High Pheasants And Fast Balls

Malcolm Plant looks at how to perfect your shooting technique and avoid some of those early-season googlies.

- Malcolm Plant

Shotgun shooting has many similarities with sports such as cricket, tennis, golf and snooker. All of these sports require a considerable degree of competence in eye-hand co-ordination, and a high level of concentration and mental focus is essential for good performance over an extended period of time.

I mentioned cricket first in the list of examples because, as I write, I have just been watching Ben Stokes’ heroics batting on the final day of the third Ashes test match at Headingley in Leeds. England accomplished their highest fourth innings run chase, scoring 362; Stokes scored 135, including eight sixes and 11 fours. Good eye-hand co-ordination? I think so. Concentration and mental toughness were tested to their limits as Stokes and the last man in, Jack Leach, the spin bowler, accumulated 76 runs for their final wicket stand. Leach only scored one run, but he had the concentration and technique to stay at the crease while Stokes focused on demolishing the Australian bowling.

As we approach the game-shooting season, what can we mere mortals do to improve our performance? The quotation “The more I practise the better I get” has been attributed to several sports stars and contains the core of what needs to be done. If you haven’t picked up your shotgun since the end of the game season last January, you are not really going to be in good shape out in the field. Clay shooting can help to rectify this rustiness.

Game and clays

There are two significant differences between clay and game shooting: foot movement and target variation, which is linked to target selection. Do not listen to the myth about clays slowing down and pheasants speeding up, they are all just moving targets in the sky if you have good technique.