Hunting seasons are closed. If you are like me, your mind had shifted from Browning to Shamano, from heavy-shot to drop shot and from bag limits to catch and release. My tomatoes are growing quickly now. (The trick to growing good tomatoes is irrigation. The plant and fruit is almost all water. Water them the same time each day and the same amount each time and step back and watch them grow.)
We are coming back from Claythorne Lodge Sporting Clays in Southeastern Kansas. We have been giving shooting lessons there the last few days. It doesn’t matter where we go to teach, Vicki and I continue to be mystified at the contorted positions and erratic movements people produce when you put a shotgun in their hands.
I can’t teach you how to correctly move and mount a shotgun in this column. That is what our shooting videos are for. I can however, make it clear how important having a consistent move and mount is to having success in the field or on the clays range during the off season.
I will never forget going to Hermosillo, Mexico for the first time to hunt ducks and doves with my son, Brian. We were hunting with Gregg Broussard and Sergio Estrella of Muy Grande Outfitters. One evening at dinner, Greg asked if we wanted to sample duck hunting Muy Grande style. We agreed and said we would be ready in the morning.
Brian was 13 at the time and had never been on a duck hunt. The next morning we were standing in knee-deep water wearing hip waders surrounded by a makeshift blind of local flora and fauna. There were a few decoys in front and Gregg was standing behind ready to call the ducks and the shots.
Not long after shooting time, four widgeons decided to react to the spread and Gregg’s call. I had explained to Brian to keep his head down and wait until Gregg says “take ’em.” Then look up and you start from the right and I’ll start from the left. When the widgeons committed to their final approach, Gregg said the magic words: “take ’em.”
Before he could take another breath, Brian and I had each shot twice and four ducks dropped dead. I heard in the background Gregg say under his breath,“Finally, somebody who can shoot!”
About halfway into the hunt, Brian looked at me and said, “Dad, this is like shooting watermelons in the sky.” Gregg laughed. I asked Gregg to explain his comment in reference to our shooting ability. He explained that they advertise generous bag limits and lots of ducks and doves to shoot at. However, few people have the ability to hit what they shoot at.
He explained his frustration:
“We have hunters coming in to shoot generous limits of ducks. We put them on the ducks. When you have five people expecting to kill two or three times as many ducks as they can kill in the States and they go through eight boxes of ammunition (200 shells) and only kill 15-18 birds, it is frustrating for everyone! The hunters expect to shoot generous limits of birds and they don’t. Regardless of the reason why, they didn’t get what they expected. We work hard to put our hunters on ducks, and when they can’t hit the birds, it frustrates us too.”
I began to understand Gregg’s amazement at our shooting ability and his comment at the beginning of our hunt. Brian had been shooting sporting clays with us since he was 10 years old. He earned a spot on the NSCA Sub-Junior All-American Team three years in a row. He was infatuated with shotgunning. He practiced with his gun every night. Even though he didn’t get to practice as often as Vicki and I, he amazed even me at how smooth and efficient his move and mount had become.
Yes, he had good instruction. Yes, he had the opportunity to practice. A major difference in Brian is that he made the commitment to get better. But the biggest difference in him and other good shots that we have coached is that he practiced his gun mount every night at home, just like his mom and dad.
Now, I’m not saying that practice at your local sporting clays range is wasted or taking instruction from a professional shooting instructor is not necessary. They are both a part of learning how to shoot a shotgun with any kind of proficiency. And the more you shoot and the more lessons you can take, the better you will get quicker. You must handle the gun on a daily basis until you begin to develop a feel for the gun, the move and the mount.
What we typically see on some of our corporate hunts are people who intellectually understand (they think) how to shoot a gun. But because they don’t have time or have not made the commitment to improve, they are not only unsafe, but become very frustrated and then embarrassed by their proficiency or lack of it. What they are trying to do would be like me trying to learn the game of baseball, but the only time I touched the ball, bat or glove was in the game! I never practiced hitting. I never practiced catching ground balls or fly balls or simply played catch with a neighbor.
It is the amount of time spent doing the components of any activity away from the activity itself that increases the proficiency of the activity. Technical expertise is always preceded by experience. I can make this statement based on Vicki’s and my experience: Once you learn how to shoot a shotgun, I mean really learn how to shoot a shotgun, you will never forget how. Just like riding a bike, once you feel it, you never lose it.
When we were returning from the National Sporting Clays Championship when Brian was 14, he made the comment that he was tired of shooting sporting clays. When I asked him why, he simply explained that all his friends were our age. Shocked, I asked him what he wanted to do most. He said he wanted to learn to catch fish. This was Sunday night. Tuesday afternoon, we went and bought a boat. Brian is now 23. A few years ago he began to have the urge to shoot sporting clays again. He didn’t stop fishing, mind you, but he just wanted to shoot again. It didn’t take long at all for him to get his feel back. He looked as smooth as that 14-year-old All-American that I remembered. The only difference is that when he was 14 years old, he stood 4’ 10” and now at 23 years old, stands 6’ 1”.
Just goes to show you that smooth is smooth at any height and once you feel it you never lose it.
