Dove, Dogs, and Shotguns

Joe Cermele has some good points on not blocking your target with your gun. This is a common mistake usually caused by rushing your mount or excessive gun movement. Follow these pointer below and you will use less bad words and break more targets.

A major cause of baffling misses on the range and in the field comes when shooters block their own view of the target with their gun. Your muzzle should always be below the line of the target’s flight. When you have an unobstructed view of the bird and the gun is in your peripheral vision, it’s very simple to focus on the target, see where the muzzle has to go, and put it in the right place. On the other hand, if you hold the gun up in such a way that you block your view of the target even for a moment your eyes will go to the gun, which then stops, causing you to miss over and behind. On crossing and quartering targets, be sure to start your gun below the line of flight.

On birds that go up like springing teal or fly straight away like the one in this picture, you need to start your gun to one side of the target or the other to keep it from blocking your view. Typically, if you are right handed you want to hold your gun to the right of the target’s line of flight, as the shooter in this picture is doing.

Where you start your gun is as important in hunting as it is in target shooting. And, while shot opportunities come quickly and unexpectedly in the field it’s still possible to train yourself to set up for a shot in such a way that the gun doesn’t block the target. If you’re used to carrying your gun safely with the muzzle pointed straight up, try moving it down until it’s almost parallel with the ground and below the target before you mount the gun and shoot. You will find yourself hitting birds you used to mysteriously miss.

• A bad mount can ruin your day Mounting your shotgun is vital to successful shooting. It is also vital to being able to shoot numerous rounds. I've found myself with bruises on my shoulder and cheek bone from not placing the gun in the shoulder pocket correctly, or not holding the shotgun tight enough. My article on shooting......
• Migratory Bird Report North Zone Dove: Best hunts have been in milo, corn and sunflowers around Abilene, Lubbock and Amarillo, though afternoon rains have limited the flight somewhat. The front forecasted for this week should deposit a new crop of mourning doves to Texas. Hunters around the Red River endured 10-12 inches of......
• A Disgrace to Hunters If you haven't seen the following video, let me warn you, what you are a about to watch contains graphic images of stupidity. These guys are dumbasses and probably couldn't hit a low flying airplane with a shotgun, so they shoot sitting ducks with semi-automatic rifles. They need to be......

• Successful Grouse Hunting Grouse hunting is popular sport for hunters who like the challenge of hunting birds. Grouse hunting often gets grouped in with partridge and quail hunting because there are ranches and land with fairly enclosed areas that offer grouse hunting tours and guided hunts. Grouse hunting is a sport that many......
• Free Helpful Tips - What's Google AdSense? By: Diane Nassy( Before you read if you looking for a flat house share then visit freeroomshare.com )AdSense may be one of the fastest and easiest ways to monetize traffic to your web site whether you have products or services for sale or you simply provide free content to your......
• A99 Golf DIGITAL 7x GOLF RANGE FINDER GOLFSCOPE SCOPE User Reviews Send this to a friend A99 Golf DIGITAL 7x GOLF RANGE FINDER GOLFSCOPE SCOPE Manufacturer: A99 Golf Customer Rating: List Price: Varies based on product options Sale Price: $49.99 Availibility: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Now Product Description Pocket Size: 3.75" (Length) x 2.0" (Width)......

Bourjaily tried this on his son and he went from 4×25 to 19×25 in trap. I know it’s effective because one time while shooting sporting clays, I got something in my stronger eye and had to shoot with that eye closed the whole round.( Actually, that was how I learned I had a dominance problem).  I usually hovered around the high sixties, low seventies. I busted 86 that day, the best round I ever shot. So, if you are struggling, try this….

From Field & Stream:

Click on the Field & Stream link to read his article.

• Man Fined Over Migratory Bird Treaty From Field & Stream: A Kansas man has been order to pay a fine for beating a Heermann's seagull with a stick at Laguna Beach, Los Angeles. after the gull attacked his wife's ice cream. The $275 fine came after a Fish and Wildlife review of witness statements showed that the......
• Skeet Shooting is Best Practice for Dove Hunters According to Phil Bourjaily of Field & Stream. Phil is a well known writer/gun expert and has some really good points on improving your kill ratio. I've always felt that skeet was a great warm up for dove season. I always start with my shotgun a little lower than most shooters to......
• Remington's New 1700 FPS Shotshell, 'Hypersonic'   1700 fps is pretty darn fast for a shotshell. Remington will introduce their new 'Hypersonic' high speed steel load later this year. I can only imagine the price. From Field and Stream: Later this year, Remington will offer the heaviest, fastest steel loads yet made. The new HyperSonics will......

