2008 Tips From
Former Coach, Bill Miller
Week 1 – Shake Off
the Off-season Rust
It’s one disadvantage that comes with
living in
Minnesota.
Even if you’re an avid clay target shooter, it’s unlikely you’ve
picked up your shotgun more than a couple of times since the end of
pheasant season three months ago! And you may not have shot a clay
target since our enjoyable season ender out at Marsh Lake Hunt Club
last summer. In other words, you’re rusty. You
need to revisit the fundamentals to polish your technique back to
mid-season form. Here’s a list of quick tips to help speed that
along:
1)
Practice mounting your UNLOADED gun at home!
Start at 25 mounts working up to 50 then to 100 over a few weeks.
This is best done in front of a full-length mirror. Close your eyes
every 5th or 10th mount, then pay close
attention to what you see in the mirror when you open them. Your eye
should be looking right down the barrel at your eye in the mirror.
2)
Think through the mantra you developed last
year before calling for each target. Think, think, think! Last year
you developed the physical skills to break the targets and they are
still there. You just need to get your focus tuned.
3)
Extend the index finger on your lead hand just
like you were using it to point at the flying target. Either under
or along the side of the fore end is okay, but make sure it’s
pointed.4)
Be sure you are pulling the trigger with the
meat of your finger. Roughly centered between the finger tip
and the first knuckle is about right.
5)
Lean forward and bend your knees a bit. 60% -
70% of the weight on your front foot is about right.
6)
Point the big toe on your forward foot directly
at the spot where you plan to break the most difficult target you’ll
see from any station then coil your body from the waist back toward
your hold point for that station.
7)
Take your time! Steady the gun and take a
breath and focus your eyes out in front of the trap before you call
for the target.
8)
SHOUT your call for the bird! This is will
allow the trapper to hear you above everything else that’s going on
and release your bird in your rhythm.
9)
Relax! No need for a death grip on the gun!
Have fun!
Week
2 – Hold Points & Foot Position
In singles trap from the 16-yard line
which is what we are shooting, your vertical hold point should be
one foot or less above the top of the front of the trap house. That
way you’ll see the target sooner than if you’re holding way above
the house. Horizontally, on station 1, hold
just inside the front left corner of the house. On station 2, hold
about half way between the front left corner and the center of the
house. On station three hold a foot to the right of center if you’re
right-handed and a foot to left of center if you are left-handed
(don’t hold dead center as it will hide the target too long under
the gun barrel). On station 4 hold half way between center and the
front right corner of the house. On station 5 hold just in from the
front right corner of the house. Remember, vertically always hold
just a foot above the front top of the house no matter which station
your shooting from. To make things easy for
beginners, just remember to point your front toe at the same place
you’re pointing your gun when you call for the target. For those of
you more advanced, think about pointing the big toe on the front
foot (carrying 60% -70% of your weight) at the exact spot where you
plan to break the toughest target offered from that station. Then
coil your body from the waste back toward the hold point for that
station.
WEEK 3 – Shoot One Target
at a Time -- Don’t Keep Score
You may have noticed that
misses tend to happen in bunches. Either you miss multiple targets
of your own in a row, or you miss after the shooter before you
misses and then the shooter after you misses, too. This is a sign
that you are not mentally focused. The only picture you should allow
to enter your mind is of the NEXT target breaking.
Stringing of misses happens
because you are not focusing on each target individually. When you
call for a target you’re likely still thinking about the previous
miss, or – just as bad – you’re keeping your score for the round in
your head. In either case, you’re thinking about missing and nothing
spells disaster for your score more than visualizing a miss. Again –
only allow your mind to visualize breaks.
Whether you hit or missed your
last target doesn’t matter because there’s nothing you can do about
it after you shot. The only target that matters is your NEXT one. So
don’t get frustrated or emotional about a miss or a hit. Just move
on to visualizing the NEXT target breaking.
For each shot, start with a
completely blank mental screen. Then as you go through your pre-shot
routine, the only image you allow to fill that screen is a target
disappearing in a ball of smoke. You must do that for every shot you
take. What separates the great shooters from the good shooters is
the ability to do that even during the heat of intense competition.
If you’re doing it right, at
the end of the round, you’ll have no idea what your score is. That’s
how intense your focus should be on each individual target – and
whatever the scorekeeper tells you at the end of the round should be
a surprise.
This is all a lot easier said
than done, but it’s the way you should start training your mind if
you want to be a world-class trap shooter.
