In a recent trip to Sonoma, CA to teach at the famed Wing & Barrel Ranch, I noticed that several students had adopted a low gun start for their sporting clays game. This may not seem like such a big deal but some of these students were ones that I taught before on my previous…
Oh. My. Gosh. How in the world is one supposed to get in any practice when you’re sweating so bad you can’t see through the flood! The truth of the matter is that no matter what, practice does make perfect. It’s important we take advantage of the off season to work on shooting for the…
Sporting clays is a sport. It’s even part of the name! I’m hopefully not telling you something you didn’t already know; however, it could very well be something that you didn’t fully comprehend or recognize. Sports, in general, have a game plan. In clays, it’s just you in the box. There is no one to…
In last month’s article, Flushing Birds 101, we briefly touched on how to avoid getting your feet tangled while on the hunt. There really is nothing worse than having the bird flush as you step down on the wrong foot, leaving you to awkwardly mount your gun and fight to get your head down on…
Fall in Virginia means Flushing Birds! With the chill in the air and the autumnal colors blanketing the skyline, it is almost impossible to not get excited about getting out in the field and flushing birds. There is definitely a physical and emotional difference between shooting quartering clay birds and those fabulous feathered birds. One…
Everything we do in life requires some sort of planning. We’ve all heard the expression, “…failure to plan is planning to fail”. As you would expect, the better the plan, the better the outcome. Shooting is no different. In the next few issues, we will look at exactly what it takes to achieve better marks…
This can often be the time of year where most Virginia residents simply shut in, lock down and pray for warmer days to come in the long-awaited Spring. This is also when you can take advantage of some the most exciting and challenging hunting opportunities available. As a wing-shooting and sporting clays instructor, I truly…
New year, new you. That is always and forever the theme of January 1st. Regardless of who you are, where you are or what you do, you should lose weight, reorganize and commit, at least that’s what we are constantly told. So, why would hunting and shooting be any different? I am proposing that for…
Waterfowlers are definitely a different breed of bird hunter. You have to be to want to get up at 4am and freeze to death on the edge of a swamp or lake. Personally, I rather enjoy September Canada goose with its far more pleasant temps. But, for those of you that relish those artic conditions,…
Purchasing a new and/or used shotgun for yourself or another doesn’t have to be so daunting. Read more here on how to make this task as easy as stuffing the stocking.