Expert Advice

QUIT THINKING

I know most trapshooters have been told that shooting trap is more mental than it is physical. In fact, I've heard that it could be as much as 90% mental, with the remainder falling into the physical category. I would tend to agree that the mental game is extremely important when it comes to breaking good scores, but if you are trying to think and shoot targets at the same time, you will probably find your scores going down rather than up.

The mental part of the game must be done prior to the actual firing of the gun. You have to do some thinking when you are learning to stand properly on each post. You have to do some thinking when deciding where you will hold the gun in relation to the trap prior to calling for a target. You have to think about the hold point you will use on EACH post as you move down the line. You have to think about keeping your head on the stock for every shot. There are many things to think about so they will be done properly each time you mount the gun and attempt to break a target. But you can't be thinking about all these things when you are asking yourself to break targets. It just doesn't work that way. If you are letting your mind think about these and many other things while you attempt to break that target, your eyes will not be working for you. The time to think about all the mechanics and fundamentals is on the practice trap. You think your way through things until those things become second nature to your style of shooting.

Eventually, your stance on each post will become second nature to you. As you move from one post to the next, your feet will move into position without much thought on your part because you have thought about it long enough that it is now second nature to you to stand properly on each post. After many rounds of thinking about where the gun will be positioned in relation to the trap, prior to calling for the target, it will become second nature to you. No thinking required. After many practice rounds of forcing yourself to keep your head on the stock until after the target shatters, it will become second nature for you to do so and again, requires no thinking on your part.

Each phase of your game may require thinking until it becomes second nature to you. This is called effective practice. Once you have mastered the fundamentals and they are now second nature to you, you will be able to recognize errors made and correct them.

Now you are ready to let all this work for you without thinking. All you have to do now is to SEE the target and react to it. I emphacize SEE the target, because that is all you need to do. You can't think about things and SEE the target simultaneously. At least you can't see it to the extent that you will break every target. Your entire attention must be devoted to SEEING that target. Your mind and your eyes work as one. What your eyes see, your mind will help you break, without thinking. You must let it happen. See it properly and you will break it.

Think about mastering the fundamentals and then let your eyes do the rest---without thinking. I think you'll find out that what you see is what you get.

CONCENTRATION

When it comes to trapshooting, it has long been known that a major part of any shooter's success is derived from his mental capabilities. Even Yogi Berra recognized this fact when he stated that baseball is 90% mental and 50% physical. Yogi may have over-estimated the physical portion a bit, but his point is well taken. Much of our success in trapshooting depends on how well we handle the mental aspect of the game.

The mental aspect of the game begins with concentration. When I say "concentration", I refer to the ability of the mind to pay full attention to the task at hand, which in our case as trapshooters, is to do what is necessary mentally to break the next target or the next pair of targets. If our mind is not out in the field with our eyes as they look for the target to appear, the game can be much more difficult. Once we have mastered the fundamentals of the game and once we always have good control of the gun as we approach our targets, the only thing that could possibly make us miss a target is letting our mind wander from the task at hand.

If we try to work our mind too hard, like asking it to concentrate for an hour while we shoot the next 100 target event, it will fail us every time. You can't concentrate for an hour straight on one subject, no matter how much fun it is. But if we ask the mind to work for us for just 3 or 4 seconds at a time, and then let it relax and think about anything that comes to mind, it will work for us hundreds of times consecutively without fail. But how do we do this? I don't want you to think there is some secret mind formula that will automatically turn you into the picture of concentration and perfection when it comes to shooting, but there is something you can practice to get your concentration up for each and every shot. Like I said, it will take PRACTICE, but it will lead to better concentration and with better concentration, you will never miss a target because your mind was off on a coffee break.

By applying this simple method of concentration, you won't have the normal distractions that some shooters have. I'm speaking of the shooter who misses targets because there is someone behind them talking, or the losses that are attributed to cars driving by, planes landing in front of you, or target boxes blowing across the field. These distractions have nothing to do with your ability to break the next target unless you allow them to be distractions. With good concentration, the distractions that used to cost you targets will disappear.

When it is your turn to shoot and you have mounted your gun, prior to calling for the target you must trigger the concentration so that you are only focused on the task at hand, which is to first, see the target. At this point, you say something to yourself, something like, "see the target", in order to trigger your concentration to the task at hand. If you practice this, you will become so good at avoiding distractions, that they will no longer be distractions. But like I said, it will take a little practice on your part, just like any other part of the game. Trigger your concentration when you practice, when you participate in tournaments and when you shoot the league. Do it every time you mount the gun and soon, you will find that you never drop a target because your mind was wandering. You will also find that you can develop the mental toughness to get you through those periods when your nerves are on edge. Your confidence will go up because when you are able to concentrate totally on the task at hand, you know you can break any target thrown.

Once you have mastered the ability to concentrate at will, not only will your distractions be a thing of the past, but you will also eliminate the need for excuses for missing targets. Remember, all good trapshooters talk to themselves. If you don't let your lips move, no one will ever know.