• Google Page Rank Is Dead - Or Is It? Part I For a long time now, marketing gurus all over the world have been talking about google page ranking. Page ranking is simply Google's way of measuring your pages accordingly. But there is a problem... More and more we tend to see NO consistency with page ranking at all. Please don't......
• The Magician's Wand SEO Technique I know most of you will be surprised to read the title of this article. Actually this is what search engine optimization is all about. There are a few points which every search engine optimization engineer should remember. Going through this will not only get you a better SERP's ranking......
• AT&T National Tournament at Aronimink Golf Club This week in golf featured the AT&T National Tournament, held at Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square, PA. The defending champion of the tournament was Tiger Woods. The field featured plenty of big names, including Justin Rose, Stuart Appleby, Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, Ricky Barnes, Boo Weekly, and Rocco Mediate.......

In my readings I found a simple test to determine which eye is your dominant eye.

I just found out that I am cross-eye dominant. Damn, no wonder I’m always struggling with my eyes when I shoot skeet or sporting clays. I’m left handed and right eye dominant. Now that I know this I can take steps to correct the problem.

Take the test yourself and maybe you will be surprised like I was.

From Field & Stream:

Today we have a test with no wrong answer.

Most introductions to shotgunning begin with the “master eye” test. You hold your arms straight out at eye level, fingers up, palms out, hands overlapping, leaving a small hole between the hands  through which you sight a faraway object. Then you pull your hands back, keeping the object in sight, until they wind up over one eye or the other. That’s your master eye. If you pull your hands back over the other eye, the object you were looking at disappears. You can also keep you arms extended, sight the target with both eyes, then close one eye then the other.  The object will seem to jump sideways out of sight when you close your dominant eye. Try it.

With luck, you will turn out to be right-eyed and right-handed or left-eyed and left-handed. However, you may be cross-dominant — right-handed and left-eyed, for example. The best thing to do is learn to shoot from the dominant eye side. My older son, Gordon,  is left-eyed and right handed. I taught him to shoot left handed from the beginning.

If you don’t want to switch sides, you can shoot with one eye shut, or use a small piece of tape on your shooting glasses positioned so it blocks just enough of your master eye’s vision that the other eye takes over.

I’ve given the master eye test to a lot of new shooters, and I’m learning there is not just right and left eyed dominance. Some people are both-eye dominant or “center dominant.”  My younger son John is center dominant – when he does the eye test his hands wind up over the bridge of his nose, not over one his eyes, but it doesn’t affect his shooting. His friend Nicky, who just joined our high school trap club, is extremely center-dominant. If she puts the gun to her right shoulder, the gun blocks enough of her right eye’s vision that the left eye takes over, vice versa if she tries shooting left handed. The first time she shot I hadn’t figured this out yet, and she broke four targets out of about 100 (she liked shooting and wouldn’t  stop). Next time, I tried making her shoot left handed, but that didn’t work any better than right handed. Then I put a small piece of masking tape over her glasses to block the left eye’s vision,  and she started  pounding targets. Last weekend, her third time shooting a shotgun, she broke a 20×25.

So, how did you all do? “Normal” dominant, cross-dominant or center dominant?

• Tips on Starting Kids Out Shotgunning Starting a youngster out with a shotgun can be a great experience for both of you. If you follow a few guidelines, you can help ensure that you pour a solid foundation. A foundation that will be the basis of a lifetime of hunting and shooting. I'm not going to......
• Do Dove Decoys Work Every year I see hunters placing decoys around the dove fields. I've always wondered if they were worth their salt. Let's find out... Ducks, Geese, Turkeys are all susceptible to decoys. With ducks being the most social of the game birds. These flock oriented birds find safety when they spot......
• Clay Sports Online As of late, I've been running into some fabulous sites about dove hunting and shotgunning on twitter. Today I found ClaySportsOnline. The site is a forum about everything that has to do with shooting clays. Sporting clays, trap, skeet, and much more are all topics you can talk shop about.......

