Guide to shotgun shooting for hunting,

Many hunters have only shot tilt hare in the hunting test and thus have not systematically learned the actual
shotgun shooting and rarely or not at all practiced on the
clay target stand.
It is worthwhile to take a close look at shotgun shooting, even if the
driven hunt invitations no longer flutter into the house as abundantly as they used to. Pigeons, ducks, geese and
crows are still present in many hunting grounds in huntable numbers and offer exciting hunting.
Anyone who has mastered and understood shotgun shooting will always be a good shot on
driven hunts, as the body movement is largely identical.
The following short guide cannot teach you shotgun shooting in its entirety
. It is intended to encourage you to familiarize yourself with the essence of shotgun shooting and to learn it
ideally under the guidance of a shooting instructor (e.g. DSB trainer or CPSA coach) and to practice
.

In shotgun shooting, we use the whole body to execute the movement towards the target.
The necessary movements are composed of several elements that must be executed simultaneously
in order to be successful.
For the beginner, the body position and the movement with and without the weapon are unfamiliar and must
therefore be learned step by step. It is important to ensure that the level of difficulty
is increased slowly and that one movement element is corrected after the other. New and
more difficult targets are only shot at when easy ones are hit regularly. The Marksman shooting simulator and the hunting course are particularly suitable for this
, or alternatively the
skeet stand.
Certain things must be observed in order to successfully shoot at a target with a shotgun:
:
1. Interpretation: Shotgun shooting is German shooting. The human eye
can only see one point in focus at a time. So you can either see the muzzle or the
target in focus, but never both at the same time. While we focus on the front sight when aiming with a rifle
and then move the muzzle and eye to the target, we have to focus on the target and see the front sight out of focus in the background when
shooting a shotgun.
If you can see the target clearly and can estimate the direction and speed of the target
, the muzzle is moved towards the target, or in the case of targets flying at an angle, in front of it, so that
the target and the shotgun shell can collide with each other. There are various techniques for this,
which we will look at later. The shooter must constantly focus on the target
while keeping the front sight out of focus in the background. This is a
skill that must first be learned. Under no circumstances should you look at the muzzle
, as this would cause the muzzle to stop and result in a miss behind the target
.
2nd foot position: The shooter must stand in such a way that he can comfortably reach the point at which he wants to shoot at the pigeon
. For cross-flying targets, this is not the
throwing machine from which the pigeon comes. The right-hand shooter stands with his left toe
at 12:30 o'clock, with the right toe at 2 o'clock, the heels approx. 10 cm apart.

The foot position must be neither too wide nor too narrow. A foot position that is too wide is stable but
not mobile, a foot position that is too narrow is mobile but not stable.
3. The upper body is tilted slightly forward to compensate for the recoil,
by bending the upper body forward over the hips. At the same time, a correct
upper body forward lean (OKV) ensures the correct turning movement towards the target. Too little upper body forward lean
means that only the arms are moved during the turn, while too much upper body forward lean
means that the knees are pushed through and only the upper body moves, but not the hips with the
muzzle. In addition, the shotgun cannot be positioned correctly, but
is inserted too deeply into the shoulder.
4th position: The stock is inserted firmly into the back of the shoulder stock as close to the body as possible
. To determine the exact position of the shoulder stock, place the right hand
on the front of the left shoulder and guide the left hand into the right shoulder, as you would do with
the shotgun stock. The cheek is placed on the stock so that the
cheekbone rests firmly on the back of the stock and the cheek meat forms a cushion between the
stock and the cheekbone.
5th eye: To hit a standing target, the right eye, front sight and
target must form a line for right-handed shooters. In principle, this also applies to moving targets, but
depending on the direction and speed of movement, you have to shoot more or less far in front of the target
. It is desirable to shoot with both eyes open, because only then
can you see properly in space and utilize the entire field of vision and better estimate the direction of movement
and speed of the target. However, if the left eye focuses on the
target faster than the right eye, the line between the right eye and the front sight is broken and
the shot misses on the left. In this case, the left eye must be blocked with an adhesive in the aiming position (head
is lowered). Ideally, this is an occlusion foil from the
optician.
6. Hunting expectations: When hunting, the gun is usually not in the shoulder,
when the target appears. In addition, a weapon that has not been struck allows better
focusing on the target, which is what feint shooting is all about. The hunting butt
combines the in-stop and the pointing movement at the target into one movement. The
butt plate is placed under the armpit and the muzzle is held horizontally. The
gun is raised during the aiming movement, cheek contact is made and the
gun is placed in the shoulder pocket. Simultaneously with the firing movement, the left hand
guides the muzzle towards the target. Shooting from the hunting position means an
additional movement and therefore an additional source of error. This means that
shooters must first be able to shoot safely from the shoulder before learning the hunting
position.
7Stock: Especially when shooting from the hunting position,
the shotgun must be stocked in such a way that it can be struck correctly without
having to look at the rail again and correct the shot.
a. Stock length: The stock must be long enough so that it can just be struck comfortably
. For men around 180cm about 37.5cm, for women around
165cm about 35.5cm (only approximate guide values).
b. The drop is the deviation of the stock from the extended barrel axis to
the bottom, measured at the nose of the stock (drop at nose) and at the heel of the stock (upper edge
of the butt plate, drop at heel). It should bridge the difference between the cheekbones
and the eye. This ensures that the shooter can see correctly (flat)
over the rail. Due to the smaller distance
between cheek and eye, women require less drop compared to the standard stock. More and more
manufacturers are now producing special ladies' stocks that take this
into account. Shotguns with adjustable buttstocks are advantageous as the
drop can be adjusted to suit the shooter
c. The cast is the deflection of the stock towards the shooter's shoulder and is measured
at the heel of the stock (cast at heel) and at the lower edge of the butt plate,

