Hardest shot for me. You?

goldenboy

goldenboy

Well-known member
Hey guys I was reminded again about some of my most difficult shots in the past few days of hunting. One of my hardest shots I face is the straight away shot at a rooster as he is climbing. I am almost always under that bird. I find it hard to cover him as I am raising the gun to shoot. One very difficult shot I faced in North Dakota last week that I missed both time was the rooster flying straight at me. First of all it takes a little time to determine it is a rooster. At that point they are fairly close and I usually try to shoot the head off. Of course I miss and then I am scrambling to turn around and shoot another difficult shot, the straight away wiff! Help me with some good mental process on best practices on those shots. Also, what are the most difficult for you? Crossing Right? Crossing Left?
 
Strait at me is the shot I’m most nervous about. Just haven’t had enough run ins to know how to adjust from what I did. Right and left I need to remind myself to keep swinging the gun. My favorite shot is flying away at a slight angle. Keeping two hands on the gun and not day dreaming would also help against young punk kids that have reaction times of a ninja. When I hunt alone I don’t seem to miss much
 
Long crossing shots for me. I know I'm behind them, but have a hard time adding in the extra few feet of lead needed. I don't miss many other shots, but when I get long crossers, I might hit 1 out of 4. I just shake my head and start looking for the next bird.
 
I agree that Straight in and Straight away are the toughest. Going away they can take a bunch of bb's and keep flying. Coming straight in, it is easy to wait too long and then miss or blow them apart. Only advice I can give is gauge your range and don't take shots outside of your zone.

Jerry
 
Probably quartering away or straight away. Straight away the vitals are not exposed but the wings are so it seems like when you knock one down, you just ding it.

I personally struggle more with crossing to the right because I shoot right handed. Its more natural for me to wing to the left.
 
Straight away (I'm sensing a trend) and crossing hard to my left (I'm a lefty). I do ok with quartering to my left, but those hard crossing shots to my left I never turn my body square towards the bird (even though I bitch myself out for not doing it immediately after) then I just run out of room to swing my gun.

I missed a bird on opener off of a point that crossed hard to my left and 5 shots later I just watched him sail away.
 
Straight away is my toughest knocked one down today thought it was a good shot feathers flew and it folded up thought it a sure kill. Dogs ended up chasing it into the woods and lost it. Huge disappointment hate losing a wounded bird. We searched for about twenty minutes with three dogs and no luck only bird we lost today.
 
Both those shots are tough Joel. Both require blotting out the bird with the barrel. About the only advice I can give isn't very earth shattering, just practice them on the sporting clays course & become more comfortable. The mental game is different with a real bird though, so there's that. I get very, very few flying at me. I find it helps to either take the bird while he's still 50 yds out, because by the time I get a shot off he'll be 35. Or forget the on-coming, turn around, & take him going away. I've tried asking the birds to not do those things, but they don't listen.
 
goldenboy said:
Hey guys I was reminded again about some of my most difficult shots in the past few days of hunting. One of my hardest shots I face is the straight away shot at a rooster as he is climbing. I am almost always under that bird. I find it hard to cover him as I am raising the gun to shoot. One very difficult shot I faced in North Dakota last week that I missed both time was the rooster flying straight at me. First of all it takes a little time to determine it is a rooster. At that point they are fairly close and I usually try to shoot the head off. Of course I miss and then I am scrambling to turn around and shoot another difficult shot, the straight away wiff! Help me with some good mental process on best practices on those shots. Also, what are the most difficult for you? Crossing Right? Crossing Left?
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I think the going away shot is the toughest for most people not so much as it's hard to hit but if the bird is at some distance when it flushes it's hard to anchor that bird as he exposes the least amount of vitals. Long crossing shots can give people fits too as they aren't applying the correct lead which in most cases goes back to their technique. A good reminder is.... if you can see the birds head... get your eyes/gun to the head. The gun will ALWAYS follow the eyes and the brain will take care of the rest. On the rising going away shot it's It's basically like the rising going away teal shot in sporting clays. As sweet 16 says, you almost have to blot the birds head out with the barrel as you trigger the shot. If you look at the whole bird, again... you will shoot below and mostly just hit tail feathers. But as with anything else practice makes perfect and in the off season if you find yourself having trouble with a certain shot than work it out at the range if you can.

MY hardest shot is the one I don't get the butt of the gun all the way seated into my shoulder pocket and or cheek planted on the wood. Automatic miss.......;)
 
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I'm good at missing all kinds of shots! But where I really seem to struggle is when I can see a bird, but have to wait for it to clear an object before I can safely shoot. I think it gives me too much time to think about the shot, and I whiff.
 
Straight away. Especially when I’m hunting heavy cover and you need to get a quicker shot. Cover them up!!!
 
4shot said:
Strait at me is the shot I’m most nervous about. Just haven’t had enough run ins to know how to adjust from what I did. Right and left I need to remind myself to keep swinging the gun. My favorite shot is flying away at a slight angle. Keeping two hands on the gun and not day dreaming would also help against young punk kids that have reaction times of a ninja. When I hunt alone I don’t seem to miss much
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You shoot when they are in front of you.Thats key.
 
Heading outbound at about 10 o’clock is tough for me. That combination of heading away and a slight cross gets me.
 
Multiple birds flushing…or, flushes that require quick decisions due to buildings, vehicles, dogs, hunters, etc…this year I’ve done very well with single flushes…some misses, for sure, but not many…
 
benelli-banger said:
Multiple birds flushing…or, flushes that require quick decisions due to buildings, vehicles, dogs, hunters, etc…this year I’ve done very well with single flushes…some misses, for sure, but not many…
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If you ever need someone to chuckle , laugh or just shake your head at(when Im not looking) for constantly whiffing, Im your guy! I await your invite!;)
 
Lefty76 said:
I'm good at missing all kinds of shots! But where I really seem to struggle is when I can see a bird, but have to wait for it to clear an object before I can safely shoot. I think it gives me too much time to think about the shot, and I whiff.
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I'd have to agree that these are the worst for me too, regardless of the obstruction or how much time I have to wait.
 
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