• Review Out of Sight by Cherry Adair (Book 5) Book 5 of the T-FLAC series, Out of Sight is the story of Kane Wright, fashion and other photographer extrordinaire. It was strongly hinted in the storylines of other books in the series that he is not all he seems, and so it is. The hero Yes, Kane is a......
• What are Acoustic Guitars Made Out Of? There are a number of different materials that are used for the purpose of constructing guitars. Let us take a look at a few of them. Mahogany When this wood is used as a guitar top, it has a low velocity of sound as compared to other woods, good density,......
• How To Get Out Of Jury Duty Summons - 16 Fool-Proof Excuses You will be called for jury duty one day - I guarantee it. If the state, city, or county knows that you exist, you will get a summons to appear for jury duty at least several times in your life. And while we really should all be willing to do......

Whether you are wingshooting or clay shooting, establishing which type of lead shooter you are will improve your consistency and accuracy.

There are three methods of obtaining lead on a moving target. The “swing through” method, the “pull ahead” method, and the “sustained lead” method. All of which have there advantages and disadvantages. Let’s examine the three.

A “swing through” shooter allows the target to pass the barrel of the shotgun and follows the target until just before pulling the trigger accelerates the barrel past the target, generating the lead. When you hear people coaching “follow through” when shooting, this is the method they are teaching. Much like a golfer or a bowler, even after pulling the trigger, the shooter continues his swing until the target breaks(or not).

I am a “swing through” shooter. I do not see lead, as most “swing through” shooters don’t. Of course this is only perceived, as there is a lead on any moving target, especially crossing shots. By following behind the target and then firing as the barrel moves past the target it gives the shooter the perception of shooting directly at the target. I like this fact because trying to maintain a lead for me seems unnatural.

Critics of “swing through” state that this method puts the shooter behind from the beginning and forces the shooter to wait until the last minute to obtain the proper lead. I find it can cause for “riding” a target too long which makes the shot more difficult and puts me out of position for the next shot.

Next, we have the “pull ahead” method. In my opinion, this is very similar to the “swing through” method. The main difference being that with the “pull ahead” method the shooter points the barrel directly at the target and moves with the target until time to shoot, the shooter then “pulls ahead” of the target to obtain lead and fires. Where in the “swing through” method the shooter trails the target.

Many experts believe this helps to solve the most difficult aspects of shotgunning, target speed and direction. By pointing at the target your brain automatically calculates these variables, enabling you to accurately decide the proper lead.

The third method is the “sustained lead” method. Preferred by many target shooters, “sustained lead” matches gun speed with target speed but instead of pointing at the target, the shooter stays in front of the target at all times.

The idea here is the shooter always stays ahead of the target and is in the right positiion longer, giving the shooter a better chance of hitting the target earlier and more consistently. I’ve also heard this type of shotgunnng referred to as “window shooting”. Basically the shooter leads the target to a particular “window” or predetermined spot and fires.

If I had a recommendation for a beginner it would be the “sustained lead” method. This method teaches to obtain the proper lead early and gives the shooter the most control over each shot. Also, when shooting doubles, it allows for early breaks on the first target , leaving ample time to locate and break the second target.

As for me, I’ve been “swinging through” for years and trying to change that would be like trying to make myself right handed, just not going to happen.

Which ever method you prefer, stick to it and be consistent

I’d love to hear from you which method you prefer, leave a comment and I’ll post the results in a later post.

Time to RELOAD!

Dove, Dogs, & Shotguns

• Only in Texas .... Apparently some of the people moving out to the country are surprised during dove season. I came across this article from WFAA, and couldn't help but see some humor in it. Lori Castoldi awoke last week to the sound of gunshots near her Prosper home.      "It was all around......
• And the Season Begins Today, in central and north Texas, thousands of hopeful dove hunters seek to bag their 15 dove. Stores like Academy and Bass Pro have pallets of shells and dove decoys on the floor seeking to entice last minute buyers and me I'm stuck at work. A mild cool front set......
• What is gun fit? I was doing some research on gun fit and came across this article at shotgunworld.com. It contains an excert from an article in The Caller, from Corpus Christi. I'm positive I couldn't explain it any better, so here it is... Anybody who thinks a new shotgun might be the answer for......

• Foreign Exchange Trading: The IvyBot Trading Program If you are involved into such well-known currency trading market as Forex you most likely have heard about various automated systems and robots. The IvyBot trading program is one of such programs. This robot is one of the most popular automated systems of 2009 in currency trading sphere. The robot......
• July 20th Roundup Sunday Money Madness is back again this week with more great mid-afternoon reads. Don't miss out on: Low Cost Weekend Idea: Borrow Library Videos from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity is a great idea for those who don't have Netflix and are looking to watch movies without having to go to......
• My Favorite Last Minute Gifts Similar to last year's post, I still believe that Amazon gift cards are one of the best last minute gifts. If you've been out shopping today, you probably agree with me. The beauty of an Amazon gift card is that Amazon has nearly everything you can imagine. That's why I......

