Rising straight away shot

Labradinger

Labradinger

Active member
Been having trouble shooting under birds lately. I know damn well Im shooting underneath them, and is worse when im not expecting a flush. Starting to mess with my mind. What do you do mentally to remind yourself to essentially cover the bird and shoot without seeing it?
 
That1uncle1776 said:
Have you shimmed your stock to have more drop?
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This has happened with a couple guns. One ive shot for 23 years. The other I just got done dropping-it’s new. It seems like a mental thing that I’m not recognizing the rise in the bird. I didnt miss today, but bird wasnt dead and wasnt found. Young dog isnt seasoned on finding downed birds. Have had a knot in my gut since.

I should say I didnt miss on my 3rd shot…
 
Labradinger said:
Been having trouble shooting under birds lately. I know damn well Im shooting underneath them, and is worse when im not expecting a flush. Starting to mess with my mind. What do you do mentally to remind yourself to essentially cover the bird and shoot without seeing it?
Click to expand...
I can't say it makes me do what I want to do every time, but I periodically try to visualize what I am going to do on the next flush, as I am hunting. And, if I am thinking clearly, I do it when I expect a flush too. I figure the more I remind myself, the greater chance my subconscious will listen if I shoot instinctively. What I'd rather do is have more conscious control when I shoot, but it doesn't always end up that way in the heat of the moment.

I have a harder time with close, going away birds, and shooting under them, too. Part of that is not covering the bird and part of it is my gun shoots lower than the point of aim.
 
Labradinger said:
Been having trouble shooting under birds lately. I know damn well Im shooting underneath them, and is worse when im not expecting a flush. Starting to mess with my mind. What do you do mentally to remind yourself to essentially cover the bird and shoot without seeing it?
Click to expand...

A straight away shot is pretty rare for me, almost always they are going to one side just a little. But just come up on the tail, then cover the whole bird with the barrel and squeeze it off while you are still rising above it. Knowing if your gun shoots 60/40 50/50 40/60 is important too. With most benelli guns you can point the bead at the back and kill it every time, they tend to shoot a true 60/40 or even higher.
 
Bird wasn’t dead, bird wasn’t found, then I missed. My fault. 16yd station 3 trap, gun down and shoot the head off the clay. When I am hunting, I throw the gun up often, like every 5-10 minutes. Helps to get mad at the rooster, then kill it. Good advice above.
 
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