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2007 Shooting Tips From Former Coach, Bill Miller
WEEK 9 – Shot Patterns & Shot Strings
As you all know
by now a shotgun is different from a rifle in that it throws
a roughly circular pattern of pellets rather than a single
projectile. This is easy to picture, because if you fire a
shotgun from a distance at a blank sheet of paper you’ll see
the holes made by all the small pellets. This is called the
pattern.
What’s often
forgotten is that besides having height and width, a shotgun
pattern also has a third dimension – depth. This is called
the shot string and it’s what makes hitting targets possible
at all.
If all of the
pellets flew through the air at the same speed, your pattern
would resemble a Frisbee flying on edge and you’d have to
time every shot absolutely perfectly so that narrow edge
would intercept the target.
Pellets fired
from a trap load actually “string out” over 3-6 feet so that
you have that much margin for error in timing the pattern
intercepting the target. However, too much stringing would
also be bad because it would leave big enough holes in the
pattern that a target could fly through without getting
touched.
For those of you
who were able to attend the voluntary practice at Watertown
a couple weeks back, you may remember that one of the first
things Chris picked up on was the number of Minnetonka
shooters who shuffle their feet at the shooting line. He
pointed out that when you watch a round of veteran shooters,
you’ll notice that once they step into position at the line,
none of them move their feet until it’s time to change
stations.
Again, this is
one of those little things that can make a big difference.
When you step up
to the station, think about where your toes should be
pointing to help you break the most difficult angle from
that station. Position your feet that way, then don’t move
them until it’s time to change stations. That way, you only
have to think about proper foot positioning once at each
station rather than five times.
The goal is to
simplify your pre-shot routine as much as possible so your
brain only has one job to do – visualizing the breaking
target.
So, all coaches
will be on alert to watch for shuffling or stepping back
from the line after a shot. We might not even say anything,
just step on your heels if you do it!
WEEK 7 – Don’t Keep Score
You may have
noticed that misses happen in bunches. Either you miss
multiple targets of your own in a row, or you miss after the
shooter before you misses and then the shooter after you
misses, too.
Frequently this
is because you are not focusing on each target individually.
When you call for a target you’re likely still thinking
about the previous miss, or – just as bad – you’re keeping
your score for the round in your head. In either case,
you’re thinking about missing and nothing spells disaster
for your score more than visualizing a miss.
For each shot,
start with a completely blank mental screen. Then as you go
through your routine and your mantra, the only image you
allow to fill that screen is a target disappearing in a ball
of smoke. You must do that for every shot you take. What
separates the good shooters from the great shooters is the
ability to do that even during the heat of intense
competition.
If you’re doing
it right, at the end of the round, you should have no idea
what your score is. That’s how intense your focus should be
on each individual target – and whatever the scorekeeper
tells you at the end of the round should be a surprise.
This is all a
lot easier said than done, but it’s the way you should start
training your mind if you want to be a world-class trap
shooter
WEEK 6 – Dealing with Wind & Weather
The last few weeks, we’ve
shot in some difficult wind conditions. The targets often come
out of the house and “bounce” on the wind. A wind in your face
will generally make targets rise, but slow down more quickly. A
wind at your back will push the targets down, but make them hold
their velocity longer.
Here are some adaptations
that will help you overcome the wind:
a) watch the squad of
shooters ahead of you on the trap you’ll be shooting. Note how
the wind is impacting their targets. Set your mental attitude
and mantra to “focus on the target” or “break it where it is.”
b) if you’re not already
holding below and behind the front edge of the trap house when
you call for the target, lower your hold point in the wind so
that there’s no chance of the target “hiding” behind the gun
barrel. You want to see and focus on the target absolutely as
fast as possible in windy conditions.
c) while the sweet spot to
hit the target under normal conditions is at the top of its
flight, in the wind try to shoot it a half beat quicker while
it’s still on its way up. The less time it’s in the air, the
less time there is for the wind to alter its flight.
d) your mind and body have
begun to develop subconscious memory of where the target “should
be” when it comes out at a particular angle from each particular
station. In the wind you need to concentrate harder on where the
target actually is and shoot it there rather than where your
instinct tells you it “should be.”
Different shooters will
argue whether you should watch the targets of other shooters in
your squad. I personally don’t because I believe it makes me
more attuned to the actual flight path of the target rather than
anticipating and guessing wrong. I look at the ground in front
of me and count shots to cue me when to load and when to close
and mount.