According to Phil Bourjaily of Field & Stream. Phil is a well known writer/gun expert and has some really good points on improving your kill ratio.

I’ve always felt that skeet was a great warm up for dove season. I always start with my shotgun a little lower than most shooters to give the effect of preparing for an incoming dove, bur Phil recommends to start with your shotgun completely dismounted in order to “work on mounting it in synchronization with the speed of the target.”

One point omitted by Phil was that skeet shooting not only improves your fundamentals, but prepares you mentally also. For those of you that have not suffered through a bad round of skeet or an off opening day, there is not much difference. They both suck, tremendously. Learning to put together a complete round of 25 (especially after some early misses) can really toughen your mind up for those misses in the field. Unfortunately, we all can’t be like Kobe Bryant, able to shoot without a conscious. For most of us, developing mental toughness when shotgunning is an acquired skill. Skeet shooting can help you avoid pressing in the field and make for a much more fun and productive hunt.

Phil has some more tips for wingshooters here.

Time to RELOAD!

Dove, Dogs, & Shotguns

• And the Season Begins Today, in central and north Texas, thousands of hopeful dove hunters seek to bag their 15 dove. Stores like Academy and Bass Pro have pallets of shells and dove decoys on the floor seeking to entice last minute buyers and me I'm stuck at work. A mild cool front set......
• Top 7 Things to do before Dove Season I can't believe it is already July 21st. In a little over a month I will be waiting for the sun to come up over a field in North Texas. As my plans get finalized, I thought I would put together a checklist to get you ahead of the pack......
• Finding Good Dove Leases - Easier Said Than Done There are hundreds of dove leases advertised on the Internet and in newspapers. Just about everyone tells you that they have the best dove hunting in Texas. How do you know which ones actually have dove on them? IF you have a large bank account and can afford to hunt on......

• How to Load Your Own Shotgun Shell Hunters and sportsmen alike that would like to save money should look into reloading their own shotgun shells. Not only can shell loading be a hobby within a hobby, it will also give the hunter or sportsman a chance to make their own custom shells to match whatever game or......
• What Does Mitch Albom Know About Fantasy Baseball? On Sunday, Mitch Albom launched a surprise attack on fantasy baseball in Parade Magazine.  Albom starts off by pointing out that on any given day, fifteen million people check fantasy baseball stats – more fans than are actually in the stands to watch a game that day.  Albom sees this......
• Macau News March 2007 Pansy's Nevada Victory Nevada gambling authorities have given Pansy Ho the nod to go-ahead with her US$ 1.1 billion Macau casinos partnership with MGM Mirage Inc. A delighted Pansy Ho told reporters, "For almost all of the 40-some years of my life, I have been trying to find an open......

Starting a youngster out with a shotgun can be a great experience for both of you. If you follow a few guidelines, you can help ensure that you pour a solid foundation. A foundation that will be the basis of a lifetime of hunting and shooting.

I’m not going to try to tell you what age to start kids out hunting or shotgunning. I feel that every kid is unique and only you can decide when your son or daughter is ready. Things like maturity, size, and desire are all things to consider before making the investment. My ten year old wanted to go hunting so bad this year, he was willing to do anything to get a shotgun.

Gun safety is the most important thing you can teach your kids. Kids see a lot of killing on TV and on the video games they play, yet they just don’t realize how dangerous a gun really is. We must instill in them safe practices until it becomes habit. Start with how to carry the shotgun with much focus on where the barrel is pointed at all times. Next move to how to work the safety on the shotgun. The only time the gun is taken off of safety is when the shotgun is mounted and ready to fire. After some practice with handling the shotgun, move on to loading instructions and firing. The key here is to let them know gun safety is no joke, and if they are unsafe, they will lose their privilege to have a gun. Remember, we as experienced hunters, must set the example when it comes to safety. For some more tips on safety, click here.

