WILD BLOG: "Ask The Experts" gets Olympic-level shotgunning advice
POSTED Aug. 15, 2010 / 9:15 a.m.

ARLINGTON, Wash. - How many shells have you put through your shotgun preparing for the 2010-11 wingshooting season?

Two boxes? Three? Have you maybe shoot 100 shells getting ready for the Sept. 1 dove opener, and for the fast-approaching waterfowl, chukar and pheasant seasons?

Kim Rhode shot 1,000. T-O-D-A-Y. She’ll shoot another 1,000 tomorrow, and another 500 to 1,000 the day after that.

A good medalist in skeet last week at the 2010 ISSF Wold Championship in Munichin, a gold meda list in double trap at the 1996 and 2004 Olympics, a 10-time gold medalist at the Wold Cup and Pan Am games, and a lifelong hunter with trophies from New Caledonia, Australia and Africa, Rhode handles a shotgun as naturally as you and I handle a fork and spoon.

And, with the dove opener just two weeks away, she’s here to fix your shot.

We asked Rhode for some Olympic-level tips to help solve three of our most nagging wingshooting hiccups. Here are her suggestions for:

Dominant-side lead
JS: Most right-handed shooters are better shooting at a bird moving right-to-left than left-to-right. Part of it is physiology: left foot forward, right arm bent and tucked up tight to your body, stock on your right shoulder, you’re naturally constricted swinging to your right. Or, at least, that's my excuse, because I miss a lot of left-to-right leads.

KR: “When you’re swinging from right to left, you’re pulling the gun into your face. Going the other way, you’re naturally pushing the gun away instead of putting your face right down on the stock. It’s a hard habit to break, and something you have to be really conscious of. You have to focus on ‘staying into the gun’ for just a half-second longer than normal. Try to focus on a spot or mark on the bird, or try to count the feathers. It’ll help you keep your head down on the stock.”

Keeping the target
JS: How many times have you flushed a group of fast-flying birds, jerked the gun up, fired into the middle of the group and flat-out missed everything? Flock shooting is a pretty common problem ... so what's the solution?

KR: “People make the mistake of seeing 2, 3, 5 ducks coming at ‘am and they shoot into the whole five instead of narrowing it down to one bird. If you can slow down just a little bit and focus on just one target, it’ll really help you when you’re out there in the field.”

Making adjustments in the field
JS: One of the hardest things for a shotgunner to do is recognize the mistakes he’s making while he's out in the field. It’s even harder to take the next step and make the on-the-fly adjustments necessary to turn a 1-for-6 day into a 4-for-6 day.

KR: “There are several different ways to figure out where you’re missing. If you’re hunting chukar or quail, you may notice the branches or brush behind the bird, or leaves falling. If you’re shooting in sky situation, when worse comes to worst, look at the wad. It’s not 100%, but it’ll give you an idea of whether you’re in front of behind.

"The best advice I can give somebody is to take notes of the little subtle things out in the field – don’t just look at the big picture.

"Go back to basics: Focus on the target, make sure you’re getting your head down, you’re following through, you’re seeing the lead. There are so, so many things you can be doing wrong, the best thing you can do is really, truly go back to basics. When you get really complicated fixing things, it messes you up even more."

Focusing on "the little things"
JS: So instead of hoping for a miracle "cure" for your shotunning hiccups, you should pay closer attention to small details, maybe one thing at a time?

KR: "Your eyes can only focus on one thing at a time: the end of barrel, a clay, one bird. You definitely tend to look at the big picture, though, instead of narrowing it down to one spot and focusing on that. When you (focus on small details), it slows everything down, makes it seem like it’s not moving as fast. It can make (the target) look like it’s the size of a trash-can lid if you’re focused on it."

Focusing on "the little things"
JS: Give me an example of a small, simple adjustment I might make.

KR: "Your whole life, you’re taught to point. From the time we're little kids, we point: 'Hey, look at that guy, look at that girl.' Maybe doing something as simple as putting your finger out on your fore-arm will give you an extra bird or two. If your natural reaction is to point, remember that you’re using the barrel as an extension of your finger.”

Front, fronter, frontest
JS: Whether we realize it or not, most of our misses are because we didn’t lead the bird enough, correct?

KR: “Most people when they’re missing are missing behind the bird,” Rhode confirms. “You really have to try to get out in front of bird, especially in a situation when they’re moving fast and you just have a split second to get that lead. You have to really work on giving yourself a bigger lead until you’re thinking ‘Wow, I have to be too far ahead of it’."

-JS

"Rhode's Rules" originally appeared in California Sportsman magazine.

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