Shooting Pairs
If you are as passionate about sporting clays as we are, you will find yourself practicing your gun mount at home and practicing single targets at your local course. Eventually, if you are going to enjoy the game as it is played, you are going to have to learn to shoot pairs. Sporting clays are shot as pairs, but it is important that you learn the basic move on singles first and then pairs will be a lot easier. You will find it hard (if not impossible) to learn anything shooting pairs if you still are thinking about trying to get the move and mount right.
The OSP system we talk about in this column can be applied to game birds as well as clay targets. That is the magic of the system. It doesn’t matter whether the target has feathers or paint on it; you approach it in the same way. The same goes for your results. You will never shoot better than the quality of your basic move and mount, so practice it relentlessly.
As much as we would like you to practice on singles, we know that we are all a bunch of trigger-happy yahoos and pulling the trigger is the main priority. You probably have already been out shooting pairs at your local course already. It’s okay, but here are some things you might want to consider the next time you go out to shoot pairs. When shooting pairs we’ve come up with a phrase that needs to stay in your head if you want to have success: Eyes first: then the gun.
For all pairs, this is the first thing we tell our students. Most shooters have a strong tendency to push the gun immediately toward the second target after they hit the first. (They do this even though they don’t know exactly where the second target is because they haven’t seen it!)
This does two things: It makes them rush, and it pulls their eyes to the barrel of the gun. The barrel begins to control the eyes instead of the other way around.
We cannot stress enough how much risk is introduced into your shot when you’re looking at the barrel. Every success and every failure in clay sports as well as wing shooting is rooted in focus on the target. It is crucial to get your eyes on that second bird, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to focus on the front edge (or the head of a live bird) before you move to it with the gun.
Any gun movement prior to focus on the target is wasted and increases risk by the cube. You’re making it three times harder for yourself if you move the gun first. Even if the eyes and gun go for the second target at the same time, the target is harder to lock on to, and the gun will out-swing the bird, even though you are looking at it.
This can be illustrated at home with an unloaded shotgun. Take two objects about the size of a shotgun shell and place them on a shelf or a bookcase about three feet apart. Back up about 15 to 20 feet and mount the gun on one of the objects. Next, move your eyes and the gun at the same time to the other object. You will see how the gun has no choice but swing past the other object, and as your eyes acquire the second object, the gun then moves back to it.
Try it again, but this time move your eyes to the object first and then the gun. The gun goes to the object perfectly and does not swing past it. This is because the gun has a specific place to go and it stops on the target. Eyes first, then the gun.
1/10 Of A Second
The other mental chant we recommend when shooting pairs is 1/10 of a second. Your eyes need to be on that second target within 1/10 of a second after breaking the first. Build it into a battle hymn.
Make sure, though, that you move your eyes quickly, not your body. You need to rapidly lock on to the leading edge of that second target with your eyes, not your body. Speed in a shot comes from the efficiency of the move, not from how fast you swing the muzzles. This is a common mistake. Most beginning and intermediate shooters move too much and too fast during the move and mount, and shooting pairs makes them move even faster.
We can almost guarantee that you usually have more time than you think when you’re shooting pairs, and it’s always easier to move faster with relaxed muscles. Don’t rush. Try slowing down and notice how when you slow down. The targets also seem to slow down. Remember, sow down, see the bird, trust your eyes.
To Dismount or Not Dismount?
If, on the second bird, you have time to bring the gun away from your face, our suggestion is to do so. Like we said, the first thing you need to do is see and focus on the bird. If the gun stays against your face as you move to the second target, your eyes will go to the barrel of the gun. Your eyes naturally go to the fastest moving thing in the picture, and if you move the gun to the target faster than the speed of the target, your eyes will go to the gun.
The most important thing, no matter how much time there is between shots, is to make your eyes find and focus on the front of the second bird—before you move the gun to the second bird.
On two outgoing targets, you won’t have time to dismount and get to the second bird. You need to find a break point for the first target, pull the trigger, find the second target by just cutting your eyes, move the gun to it and pull the trigger. If you have a quick outgoing target and a real slow incoming target, you should dismount the gun between the two shots because you will have time to do so. Whenever you have time to dismount the gun, do so. And when you don’t, either cut your eyes or slightly raise your head to acquire the second target. On the second target of a pair, you must see the target before you move the gun.
Always, always, always: Eyes first, then the gun.
Treat each target in a pair as if it were a single. On the first bird you will pick a focal point and a break point so for the second bird do the same thing. Find a focal point along its flight path that your eyes can go to after you break the first bird. That way when you finish with the first target, your eyes will have a specific point to move to immediately, which will make your eyes still, which will allow them to pick up the second target faster, which will give you more time.
If you don’t pick a specific focal point, your eyes will be moving around longer, searching for the bird. When your eyes are moving, everything in the picture is moving, and you won’t pick up the target as well or as quickly.
We find this is a problem for older shooters who complain about not being able to pick up the second target of a pair. As we age and our arms become shorter, whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not, our vision, like the “old grey mare,” just ain’t what it used to be. As a result, we must become more specific with the focal points on the second birds of all pairs.
True Pairs
No presentation reveals the importance of a good plan and a consistent routine like a true pair. The key to success lies in your approach.
When you are shooting true pairs, you should try to break the first bird of every pair in the same place at each station.
Why? Well, let’s say we’re shooting a 100 bird course, with 10 stations and five pair on each station. For every true pair, if you break the first bird in the same spot, is the second bird not the same? But if you break the first bird in a different spot every time, you’re forcing yourself to break the second bird in a different spot every time. So you can shoot 10 pairs, five times as each, with a consistent breakpoint on each bird, or you can shoot 50 pairs, all different.
We don’t know about you, but we are going to kill the first bird of each pair in exactly the same place every time. We would much rather shoot 10 pairs five times each instead of 50 different pairs. The game is hard enough as it is. Don’t make it harder.
