What Happens in the Periphery

Skill is not transferable. This is why many shooters who are trying to get better are going to a good shooter they know, but quickly become frustrated with trying to see what the good shot sees.

Everything we do when shooting a shotgun at a moving target happens in the periphery. Everything we perceive in our periphery is 3/10ths of a second behind real time. It is not real, which leads to the visual confusion.

Shooters we coach who are strictly wingshooters do two things that keep them from being consistent in the field and keep them off the clays range. First, they mount the gun lightning fast because they have been behind every bird they have tried to shoot. And second, they mount the gun on the target - not ahead of it. The gun mount exercises and home mounting drills are designed to get you to slow down your gun mount, which allows you to mount your gun without your eyes going to the barrel.

The other exercise is to mount the gun slowly in front of the target. As you mount, match the muzzle speed with the target’s speed. It makes everything slow down as the shot comes together. The slower you move and mount the gun, the slower the bird seems to be moving. The slower you mount the gun, the easier it becomes for you to remain focused on the bird. 

When you finally understand that you can insert the muzzle ahead of the target as you finish the mount. Or as my mom says, “Merge the muzzles in front of the target as you slowly bring the stock to your shoulder and cheek. Match the muzzle speed with the bird’s speed and send it!”

When shooters put in the time and learn these two basic approaches, their perceptions change from getting the gun ahead of the bird to always seeing the bird behind where the muzzles are pointed. This puts the muzzle consistently ahead of the target… and good things happen!