What Eye for Shotgun Shooting? Get Your Eyes 👀 Right | How to Shoot a Shotgun

Good Afternoon! Today, we're talking about some simple, but very important stuff! Many shooters; especially new ones, struggle with the mechanics of getting their eyes in the right place while shooting s shotgun. Some folks were just never taught (Like me) and still struggle to get hitting more targets. Today we're going over 4 points that have improved my shooting over the years to hopefully get your eye game back on target too!

1. Eye Dominance

This is the initial factor that we have to find out. This is especially important when teaching youth or new shooters. Some folks may just assume that their right eye dominant because they're right handed - this is not always the case. You probably know the triangle over the eye trick. Focus on a object, make a triangle with your hands, then keep that object in focus while pulling your hands back to your face and see which eye it goes to - This is you dominant eye. Some people may not have a dominant eye and bring it back to their nose! Others may bring it to the eye opposite of the dominant hand (Known as cross-dominance) That's OK - Here's my advice: 

- Always shoot on your dominant eye side. (Of course it feels awkward if your cross dominant - practice more!)

- If you've been shooting on the wrong side, switch your mount, and obscure the vision of your eye opposite of the gun - this will force the eye your training to take over. (In the video I used scotch tape on glasses but if you'd like a real solution, check out a dot system HERE) 

- Simply practice mounting up on your dominant eye side (You can do this in your house too with an empty gun of course)

2. Proper Mount

This is crucial. We want that dominant eye right over that rib. If your eye is high, you will shoot high. Same is true for too low. Lets talk about some solutions:

- Everyone is built different. If you're having trouble getting the height of your head correct, consider getting shims and spacers for your gun to adjust the drop at the comb. 

- Many manufacturers currently make left handed models. This means that the cast of the stock will go away from the face to create more head room as it does on essentially all right handed guns. 

- Lets say your gun does not have any customizable fitting options: Fit yourself to the gun - Here is what I mean. A lot of folks will naturally pick up a gun, put it to their shoulder, and then put their head down to compensate. The problem with this is that our eyes are the most important element. Moving your head last leaves much more room for error even though it may be more comfortable. Mount the gun to your cheek, get your eye over the rib, AND THEN pull it back and fit your body accordingly.

3. GET TARGET FOCUSED!

This is exactly what my brand is all about right here folks! This concept is so important that I named my whole channel after it! This is because it applies in life too. If were focusing too much on the bead (The smaller, less important things in life) We're are going to miss our mark a lot (The real big important goals in life) Is the channel name making more sense now? ;)

 - This is a hands-eyes-coordination sport! Focus on that target!

4. Keep Both Eyes Open

This sort of segues off of the last category, but I have to emphasize it as I see too many shooters trying to dial in targets with one eye. Shotgun shooting is not rifle shooting. We are not suppose to close one eye and aim. I like to say that our eyes act as the rear sight. "Where our focus goes, our energy flows." Lets say you're playing basketball: When you're about to shoot the ball, closing one eye and lining the ball up with the hoop doesn't make sense - and you'll probably miss! This applies to most every sport - Including shotgun shooting.

- Closing one eye takes away 50% of the information your brain needs to calculate distance, time, speed, ETC... Do you drive with one eye closed to stay in your lane?

     Remember, whether in the field, or in life, to LIVE Target Focused

-STEVE