Shooting With Family

You guys have gotten too good. I need to practice. I love shooting with my kids. You know, I started shooting with my dad when I was a little girl at tin cans and things like that. But it was a few years ago that my sister, Louise, had her sporting clays tournament. And we all started shooting all the shotgun sports together. And we love it. It’s a great family sport. And I’d like to share with you some tips of how to get your kids started.    Christina Vanessa Let me introduce you to my daughters. This is Christina. Christina actually started shooting when she was so young that we would hold the butt of the gun up to our shoulder, let her get the line of the bird and when she saw it, she’d pull the trigger. Now, Christina’s problem with shooting was that she actually likes to shoot right handed, but she is left eye dominant. So, we had to work with that. Now this is my daughter, Vanessa, and Vanessa is actually a little more accomplished because she’s been shooting for almost ten years. She’s actually going to share some Pro Tips with me later.   Remember that I was telling you that my daughter, Christina, is right handed, but she is left eye dominant. It’s really important to know which eye is your dominant eye. And I’m going to show you my favorite way of figuring that out.  Right now, I’m going to take my finger and point at that circle on the Smith & Wesson sign with both eyes open. When I close my left eye, it stays perfectly still, still pointed at the circle. But when I close my right eye, it is pointed all the way over to the “h”. Now, that means that I am right eye dominant. Try doing that for a few times in a row, just to make sure.   Now, once you know that, if you have a problem, here’s a few things you can do to change. This is how Christina was shooting when she first started. She was trying to look down the barrel on the right side with her left eye. And she was breaking some, but it wasn’t consistent, and it looks a little awkward. And what we can do is put a little bit of tape, here, on the dominant eye lens, or a little Vaseline, and that helps this eye take over. But that kind of bothers a lot of people. So, what she chose to do was just close her left eye. Now, after you make these adjustments, repetition is very important for consistent shooting. So, let’s load up. Nice. As I was telling you, my daughter, Vanessa, has been shooting for quite a few years, and I was going to have her share with us some of the things that have really helped her shooting over the years. Thanks, Mom. One of the hardest things for me to overcome in the beginning was, actually, getting on the target in time, and staying on it and following through. Now, if you’ve noticed, everyone does it a little bit differently. But, I like to give it about a ten to 15 yard lead. And at this point, you are actually already aimed, and you can pick up the target out of your peripheral vision. Now, let me show you what this looks like. I normally start on the trap, itself. Now, from here you can move about ten to 15 yards away or whatever feels natural to you. Now, you can watch for the bird out of the corner of your eye. Whew, you smoked it. You’re doing great. Remember, the shotgun sports are one of the few sports that, actually, has no physical advantage for men or women. So it is really, really great for the whole family. And it’s a whole lot of fun.