doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Tell me about the best wing shot........

I've have several friends that I've hunted with that think I'm a great wing shot. I told them they've led a sheltered life!! LOL
To be honest, I've seen a lot of really great shots on short/mid range range clay targets, but the long range target shooters are the ones that impress me. It's a level of expertise that's hard to learn. Breaking targets (consistently at 70-100 yards) is amazing.

It's been a good bit for me, but the only thing that I could come up with for a big covey rise was to nibble at the edge. It was tough to figure out what was going on in the middle.

My dad and I did a lot of dove shooting for 40 years with a variety of individuals. The best were those who consistently managed to knock down a lot of doves regardless of conditions.

Charles R. was a guy who drove a pulpwood truck and favored heavy 12ga autoloaders. He inherited a lot of land and he could have retired before he hit 40, but driving a truck was what he did, so he kept driving. My dad also was a fine shot, again he favored heavy autoloaders with long barrels. We shot in any weather, high wind, wet, cold, didn't matter. Charles and my dad always put birds on the ground.

I'll admit to being a little discouraged in the past few years as far as thinking of those I considered outstanding shots. When I've read accounts of dove shooters lately, there have been a fairly large percentage who claim to have killed one bird with one shot or thereabouts, and have gotten their limit with barely more than a half box of shells. I think about those blustery days with the wind howling, the birds coming in high with a tailwind, twisting and turning over the field. If those shooters can average close to one bird per shell in those conditions, my hat is off to them. Maybe we weren't such good shots after all back in the day.

You shouldn't feel discouraged Steve. Dove shooting varies so much from day to day, farm to farm, and from early season to late, that there is no consistency in it at all. Just when you think you've got the dove thing figured out, they fool you again.

My 58 year dove shooting career has been one of mediocre shooting, interrupted by periods of catastrophic failure.

SRH

The best one I met was a humble blue collar bachelor man in his 50s.

When he was younger in the 1960s, his hobby was taunting the Law into car chases and running from them. Dukes of Hazard style. As he aged, he mostly spent time around a skeet field as a hobby and social event. But then he developed a bit of a flinch, and started only shooting a Browning 425, with .410 tube set, and no front bead on the gun. And he became a wizard. He overcame his flinch, and when he would knock the tubes out and go hunting, dove shooting, or sporting clays with the 12 bore he was the best all around wingshot I ever knew.

The finest shot I ever shot with was the best sportsman
also. Took same amount of she's that limit was & always limited out. If he he got ahead of you he would not shoot again till you caught up. Always shot quail roosters, no hens. Remington 1148 410.
Miss him still.Was also great centerfielder in area ball leagues.

There�s a certain athleticism to good shooting.
I noticed that a person can get very good within their comfort zone.

Just don�t take the shots you normally miss.

When I started shooting skeet low gun, 5 paces back,with the intent of breaking every one before the stake, It made me look like a savant on red grouse, never having shot them before.
Adding practicing taking them out the back with a 180 degree turn about, made me look like a genius.

I�m not.
I�m a student of wingshooting, and I practice.
That�s it.
Identify and practice what you think you�ll encounter.

A long term friend is one of those blessed with all the right stuff for shooting. He excels in all shooting I've ever seen him do. He made a career in the Border Patrol and did well at that (thank you for your service, David). Most recently he has been field trialing a dog and shooting for other's dogs in field trials. It is the shooter's responsibility to make the shot after the dog has pointed, held, and the bird is flushed such that the retrieve is the most difficult possible for the bird's flight path. By so doing, the dog gets to show its best stuff to the judges. Putting the bird down is a given; doing it so as to best show the dog requires some very fast and accurate mental gymnastics.

DDA

Lots of truth in this statement. But, it requires much mental discipline, and especially so with little guns like the .410.



SRH

That is how you take a high percentage but doubt you'll become a better shot.
The best wingshot I know is my friend and bird hunting mentor Walter. Grew up
on and still is farming the same place. Hunted everyday after school when you could just go hunting anywhere on yours or neighbors farms as you please. Back when bobs were everywhere. In the all times we hunted together I have only seen him miss 1 bird and that was after he rarely carried a gun anymore. A pure right to left crosser that got up late. He looked down and said "how did I miss that bird". He always killed cockbirds and taught me to do the same. Bought a sweet sixteen when he got out of the service in '62 and just killed everything.