Sporting clays shooters go to all ends to break more blue rock, but could greater consistency be as simple as loading your shotgun early at a station?
Ever watched a basketball player who can shoot the lights out of a gym and maybe the street lamp on the corner? You can bet a pair of Nikes before he puts a bend in his knees and cocks his arms, his eyes are glued to one spot — the hoop. You might say he acquires his target before pulling the trigger.
That’s sound advice that transfers nicely to the sporting clays arena. Obviously, it’s impossible to know the exact courses the pigeons will come flying at a particular station, but you’ll know their general direction. A few moments study to map the geography, build a game plan and dial in your concentration, in Dave Miller’s opinion, is enough to get you dusting more orange more often. The Team Aguila Ammunition shooter should know, holding the Guinness World Record for clays broken in an hour — 3,653.
Unfortunately, in Miller’s experience many sporting clays shooters get into some pretty nasty habits when it comes to getting their mind right. Either they rush, starting a station without pause or they take the time to study, but then fiddle around with their gun or shells before they shoot. That’s looking at the ball, not the hoop.
Miller’s cure is as simple as it is elusive — a routine. Loading your shotgun early, analyzing the station, and then focusing on the impending shots is a formula vaporizing more blue rock. And like free throw shooting, it takes discipline to execute each and every time you step to the line. But the results, and the looks on your buddies’ faces, are more than worth the effort.
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