WEEK 5 – Point
Your Finger, Point Your Toes
Here’s a simple check up
for your form – are you pointing the index finger of your lead
hand at the target? It sounds too simple to work, but it really,
truly helps. Make sure that the index finger on the hand that’s
on the forestock is extended either along side or underneath it
as you hold the gun. It’s natural to point with this finger and
having it pointing at the target helps make your swing more
comfortable and smooth.
Now that you’ve been
shooting trap for awhile it’s time to drill down to some of the
finer details to help you hit more targets. In learning the
basics, it probably felt most natural to you to point your toes
at the same place you pointed the gun when preparing to call for
the bird, but slightly altering your set up stance will help you
swing through and break those hard angle targets.
On station 3, go ahead and
point your lead foot toe square at the center of the back of the
house. At stations 1 and 5 square your stance to that your body
is pointing straight down range PARALLEL to the closest outside
edge of the house, then pivot at the waste to point the barrel
just inside the closer front corner of the house. (On station 1,
that’s the left front corner and on station 5 the right front
corner.) This allows you to swing with the muscles at your waist
rather than in your arms and you’ll break the hardest targets –
the extreme lefts and rights – with your body uncoiled into its
most comfortable position.
On stations 2 and 4 also
point your toes straight down range, but you don’t have to turn
back as much to reach your hold position.
In practice sessions,
THINK about your foot positioning prior to each shot so that in
competition it becomes something you do my second-nature and you
won’t have to think about.
WEEK
4 – Mental Attitude and a Mantra
Even Olympic Trap &
Skeet Competitors will admit that sometimes the clay targets seem as
big as trash can lids and other times they look as tiny as aspirin.
Obviously, they shoot their best scores and win their medals when
the targets seem big and slow.
The targets appearing
big and slow isn’t caused by the conditions on the field, your
eyesight, or your physical conditioning. Instead it’s the result of
your mental attitude when you step out on the field. When you’re
relaxed and confident and clear-headed you’ll shoot better scores
than when you’re nervous, worried and thinking about the day at
school or what you’ll do after practice.
Trap shooting is very
much like martial arts. Success requires visualization and focus.
You need to see the target breaking in your mind before you pull the
trigger just like a black belt sees the boards breaking before he
contacts them with his hand or foot.
Establishing that
“routine” we talked about a couple weeks ago is a major part of
ensuring the right mental attitude on the field. Another part is
creating your own “mantra.” As you go through your routine and as
you call for the target, the same words need to focus in your mind
every time. Examples might be “Smooth Swing,” “Crush It”, or “See
the Target.” Anything can work as long as it gives you confidence
or reminds you to do something right.
One word that should
never be part of your mantra is “MISS”. As soon as you allow
yourself to think about missing you surely will. So create a routine
and mantra that positively reinforces what you’re going to do, see
the target break in your mind… THEN DO IT!
WEEK
3 – Eyesight & SEEING The Target
Success in trap, skeet
and sporting clays shooting depends on your ability to really see
the target. You’re not just looking for an orange blur and jerking
the muzzle ahead of it. Now that you have several rounds under your
belt, you need to be gaining an understanding of where and how to
look for the target.
Before anything else, if
you’re having trouble seeing the targets and haven’t had your eyes
checked in awhile, make an appointment and get them checked. You
can’t succeed in the clay target games with poor vision.
If your eyes check out
good, go back to the foundation you learned – make it a part of your
subconscious shooting routine to check the alignment of the bead,
but only call for the target once your eyes are focused out beyond
the trap house where you’ll see the target.
Look hard for the
target. Make it a challenge for yourself on each bird to try to see
the target sooner and sooner each time. Use your eyesight to try to
really see the detail on the bird. All-American trap shooters and
Olympic team members will tell you that they can consistently see
the detail on the targets right down the ridges on the sides and the
dimples on the dome.
There are drills that
you can practice to train your eyes to focus faster and attain that
harder detail. Try these at home:
1) While reading or
viewing a computer screen near a window, occasionally glance up and
focus as quickly as you can on some distant object outside the
window. Make it a small object like an individual twig on a tree
branch or the small letters on a license plate. Don’t be satisfied
by thinking “those are letters”, but “zoom” your focus so that you
look at the detail in each individual letter. You’ll be amazed how
much speed you pick up in “focusing” by doing this drill just a few
times each day.