Also critical to success is the gauge of shotgun you buy your child. Specifically, how much recoil they can handle. Let’s face it, a kid is not going to want to do something if it hurts every time they do it. So buying a ten year old a cheap 12 gauge is probably a mistake.  I bought my 13 year old a youth model 20 gauge, and my 10 year old a youth model .410. Both of my sons are average height and weight and I have had no complaints from either one about recoil. My oldest is a couple of years away from moving up to a 12 gauge in my estimation, and then I’ll hand down his 20 ga. and the .410 to my now 6 year old. The idea here is to build confidence with a shotgun they can handle that won’t make them flinch every time they pull the trigger.

Next is practice, practice, practice. Unless you have acreage, you’ll need a place for them to shoot. I recommend starting them out shooting skeet. The controlled environment allows you to help them every step of the way their first round. Try to plan their first shoot for a time when the range isn’t too busy to help relieve some of their anxiety. Keep all of your instructions and pointers positive, making every effort to keep their confidence level high. I always reflect on how bad I was when I first started, to let my boys know that it’s okay to miss and  that’s why we practice. I encourage the two of them to only compete with themselves, trying to better their own scores each time, for now. Later we can get into the sport of competing against everyone. Fundamentals is what your are after here. Properly mounting the shotgun, following through the shot and seeing the target. Of course, on the very first round, you’ll be dealing with every aspect from handling the gun, to loading and unloading, and shooting. Not to mention, all of their nerves that come along with the first shoot.

After I took my ten year old out for his first round, in which he only hit a few, he told me that was one of the funnest things he had ever done. I made a big deal of the targets he hit and it inspired him to do better. Now just a few rounds later he consistently hits 10-13 clays with his single shot .410. Not too shabby.

Confidence is the key to any shotgunner, but especially with kids. If your kids are like mine and they have to be good at everything, keeping their dobber up is sometimes tough starting out. Concentrate on the good things they do, and reinforce, positively, the areas they need improvement in.

The average age of hunters in the US is 49 years old. We need all the young hunters we can get, so  they can pass the traditions on for generations to come. 

Time to RELOAD!

Dove, Dogs, & Shotguns

• Getting Started (part II) WHAT TO DO? Okay, you've acquired everything you need to begin dove hunting, NOW WHAT!?!? There isn't too much to it, but if you take a few steps prior to taking the field, you'll have a lot more fun and a lot less stress. Let's begin. Get familiar with your......
• Safeties On! "Safeties On!" That is what Dad says every time we get out into the field to go hunting. Leaving my gun on safety is a habit. It is part of my routine as I begin to take aim and fire, it's automatic. I've heard people saying safety causes them to......
• Wearing Earplugs - Just Do It Do you wear earplugs while dove hunting or shooting a shotgun? if you are like me, the answer is no. I've made every excuse in the book for not wearing them. From, it messes up my shot, to, they are not comfortable. I think after you read the following report,......

• Review: Feels Like the First Time by Tawny Weber The cover of Feels Like the First Time is the reason readers hide the books that they read. I’m surprised Harlequin approved it frankly. It looks like the 70s on drugs. Disco pinks, blues, and purples swirl in a psychedelic mess surrounding two humping dancers that look like Sims......
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• i played video games even i injured my elbow? even tho i strained my elbow, i played video games, not a computer game video game but i have a arm resting couch so my body is comfy. u think this is the reason why my elbow is still not healed yet?( 5 months). strained elbow is nothing serious right?......

I was doing some research on gun fit and came across this article at shotgunworld.com. It contains an excert from an article in The Caller, from Corpus Christi. I’m positive I couldn’t explain it any better, so here it is…

Anybody who thinks a new shotgun might be the answer for shooting woes is … absolutely right.
It’s a fitting answer to a fitting subject based on the fact that some shotguns naturally fit some shooters better than others.

What every wingshooter needs is a shotgun that comes naturally and comfortably to the shooter’s shoulder so that the shooter’s eyes are looking straight down the top of the barrel, picture perfect every time.

The problem is that many standard, off-the-shelf shotguns are designed to the dimensions of an “average” right-handed shooter who is 5-foot-9, weighs 165 pounds, has a 33-inch arm length and wears a size 40-regular suit.

That leaves out most men over 40, many women and children and all lefties.

Everyone, of course, would love to have a custom-fitted, custom-made Purdy from old England. Getting one, however, would require a two-year wait and the cost of a couple Corvettes.

A custom-fitted Beretta by Orvis would get the price down to four digits, but that was still too expensive for my budget.

Then I talked to Col. Tom Hanzel, former coach of national champion skeet teams at Trinity University in San Antonio and an expert shooting instructor.

