Tips From The Pros: Off-Season Shooting

As the days grow longer and the temperature rises, many waterfowl hunters set their sights on summer activities. Cookouts, days on the lake, and hikes with the family take precedence over that expensive shotgun that now sits in the corner just waiting for your attention. As summer flies by and autumn soon approaches, those who have not touched that shotgun must scramble as they find their shooting skills acquired last season have gotten rusty and diminished.

If you find yourself doing a lot of early season missing (and we all do) it's time to hit the range. Let’s go through how clay target shooting benefits you, as well as some tips from a world champion trap shooter to make the most out of your summer to set you up for a killer upcoming hunting season.

SHOULD I GO TO A RANGE OR BUY MY OWN THROWER?

Clay target shooting is a family fun sport that will teach the importance of safety, responsibility, and mental confidence. While going to shoot at a range might seem more cost-effective, purchasing your own target thrower gives you the freedom to shoot when you want, with the flexibility to throw target angles more accurately to a hunting scenario. At a range, you’re limited to what the range has as far as equipment and shooting scenarios, operating hours, and availability. However, with your own thrower (and no, not one of those cheap plastic things, but an actual machine thrower), you can set it up however you like to mimic whatever scenario you wish to practice whenever you want to go.

Either way, this is where practicing can help you the most:

1. Skill Refinement and Muscle Memory. Summer is the perfect time to refine your shooting skills, improve accuracy and maintain muscle memory. Regular practice with your shotgun will help you become more familiar with its weight, balance, and recoil. This familiarity helps build instinctive shooting for split-second reactions.
2. Proper Lead on a Target and Follow-Through. Equally important, summer shooting helps you maintain your knowledge of adequately leading targets and consistently following through on them.
3. Adapting to Different Shooting Conditions. Summer shooting offers the chance to practice in various conditions. With the unpredictable nature of winter, shooting in windy conditions, dealing with varying light levels, or adjusting to different shooting angles, summer practice prepares you for the challenges you will face in the field. Familiarizing yourself with different scenarios will enhance your ability to respond to any environment quickly and accurately.
4. Evaluating and Tuning Your Equipment. The off-season is an ideal time to evaluate and fine-tune your equipment, as well as test any theories that many of us waterfowlers will overthink, which includes testing different types of ammunition, choke tubes, and other gadgets. Just because a choke tube shows a specific tightness or “decoying range” doesn’t mean it will shoot that pattern. My advice is always to take the time to shoot your shotgun on paper before the season. I will shoot at 20-30-40 yards with my waterfowl shells, which gives a realistic pattern for hunting scenarios. Knowing this information provides more confidence when taking to the field.
5. Building Physical Endurance. Waterfowl hunting often requires long hours in harsh conditions, demanding a good level of physical endurance. The repetitive motion of mounting and firing your shotgun helps with stamina so your shoulder doesn’t get sore and arm strength to help lift the gun with consistent form.
6. Enhancing Mental Focus and Patience. Cultivate your mental focus, patience, and trigger control. Summer shooting teaches you to remain calm and composed while waiting for the perfect shot. The discipline of practicing regularly and striving for improvement also instills a sense of patience and perseverance, both qualities that are invaluable during long hours spent in a blind or boat while waiting for waterfowl.

LEARN IF YOU ARE A ONE- OR TWO-EYED SHOOTER

One of the toughest issues I find is waterfowl hunters limiting their ability because they have not taken the time to learn if they are right or left-eye dominant. To learn your eye dominance, stare at an object in front of you around 10 yards away. Create a triangle with your hands close to your face. Or, looking at the object with your arms extended, you can work them in to make a small triangle around the object. Close one eye at a time; the dominant eye will keep the object in the center of the triangle, and your off-eye will see the back of your hand.

TWO-EYE SHOOTERS vs. ONE-EYE SHOOTERS

If you are a two-eyed shooter, aiming with your dominant eye, hunting will be instinctual. When that goose is coming in close, you will be able to pull up on that bird and get the lead on it quickly. When the lead feels right, you pull the trigger and keep the follow-through moving forward. 
When a one-eyed shooter pulls up, if both eyes are open, you will either be looking down the side of the rib or you will see two beads going up to the goose (coming from personal experience). There are a few remedies for this:
1. Closing the off eye 
2. Add a small dot the size of a quarter to their glasses, essentially covering the vision of that off eye and forcing the eye looking down the rib to take over. 
3. Add a “sight blinder” product to your rib to block your off eye from seeing the bead
4. Add an “Easy HIT” sight to your shotgun. This has been my go-to sight for a lifetime. The black housing in front of the optic ensures proper alignment as it helps take away cross-dominant issues.

If you’re a one-eyed shooter, we often rely on a bead-to-bird distance relationship to make the correct lead when pulling off a successful shot. With correct follow-through, that bird comes crashing down.

FOLLOW THROUGH

Proper follow-through in shotgun shooting is critical for accuracy and consistency. After pulling the trigger, it is essential to maintain your swing speed and continue tracking the target in the same path the bird was moving. Keep your eyes focused on the target and your bead moving fluidly with the target speed, ensuring that your head stays down and in alignment with the stock. 
A consistent follow-through helps to ensure you do not stop or slow down your gun, which in turn keeps you in front of that bird and hitting the target more than not. By staying in front of the bird, you have the whole shot string for that bird to fly into, where you have a zero percent chance of any of your shot string hitting the target when you’re behind the target. I advise always to be in front of the bird and then a little extra for good measure.

LOCK IN YOUR UPPER BODY

Most shotgun shooters use their upper body and arms to swing to a target. This promotes more missed birds and a greater chance of pulling their face away from the stock.

My advice is to try “locking in” your upper body when the gun is shouldered and just use your hips and lower body to swing. If you focus on this, even when your arms move, it will feel like your upper body is stationary yet moving effortlessly.

Like Chubs says to Happy Gilmore, "It's all in the hips.” Shooting like this keeps you more consistent, your face on the stock, and ultimately, more birds hitting the ground.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS TO REMEMBER

Preparing for waterfowl hunting in the winter requires more than just planning and scouting; it demands consistent practice and skill development. By dedicating time to shooting shotguns during the summer, you can refine your accuracy, adapt to various conditions, ensure your equipment is reliable, build physical endurance, and enhance your mental focus. These preparations will not only increase your chances of a successful hunt but also make the experience more enjoyable, and easier on the pocketbook with less ammo burned. 
As the temperatures rise, grab your shotgun, head to the range, and start honing your skills for your best waterfowl season yet. 

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