So for the last two segments, we have been talking about shooting the flushing or outgoing birds. We have discussed the importance of understanding the sight picture – or understanding what it really looks like when you pull the trigger on a moving target, painted or feathered.
If you have taken the practice drills to heart, then the jump to the incoming birds will not be that difficult. We will share a few tips on improving your consistency on incoming targets such as doves or pigeons or ducks – or even partridge for that matter. When doing clinics on incoming shots, we separate the incoming bird into two categories: they are either passing or decoying. These can be any bird except for the flushing species like quail or grouse or woodcock that typically flush, then get back on the ground and then “run like the Dickens” to get away!
Let’s begin this discussion on the passing shots that seem to be the most difficult shots for most shooters because the gun must be farther ahead of the target than on any other shot. While most wing shooters get all caught up in the “lead” and how big it is, we have come to the understanding that it is not so much the amount of lead that is important, but the gun speed matching the bird’s speed. That is more important than how much lead is applied.
On a recent trip to Bolivia to Jorge Molina’s Las Palomas Lodge, we encountered some very challenging shooting on doves and pigeons. Our system of shooting paid huge dividends when the wind gave the birds the advantage. And what an advantage the wind plays. Sometimes the advantage is to the hunter, but more often it is to the bird.
When the wind does not blow, then the birds must generate their own speed and line. They are constantly working to stay in the air and to get to where they are going. So their normal speed is about 18-22 mph (our guess) and it stays that way from the beginning to the end of their journey, which is where the picture of the muzzle being “three feet in front” (or three inches) comes from.
When you add wind, however, things change dramatically. Let’s take the example of a tailwind of, say, 12-15 mph. It can dramatically change not only the lead necessary to hit the bird, but it also makes it easier for the bird to coast and change their line erratically during their flight on their way to their chosen feeding ground or roost.
As we have discussed in our columns past and our seminars at convention, two things create lead: the speed and distance of the and to the target. Out of the two, the speed of the target creates much more lead than the distance. Fast targets take a lot of lead and slow targets don’t take near as much lead. But in order for the shooter to be successful consistently, the shooter must be able to keep the gun on the line and be far enough in front to hit the target. Now, add to this equation that in the wind, the line is so easy for the bird to change in an instant. And when the birds are in a flock in a wind, their line is in constant transition because they are constantly reacting to the other birds in the flock as they make their way to where they are going.
On our recent Bolivia trip, Gil was sharing a blind with John Wiles, owner of Best Wingshooting, on a hunt that presented just this sort of a challenge. We took turns observing the doves that were coming over a tree line with about a 10 mph right to left wind. We were set up in blinds about 100 yards from the tree line which gave us enough time to shoot the birds. But these were not just any birds. These birds were the survivors. Every slight movement would cause them to “juke and jive” like sugared-up six-year-olds playing soccer with two balls at the same time!
As Gil stood up to shoot, he closed my K-20 with the ShotKam on it. Just the closing of the gun caused the birds to flare dramatically. He mounted and dismounted about three or four times without taking a shot.
“Not for the faint of heart, eh?” John remarked.
Well, when conditions change you have got to change with them, and change we did. The movement of mounting the gun as the birds came into range increased the difficulty dramatically. So Gil began to mount earlier and under the birds much farther out. As they closed the distance, he would come from underneath them and in front of them. Because the gun was moving at the same speed as the bird, he did not look to them as if he was moving at all. While some did flare when he changed his approach, the flaring became the exception instead of the rule.
What a shoot it was… If you shot 50 percent in that wind, you were doing some really great shooting.
We remember the wind throwing our shooters a curveball on another Argentina coaching adventure where we were hired by a group of Y.P.O. shooters to coach them in the field. In the first four hunts, there was not much wind and the birds were flying in fairly straight lines coming to the roost. These guys caught on to the sight pictures and the moving and the mounting the gun with the target really fast. On the fifth hunt, we were hunting incoming birds in a 15-20 mph left-to-right crosswind, so the birds were not only moving faster; they were drifting to the right as they were making their way back to the roost.
After about 15 minutes, the cries of “Hey coach, we need help, ’cause we ain’t hitting anything!” came from the tree line, so we eased around the corner and assembled the group and had one of them shoot. The misses were constantly to the left of the doves. While we could see the shot over their shoulder, the birds were flaring to the right as the shot passed by them.
Vicki was the first to pick up on the drift of the birds, as they were flying pretty much in straight lines. Our shooters were getting the gun in front, but they were not picking up on the drift to the right of the birds in the wind. What an optical illusion! The birds appeared as straight lines but the crosswind was pushing them to the right. So Vicki suggested that the shooter hold in front and to the right just a little. Boom! A dead dove.
Then Gil told the shooters to hold their muzzles straight up and down just to the left of a dove 100 yards out, and not to move the gun; just watch the bird and see what happens. While the birds looked like they were flying in a straight line, the wind was definitely pushing them sideways. And having the barrel stationary in the scene made the wind drift obvious. Then everyone in the group began to have success!
We disappeared around the tree line and had to shoot some for ourselves just to see this phenomenon for real. And it was amazing! The birds’ backbones were straight ahead, making them appear to fly straight but the wind caused this subtle drift to the left. Simply amazing!
So as we have discussed, the wind can have an interesting effect on what you have to do to hit a moving target with a shotgun. The most frequent mistake we see in the field is that shooters mount the gun on the bird (which in essence is behind) and then try to see past the confusion of the gun being on the bird and aim the gun ahead of the bird without stopping their swing. This erratic movement increases the potential for the birds to flare and have really crazy lines and movement just as the shot is coming together. Having a smooth consistent gun mount aids greatly in staying with one bird as they all begin to go in different directions.
Gil just reviewed some of the ShotKam footage from Bolivia and there were some spectacular misses where the birds just were in transition during the complete shot and just faked him out. We can’t wait to get back there and be even more determined to be smoother and move less – to not give away his presence and give the advantage to the doves!
