. Somewhere between 2 inches in front of the bird and 4 feet in front of the bird for a target that is 20-25 yards away. Just as with your automobile, you will start the merging when you see the car you want to merge in front of. Begin your move to the front of the target, when you see it so you can match your barrel speed and the speed of the target. This will help you stay focused on the target because everything in your picture is going the same speed. Your eyes will go to the fastest moving thing in the picture, which is usually the gun. If the gun and the target are going the same speed, then your eyes can stay focused on the target. Which is where you want them to be. That is what you are going to be hitting, so stay focused on it.
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