While many things need to be done before a hunt for big game, there are several that should be done before a wing shooting safari. To illustrate several of them, we will compare the differences between rifle shooting or shooting a bow.
Tip #2: Being able to move and mount the gun into the lead without looking down the barrel or checking the bead sights.
This is essential to consistent results in the field. When shooting a rifle or bow, sight alignment is critical, and distance is more critical with a bow than a rifle. Once the sights are aligned then it becomes trigger control that determines the consistency of results. We should also mention that using the shooting sticks helps tremendously, as well as the advancements that have been made in rifles and riflescopes and sighting devices for bows. These all contribute to consistent accuracy and clean kills… but the target is still!
When the target is moving and you must focus on the target and mount the gun ahead of the target, all the while moving the muzzle with the target without looking down the muzzle… well, as Milo Abercrombie would say, “That’s a whole different settin’ of eggs!”
So let’s delve into what it really looks like and where everything is when shooting a moving target with a shotgun. On the surface, it seems simple to say you must be looking at the target and the gun must be mounted ahead of the target to hit the target. But what that really looks like and the reality of how it comes together consistently is where the simplicity ends and the confusion begins.
As professional shooting instructors for the past 25 years, we have been fortunate enough to meet many of you and help you sort out this dilemma in different ways, both on the clays range and our 28 trips to Argentina coaching some of you on doves and pigeons. In any sport, certain fundamentals must be learned to “maximize your enjoyment” of the time spent in the field, and wing shooting is no exception! In fact, in wing shooting being able to execute the fundamentals in our eyes is even more important to ensure success in the field!
When shooting flushing birds, you can’t use shooting sticks and you can’t take a little extra time and aim. The target is always moving at an unknown speed and most of the time an unknown distance. In the instance of a flushing bird, after you are startled by the flushing of the bird, the bird is trying to get away from you as quickly as it can. It will be flying on a sometimes varying angle, darting and changing directions as many as two or three times at the beginning of their flight! You must be able to react with the gun and mount the gun to the bird and merge the muzzles onto the line of the bird from underneath, all the while not knowing where the bird is going!
So, as you can see, you must be able to react to whatever the bird does, all the while looking at the bird and not looking at the gun to see where it is pointed. Because if you look at the gun, then your eyes have come off the bird. And how do you know where the bird is, much less where it is going to be? You must learn through practice how to move and mount the gun and how to know where the gun is pointed without looking at the gun. And you need to know what this all looks like before you go to the field and go hunting.
Tip #3: You must know where the muzzle is pointed without looking at it!
This is perhaps the biggest conundrum in wing shooting. All of this stuff happens in a few seconds in a flushing situation and you must react to what the bird does. If you are thinking about what you are doing, you are behind the target.
So how do we practice to develop the skill necessary to move and mount the gun into the lead of a flushing target? Welcome to the OSP Flashlight Drill and the OSP Three-Bullet Drill! These two drills have been scientifically proven in case studies to improve the wing and clay shooting of shooters of all ages – and we mean old shooters, too! Watch the two drills, and if you want to get better in the field, do them twice a day for 21 days before you go hunting. You will see a dramatic improvement in your success in the field.
The OSP Flashlight Drill is designed to coordinate the movement of each hand mounting the gun while keeping the muzzle pointed at a single spot. Without a doubt, the consistency with which someone moves and mounts the gun determines in great measure their proficiency in the field, as well as their enjoyment!
Remember, we are not going to mount the gun and then chase the birds with the muzzle! We are, however, going to move and mount the muzzle just in front and a little under the bird. And as soon as the bird straightens out its flight and we know where it’s going, we will then move the muzzle up to the line just in front of the bird and take the shot – all the while focusing on the bird and not looking at the gun! Wow, isn’t this gonna be fun?
The biggest drawback to wing shooters across the globe is the question, “What does it look like to be looking at the bird and have the gun mounted in front of the bird?” This was the genesis of the OSP Three-Bullet Drill.
First, let’s talk about what is really happening when you “see” something. Your eyes don’t see; your brain sees. The brain interprets what the eyes transmit and you can train your eyes to “see” the way you want them to see. Just like you think of double dutch chocolate ice cream and you begin to salivate like Pavlov’s dog. But think about cauliflower or spinach and the reaction is not the same. The way you react is as much programmed as it is real. In fact, it is more programmed than real.
So, if you want to understand what it really looks like to see the target with the gun in front of it, where it must be to break or hit the bird, just doing the simple drill will help eliminate any visual confusion you might have. Believe us when we tell you shooting a shotgun with both eyes open can be one of the most visually confusing things a human being can attempt.
Here is a quick example of what we are talking about. Let’s say that the quail flushed ahead of you and peeled off to the right, making it a left-to-right shot. So where is the bird? Where is the gun? And what does that look like?
Now, let’s experience the same situation but the bird goes to the left, making it a left-to-right shot. So where is the bird and the gun? And what does that look like?
So, you will either be looking at the bird to the left of the barrel with both eyes or you will be looking across the barrel at the bird with both eyes. And you can help the brain interpret these two pictures by doing the drills. The more comfortable the brain is combining the images from each eye, the easier it will be for you to see the shot as it comes together in the field.
A great place to practice these flushing pictures would be on a trap range. Stand close to the trap house and call for the target with a low gun the way you will be approaching the flush in the field. Shooting a few crossers on a sporting clays field won’t hurt you, either. Getting the gun in your hands both at home and at the range will create the reactions we are looking for when reacting to the flush in the field.
Vicki says that shooting a shotgun is more like dancing than walking, and the shot must flow and the target is leading. You can’t be thinking about your feet while dancing – or your gun while shooting for that matter!
