Dave McCracken
Moderator In Memoriam
Back when I made some of my living with a Gibson ES 335 and a Fender Amp, "Woodshedding" was a musician's term.
It meant practice with nuances suggesting it was to improve your performance. Woodshedding usually meant practice with a specific purpose in mind. It could be the purpose was to get better in general, or better at a specific piece of music, or just getting a riff right.
The concept can and should be applied to practice with a shotgun. Once past the first couple of humps, all practice by a new shotgunner should be for specific purposes.
The first two humps are....
The kick hump. Once the tyro learns to shoot without experiencing pain, things go lots faster and better.
The moving target hump. We all have to learn to direct the cloud to the target while the target is moving at unknown speed and distance.
Once we have a handle on these, then use your practice time to focus on something needing improvement. For example....
I'm in the process of learning to shoot with a head up posture. My neck is getting creaky and old, and if I'm to shoot at all I have to adjust things to avoid pain and suffering. I've been a stock crawler of the worst sort so this is quite an adjustment.
Also, my mount is not as consistent as I'd like it to be. So, to work on this I shoot everything low gun. Mounting as I call for the bird means I have to do things correctly. If the mount is OK, the clay breaks. If not, the clay sails on and I'm reminded to get things right.
A trip to the range might include some targets shot from standard posts, followed by moving the mikes around to change the angles and ranges. Here's the program I followed this AM at PGC. I had Range 7 to myself.
A round of wobble shot from the standard positions was first. I would shoot one clay. If I hit, I moved to the next position. If it was a miss, I shot from that post until I hit one solidly, then moving on. Another round of this followed shot a bit faster to add some stress.
Then, I shot with the Post One mike moved maybe 15 yards left so it was near Skeet station II. This changed the angle almost to a crosser on left angle shots. Been having trouble on right to left crossers and this was very good practice.
Did similar to the Post 5 mike but moved it back some. A round here had different angles and perspectives. After some bad shots, I settled into busting them with regularity.
Moved mike 3 back to the 23 yard line and shot a round from there. This was humbling but I did close in on them and hit most of the last 15. The greater distance means tighter focus and concentration are crucial.
Finished up with another round from standard positions. This went well, and I scored a 22 or 23. Not bad for an old man with a creaky neck....
It meant practice with nuances suggesting it was to improve your performance. Woodshedding usually meant practice with a specific purpose in mind. It could be the purpose was to get better in general, or better at a specific piece of music, or just getting a riff right.
The concept can and should be applied to practice with a shotgun. Once past the first couple of humps, all practice by a new shotgunner should be for specific purposes.
The first two humps are....
The kick hump. Once the tyro learns to shoot without experiencing pain, things go lots faster and better.
The moving target hump. We all have to learn to direct the cloud to the target while the target is moving at unknown speed and distance.
Once we have a handle on these, then use your practice time to focus on something needing improvement. For example....
I'm in the process of learning to shoot with a head up posture. My neck is getting creaky and old, and if I'm to shoot at all I have to adjust things to avoid pain and suffering. I've been a stock crawler of the worst sort so this is quite an adjustment.
Also, my mount is not as consistent as I'd like it to be. So, to work on this I shoot everything low gun. Mounting as I call for the bird means I have to do things correctly. If the mount is OK, the clay breaks. If not, the clay sails on and I'm reminded to get things right.
A trip to the range might include some targets shot from standard posts, followed by moving the mikes around to change the angles and ranges. Here's the program I followed this AM at PGC. I had Range 7 to myself.
A round of wobble shot from the standard positions was first. I would shoot one clay. If I hit, I moved to the next position. If it was a miss, I shot from that post until I hit one solidly, then moving on. Another round of this followed shot a bit faster to add some stress.
Then, I shot with the Post One mike moved maybe 15 yards left so it was near Skeet station II. This changed the angle almost to a crosser on left angle shots. Been having trouble on right to left crossers and this was very good practice.
Did similar to the Post 5 mike but moved it back some. A round here had different angles and perspectives. After some bad shots, I settled into busting them with regularity.
Moved mike 3 back to the 23 yard line and shot a round from there. This was humbling but I did close in on them and hit most of the last 15. The greater distance means tighter focus and concentration are crucial.
Finished up with another round from standard positions. This went well, and I scored a 22 or 23. Not bad for an old man with a creaky neck....