Every year we configure our training area to accommodate shooters who are going on driven shoots around the world. Whether in the UK for pheasant, partridge, or grouse, or in Africa or South America on passing doves or pigeons, the incoming presentation offers its own special list of challenges that, when understood, empower the shooter to become more consistent and successful.
Game shooting offers its own unique challenges when compared to clay shooting, not the least of which is that the game bird has a brain and can change its line, speed, and angle with a mere flick of a feather on a wing or tail. The clay target is decelerating when it leaves the trap and is on a fixed line. The game birds are maintaining their speed and this, combined with the ability to change their line, makes for some specific techniques to be consistently successful in the field.
One of the first things our shooters learn in shooting driven type clay targets is that the wind has a lot to do with the speed and line of the target. The same is true for the driven game birds.
A 15-20 mph tailwind will give the game bird a tremendous advantage, as it gives the bird more speed, with no more effort on the bird’s part to maintain it. This increases the lead necessary to hit the birds. The more wind, the bigger the challenge. And when approaching a new area, our recommendation is to take a few minutes to gauge the wind and the expected directions of the birds. In some situations, you might find yourself in a valley or cut in the woods where you are sheltered from the wind, but the wind could be howling above your shooting position. Look at the tops of trees or hedges along the crest of a cliff for clues to wind speed and direction.
We were hired to go to Argentina with a group of YPO executives several years ago when one such experience with the wind created a unique situation for the group.
On the first several hunts, we worked with them and got them to begin hitting the doves on a much more consistent basis. On the last hunt, we were off by ourselves shooting a few birds on our own when out of nowhere, the wind picked up to 12-15 mph, gusting to 20 mph. It was not ten minutes after the wind picked up that one of their bird boys came to get us. We gathered our stuff and went over to the group to see what was happening.
There were lots of perplexed, sad, but determined faces on the shooters. We asked what the situation was, to which they said they had been shooting well on the incoming birds until the wind came up and now they could not hit anything.
We stopped and watched the birds. To us, they appeared as straight incoming birds. But with the strong left-to-right crosswind, the birds’ speed had not changed, but they were being blown to the right.
Vicki was the first one to figure this out, observing over the shoulder of one of the shooters. It was then that she told all the shooters to hold their empty guns, muzzle up vertically, at arm’s length in front of their face so the barrel would give you a true vertical line and keep the barrel still and watch the birds through the barrel. The light came on instantly for all the shooters!
While the wind did not affect the forward speed of the birds, they were drifting to the right, so instead of coming through the birds at 12 o’clock, the muzzle needed to be more right at one to two o’clock to intercept the birds. The thing that surprised almost everyone that day was the bird’s backbone gave them the illusion that they were flying straight. It took putting the vertical barrel in the picture to show you the drift that was causing the problem.
The wind can be your friend if the birds are flying into it, and it can be your foe if there are strong crosswinds or tailwinds giving illusions and speed to flying driven or passing birds. Remember: speed creates lead, and when the wind blows over 10-12 mph, in every instance but one, it is an advantage to the birds.
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