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I have been hunting since I was 12 years old and until my 30's I mostly shot ducks and geese over decoys. When in my late 30’s I was invited to a gun club that had skeet and trap ranges. I shot a round of skeet and if memory serves me right, I don’t think that I hit much over 11 or 12 targets. Hmmph and me a great duck shot!
The state trap and skeet champion befriended me and taught me to shoot targets other than those stationary ones over the top of decoys. After years of his friendship he told me that I will never be a great skeet shot but I am a fair wing shot. Coming from him, a great compliment. A shot story: We were in Scotland shooting Red Grouse and a young Spaniard was in our rough shooting party. This guy would run to the dogs on point and out shoot whomever was closest. He wound up next to me and for several points, I did not get any shooting. He was quick and as soon as the gun hit his shoulder it would fire. In steps my friend and shot the next few birds from the hip. The Spaniard moved to the end of the line. How did you learn to shoot?

*Last edited by Doggai on Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:12 am; edited 1 time in total*

In May 1948 a Corporal handed me an M-1 and said "learn to love and care for this piece, it may save your life some day". I weighed 137 lbs, the M-1 weighed close to 8 lbs (?). Now, I weigh 210 and my bird guns all weigh around 6 lbs. A coon-ass in Louisiana taught me how to shoot flying targets. In Minnesota a friend refined my shooting at the skeet field. Upland birds are still my first love, trapshooting is 2nd. In 2009 I shot at more than 12,000 clay targets with a 11.5 lb trapgun. JF

Member Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 1863 Location: Wisconsin

When I was eight, I was handed a model 42 winchester and a box of shells and told to kill every chicken in the yard. I wish someone had told me to aim for their heads. What a mess.

Reno

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3185 Location: NCWa

My dad, a Light Twelve Browming, cases of ammunition and clays, a Blue Rock trap and hours of repetition.

Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 11 Location: SoCent KS

.22's and cottontails and endless coaching from my dad. Wing shooting was an old J.C. Higgins pump, and lots of hunting as a kid. I read everything I could, and after I got married, I 'inherited' an old trap and shot every chance I got...lunch breaks, after work...the goal was to never miss (foolishness goes before humiliation).
I will confess, my shooting is still a work in progress. so come to KS and help me out

mike

Joined: 29 Jan 2009 Posts: 207

In spite of all the references I've seen here and elsewhere that skeet shooting doesn't translate well to wing shooting, I learned most of what I know on the skeet field, and have become a decent shooter. I shot A LOT of skeet (around 50,000 rounds over about 3 years) for a while, and it has made me a pretty good wing shot. I also shot some Sporting Clays, 5 Stand, and a little trap. Just to show I'm not making it up about being a pretty good (not great) skeet shooter:

I didn't do any competetive shooting last year (my work schedule almost seemed to be designed to keep me from shooting of any kind!), but I did manage to take a few pheasants.

As you might expect from a skeet shooter, shots longer than about 35 yards can give me real problems.

My nephew, now in his 40's, was National College All-Around Champion his junior year at Arizona State shooting skeet, international skeet, trap, international trap and sporting clays, even though he did not will any single event. (He was 2nd in international trap, losing in a shootoff). He has not shot competitively in years, but he still shoots clays, upland birds and water fowl very, very well.

Joined: 10 Aug 2009 Posts: 178 Location: New York

Well, after seeing all this impressive competition stuff now I'm not sure I actually can shoot, at least not very well! I first learned to with a Marlin lever action .22 and a really great Walther PPK aimed at empty cans, rabbits, and squirrels. I must have been 8 or 9 years old? My first and most important lesson in wingshooting came a year or so later and involved an empty 20 gauge Ithaca 37 with a short stock my father made. I carried it (unloaded) along with him on quail and snipe hunts for what seemed like a very long time. He had me work on gun safety, awareness of other hunters, how to walk in the woods the right way, the dogs, the habitat, everything else. Only when I did all of those things consistently did he let me shoot some quail. There was no discussion of how to properly mount the gun or anything technical like that. I have yet to shoot skeet or clays and have never taken a lesson or anything so I guess you could say I still don't know to shoot properly!

Member Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 601 Location: Virginia

With a Daisy BB gun, hiding under a farm wagon next to a hog lot that had a feeder and a shipload of starlings. I was 9 at the time.

Dan

Member Joined: 29 Jul 2008 Posts: 278 Location: Texas

When I was 6 years old I started shooting a Winchester Model 61 Smooth Bore at the miniature clay target game of Moskeeto Trap, tossed from a miniature Skeeter Trap.
Got pretty good at it too!

Joined: 15 Jan 2012 Posts: 20 Location: York,Pa.

I pretty much taught myself to shoot, with the help of a fantastic uncle who is one of the best wingshooters that I know. He coached me along with shotgun and rifle shooting,took me upland bird hunting on his farm and took me deer hunting. He now has parkinsons disease, but still can shoot darn good. When he goes I will really miss him. He treats me like one of his own sons. He even got me into fishing and took me along with him. Very Happy

Member Joined: 08 Jun 2009 Posts: 321 Location: So Cal

Rifle & Pistol - Age 6 (1952) by Father who was USMC Expert during WWII & Korean War. Started with .22RF's, .32 S&W, then moved on up to larger calibers over the years, including an M1 Garand at age 9.

Shotgun - Age 13 (1959) by Great Uncle down at a full section (mile square) of private land near the Salton Sea. Used both his Sweet 16 and Win21 which I now have. 1/3 rice paddies and large pond, 1/3 open desert, 1/3 for crops, with a bunk and cook house dead center on property.

Naval Guns - Age 19 (1965) by US Navy - 5"/38's, .30 & .50 cal machine guns, Thompson Submachine gun and BAR - (All the good stuff my ship carried. Since I was a Gunnery Fire Control Technician, I got to shoot it all! Spent all or part of 18 months off Vietnam 1966-1968 on the HollyMaru - USS Hollister DD-788. Was there for Tet Offensive - for 36 hours if we weren't shooting we were rearming; if not then refueling so we could keep rearming and firing.)

Joined: 23 Nov 2011 Posts: 10 Location: Montana

Dad taught me to shoot with his old Remington 22 single. I was allowed to shoot all the blackbirds and red squirrels i wanted. We had this mutt living with us. Chet Huntly. He wandered in one day and decided to stay. He was a born retriever! If he saw me pick up that 22, he was at my side and ready to retrieve. Chets enthusiasm got me directed towards more edible game and so the story goes.......

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1975 Location: Maine

Pretty much taught myself. For shotgun, I got a bit of help along the way from my dad (making sure I knew how to hold the gun and was safe with it), and friends.

Not that I'm that good: on a good day I'll break 20/25 at trap.

Rifle? Courtesy US Army.

Still learning, every time I pick up a gun. Lots of trial and error - just like the way I learned flycasting.