Podcast: How to Miss Fewer Birds

Wingshooters across the country are in the thick of it right now. We wait all year for this, we put in lots of miles and effort to find birds and, after all that, we still miss.

I’ll be the first to admit it: I’ve whiffed on some roosters and ducks this fall that I definitely should not have missed. Two particularly egregious misses come to mind: One long-tailed rooster my Lab trailed and put up at 10 yards, and a lone drake redhead that should’ve dropped dead into the decoys.

So for this episode of the Outdoor Life Podcast I talked to my pheasant hunting buddy and shotgunning cheerleader Phil Bourjaily about what we wingshooters can do to miss fewer birds in the field. Bourjaily is the long-time shotgun editor for Field & Stream, a contributor to Ducks Unlimited, and a shotgun coach. He hunts pheasants, quail, ducks, and geese all season long in his home state of Iowa. Here’s his advice for what you can adjust right now, and what you shouldn’t mess with mid-season.

Focus on Your Mental Game

Bourjaily has spent a lot of time speaking with competitive shooters and coaches about how strong mindset is critical in successful wingshooting. Instead of focusing on the future, the best hunters and shooters stay present in the moment.

“If you read sports psychology and talk to the Olympic athletes, as I’ve had the opportunity to do it, they try to keep all of their thinking what they call it, performance-oriented rather than outcome-oriented,” says Bourjaily. “When they are getting ready to take a shot, they’re not thinking, ‘I hope I break this,’ or ‘I hope I don’t miss,’ which is really bad. They’re thinking a version of … ‘Eye on the target,’ or whatever cues them — whatever they need to focus on in order to achieve the outcome that they want.”

Take Your Time and Focus on the Target

There are three key physical components of your shot selection that Bourjaily says to pay extra attention to for the rest of the season.

“[These are] three things that you can work on during the season and that are really, really important. The first is to slow down. Most hunters move way too fast. Second is to keep your head on the gun. Third is to look at the target. And if you do those three things, you’re going to hit a lot more birds.”

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

A strong mental game includes not berating yourself after a miss. Instead of dwelling on your failure, learn what you can from a poor shot (if anything), then shake it off. This can take practice, but with time, it will help you reset for the next opportunity rather than stewing in failure.

“If you’ve had a rough time and you’re thinking, ‘I don’t want to miss this one,’ then you’re already in trouble … You want to care, but you don’t want to invest too much of your self-esteem into whether you can shoot a bird,” Bourjaily says. “At the end of the day, you don’t want to be the person who put a damper on the whole gathering because you missed … You want to learn to let it go and learn that the people you’re with are more important than whether you shot a bird or not.”

Build Confidence

If you do have a short window for practice between hunts, there are two simple steps you can take. The first is simply taking your bird gun to the patterning board and checking how your choke and load combination pattern.

“Most people choose, I think, too much choke, and a lot of people shoot maybe too heavy a load. But a pattern that gives you a pretty good spread at 20 yards, 25 yards — which is where most pheasants are shot — is a good thing. One that is pretty much 50/50 above and below the point of aim or 60/40 will help you hit more birds.”

If you’re satisfied with your pattern, then you know you can trust your gear. That reminder is always a good confidence boost. Additionally, you can do a quick game of backyard trap.

“Just shoot easy straightaways. And you don’t want to challenge yourself either, because you’re already feeling kind of bad about your shooting. So this is not the time to try a bunch of hard shots. This is a time to build confidence and just shoot those birds,” says Bourjaily. “Again, think about your process. Think about eye on the target, head on the stock, and do that. Try to really see the rings on the target — not just the whole bird, not just the general direction of the bird, but actually focus to where you’re looking at the rings on the bird. See those and shoot it. And if you can do that, it’s just like they say of basketball players when they’re having a hard time. [If they make] even just like a layup or a free throw, see the easy shot, see the ball go through the basket, all of a sudden you start to feel better. Same thing with shooting.”

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Don’t Change Your Form

You want to stop short of trying to overhaul your shooting style and try incorporating new techniques in the field.

“Switching guns, switching chokes, switching loads — all that works if you think it works,” says Bourjaily. “What you don’t want to change is your shooting style. You don’t want me or someone else telling you ‘You should stop doing this and start doing this.’ Right now, in the middle of the season, how you shoot is how you shoot. [Instead] the  thing to do is to emphasize the fundamentals of looking at the bird and getting your head on the gun, and then slowing down. Those are the things you can do.”

Commit to Offseason Practice

Remember your frustration with poor shooting now, and let that motivate you to practice in the offseason. You can do so cheaply and without spending too much time on it, Bourjaily points out. He recommends finding a qualified shotgun instructor to take a lesson, and practicing the things you learn in that lesson in four or five sessions before your opener in the fall.

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“If you’re going to take a lesson, the money is pretty well wasted unless you commit to practicing.”