At least that’s true with a shotgun.
Foot placement is probably important if your clay birds require you yell “Pull,” or if your feathered birds are described by pretentious writers as “gentlemen” and they hold for the pointers.
And if you can focus on that rather than on foot placement, you will be able to make shots in a much wider range of shooting situations.
I cut my wingshooting teeth hunting ruffed grouse without a dog.
I also love to hunt rabbits and hares with dogs.
I was standing beside a deep path worn into the snow from the hares, listening to the dogs in front of me, when a white blur came running up from behind.
That’s extreme, but if you can learn to shoot well when your feet are out of position, you will be much more successful as a hunter.
The targets are launched at the discretion of the person with the thrower, usually when the shooter is in the worst position to shoot.
That way the “trapper” can present multiple target scenarios without warning.
Or to walk along a skeet range with your shotgun at the low ready as you would when hunting.
With his English setter on point, Robert Bell walks in on late-season grouse.
Rules sometimes just need to be broken. At least that’s true with a shotgun. A huge part of properly shooting a shotgun has always focused on foot placement. A common mantra with shooting instructors is: “You must have the correct stance if you intend to hit the target.”
All well and good if your targets are predictable and you have time to get into position. Foot placement is probably important if your clay birds require you yell “Pull,” or if your feathered birds are described by pretentious writers as “gentlemen” and they hold for the pointers. But for shooting in a less predictable world, it might benefit you to remember that you don’t operate a shotgun with your feet. You point the shotgun with your upper body. And if you can focus on that rather than on foot placement, you will be able to make shots in a much wider range of shooting situations.
I cut my wingshooting teeth hunting ruffed grouse without a dog. If quail are gentlemen, then grouse are jerks. They always seem to flush when you are tangled in a barbed-wire fence or a blackberry bramble, or are crawling under a low branch. If you want to have success under these circumstances, you learn to shoot fast and to shoot…
