Chapter IV: Primary Lessons

Almost every boy with an inborn taste for shooting will have learned to aim a gun and pull trigger before he becomes old enough to tramp widely afield or handle a fowling-piece. Emphatically is this true of the youth so fortunate as to be born in the country. However, there may be youngsters with the ill luck to be crowded by houses and people all their lives, with whom the longing to hunt and shoot must be deferred to more mature years. The city boy, whose instincts, waiting on opportunity, must needs survive all urban temptations, makes the most determined and enthusiastic of sportsmen when finally stock and shoulder fit together. Hungry for the fields and the whistle of birds’ wings, he never gets enough from twenty years to his three score and ten. With a view to assisting him as much as I may in his first lessons this chapter is written.

An old disused barn in the country is a great place for preliminary practice with a shotgun. Secure some large sheets of paper, blacken the center, and tack them up on the barn. Shoot at twenty yards because at that distance the pattern will not spread too much to easily observe its effect. Select very lightly loaded shells for this kind of work, two and one-half drams of power are enough and lighter loads are better if they can be procured. Recoil always appears more severe when the target is stationary, and it takes practice so to hold the weapon that the arms and hands absorb most of the jar. The object now is to acquire confidence in yourself and the gun, carefully guarding against a tendency to flinch which is liable to develop into a most annoying habit, nearly fatal to good wing-shooting.

A few shots should enable the learner to place his pattern regularly upon the center of the target. When this can be done with a deliberate aim begin snapping. Throw the gun quickly to the shoulder, pointed at the target, and without checking the motion raise it to the center and fire as you come up. If the trigger fails to yield at the exact time, take the piece down, throw it up and try again. What you are striving for in this is a correct trigger pull, the lock working precisely on time, without any checking the gun for a second sight or any attempt to hold it still upon the target.

An axiom of shotgun shooting is that the arm is never to be held still upon anything--in this differing radically from the rifle. The trigger should be pressed, therefore, without checking the regular rising movement of the barrels, the pulling and upward movement of the sight being so well timed that the discharge will take place just before the center is covered.

Press the trigger, not by any conscious crooking of the forefinger, but by tightening the grip of both hands, the one pushing forward and the other drawing back. This is not only the right manner of pulling trigger on a shotgun, but tightening the grip of the hands enables the gunner to catch the recoil just as the blow of a fist is warded off before it gathers momentum.

Having learned to strike the mark with a straight upward snap, as directed, now begin swinging on from side to side, first from the right and then from the left. Swing evenly past the target and pull as the line of sight goes by, being careful not to check up at the moment of firing. Probably this shooting with right and left swing will need practice to get the desired accuracy, but keep at it until the charge regularly reaches its mark. Swing slowly at first, but later increase the speed until the center can be struck with the piece moving smartly. Doubtless with a rapid swing a tendency will be noted for the charge to pass the center of aim, but that can be avoided by pulling quicker which is one of the things to be learned.

With proficiency, vary the line of swing with every shot, sometimes coming on from the right, again from the left, then straight up and quartering. These lessons are the foundation of wing-shooting, so take plenty of time with them and do not expect to accomplish everything in one day. Twenty-five shots are enough for one practice since among other things you must develop nerve force rather than expend it to the point of exhaustion. Remember that half the people who go afield never learn to shoot, and a large share of the other spend the remainder of their shooting days trying to eradicate the bad habits acquired in early youth.

Being able to strike your target with a gun moving fast or slow, with the line of sight swinging in every direction except down, you now have command of the gun and can take up the second problem, exchanging the stationary for a flying target. Here is where shooting schools are an advantage since they have a movable target which travels across the barn at any desired angle, with a rate of speed that can be regulated from very slow to as fast as a bird flies. The benefit of a flying target with a background that would instantly show the impact of the pattern is not to be doubted, faults of holding being detected at once. However shooting schools are not a very common institution in this country, though in their place we have the clay bird trap and artificial targets.

Having access to the grounds of a trap shooting club, go there for practice. If possible enlist the services of some more experienced friend who can point out your errors and instruct you as to where to hold. Stand up close to the trap as you like and take only easy, straightaway, low flying birds in the beginning, later changing to quartering targets. Becoming skilled enough to hit these, go out into the field and have the birds thrown past you at different distances to one side and the other.

Endeavor to obtain every description of shot that is likely to be afforded by field shooting. Have the birds thrown while walking up on the trap with gun down in its ordinary carrying position, and instruct the trapper to start his bird at unexpected times, even when your back is turned, when he should of course warn you as the target starts. A like method should be followed when the gun is out in the field. Naturally the nearer conditions can be made to approach field shooting the more valuable the practice. Getting behind the traps, with gun to shoulder, and shooting at birds always at the same angle of flight teaches very little except mechanical regularity of performance which can be acquired at the barn. But rightly used artificial targets can be made a very beneficial experience.