Importance of the fundamentals...

No one likes to talk about new products designed to improve shooting skills more than trapshooters do. There are always new products and new theories coming out that hold the promise of better scores for all of us. While it's fun to talk about the technical drivel and new gadgets available for improving everyone's trapshooting skills, all too often, a shooter gets it into his head that if he just stumbles on the right combination of little things to tweak his equipment with, he'll magically become the great shooter that he is sure is inside him, just waiting to be discovered.

In most cases, this isn't what brings out that great shooter. It may be possible that some of the small, technical things will add to a shooter's ability to be consistent and break a better score on a regular basis, but they shouldn't be depended on to produce the results most shooters would like. The best way to reach the level a shooter can realistically expect from himself is to begin with the fundamentals.

While working on the fundamentals and perfecting their application of same, shooters will find that there are some items which will help them achieve that perfect application of those fundamentals. For example, shooting glasses will aid the eyesight or protect the eyes from harsh sunlight or debris that may be present while shooting. An adjustable stock will help a shooter get the proper fit with his gun so that he is comfortable with it and it shoots where he is looking. But no matter whether the eyes are working perfectly and the gun fit is superb, if the fundamentals of trapshooting aren't applied properly, neither of these will be of much benefit to a shooter's scores. Combined with proper fundamentals and technique, shooting glasses and an adjustable stock can be invaluable.

These are the types of things that shooters come to realize while "paying their dues" in their early years of trapshooting. They will discover other helpful items to incorporate into their game, but none of these should be considered the key to success; they only help each shooter achieve a better or easier way to apply those fundamentals.

Think back, if you will, on all the trapshooting-related items you've bought, used, and either sold or just abandoned over the years and you'll understand that it wasn't any of these items that accounted for your success. Some of these items may have been helpful, but only to the extent that they helped you in your application of sound fundamentals.

At one time, I didn't think I could possibly shoot without wearing a shooting vest. I was convinced that if I didn't have my vest and shot anyway, I would surely arrive back home with my right arm in a sling and blood gushing from my poor, tender shoulder. That was, I was convinced until I went to a shoot and forgot my vest. I shot in a T-shirt and was none the worse for wear. I found it to be more comfortable for me and have been shooting in shirts ever since.

The point to be made here is to caution you against thinking that there is some trivial piece of equipment out there somewhere that will "enlighten" you and turn you into a trapshooting terror. That equipment may be helpful, but only if it assists you in your application of the fundamentals.

Now that we've established how I feel about fundamentals, future articles will offer suggestions and insights on how to apply those fundamentals to improving your skills on the trapline.

The most common reason for misses...

There are many reasons why trapshooters miss targets, but in my opinion, the most comon reason for losses is lifting the head prior to shooting the target. This is a difficult problem for many shooters because they don't realize that the head is being lifted. The head need not be lifted a great deal in order for the target to be missed. This is because of the "megaphone effect".

The megaphone effect means that a slight lift in the head from the stock, (the mouthpiece of the megaphone), is compounded by distance and by the time the shot reaches the area of the target, (the open end of the megaphone),

the mistake is much larger and often results in a lost target.

Fortunately, there is a way for shooters to prevent lost targets due to head lifting and at the same time, allows a shooter to see his own target pointing errors. It's called follow through. Now, when I mention follow through, I'm not referring to the gun moving beyond the target after the gun has been fired. That's called momentum and if you're building up enough momentum to carry the gun well beyond the target, then the gun is probably a little out of control. The follow through I'm speaking of is keeping the head on the stock long enough to insure that head lifting will never cause a lost target.

For those of you who would like to develop follow through, you will have to do a little thinking about it when you practice shooting until the follow through becomes second nature to your style of shooting. At that point, you won't have to think your way through each shot as follow through will just be a part of what you do each time you call for and shoot at a target. I wouldn't want you to have to think too much during a competition because every time someone tells me that they were shooting quite well and "I got to thinking", I know they are going to tell me about losing a target. We want follow through to become second nature to you so that thinking is no longer necessary. Now, all you need to do is see the target and react to what you see without having to think.

In order to develop follow through, you must force yourself to pick out a piece of the target you just broke and point at it before you dismount the gun. By doing this, you will insure that you are still well attached to the stock after breaking a target. If you are still lifting your head, you will be made aware of the situation when you try to point at the piece and you can't get a good sight picture. If you are not lifting your head, you will still have your normal sight picture and pointing at a piece of the target will be easy. In addition, with the sight picture still intact, you will clearly see pointing errors if you happen to over lead, under lead or shoot above or below a target.

Follow through will make a much better shooter out of you, but like I said earlier, it will take some thinking during practice sessions until follow through becomes second nature to you. If you watch for this practice while watching some of the better shooters, you find that their heads stay put long after the shot is fired. If you develop the same habit, you will probably find yourself in more shootoffs with those same better shooters.

Good luck and don't forget to keep your head down.