Eye Position While Shooting

kiotehntr

kiotehntr

Super Moderator
I can't remember if we covered this or not so here goes, how do you guys "hold" your eyes as you are shooting birds? I sometimes have both open and sometimes just one. If a single rooster gets up then usually its one eye closed but if a covey of quail gets up then it's both eyes open. Just curious to how you all do it.
 
57 years ago when I was being taught how to shoot in the Navy. I was taught to keep one eye closed. That training has held on to me, through all those years. I still keep one eye closed when shooting anything, rifle or shotgun......Bob
 
Both eyes open during the mount, then a partial to full "squint" of my off-barrel eye during the final swing and shot to be sure that my "dominant" eye STAYS dominant as I line up the shot.
-Croc
 
crockett said:
Both eyes open during the mount, then a partial to full "squint" of my off-barrel eye during the final swing and shot to be sure that my "dominant" eye STAYS dominant as I line up the shot.
-Croc
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I do the same, I think! I am only slightly aware of the squinting, but if shooting claybirds, I do not squint.
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HOW TO ROLL JOINTS
 
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Both eyes open. When shooting pheasants I usually never sight down the barrel. In fact I don't even see the barrel. Guess I'm more of an instinctive shooter. Pull the gun up and pull the trigger. Been doing that way for 53 years and any of my hunting buddys will tell you I'm the best shot in the bunch. At least I always seem to shoot the most birds. :)
 
I am with uj Zeb both eyes open, I think, never checked :)


Dakotazeb said:
Both eyes open. When shooting pheasants I usually never sight down the barrel. In fact I don't even see the barrel. Guess I'm more of an instinctive shooter. Pull the gun up and pull the trigger. Been doing that way for 53 years and any of my hunting buddys will tell you I'm the best shot in the bunch. At least I always seem to shoot the most birds. :)
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I was taught to keep both eyes open when shooting a shotgun. It works fine for me. I didn't miss a single rooster last year with that system.
 
Went 10 for 10 with the shot gun, twice at the trooper acedemy. Both eyes open, failed the pistol course twice. :D
 
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I shoot shotgun with both eyes open. I was taught that having both eyes open allows you to better acquire the target, judge the distance to the target (almost impossible with one eye closed), and make sure that I'm shooting in a safe direction.

Bilbo...how many roosters did you shoot at last year? I watched Tom Knapp (the exhibition and trap shooting champ) whiff on about 4 birds in 30 minutes on the outdoor channel a few weeks back. I just can't imagine anyone doing any amount of hunting and not missing a single shot all season. You do actually let the birds get in the air before you start shooting right?
:)
 
Hub said:
I shoot shotgun with both eyes open. I was taught that having both eyes open allows you to better acquire the target, judge the distance to the target (almost impossible with one eye closed), and make sure that I'm shooting in a safe direction.

Bilbo...how many roosters did you shoot at last year? I watched Tom Knapp (the exhibition and trap shooting champ) whiff on about 4 birds in 30 minutes on the outdoor channel a few weeks back. I just can't imagine anyone doing any amount of hunting and not missing a single shot all season. You do actually let the birds get in the air before you start shooting right?
:)
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Hub, what BB forgot to mention is that he hunts with a magazine extender that gives him an extra box of shells. It's kind of like watching a anti-aircraft gun being fired. :D
 
I left the magazine extender at home last year. ha ha

Actually, I had a pretty good year as I bagged just under 50 roosters. I have to qualify my 2008 results. I lost one rooster, I hit him hard but just sort of had a bad feeling as I approached the spot where he should have been flopping around. I looked and looked but could not locate that one bird. Funny thing last year, I had a few Fiocchi shells I wanted to expend and then move on to the Kent Mini-mags that I discovered. I bought two full cases of the Kents and they are still sitting in my office in Texas. I tried two of the new shells just to see what would happen. WOW. Both roosters were deader than door nails. Those are some great shells. I credit my success to taking a 1/2 second more time to shoulder my Browning and taking only quality shots. I only shot two birds that were sort of out there at the 45yard range. Oh yeah, I keep both eyes open. Since I hunt by myself I try all sorts of different things in the field to entertain myself while hunting. Sometimes I only chamber one shell, that is sort of a sobering idea when pheasant hunting, every shot has to count. Sometimes I change to a different gun for each field I hunt until I get back to the gun I started with. That is a challange because they are all a little different. Sometimes I mix fast loads with slower loads to give my shooting a little variation. I have to remember which shell is in which location in the "magazine extender". But, I always keep both eyes open when shooting a shotgun.

Now look what you have done... I'm starting to get excited about pheasant hunting. Booked my rooms for the opening week of Kansas and have approved vacation days. I even started working out at the gym starting May 1st. I am ready, now please don't remind me about the pheasants until November, I won't be able to sleep.
 
Hub, Kent makes a 2 3/4 FAST LEAD shell that has 1 1/2 of shot and travels at about 1400 fps. Someone else referred to them as mini-mags and I just picked up that name, it sounded good to me. I use #5s and they give a very nice clean kill on the bird. I don't think I will have too many lost birds that run away with these loads. A few years ago I was using the Winchester #6 loads but lost some birds on what I thought were decent shots. I switched to Fiocchi and then tried the Kent FAST Lead for the first time two years ago. Once I use up my old Fiocchi shells I will be shooting the Kents exclusively until I find something else that is better. In my mind, they are awesome!!! (The Fiocchi are decent shells, I don't want to say there is anything bad about them.)
 
Both Eyes Open

Have always shot my shotgun with both eyes open, I never see the rib, just focus on the white band on the neck and pull the trigger. The bird just falls out of the sky, when he doesn't I really wonder what the hell i did wrong :)
 
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