The English method is to mount the traps in a tower from which the birds are thrown over the shooter’s head and past him. Such practice would prove very helpful to the inexperienced duck shot, as it is with the British driven game. Unfortunately our gun clubs never mount their traps in a tower or endeavor to teach anything except the making of big scores. For this reason a man may become an expert at the traps and yet possess but a trifling amount of skill in the field.

The writer, a country boy, with no clay targets to shoot at, got his first lessons in pass shooting by means of an arrow-shaped piece of wood known as a dart. The dart is driven by means of a short stick, similar to the rod of a fly fisherman, though not so long and limber. This rod has a short, strong line with a knot in the end which engages with a notch cut into the dart about one-third from the point; the dart being cast by means of an overhead swing the same as in throwing a fly. Our dart can be made of light, cheap wood, from three to five feet long, with a large, flat head and a broad shank. It can be sent a distance of one hundred and fifty yards, with a velocity in the beginning of its flight higher than that attained by any bird.

The object is to strike the broad head of the dart and if the charge falls back anywhere else along its length the novice knows that he has not made sufficient allowance for speed and distance. When thrown rapidly the flight of this projectile is practically level, neither does it lose velocity so quickly as an artificial clay bird. The dart can be sent at any desired angle except straight away from the gun. Practice at the dart is especially good training for flight shooting at wildfowl, and the boy who has become expert in striking the head of a shaft traveling a hundred and fifty feet a second will have little trouble in connecting with ducks or any bird of similar flight. Of course a good assistant is necessary to this kind of practice, but any athletic boy will enjoy casting the dart as much as the gunner will shooting at it.

Shooting at clay birds as they are commonly thrown at gun club meets is not without benefit to the upland gunner, but the experience avails the marsh shooter very little; indeed, his acquired habit of holding close to his birds is very hard to overcome even when he has learned where to hold. Not so the man who shoots at a dart which may be traveling two hundred feet a second; he necessarily learns to get out in front--away out.

A hand trap is a convenience where club grounds and traps may not be available. They throw the same clay birds as the ground traps, but are held in the hand which enables the target to be sent in any direction. Good practice can be made by having the assistant throw the bird at unexpected times when both are walking along. The shooter thus learns to be alert, promptly bringing up his gun to take the bird that rises without warning. The trapper may walk behind and send his target past the gun, or even be hidden by hedge and cover in which case he should call sharply when starting the bird.

Keep up the snapping and swinging practice at the stationary target, at the clay birds, and the dart until expert. It will teach you just as much as getting out into the field and banging away at non-game birds, which is a very unsportsmanlike thing to do as will be discovered should it ever be attempted in the presence of a veteran bird hunter. Besides shooting song birds is generally forbidden by law.

In all this time do not forget that your endeavor is to make the gun a sort of third arm that will point anywhere you wish as readily as the hand can be thrown in that direction. When no other practice is available, take up the gun in your room or back yard, and placing some empty shells in the chambers, exercise your pointing skill by throwing the piece up quickly, covering some object and pulling the triggers. This is a very valuable drill, alike beneficial to the tyro and the expert. Indeed you can hardly get too much of it, only do not be careless with the work but put heart into it. We have all laughed about the Englishman who raises his walking stick to sight every bird that flies past, but really the Briton is right, for there is horse sense in just that kind of practice.

In your target shooting at the barn you may discover that the firing can be accomplished with greater precision by stopping the gun at the exact instant of pressing the trigger, but do not allow that to influence you or change your scheme of pulling trigger with a moving gun. A dangerous habit may become fixed, one that will have to be overcome later when it is found necessary for the arm to keep pace with the swiftest flying game. Furthermore there is the second barrel to be remembered.

The barn is also a convenient background in training to acquire second barrel habits. The right use of the second cartridge is to have it follow the first invariably where the first barrel has crippled or missed, unless two birds have sprung at once and you expect to make a double. When this is the case make no pause to observe the effect of the first shot but continue the swing of the tubes until they cover the second target.

Put up two targets on the barn for second barrel practice, placing them at first on a horizontal line about twenty feet apart. Fire at the right hand target and without stopping the swing cover the second mark and shoot again. You will shortly learn in doing this that some time is required to recover from the recoil of the first shot, and the gun will be thrown out of line. But utilize this time in moving onto the second bull’s-eye which should be sighted as soon as the piece is under control and moving steadily again.

As the practice continues change the position of the targets, sometimes shooting at the right hand first and again at the left; then place one above the other at different angles and various distances apart. Quicken the time as you become expert until not over a half a second is required to get onto the second, pull, and shoot. A lightning second barrel shot can swing on with his second barrel and shoot accurately in a quarter of a second, which quarter second time is the standard of rapidity which the novice should set for himself.

The barn with large sheets of paper will indicate results of this rapid swinging fire more definitely than any live or clay birds, so continue this work until results are perfect, quick time being uniformly maintained with absolute accuracy. Keep the piece swinging after the second shot the same as the first.