2) Tear off four pieces
1 ½-inch or 2-inch wide masking tape each about 2-inches long. Write
a different single digit number or a letter on each one with a dark
colored marker. Stick each one to the underside of the blades of a
ceiling fan at home. Turn the fan on low and lay down directly
underneath it looking up at the fan. Start with your vision focused
near the center of the fan, then let your eyes dart out to one of
the whirling blades. Focus on that number and follow it with your
eyes to keep it in focus. Try to keep it in focus for 6 seconds.
Then close your eyes to give yourself a break, then open them and
repeat.
After a few sessions
when it feels “easy” to do, then increase the speed of the fan. Once
you can run the fan on high and keep those numbers in focus, you’ll
be amazed how much “slower” the targets at the trap field seem to be
moving!
WEEK 2 – Developing a Routine for Shooting & Where to Hold
Especially
for those of you brand new to trap shooting, you’re still
learning the rules and procedures for the game and that has to
come first, but even from watching you all the first week, it’s
clear that you’re picking it up fast. Once you’re comfortable in
the how things happen during a round, the next important step is
for you to develop a routine that you go through prior to every
call for a bird.
Coach
Pearson made the great comparison to shooting free throws in
basketball. That’s exactly what you’re doing on the trap field –
preparing to take each individual shot. The routine is a
combination of mental and physical check offs that is unique to
you and your shooting style. The important thing is that you do
the same routine BEFORE EVERY SINGLE TIME you call “pull!”
Here are
some suggestions on things to include in your routine:
A) check
your foot positioning – front toe pointed toward your hold
point, weight about 70% on front foot, knees slightly bent
B) gun
mount – check your beads for proper alignment
C) hold
point – where is your barrel pointing when you call for the
bird? (more on that in a minute)
D) vision
– look in front of the house for the target
E) calm –
barrel steady, not moving; firm (not death) grip on gun, elbow
relaxed (not way up in air or tight at your side), meaty part of
finger above the first knuckle lightly on the trigger.
You should
only call for the bird when you are ready and then
SHOUT IT OUT!
You’ll only hurt your own routine and score if there’s a delay
because the puller doesn’t hear you. Us old guys who have shot
for a long time are all partly deaf, so you really need to shout
it out so we can hear you.
More on hold point
… in singles trap from the 16-yard line which is what we are
shooting, your hold point should be just one foot above the top
of the front of the trap house. That way you’ll see the target
sooner than if you’re holding way above the house.
On station
1, hold about 6 -12 inches toward center from the front left
corner of the house. On station 2, hold about half way between
the front left corner and the center of the house, on station
three hold a foot to the right of center if you’re right-handed
and a foot to left of center if you are left-handed (don’t hold
dead center as it will hide the target too long under the gun
barrel). On station 4 hold half way between center and the front
right corner of the house and on station 5 hold 6-12 inches in
from the front right corner of the house. But remember, always
just a foot above the front top of the house.
To make
things easy at this stage, just remember to point your front toe
at the same place you’re pointing your gun when you call for the
target. As you progress, we’ll work on some more advanced
footwork that will help you break the tough angle targets.
Week 1 – Where to Look & What to See
The
biggest difference between the way you shoot a rifle and the way
you shoot a shotgun is that you carefully aim a rifle and you
simply point a shotgun. That’s why rifles have scopes or sights
and a shotgun just has one or two beads on top of the rib.
Those
beads are there only to allow you to check that you have the
shotgun mounted properly to your shoulder and your cheek. With a
single bead, all you should see with the gun properly mounted is
the bead and the back of the receiver. If you are seeing any of
the rib in between, then the stock is not tight enough to your
cheek and your eye is too high in relation to the rib.
With a
mid-bead and a muzzle bead, the two should either be perfectly
aligned with the muzzle bead “hidden” behind the mid-bead or,
for trap shooting, the two beads should form a “figure 8” with
the muzzle bead resting directly on top of the mid-bead. This
will give you some built in lead to consistently break targets
on the rise as is done in trap shooting.
Using the
beads to check for proper gun position in relation to your eye
is critically important to consistently breaking targets. It
needs to become second nature every time you bring the gun up to
call for a target. But the next step is even more important…
Once
you’re sure the gun is properly mounted, with both eyes open
FOCUS YOUR VISION OUT
ABOUT 5 FEET BEYOND THE TRAP HOUSE before you
call for the target. Look hard for the target to pick it up with
your sight as quickly as you can, then smoothly move the gun to
it. When you call for the target, the barrel should just be a
blur in the foreground. It may even appear to be two barrels in
your peripheral vision, but don’t worry. If you’re focused on
the target, not the beads, pointing the gun will be as natural
as pointing your finger
