A thought on shooting technique

A5 Sweet 16, OUOUOU I love the flusher advice in you. It's the little things that make up the big. Keep that body and eyes ahead of your dog...especially when you CAN'T see them but hear them...like in the cattails, willows or tall big blue stem and you are on the edge. I sometimes like to try and get slightly ahead of the four legged jet if I can as most flushes are coming out in front. Brent, didn't that bring back a whole bunch of flush memories?? Did for me! NOW, is this the time to admit that when we were young and had reflexes that we just "shot em"? Now I need EVERY advantage I can. WAIT, these new gen birds are smarter!! Its NOT ME!! PHEEW
 
Pheasants & a Lab said:
A5 Sweet 16, OUOUOU I love the flusher advice in you. It's the little things that make up the big. Keep that body and eyes ahead of your dog...especially when you CAN'T see them but hear them...like in the cattails, willows or tall big blue stem and you are on the edge. I sometimes like to try and get slightly ahead of the four legged jet if I can as most flushes are coming out in front. Brent, didn't that bring back a whole bunch of flush memories?? Did for me! NOW, is this the time to admit that when we were young and had reflexes that we just "shot em"? Now I need EVERY advantage I can. WAIT, these new gen birds are smarter!! Its NOT ME!! PHEEW
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Mike, since I know we're not the ones who are dumber, it must be that birds these days ARE smarter than they used to be. I like to think it's because we hunt them so much that they've evolved as a species. :LOL: You bring up a great point. The time to pay the CLOSEST attention to your dog is when you CAN'T see him/her. My hunting is a constant game of "where's my dog?". Since good shot opportunities can be few & far between, I try to make the best of each one.
 
I just saw a video from Standing Stone Kennels where he talked about good gun handling. In the part about mounting it to the cheek vs the shoulder he mounted the gun and aimed at a video camera for both mounting types. You could clearly see the eye position relative to the barrel and how the shoulder first mount results in extra motion and can throw off the point of aim. Really good visual reinforcement of the cheek first mount.

Here's the link, it's about 4:35 in the Standing Stone Video

I'm going to try setting up my camera and see what happens.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
Mike, since I know we're not the ones who are dumber, it must be that birds these days ARE smarter than they used to be. I like to think it's because we hunt them so much that they've evolved as a species. :LOL: You bring up a great point. The time to pay the CLOSEST attention to your dog is when you CAN'T see him/her. My hunting is a constant game of "where's my dog?". Since good shot opportunities can be few & far between, I try to make the best of each one.
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A lot of the pointer guys are running the Garmin Alpha collars so they don't have to watch their dog they just look at the cell phone thing that shows you where your dog is when your out hunting. I also seen one guy on a YouTube video that kept checking his watch and finaly he says he can see where his dog was at on the watcH!
 
Smasher said:
A lot of the pointer guys are running the Garmin Alpha collars so they don't have to watch their dog they just look at the cell phone thing that shows you where your dog is when your out hunting. I also seen one guy on a YouTube video that kept checking his watch and finaly he says he can see where his dog was at on the watcH!
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Ain't technology grand? I get the safety thing, being able to locate your dog at any time. Or people hunting huge areas, who rely on turning their dog loose to range wide & find a needle in a haystack type of bird. But that type of hunting sure isn't for me. I like being just a wee bit more tuned into my dog & the world around me than that. Any more, it's probably 95% of why I love pheasant hunting.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
Ain't technology grand? I get the safety thing, being able to locate your dog at any time. Or people hunting huge areas, who rely on turning their dog loose to range wide & find a needle in a haystack type of bird. But that type of hunting sure isn't for me. I like being just a wee bit more tuned into my dog & the world around me than that. Any more, it's probably 95% of why I love pheasant hunting.
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Thumbs down. I don't use a collar. Rediculas
 
Smasher said:
A lot of the pointer guys are running the Garmin Alpha collars so they don't have to watch their dog they just look at the cell phone thing that shows you where your dog is when your out hunting. I also seen one guy on a YouTube video that kept checking his watch and finaly he says he can see where his dog was at on the watcH!
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I chased dogs for decades, then chased beepers for decades. Then I bought a Garmin. It was that or get a bootlicker. And yes a smart watch will sinc with them. I've given that some thought, but I haven't mastered the smart phone yet!
 
geezuz, you guys have soft feelings. I wasn't saying anything bad about using an elctric screen just trying to help a guy out. At least the dude is man enough to admit that he uses is but then has to talk shit about flushers and call them bootlickers.
 
I hunted behind another’s setter for a lot of years. She’d outrun the collar and get lost pretty regular. You’d have to go hunt another field and come back to where you’d originally park the truck and she’d be there waiting for you. I don’t know how it was done before collars and now gps. I guess that’s why they did it on horseback.
The thing about flushers that makes it easier to keep track of is they are conditioned from birth to check back because good things happen when they are close to you. With the retrieving and such,,
My peakes have always been easy as they will jump up above the grass every once in awhile and look back at you. My boykin used to worry me, she will cut your track and come in from behind. Took some getting used to. Come to find out it is something about the breed and how they where used to run turkeys and then have to come back and find you.
 
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Being self-taught I watched way too many YouTube videos claiming to describe “the way you need to shoot.” I would go to the gun range, follow their advice and eventually found it lacking. Then I started completely ignoring all that advice and went either skeet or trap shooting every weekend for a summer, sussing out what felt comfortable to me, and figuring out what ultimately broke clay. The three things that most contributed to more birds on the ground - no matter the species - was 1) lots of repetition 2) focusing on breaking clay with a single shot and 3) waiting to mount the gun until you see the clay (a practice-like-you-play approach). These all translate to the field perfectly - speed is, and should be, situational. On the skeet range it means a faster, more efficient mount and shot. For trap, the speed to shot depends on the station and setup. The only way to truly tell what’s “right” for you is to practice.
 
Munster927 said:
Snap shooting I think is more of a problem than delaying your shot. I grew up Ruffed Grouse hunting (and still do) and it really breeds a bad habit in the pheasant fields. Ruffies you really do have to shoot fast as they are in such thick cover. But out in the pheasant fields, compared to the Grouse woods, you have almost an eternity to shoot in comparison.
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You are telling my story. At thirteen I shot my first pheasant with a magnum 20 gauge from about 12 feet and turned it into soup.
 
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