“Every now and then I run into an individual who can handle a standard shotgun, but it’s about one out of 100,” Hanzel said, noting that proper fit was a “necessity” for maximizing shooting skill.

But the coach also said getting a fitted shotgun was not expensive. In many cases, a gunsmith could adjust a standard shotgun to fit a shooter for as little as $50 to $60 (such as at the Texas Gun Shop in Corpus Christi).

I remembered Hanzel’s words when I met gunsmith John Smyrl, who did fitting work for South Texas shooters before departing this earthly plane a couple of years ago.

For his work, the gunsmith used what is called a “try gun” with a special butt stock that can be adjusted in numerous ways to fit any shooter. Once the try gun fits, the measurements are duplicated on the shooter’s own shotgun, often at minimal costs.

Often, a skilled gunsmith can spot the most common problems of shotgun fit by simply eyeballing a shooter holding a shotgun in a shooting position.
My suggestion to Smyrl was a before-and-after test, using my own shotgun, to see if there was enough difference in fit to make a difference.

I produced an older model but standard Remington 870 pump gun in 12 gauge.

As a simple eyeball test, Smyrl had me repeatedly mount the shotgun to my shoulder while he stood at the barrel end and checked the position of my eyes in relation to the top of the barrel.

“I can tell you right now that this gun doesn’t fit you worth a darn, but let’s take it out to the range and see how you shoot it,” he said.

We did.

Since my focus was on dove hunting, we set up on a skeet range to try shooting clay birds on various crossing angles. To better judge the fit of my shotgun, Smryl suggested I not shoulder it until a “bird” suddenly appeared.

I broke 13 of the first 25 birds and 15 of the next 25, for a total of 28 out of 50. That was better than I expected, but nothing to brag about.

Smyrl made little comment until the final shot was fired, then he got down to the basics of shotgun fit.

The measurements that count most, he said, are “cast,” “length of pull” and “drop of comb.” Cast is the measurement of how the centerline of the stock fits to the centerline of the receiver. As the stock varies off the centerline to the left or to the right, it is said to be either “cast on” or “cast off.”

Many standard shotguns have a slight cast off for right-handed shooters, which can be a disadvantage for southpaws. Smyrl said many shooters could benefit from a cast that centers their eyes on a shotgun’s sighting rib.
Length of pull is the measurement of distance between the butt of the shotgun’s stock and the trigger.

For a simple test of length of pull, Smyrl said a shooter can bend his or her shooting arm into a right angle at the elbow with the palm open and flat. Then, place the butt of the shotgun against the crook of the elbow, with the receiver flat against the palm. If the shotgun trigger falls about the first joint of the index finger, the length of pull is about right.

Drop of comb is the distance which the comb section of the stock just behind the grip drops below the top of the receiver. Since the shooter anchors his or her cheek to the stock behind the comb, the drop determines the level of the eye to the top of the receiver.

“The problem with your shotgun,” Smyrl said, “is that there’s too much drop in the stock. It’s too low for you, but that’s common for a lot of shooters.

“When you get your cheekbone down on the stock, you’re seeing too much of the back of the receiver. So when you shoot, you are lifting your cheek off the stock to see the target better, and you’re shooting high,” he explained.

So custom fitting my shotgun amounted mostly to adjusting drop of comb, a simple task of slightly bending metal at the back of the receiver.
Back at the skeet range, I shot worse than ever, breaking only 9 of 25 birds, while eliciting a few chuckles from the gunsmith.

“Look,” he said, “you’re shotgun fits right, but you haven’t changed your old habit of lifting up your head when you shoot, which puts you way off target now. I want you to plant your cheekbone on that stock and concentrate on keeping it there.”

I broke 38 of the next 50 birds.

Some misses came when I lifted my head, but I wasn’t complaining.

The difference between my “before” score of 28 out of 50 and the “after” score of 38 out of 50 represented an improvement of about 35 percent.

It was a fitting exercise.

————————————————————————————

After reading that, I’m thinking about having my 1187 fit.

Check out www.gunfitter.com.

Time to RELOAD!

