WalkedUp Posted February 2, 2022 Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 (edited) I have always had central eye dominance (no dominant eye), which was great for football etc but not so good for target sports. I have shot right handed for almost 25 years on the basis that neither eye was in overall control. If I make a hoop in my hands and point at something then close my right eye it is shifted left, close the left eye it is shifted equally right. In the last 4 months I’ve had a couple of eye injuries (broken orbital socket in left eye, temporarily lost a section of vision from an impact in right eye) and so, despite never having glasses etc, I decided to go to the optician to check my eye health. I was unsurprised that my vision is still better than 20:20 and very pleased my eye health was also perfect, but I was shocked that the vision in my right eye had deteriorated from the last test 5 years ago. When the optician mentioned that my left eye would be my dominant eye I cockily informed him that actually I had central dominance. When I demonstrated by making a hoop to an object and closing an eye I was taken aback, for the first time in my life it didn’t shift closing my right eye ... I now have left eye dominance. Too late to bother learning to shoot left handed, ah well I’ve always bumbled along ok so no point worrying about it. I am only posting as it would be interesting to take a straw poll of handedness, dominant sightedness and shooting style. Also if anyone else’s has changed? Edited February 2, 2022 by WalkedUp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob85 Posted February 2, 2022 Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 I feel I get what your saying with switching dominance and I wonder if it may be similar to what I think may be happening with mine.... bear with me on this. When you close your eyes they should go naturally to looking straight ahead unless you consciously move them under your eyelids. My eyes do not, they tend to have an outward turn, it was demonstrated by my optician when he obscured an eye and watched it come in and refocus after it was unrestricted. Whether this has any bearing on my shooting im unsure. The other issue with my eyes that I think does hinder my shooting is I am slightly long sighted in one eye and slightly short sighted in the other. So by my conclusion depending on the range of the target my dominant eye can change, favouring the eye that suits the range, problem is with the average range of shotgun targets either eye could take over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Boggy Posted February 2, 2022 Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 I have always shot left handed with what once was a dominant left eye and so my shooting was OK with both eyes open. However, later on in life my eye dominance changed to my right eye and like you, it was too late to change to shooting off the other shoulder, so now I shut my right eye just prior to taking the shot. This seems to work for me and I shoot as well as I`m ever likely to. Upon visiting the optician I was told that eye dominance does not change, which we know is totally incorrect and you would have thought that this particular optician would have known better. OB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted February 2, 2022 Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 9 hours ago, WalkedUp said: I have always had central eye dominance (no dominant eye), which was great for football etc but not so good for target sports. I have shot right handed for almost 25 years on the basis that neither eye was in overall control. If I make a hoop in my hands and point at something then close my right eye it is shifted left, close the left eye it is shifted equally right. In the last 4 months I’ve had a couple of eye injuries (broken orbital socket in left eye, temporarily lost a section of vision from an impact in right eye) and so, despite never having glasses etc, I decided to go to the optician to check my eye health. I was unsurprised that my vision is still better than 20:20 and very pleased my eye health was also perfect, but I was shocked that the vision in my right eye had deteriorated from the last test 5 years ago. When the optician mentioned that my left eye would be my dominant eye I cockily informed him that actually I had central dominance. When I demonstrated by making a hoop to an object and closing an eye I was taken aback, for the first time in my life it didn’t shift closing my right eye ... I now have left eye dominance. Too late to bother learning to shoot left handed, ah well I’ve always bumbled along ok so no point worrying about it. I am only posting as it would be interesting to take a straw poll of handedness, dominant sightedness and shooting style. Also if anyone else’s has changed? Just keep them both wide open and use your natural instinct, you will be surprised how it works. Watch the bird not your barrel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westley Posted February 3, 2022 Report Share Posted February 3, 2022 I have known eye dominance of a person change part way through a shooting lesson, this is usually brought about by nervous tension. Can I suggest you take a trip to NWSS at Sealand. Go to the top end of the range where there is a reasonably simple 'teal' bird, or a target that is more or less straight in front of you. Shoot that target off your right shoulder and practice dimming or closing your LEFT eye. You could start with a cheap pair of shooting glasses and rub a touch of vaseline on the left lens centre, this should block your vision sufficiently to enable you to hit the target. Then practice dimming the left eye after cleaning the vaseline off. If all else fails, speak to the Instructor, Brett Davies and ask his advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted February 3, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2022 1 minute ago, Westley said: I have known eye dominance of a person change part way through a shooting lesson, this is usually brought about by nervous tension. Can I suggest you take a trip to NWSS at Sealand. Go to the top end of the range where there is a reasonably simple 'teal' bird, or a target that is more or less straight in front of you. Shoot that target off your right shoulder and practice dimming or closing your LEFT eye. You could start with a cheap pair of shooting glasses and rub a touch of vaseline on the left lens centre, this should block your vision sufficiently to enable you to hit the target. Then practice dimming the left eye after cleaning the vaseline off. If all else fails, speak to the Instructor, Brett Davies and ask his advice. I do dim my left eye, it happens automatically as the butt hits my shoulder and I pull the trigger. My shooting returns have been respectable, certainly better season on season despite the switch. I may consider a few lessons with