Driven to succeed

Tony Bracci highlights some technique issues that Guns about to venture into the field may face and what to do about them

- Tony Bracci

This month we focus on a driven shooting lesson. Whether your season has started and is not going as well as you had hoped or you are preparing for your first day in the field, here are some of the areas I would focus on.

After a chat about your experience, problem areas, choice of gun and the location of your next venture into the field, we would move off to the first stand. The chat at the beginning is to gauge what direction the session needs to take, so I can give the best information for the individual. This can vary greatly, from local informal farm shoots to high Devon pheasants, formal Hampshire partridges, and so on. All require training in some similar areas but there are detailed differences and I try to tailor the session to a client’s specific needs.

The warm-up

On the first stand I would set up a regular driven target; let’s call it a warm-up stand. On this I would be assessing a number of things about your shooting. Safety is a high priority and even though we are on the shooting ground I would not let a game shooter close a gun up horizontally. When we arrived at the stand, I would be pointing out the location of the traps and the safe areas to shoot. The gun should be closed pointing at the floor, then brought up through a safe area so the barrels are up in the air. The safety catch should be pushed off as part of your mount, which is the next area of focus.

Ready position