Dove, Dogs, & Shotguns

• Shotgun Ammo & Chokes Choosing shotgun shells and choke tubes can be confusing to say the least. Just go to Academy and look at the variety, 1oz., 1 1/8oz., 7 shot, 7.5 shot, 2 3/4", 3", lead, tungsten etc, etc, etc. If your not careful you could spend a fortune on the wrong stuff. Let's......
• Weekly Migratory Bird Hunting Report North Zone Dove: Dove hunters saw fair to good shoots around the Panhandle over cut corn and milo. The region has received rain during the summer so there are plenty of watering holes and playa lakes. Lubbock and fields north of Abilene were good for morning shoots of mourning doves.......
• New Dove Lease Listing Charlie at the Picosa Ranch has recently listed his dove lease on our free listing service. THANK YOU, Charlie. Our goal at DD&S is to build a free site where hunters can view available listings and read reviews from hunters who have hunted these leases. So Charlie, get some of......

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Mounting your shotgun is vital to successful shooting. It is also vital to being able to shoot numerous rounds. I’ve found myself with bruises on my shoulder and cheek bone from not placing the gun in the shoulder pocket correctly, or not holding the shotgun tight enough. My article on shooting fundamentals goes over this in detail.

In an article in Field & Stream I came across a picture worth a thousand words about properly mounting your shotgun. The guy was shooting sporting clays with a cheap over/under shotgun. He noticed something was seriously wrong about half way through……..

I’d say something went wrong, many times. Although we don’t know what kind of shells he was shooting, we do know that he wasn’t mounting the gun correctly. For a list of his injuries go to Field & Stream’s article about this

The bottom line is, unless you want this to be you,  mount your gun correctly, everytime. This guy won’t be shooting anything for a long time.

• When To Start Training I'd like to introduce you to Layla. She's six weeks old and I just brought her home two days ago. Soon she'll be retrieving my dove but for now I have to start the training process. Let's face it, at six weeks old her attention span is short and......
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• Picking a spot in the field Who hasn't done it, shown up for a big dove hunt and put yourself in a bad spot. It is simply miserable to listen to all the blasting around you as you contemplate everything from moving spots to what you did to deserve this. The best bullets, most expensive shotgun,......

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Do you miss a lot? Have you ever wondered what the difference between a Modified cylinder and an Improved Cylinder is? What about the difference between a 7.5 or 8 shot load? All these questions can be answered with a couple of boxes of shells, some paper, and time. Patterning a shotgun can be very valuable to any bird hunter. Let’s look at how.

First off let’s be clear, I’m not trying to show you how to pattern for gun fit, I’m trying to help you identify how to make your gun, as it is, the most effective when dove hunting.

1. Get set up: Find a place that you can shoot without being pressed for time. Acquire some 4′x4′ poster board or sheets of paper (no less than 40″ squares) and put one on a sheet of plywood for a backstop. Make sure to bring the chokes and shells for the type of game you will be patterning for. Set yourself up at a distance that you normally shoot from. For dove, probably 20-25 yards will be your best bet.
2. Start Shooting: Unfortunately, you can’t do this by shooting one time with each variation and think you are done. You can shoot the same choke and same load five times and each will be different, but there will be significant patterns to pay attention to. Label each shot and mark the area where the pellets are most concentrated and then draw a large circle around the rest of the pattern (12-15 inch radius depending on how tight a pattern you are shooting). Shoot at least four to five times for each variation you wish to evaluate, i.e. four shots with modified 8 shot , modified 7.5 shot etc. etc. After you’ve wore out the plywood, it’s time to study the results.
3. Evaluate: As you begin to look at these pieces of paper look for consistency. Everyone will be a little different but there wiil be patterns in each variation. Imagine or make an outline of a dove a put it inside the circle in various places to see if you have places that would have only landed one or two pellets or  missed completely. If so, use smaller shot, or a heavier load. When looking at the difference between chokes, pay attention to how deadly the pattern is on outer quadrants. Chokes can go bad. If you notice a significant void in the same area of the shot, shoot a few more times to be sure. If it’s still there, replace the choke. Better to replace the choke than miss the dove and start the mental war that comes with missing. For more on shooting, click here

I know. this sounds like loads of fun, yeah right. However, you might thank me on the next hunt if you find a problem before you go. Knowing how your gun shoots is vital to being consistent in field.

 Time to RELOAD!