Brett, but there is a charm to David Costain’s little clay shoot and his sage advice that can’t be beat. Once the wildfowling season is over let’s meet up for a round of clays at Sealand early one Saturday if you are free 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted February 3, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2022 (edited) What I see through my eyes when I make a small gap between my two overlapped hands and “look” at a black alarm on the wall. I get two hoops, one hoop on the right bolder (than the other) with the alarm in it drawing my attention. The hoop on the left is fainter and without the alarm. In the periphery i see two sets of left fingers, two sets of right fingers and four thumbs. Edited February 3, 2022 by WalkedUp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted February 3, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2022 (edited) I’ve tried to draw this in a representative manner, showing detail where my eyes see detail and vagueness in the periphery etc. Edited February 3, 2022 by WalkedUp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westley Posted February 3, 2022 Report Share Posted February 3, 2022 (edited) Yes, of course. I forgot about Dave's place and his expertise. Would love to meet at Seland in near future. K. Edited February 3, 2022 by Westley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted February 3, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2022 When I first started shooting at Costain’s I was shooting well for some reason, I asked him for advice and he said he “didn’t need to give me any”. Fast forward a couple of years later I was in a stint of shooting there again and shooting terribly. One evening I was missing so badly my friends from game shooting thought I was missing on purpose to protest about going clay shooting. Next time out I asked Dave for advice. He told me I was “goz-eyed and there nothing to help me” 🤣 Really tickled me and cheered me up much more than any embarrassing encouragement could, but he does come up and give a bit of coaching if he can. The more you go and he gets to know you the more time he puts into you (FOC), I do find clays rather tedious and I am appalling at killing them as I don’t have any “fieldcraft” to use to my advantage so I almost never go. Game shooting is my practice for pigeon shooting, which is my practice for game shooting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
London Best Posted February 4, 2022 Report Share Posted February 4, 2022 11 hours ago, WalkedUp said: What I see through my eyes when I make a small gap between my two overlapped hands and “look” at a black alarm on the wall. I get two hoops, one hoop on the right bolder (than the other) with the alarm in it drawing my attention. The hoop on the left is fainter and without the alarm. In the periphery i see two sets of left fingers, two sets of right fingers and four thumbs. Bloody hell! Do they let you drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piers Austin Posted February 4, 2022 Report Share Posted February 4, 2022 I sometimes get a left eye take dominance over my normal right. Can be caused by tiredness or stress. A simple fix which works for me is a triangle of opaque Scotch tape on the left lens of my glasses. When the gun is mounted only the right eye can see down the rib. Saw this in a shooting magazine some years ago. This is similar to the idea mentioned by Westley of using a blob or smear of Vaseline. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted February 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2022 (edited) 9 hours ago, London Best said: Bloody hell! Do they let you drive? Yes, I’ve got better than 20:20 vision, which is nice 😎. My vision happens to be set up for dynamic situations which is great for team sports, but less good for hand-eye alignment sports, such as snooker, tennis and most shooting! One of several reasons I will never be a top shot, but was very useful tonight for me smashing an outside of the box winner as a first touch finish when running onto a cross-field ball after winning the ball to release the counter. I would be interested to see what everyone else “sees” through their eyes. Edited February 4, 2022 by WalkedUp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted February 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2022 1 hour ago, Piers Austin said: I sometimes get a left eye take dominance over my normal right. Can be caused by tiredness or stress. A simple fix which works for me is a triangle of opaque Scotch tape on the left lens of my glasses. When the gun is mounted only the right eye can see down the rib. Saw this in a shooting magazine some years ago. This is similar to the idea mentioned by Westley of using a blob or smear of Vaseline. 🙂 Thank you for the tip which looks very useful. I don’t wear glasses (yet), I know I should for eye safety but I hate the look and feel of shooting glasses. I have never even worn sunglasses, preferring to furrow my brow or don a hat instead. Some people suit glasses or don’t find them an encumbrance but I’m not one of them, I just hope that eye surgery advances outstrip my failing body into old age! 😬 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
London Best Posted February 4, 2022 Report Share Posted February 4, 2022 21 minutes ago, WalkedUp said: Yes, I’ve got better than 20:20 vision, which is nice 😎. My vision happens to be set up for dynamic situations Good news. Just shows, every cloud has a silver lining. Your earlier drawing of your hands looked quite worrying with four thumbs. Myself, I am a little short sighted and, at 73, have cataracts developing. But, fortunately I have a very dominant right master eye, which is handy being a right hand shot. I hate glasses with a passion. I wear contact lenses for stalking but for wing shooting I find I shoot better with just my natural eyesight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted February 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2022 13 minutes ago, London Best said: But, fortunately I have a very dominant right master eye, which is handy being a right hand shot. That’s ideal, if I could choose that’s how I would be set up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agriv8 Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 Interesting post I am which ever eye sees the target first. Doing your hands experiment sometime two holes ! Sometimes one in the wrong place somtimes my right is dominant sometimes my left. as yourselves trust the mushy brain can work it all out. on distance shots a quick blink of the non barrel eye to switch dominance ! Tried Leaving my left eye shuts induces a rifle shot barrel check ( taking my eve of the clay ). but overthinking is my worst trait tend to tighten the shoulders ! Agriv8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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