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Off day, probably the worst yet!


Wingman
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What a day yesterday..

 

Woke up early, to a warm dry day a bit overcast. No booze the night before so feeling fresh and alert and had an early night. I hadnt been out for a nearly 2 months so was really excited to get out in the field again. Picked up my shooting partner and drove the farm, we were set up in one of the usual spots on the edge of a pea field and set up a simple hide with some decoys. We were right under a flightline and there was loads of activity and I settled in and got my gun ready.

 

To cut a long story short I had about 50 shots, and only bagged 3 pigeons. I dont know know what was going on but I missed everything yesterday the more I missed the more I got ****** off and then carried on missing even more! One of the 3 birds I shot I only pricked and had to spend 10 mins wading through brambles to locate it and dispatch it and came out scratched to *******!

 

Got to the point at about 2pm when I missed a crosser at about 20 yards that we decided to pack up and go to the pub and try and analyse what went wrong. Funnily enough by shooting partner also didn't do too well either but in fairness he only took a few easier shots as he has done his back in and not that mobile.

 

Try for the life of me I cant fathom why I shot so badly yesterday, the only thing I can think is that I am very rusty after having not been out for so long...

 

Not looking for any sympathy or anything like that just wanted to get it off my chest!

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I find that sometimes the hide isn't quite in the right place for the flight line, or their coming in from an awkward direction which makes the shots all the much harder. I say this as a session i had they were coming in and trying to land at distance so they were coming in from right to left at distance which gave me an awful shooting line if that makes sense so ended up missing quite a few.

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Your post may be cathartic in the end.

 

There could be a number of reasons why you did so badly, others will suggest the obvious ones. My query is where were your feet? Were you in a ditch?

What's that got to do with it? Nope not in a ditch just at the edge of hedgerow

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What were the pigeons doing in regard to the shot, I'd say the usually prob is shooting behind, not swinging through or stopping the swing on pulling the trigger. You been rifle shooting a lot lately. ? If I'm missing a lot I keep pushing the lead until I'm in front, pigeons will put the brakes on to a shot in front but you won't have a clue if behind. Its surprising how much lead you have to put on them sometimes especially if they have their tail to a good breeze. And rest assured, we have all been there. :sad1:

Edited by Redgum
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Nice memorable day getting stung by the stingers and shooting like an ****.

 

On another day when you have a night to remember the night before you will shoot like Digweed.

 

Some days, as i'm sure you will know , the birds will come screaming in right in to the pattern. As they say there's always another day.

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Put the experience to the back of your mind - you have, most likely, identified the problem in the first couple of sentences of your post - you are rusty AND you were excited. If, God forbid, you find yourself in a similar situation again, put the gun away and spot for your buddy for at least half an hour whilst watching the birds and their approach to the decoys - you know where to shoot and when to pull the trigger so no problems right? When you get the gun back in your hands concentrate on ONE bird and nothing else if a group approaches and take your time and turn in shooting - most of all you need to remember that if you shoot a complete slab of shells and connect with nothing then it simply doesn't matter - you are out doing what you enjoy and the birds will simply get shot another day :yes:

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