It always amazes me when guys show up for sporting clays to practice for upcoming hunting season ... with guns that are not for hunting. And then shoot every target at every station high gun (pulling the target with gun mounted to their shoulder). What good does that do for field practice. No one shoots uplands high gun. Or they shouldn't. Once a fella I met earlier at breakfast in the cafe walked up on my birdy Lab with gun to his shoulder. I told him that is not done with my dogs. He wanted to debate the point. Big mistake!
One bright afternoon five or six years ago my late great Lab Opal pointed a pheasant in the open on the edge of a Russian olive grove. She would point birds if she could see them and they held. I figured it was a hen but I walked up and got ready anyway. Up goes a nice rooster in the warm morning sun, squawking, out in the open, and no wind. Perfect setup with the rooster crossing in front of me. And I fanned three shots. Next day walking along an irrigation ditch filled with cattails and thick with willows on the other side, the dogs are suddenly birdy. Then just as suddenly two roosters flush and fly away through the willows. Bang-bang and they both drop. That evening I sent an email to a well known shotgun editor I had got to know. Why do I miss the easy shots and deadly with the hard ones? His answer: "You're overthinking the shots. Keep the gun down till you need to shoot, and then shoot fast all in one motion." He said the problem was not my gun. It fit because I was making the quick tough shots.
Fast forward to the end of following skeet season. My average was about 16.75/25. On a good day I'd shoot 19. To conclude the season we always have a flurry shoot where two shooters as a team try to shoot fifty targets thrown from six different stations consequetively. It's fast shooting and fast reloading. To practice I decided to shoot my last round of skeet low gun. I shot 22 which was unheard of for me. Hmmm. Got another box of shells to try that again. Twenty-three! Third round was 21. Then I remembered what Phil said. Shooting low gun was forcing me to get on the target quickly. It didn't allow me enough time to overthink the shot. Also essentially eliminated "aiming" the shotgun (trying to look at the gun and target). Not enough time. Eyes are more inclined to stay on the target.
Last year a new kid shows up for skeet. Three terrible rounds of seven to nine broken each. He's giving it up. "No, come back. I'll give you a box of shells to shoot one more round but you have to shoot the way I tell you." Okay, what's the catch? "Have to shoot low gun like me." Oh, I'm not as good as you. I can't do that. "Then give me back my box." Okay. He shot three of the four targets on station one including both of double. He went on to shoot 20/25. "How did you know what I needed to do?" Watched him shoot his last crappy round and he smoked both targets on station 8. That told me 1) his gun fit and 2) he really could shoot. He just needed to put his brain in the back seat and let his natural ability take over.
Moral of the story: Don't walk up on a pointing dog with gun on your shoulder. You're only handicapping yourself ... and maybe the dog ... permanently. If it's my dog, you might have a long walk back to town.
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