Last issue we talked about how to get ready for hunting season or a wing shooting trip by practicing your mount with the OSP Flashlight Drill. We were concentrating on what we call the quartering move. That would be the move you would use on flushing game such as quail, grouse, pheasants, chucker and the like.
This issue we are going to tackle the crossing move. This is the move that gives the greatest majority of wing shooters headaches. The vast majority of shotgun hunters want to mount the shotgun like a rifle and while aiming down the barrel chase the bird with the muzzles, hoping to get the gun in front far enough to hit the bird. This just doesn’t work.
Intuitively, it makes sense. But our research shows that it cannot be done consistently. You can focus on only one thing at a time, and it will be either the bird or the gun. When the eagle chases two rabbits, both go free.
We have been talking in this column about the fact that you don’t aim a shotgun – you point it ahead of the bird you are supposed to be focused on. Our system of shotgun shooting is based on the shooter’s ability to consistently move and mount the gun. Homer Saye would call that “The most mainest thing about shotgunning.”
The ability to consistently harvest game birds with a shotgun is based solely on one thing: the hunter must have the ability to consistently and smoothly mount the shotgun ahead of the bird without attempting to aim or measure the lead. If the hunter attempts to aim or measure the lead, he or she must take their eye off the bird to see where the gun is. When this happens, the gun will stop and the shot will be missed behind.
The shot in the field that takes the most coordination is the crossing shot. It is also the one that the gun can mount the farthest in front of the bird and be successful. You would use this move on birds like doves, ducks, geese and driven pheasants. In short, any bird that is not flushing away from you is crossing at one angle or another. This is the move you must use.
There are two crossing moves: right-to-left and left-to-right. While you might think they are the same just from different directions, that is definitely not the case.
For the sake of discussion, let’s assume that you are right-handed. When moving and mounting the gun from right to left, your hands will be moving in the same direction. This is the easiest move for a right-handed shooter to make because the hands are going in the same direction, and when this occurs, they tend to move in sync.
The left-to-right move is the more difficult of the two, because the hands must move in opposite directions. The front (left) hand must push the muzzles to the right to stay ahead of the bird, and at the same time the right hand must pull the gun stock to the left into the face and shoulder. We call this the reciprocal move because the hands reciprocate (move in opposite directions) as they make the move and mount.
When the hands DON’T reciprocate but move the same direction on the left-to-right bird, the shooter typically ends up mounting the gun butt out on the arm, creating a nasty bruise.
You will never shoot better than the quality of your basic move and mount. Practicing both the quartering and the crossing move with the OSP Flashlight Drill is the quickest way to create a consistent, smooth, subconscious gun mount. It is also a surefire way to eliminate those nasty “shoulder” bruises that end up on your upper arm!