the toe of the stock (cast at toe). The cast at the toe is greater than that at the
heel. For this reason, a right socket cannot be converted to a left socket
. Necessary stock modifications can normally be made provisionally at the
stand so that the standard stock can be adapted to the requirements of the
shooter. Permanent changes can be made by a gunsmith
if he has the stock dimensions available. In special cases it may be necessary
to have a custom stock made.

Now it is important to plan the shot and to be clear about a few important points
1. How does the target fly? Where does it come from and where does it fly to?
2. Alignment of the eye (target acquisition point): The target leaves the machine and
is initially perceived as an orange shadow. After a few meters it is then recognizable as a
throwing disc. We aim the eye at this point from
3. Alignment of the muzzle (rifle aiming point): We need a moment to react to the
flying and visually perceived clay target. During this time, the
clay target continues to fly. We therefore hold the muzzle slightly further in the direction of flight in order to
compensate for our reaction time and the path of the target during this time
4. Where should the target be shot at (shooting sector): First of all, you need to be clear
about the point at which you want to fire at the target (at the latest). This point can
differ significantly from the target's point of appearance. It is crucial that the body is relaxed at the
shooting sector. The shooter must stand in such a way that he can comfortably
reach the point at which he wants to shoot at the pigeon and must not align himself in the direction of the
throwing machine from which the pigeon is coming.
The gun is first aimed at the shooting sector and then the body is turned in the direction of the
gun aiming point. The weight distribution of the body must not change, as
otherwise it will not be possible to move synchronously towards the target after retrieving the target. It is important
that the hips, upper body, arms and head form a unit and move together. The
sideways movement of the body is made possible by the legs, which in the shooting position are relaxed
but not bent, and under no circumstances pushed through.
It makes sense to shoot at incoming targets first. Targets arriving straight
are shot at by looking directly at the target and shooting as soon as the muzzle is on the
target.
If the pigeons are arriving at an angle, you must shoot more or less far in front of the target depending on the direction and speed of the target
. There are various techniques for achieving the required
lead:
1. CPSA method (pull ahead technique): The muzzle is struck on the target, carried on the target
and thus the direction and speed of the target are recorded. The muzzle is then
accelerated in front of the target and the shot is fired. The
eye always focuses on the target, never on the muzzle. This technique is particularly easy to learn
and is therefore highly recommended for beginners. The only variable in this technique
is how far the muzzle is accelerated in front of the target.
2. Maintained lead (pre-start technique): The shooter knows how far in front of the target he has to shoot
and does not strike the target but in front of it and maintains this lead up
to the shot. As there is no need to carry on the target, this method is particularly suitable for fast targets
such as skeet.

3. swing through (overtaking technique): The shot is completed behind the target and the
muzzle is accelerated towards or in front of the target. The muzzle moves faster than the
target, so the shooter has the impression of swinging less far forward than with the two
aforementioned shooting techniques.
About the author:
Jochen Niesner is the owner of the Rhein-Main Hunting School, a trained shotgun shooting instructor (CPSA
Senior Coach) and regularly conducts courses in shotgun shooting on the shooting range and in
's own MARKSMAN shooting cinema.