timum Shotgun Performance) Shooting School where both are professional NSCA Level III certified instructors. When one is lucky enough to be coached by pros who shoot and instruct as much as they do yearly, at the end of the day the student cannot help but be more ef- fi cient with the shotgun. It is through a combination of lectures and hands-on training that make learning to shoot better something one does not forget. As an example of how this per-
Michael Mohr, Seven Springs Senior Director of Sporting Clays, is pointing out a pattern after one shot was rapidly fired by a student at the center dot. Once this technique becomes second nature, you are on your way to hitting fast-moving game.
to best prepare one for hunting game, especially on the move.
What made that concept more re-
alistic was in July of 2011 I was invited to a writer’s clinic at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania. Here, the renowned husband-wife team of Gil and Vicki Ash, out of Texas, were the guest instructors. They run the OSP (Op-
tains to varmint hunting, on one stand I called for the clay target which came at a 90-degree angle and low. Gil im- mediately yelled at me (knowing that I write for VH), “There goes a coyote that just picked up on you and is beating it to the woods.” I missed! After some tips on why I missed, I called for that same clay target and consistently smashed it. If that would have been a real coyote after the instruction, he would have been dropped by some heavy shot and with one shot. Lesson learned! TIPS FROM THE PROS
ON BEING A BETTER SHOT Also with the class that day was
Level III instructor and Senior Direc- tor of Sporting Clays at Seven Springs, Michael Mohr. Michael was an asset to us all because when Gil was work- ing with one writer, Mike throughout was giving me a few more tips from what he observed when I shot … and that helped. At one point Mike said the target on a particular station starts
off fast and slows with time. To tie that to hunting, Mike said that when birds, such as crows, take off they are slow … and then their fl ight speeds up. So when hunting, adjust. The key here as I saw it was to be aware of the differences! GUN FIT
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matter the custom features or cost, that will transform a poor shot into a good one. However, a poorly fi tting gun can seriously handicap even a good shot. To get a handle on this, trying a dif- ferent gun until you get one that fi ts properly is a start. Whether it is a rifl e or shotgun, it’s important that the gun fi ts the shooter’s build and arm length. Although important with shotgun or rifl e, this is especially critical with the shotgun. Unlike a rifl e, a shotgun usu- ally doesn’t have a rear sight. Therefore, the shooter’s eye must serve as the gun’s rear sight. This provides for fast sighting of a shotgun, which is needed on a mov- ing target. For this system to work, the second requirement is that the gun stock is aligned to the shooter’s face … and this has a lot to do with using a properly fi tting shotgun. Unfortunately, many hunters learn to adapt to an ill-fi tting stock … but this is one of the easiest problems to correct. As an example, those individuals who require a longer length of pull could resort to having a thicker pad installed or add a slip-on pad to what the gun already is equipped with. As an example, I have a 101 Win- chester on which I had installed a new Hi-Viz Shooting Systems Xcoil shotgun recoil pad, which was longer than the original. To that I included a few spac- ers, adding 1.5 inch total to the length of the stock. These changes improved my shooting immensely. Sometimes an ill-fi tting stock is the only reason one has problems shooting a shotgun well. MOUNTING THE FIREARM When in the fi eld or on the clays
course, before the trigger can be pulled the shotgun has to be mounted to the shoulder … and smooth mounting is critical. To help with this, Vicki Ash de- veloped a practice technique called the OSP Flashlight Drill. This was designed so you can practice these drills at home with your (verifi ed) unloaded shotgun and a small Mini-Maglite flashlight, the model that takes two AA batteries. To begin, insert the lighted fl ashlight into the muzzle end of the barrel (an
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