I met Jack Horseman a few years ago while giving Bill Bell a shooting lesson at American Shooting Centers in Houston, Texas. He brought his black Lab Gypsy to work with her during Bill’s lesson. Bill and I were both impressed with Gypsy’s ability to stay calm while shots were being fired. We even stopped to watch Jack work her on some retrieves. We were both amazed at how well Jack and Gypsy worked as a team. Jack’s ability to communicate and Gypsy’s ability to understand were uncanny. It was then that I knew Cadillac Jack was someone I wanted to know better.
This brief introduction led to many occasions while we were teaching at American when Jack and Gypsy would show up and just watch. Little did we know that Jack was as mesmerized with what we were saying as we were with observing Gypsy.
Jack is a bartender by profession and a waterfowl guide with Larry Gore by choice. He has been guiding for 16 years and is passionate about what he does when in the field. This was more than evident to us because as we would go to American Shooting Centers to teach, we would frequently see Jack and Gypsy working together in George Bush Park as we turned in to the facility. We would always honk and wave as we passed them. If he had time to come and visit, they would, and if not, we knew we would see them again.
This is the way our relationship would continue for several years. Then, on one of my trips to the range to teach, Jack came over and asked if I would consider giving a shooting clinic for a group of his friends. He mentioned that he had been listening to what we said when we were teaching the many times he and Gypsy had come to watch. He volunteered that he had even used some of things that he had heard us say with his customers and friends when in the field, and it seemed to make an instant difference in their shooting.
Now, I’ve got to tell you, it took a lot of courage for a veteran waterfowl guide to ask for a shooting lesson. This guy could shoot. He did confess that even though he could “shoot pretty good” in the field, there is always room for improvement, and he was open to try some of the things that he had heard Vicki and me say to our students. It was at that time that I really knew what kind of a person I was dealing with.
As teachers we are privileged to work with many people who are successful at their professions but not quite as successful with a shotgun. We have noticed over and over that successful people are always open and eager to try new things in the hopes of improving whatever it is they want to do. They are rarely if ever afraid to fail, because they realize how much they have learned from their failures as well as the failures of others. They also know that a failure is only a failure if nothing is learned. Another common trait we see in successful people is that they embrace change. They realize that change is the only constant in the world we live in, and in order to be successful at anything, change is necessary. Many people are afraid of change, and they seem unaware of the adage “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’re always going to get what you’ve always gotten.”
Needless to say, it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to meeting with Jack and his buddies to share what we had learned about wingshooting. Jack showed up with his brother Bret and his son Jacob, and his friend Tom. I could tell these guys were all passionate about duck hunting but a little apprehensive about taking shooting instruction. However, after talking about the basics of wingshooting, I could see them begin to relax.
The first big aha! moment came when I asked if they understood that you never look down the barrel of a shotgun when shooting. Deer in the headlights! After agreeing that you must have your focus on the bird and the gun must be in front of the bird to hit it, the shooters knew they’d learned something important. Jack’s brother Bert was the first to say that was a mistake he made when shooting. He tried to aim down the barrel and shoot ahead of the bird. Then the rest of the group began to chime in and agree that they had not considered the fact that if you were looking at the bird and the gun had to be in front of the bird to hit it, you could not be looking down the barrel when you pulled the trigger!
As I watched them each shoot, I saw what we see frequently when coaching wingshooters. They were all calling “pull,” mounting the gun to their shoulder, and chasing the bird with the muzzle, trying to find the lead. That’s when we started talking about the doughnut. I told them to visualize a doughnut on the front of the target, and as they finished the gun mount, to stick the muzzle into the doughnut hole and take the shot without cutting the sides. Instead of mounting the gun and chasing the lead, focus on the front of the bird and mount the gun into the lead. I felt the earth move!
Jacob understood what I was trying to get them to do and immediately began to smoothly mount the gun into the lead and take the shot. Rather than being rushed and slashing at the bird, he was smooth and relaxed. When he shot, it seemed effortless, and the targets just kept blowing up. Jacob remarked at how much slower everything seemed to be moving. Bret, Jacob’s dad, wanted to shoot the doughnut. After watching his son slow down and insert the muzzles into the lead instead of mounting and chasing the bird, he picked it up immediately. Jack and Tom came along nicely, and by the end of the four-hour clinic, they all were amazed at how easily things began to come together.
I talked to Jack the next day and asked if everyone enjoyed himself. He said they had a ball and that he didn’t realize how much he didn’t know about shotgun shooting. He also shared with me that Bret and Jacob went back to their property in Lisse to try their new shooting technique on some doves. There were no doves, but they shot four boxes of shotgun shells at dragonflies and hit them.
I asked Jack if, in his experience as a guide, many of his customers shot this way. He confided that almost all of his hunters mounted the gun first and then chased the birds with the muzzle. “There’s no wonder so many people have trouble shooting waterfowl,” he remarked. “They are spending all their time looking down the barrel, trying to find the bird. It’s so much easier to just focus on the head of the bird and mount the gun into the lead in front of the bird, instead of trying to chase the bird with the gun.”
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