Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl Can’t hit s*** this year

I just went six for six on pen raised quail in front of our Lab, she still thinks I'm a master wingshot ..... until it cools off enough to take her to the lake down here.

Unless you shoot one-eyed, feel it rather than trying to see it. The more you try to see it, the more the gun slows at the trigger pull.

In addition, if you shoot more than a little, you may want to cut your leads back. Those who shoot little most often miss behind. Those who shoot a lot, have more of a tendency to miss in front.

You may have killed the six Quail because you were running on point and shoot subconscious instinct. Ducks coming into range give you a little more time to overthink what you think you should do. If you want to try something different, look away when the Ducks are coming into range. When you think it is time, look up, pick one out and let you natural eye hand coordination take over. Much the same as those Quail.


Addition: Keep your cheek off the stock until you a ready to shoot, again the same as on the Quail. VernAk already mentioned this. The longer you ride the target, the more the barrel gets in the way, which causes us to aim more than we should. Pick out a strong visual spot on the bird, like the head, and cut it loose.

Patterned it today, with Imp Cyl @ 25yards using 3” Hevi Steel #3s, the split was maybe like 55/45 over/under my POA. But left to right was probably 60/40. Anyone know how to fix that? Or just keep trying different chokes and loads? I don’t think that explains how much I’ve missed, but I’m sure it wasn’t helping.

Shoot from a bench rest just like you would a rifle. Some chokes don't shoot to POA. 55/45 is ok some guns are made to shoot a little high your eye is the rear sight so a small change in sight picture can change that a lot. 60/40 at 25 yards would be off quite a bit at 40 yards.You should have had a 100% pattern at that range using the standard 30" circle. Hope this helps.

I re read after posting 55/45 at 25 yards would put you quite high at 40 sorry. I always pattern at 40

You fix it by shooting your patterns at 16 yards and do it with a tighter choke. Then a 1/16 change at the comb will equal approximately 1 inch on the board. Gives you something to judge on aligning POA and POI which in your case will require some comb alterations. The tighter choke will give you a more accurate POI.

Your eye is same as the rear sight on a rifle. Raise the comb 1/16 and the POI on the board goes up one inch. L to R the same.

Addition: Best to have a consistent standing mount and the shooter is consistently impacting the plate in the same place. Tight chokes allow one to see it much better. Modified usually will show a nice impact blob at 16 yards.

35 yards and in...I'd be shooting a improved at most, maybe even a skeet. If you are shooting steel, that mod you mentioned is gonna pattern like a full with lead.

Don’t guess I realized steel would pattern tighter. Last year I was knocking them dead at usually 20 yards or less with a mod and #2s. Lol whoops. This year I’m mostly shooting #3 shot, but depending on the location and species I expect to see I always have some #4, #2 and BB on hand as well.