• Dove Hunting - It's More Than a Sport On our first trip to South Texas dove hunting my dad, brother, and I had a hair-brained idea to head south at 8:00 P.M.. The plan was to make the six hour drive, get four or five hours of sleep and hit the field for the morning hunt. Let's just......
• Shotgun Ammo & Chokes Choosing shotgun shells and choke tubes can be confusing to say the least. Just go to Academy and look at the variety, 1oz., 1 1/8oz., 7 shot, 7.5 shot, 2 3/4", 3", lead, tungsten etc, etc, etc. If your not careful you could spend a fortune on the wrong stuff. Let's......
• Shooting Fundamentals Shooting Fundamentals        The fundamentals of shooting a shotgun are vital to becoming a successful dove hunter. There are many things that contribute to actually hitting the target. In our previous article about avoiding mental breakdowns we talked about how to keep your mind from getting in the way of......

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• How to Load Your Own Shotgun Shell Hunters and sportsmen alike that would like to save money should look into reloading their own shotgun shells. Not only can shell loading be a hobby within a hobby, it will also give the hunter or sportsman a chance to make their own custom shells to match whatever game or......

Choosing shotgun shells and choke tubes can be confusing to say the least. Just go to Academy and look at the variety, 1oz., 1 1/8oz., 7 shot, 7.5 shot, 2 3/4″, 3″, lead, tungsten etc, etc, etc. If your not careful you could spend a fortune on the wrong stuff. Let’s examine what the numbers mean.

Let’s use, say 8 shot, 1 oz, 2 3/4 in lead heavy dove load for an example.

• #8 shot is size of the shot, the bigger the #, the smaller the shot. Remember though, the bigger the number the more BB’s there are in the shell. If you subtract the number of the shot from 17 that gives you the actual size of the BB, i.e 17-8=9, meaning 8 shot = 9/100 or .090″. Every BB is .090″ in 8 shot. Got it, good.
• 1 oz is how many ounces of BB’s there are. So it makes since now the smaller the BB’s, the more that fit into the shell. For instance, in 7.5 shot there are 350 BB’s, and in 8 shot there are 410 (in a 1oz load).
• 2 3/4″ is simply how long the shell is. Some shotguns shoot up to 3.5″, but were shooting dove, not 747’s (the airplanes).
• Lead is what the shot is made of. Lead is the best for inflicting the most damage for the money, steel is more environmentally friendly but sucks in the killing department, and tungsten is too damn expensive.

For more technical data on shotgun shells click here.

Okay, now that you have an idea what all the numbers mean, let’s drill down into the dove loads. You most likely will want 7.5 to 8 shot when dove hunting. If you are new to shooting go with the eight shot / 1 1/8 oz and up load, 2 3/4″ shell(exactly the shell I shoot). This load will give you a very dense pattern (lots of BB’s) and increase the odds of  shooting the dove. If you are a little further along you might go with a 7.5 because the larger shot inflicts more damage. Personally, I shoot an 8 shot still because it’s what I’m used to. The more ounces, the more money the shell costs. If you’ve got the budget you can shoot the heavier loads to add more firepower.  Don’t spend too much time on this because it is much more important to have good fundamental shooting than to rely on a good bullet to make up for what you lack in.

You’ve made your selection on the shells you want to shoot on your dove hunting trip, now it’s time to decide which choke to use. Most modern shotguns have screw in, interchangeable choke tubes. The three most common are full choke, modified choke, and improved cylinder. Contrary to popular belief these have nothing to do with how far shotgun shoots. A Lot of dove hunters will put a full choke in thinking it will allow them to shoot farther, this is really not true. A full choke holds the pattern of shot in a tighter pattern (for a longer distance), for a more concentrated amount of shot entering the target. Great for geese, pheasant and other large birds, but you try to hit a dove coming across you from 25 yards out at MACH 2 with a full choke and you had better do everything right and still get a little bit lucky. Bottom line, unless you are an expert shot-gunner a full choke will cause you a lot of frustration (and misses, especially in the closer ranges). Next is modified choke, this is a common choke used when dove hunting. It opens up better in the closer ranges than a full choke will, but holds a little tighter pattern than improved. Considering most shots on dove should be 35 yards and under my vote is improved cylinder. Improved gives you the widest pattern that is still deadly at 35 yards. I shot modified for years and was fairly successful, but when I made the switch to improved my accuracy improved dramatically. My philosophy is put a heavy 8 shot in the air with an improved cylinder and you’ll spend less time cussing and more time looking for dove and bragging about how great of a shot you are.

Time to RELOAD!

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• Walking the field Perhaps my favorite way to hunt dove is to walk the field for those dove that  have lighted in the field. Of course, if you are in a big shoot with many other shotguns, you can't do this for obvious safety reasons.  However, later in the season this method can be......
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