doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com So, how poorly do 'most' hunters shoot?

Shooting wise it comes and goes, sometimes I'm hot and sometimes it's a crying shame. But I don't mind, because for a hunter shooting is a pretty small part of hunting. There's dog training and maintenance. Studying animal behavior and habitat, studying terraign, weather and game reports, scouting. Keeping your truck properly cared for and equiped. Finding a place to hunt. There are hunters, there are shooters and there are shooters that call themselves hunters.

I have at times forgotten my shotgun because of so many other things to mind and still had a good hunt.

I think the increasing popularity of "Sporting Clays" has somewhat improved this situation. I see a lot of younger shooter on the SC courses.

On preserve bird (easy shooting) 90-100%, but i do have days i shoot 50%

On wild game 70-80% over the last three seasons

Still not nearly as good as some i have hunted around, but better than most

That said i cannot state with any level of fact how good or bad a shot the general population is or is not.

Practice, experience, and more practice yields quality performance, i do not know how much others have or have not. I find i shot better when i don't think about than when i do.

I must admit that i shot better up close (25 yards and less) than long range 40 yards and beyond, to the extent that i simply defer and do not shoot long range very often if at all on long birds. Then again a string of good dogs has made it easy to chose close shots.

I would attribute that to the Lake Woebegone effect. Those posters and their hunting buddies are all above-average - everyone else, not so much.

Shooting clay targets is like going to the driving range - it will help a lot, but it is no replacement for the real thing. If I played golf as well as I hit balls at the range . . . .

Some, few, shooters are "experts" without any practice, at least in their own minds. Some get better with age and some decline. Practice takes you far but talent is still needed. No amount of practice can make a untalented person into a superb shot but it can make you into a decent one. My father was once a great shot but age took it almost all away.

The last time I got my father to go hunting he was 86 almost 87 years old. Reflexes had been gone for decades as he put it and his eye sight is limited to his right eye. I coaxed him for one last trip with the use of a Fox 16 A grade I had just bought. Having a lifelong soft spot for 16's in general he liked it very much and agreed to try one more time.

I set him up in a shady area of the dove field, off towards one end, so he could be more or less by himself and not worry about others watching him shoot. Trust me, if lucky we will all get there someday. He walked the area for a few minutes figuring out where birds could be found easily and where they would be lost for all time. Then he went and cut four small saplings and walked from his seat 40 paces, which for a old man was about 30-32 yards I figured and planted them as known distance markers. He knew his range estimation ability was gone with just one eye and his lack of shooting in recent years so he made an accommodation.

Then he just sat there for about an hour and watched the birds fly. Watched where they came from and how they moved. I did not think he was going to shoot, sometimes you just are done shooting. Finally he loaded his gun. The birds were steady but not in vast numbers that day so he shot singles and then went and retrieved them. He got his limit of 15 birds with 23 shells.

I will have that day in my memory forever and hope for years of shooting under proper conditions. Match you abilities and conditions for best results. The gun he used has not been shot since that day but will remain in my gun room for the rest of my life.

When you hear experts brag about stuff just nod like I do when my wife is talking. It does not cost much and will end the lecture faster. Do not point out their flaws or ask for a demonstration of their abilities. But given the chance let them shoot first or best on the other end of the field.

Nice story Jon. That kinda made my day.... thanks for telling it.

I think if I saw more birds I'd be a much better shot. I'm fine as long as I don't pull the trigger(s) until the gun is fully mounted.

But a big reason I hate missing is the awful feeling that I've let down my dog. Seriously, there was one instance I can think of (there are many more) where my dog worked a rooster for nearly a half hour. The last 15+ minutes they were in a cornfield to my left. I was right on the edge of it. Every once in awhile I'd hear his bell for a couple seconds. The rooster had obviously walked through a row or 3 trying to escape on foot and my dog stayed right with him. He NEVER gave in to temptation and just muckled him. Always stayed with him. The tension was unbelievable!

Finally the rooster came bursting out of the cornfield and I had a perfect set-up which I completely blew just as my dog came out of the corn to see. It was so hard to look him in the eye! I swear, that feeling is the biggest incentive to start shooting some clays just to keep somewhat in shape. I mean, just firing a shotgun during hunting seasons alone is fairly stupid, let's face it.

If I can get the birds to all fly right to left I look like a world class shooter. Thought seriously about ignoring the others! There is a significant difference between shooting skeet and clays, with a pre-mounted gun especially, and live birds. Clays start fast and lose speed during their flight. Live birds are accelerating the whole time and actually fly much faster than clays. I am able to focus intensely on birds - much more than clays. Think it is probably the adrenaline bump I get with birds. I have had a few days where I went 12 for 12 on Huns and on Gambels quail. One Stellar day was 12 for 12- all doubles on Huns and there were no easy ones in the bunch. I can not shoot a 12ga - bock on the trigger frequently. Always shoot 20ga 3/4Oz loads or 16ga 7/8oz loads to prevent further damage to my recoil issues. Especially good with a 20ga Parker VHE on birds.

I host a fair number of Uplanders every year. I have for most of a couple of decades. We mostly hunt private grounds and between grounds lightly hunted, their dogs and mine, they have opportunity on more roosters than most of them are accustomed to seeing in the few days they get to hunt each year.

My observations is that like their dogs, they have opportunity at too few birds to really achieve their natural potential. Casual hunters, dog or man, just do not hunt the way those who pound cover for months each year.

That so many do not game shoot as well as they would like isn't really surprising, or at least so I think.

While I tend to agree, Stan . . . how many weekend golfers are really good? Bowlers? For most people, getting really good at any activity requires a fairly significant commitment of time, effort, and money. Most people, regardless of the activity in question, come up short on at least one of those three. Often more than one.