Hey Crusader, you were singing my song. At least 4 times in the last 3 weeks I've pulled a double whiff on a close flushing, relatively straight-away bird. It's especially frustrating when you don't get many flushes. In my case, I'm pretty sure that I was going-shoulder, point, stop, shoot, miss, repoint, stop, shoot, miss. Of course, the right process is shoulder, swing, shoot-while still swinging, and hit.
I couldn't get my wife to go to the shooting club to help me practice so I went to a much closer public trap range with my hunting gun instead of my trap gun. From the 16 yd line I shot a practice round with my normal trap routine-18. I figured, OK, I'm a little rusty and normally shoot a different gun for trap. Then I shot a round "unmounted", having never done this before. Was that an eye-opener as I shot a 13. The trap puller suggested I hold the gun with the muzzle up instead of down for the next round. I also reminded myself to concentrate on a smooth tempo--that I really had more time than I thought. As I shot this round I gained confidence and ended with a 21--and I missed 2 of my last 5 from station 3 and that were relatively straight-away.
In trap leagues, I also have periods where I struggle with straight-aways, so it's something I need to keep working on.
When I can get my wife or a friend to go with me to the club, I plan to stand about 10 yards behind a trap house with the gun in carry position, and have them pull unannounced targets so I can work on the surprize aspect and shooting from a carry position. Maybe I'll even try some from the "late in the day, tired, bored, shoulder carry position".
PairOfLabs
. I think the excitement/shooting too quick and the raising your head to watch him fall are two of the biggest culprits in missing gimmies. At least that has been my personal experience. It's been 31 years since my first pheasant hunt and I still get excited when they get up. I guess that's good though. If it were the opposite it might be time to hang it up.