After the practice I have described the novice should have little trouble in connecting with a certain number of birds, either in the uplands or marsh, the first time he goes afield. There is no greater difficulty in placing the pattern upon a quail than in striking the clay target, except for the added excitement caused by whirring wings, and the anxiety to make a good showing.

Overanxiety to appear well or show shooting skill to your companion is a fruitful source of missing, not only by the beginner, but by the older hand alike. Indeed if overanxiety and flinching could be eliminated the majority of us would do fifty per cent. better execution. It is well therefore for the student of wing-shooting to go afield with a veteran shot in securing his first experience, one that cannot be considered in any sense a rival gunner, but who is anxious to see that his young friend performs well rather than to display his own skill. If such companionship and instruction are unavailable, then go alone and study out the problems in your own way.

Be very careful not to quicken the time you have been acquiring, but rather shoot more deliberately, remembering that any bird you fire at so quickly as not to be able to recall where the gun was held is simply a lost opportunity, no matter whether the bird was killed or missed. The only method of acquiring a solid foundation for future success, is to make your mental calculations quickly and then use your gun to prove your judgment. In plainer phrase do not shoot until you have first decided where to hold, and then put the charge right there with all the skill you possess, making a mental memorandum of every move the bird made, the gun processes necessary to cover him, and the results.

Do not be hurried because your companion is quickest, for every human being learns to walk before he can run. You could not reasonably expect to solve problems in mathematics as readily as a college professor, and take my word for it wing-shooting is no less difficult than mathematics.

Do not let misses disturb you, for in the beginning as much can be learned from missing as from hitting, since you have at least been taught where not to hold. The man who cannot learn through his mistakes will never know a great deal, but be sure to analyze errors thoroughly, and know reasons, otherwise experience and practice will leave you about where you started.

It is a fortunate thing for the earnest young sportsman that his mind is impressionable and his memory most tenacious. I can clearly recall the shots that I made twenty-five years ago; just how the bird broke cover, the course of his flight, where the gun came to the shoulder, how much it led when the trigger was pulled, the very weed that the bird struck as he fell, even the clumps of feathers, sifting down, are still before me. Opportunity and circumstances being similar, I could again repeat the shots in the same old way. None but the young could be impressed so graphically, and no others learn with such ease.

It is not necessary that the student should possess such memory, however, but the moment a shot is fired every detail should be fixed in his mind. The better to do this make a systematic mental diary. Here the bird arose so many paces from the gun, he was at this point when the weapon came up, he bore away from the shooter at an angle of forty-five degrees, slightly rising; the gun came up just so much behind him, and he flew so many yards before being covered and fired upon with a lead of two feet; result a kill. Try to recall the exact position of the flying target when the mental estimate for lead was made, and if the bird flew farther than you think he should before being shot perhaps the cause can be detected. Remember that a lesson is of no value after it is forgotten and do not forget.

The very first thing to be recorded after the mind recovers from the strain of firing is to note where the gun is then pointed. It should swing right along on the path of the bird’s flight, and if involuntarily checked at the shot, that is something to be studied and corrected. The average shot never learns to continue his swing upon the line of flight after the bird is dead, but be ambitious to do what the average man cannot.

At the close of the day’s shooting, take your mental diagrams and write them all out on paper. Mark upon the sheet where the bird rose, where you stood, and every evolution of target and gun as previously directed. Study these diagrams and fix in your own mind why you killed and why you missed. If the shot was a scratch or accidental write that down, for many such shots are made in the course of a season, and these daily diagrams are intended for future study.

If you failed to hit give that drawing especial attention, marking the place where you should have held. When at a loss as to where the shot should have been directed, probably your shooting friend can set you right. Above all do not again hold for the exact spot that previously resulted in a failure, unless you can prove to your own satisfaction that the miss resulted from other causes than faulty lead.

If the gunner cannot recall his point of aim at the instant of firing that is something for grave study. It may be that his line of aim is swinging so fast that it is impossible to govern it; he really cannot tell where he is aiming at any precise moment from the time the weapon comes to the shoulder until it is discharged. Again perhaps it is a case of unconscious flinching, and this is always to be suspected where the shooter cannot _see_ where his shot has gone.

I can only repeat again, use the utmost care not to make the same mistake in a like way. Study and analyze, and your hits will soon teach you to kill, while your misses will tell you how not to miss again. When desirous of showing well, learn to select the bird that you know how to kill, the one that is easy for you, be it straightaway, left quarterer, or what not. But if simply desirous of improving your shooting, let the easy birds go and choose only the hard ones, those that you miss frequently.

Do not permit any overweening desire to appear easy and graceful influence you, but shoot every shot with all your might. Put strength into the work first, and by and by grace will take care of itself. You are out to develop nerve force, and the only way to do that is to use what you have; rather than fire a shot indifferently, quit altogether. Nerve force can be developed by using it just the same as muscles are strengthened by being exercised.