Illness

 

A friend of mine from another state called me recently and told me that he had been diagnosed with diabetes. He also told me that he thought that his recent decline in shooting seemed to be caused by this illness. He was having a problem with his eyes. They had been gradually getting worse over the last year. He wasn’t seeing leads the same as he used to.

He asked me what I would advise a shooter whose eye-dominance may have changed. He had always been a right-eyed, right-handed shooter and was ‘AA’ or ‘AAA’ in the four guns. This shooter is in his late 50s, had shot registered targets for over 40 years and did not want to try shooting left handed.

I suggested that he tape the left lens of his glasses and see if that would help him. I gave him instruction as to how to do this properly and asked him to let me know if, and how much, this helped him.

This morning I spoke with him; he has shot a couple of rounds using this method and was shooting straight rounds again. He said it took a few shoots to get used to ignoring the tape on his glasses but that it was becoming more normal.

If you start having vision problems, or if your leads don’t seem to be working as well as they used to, get to your eye doctor and/or your primary care doctor and get checked out. The problem may be more than just a problem with your shooting. It could be a health issue.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who can help you improve your skills at American Skeet and wingshooting. To contact Barry, email him at threeat8@aol.com or give him a call at (918)803-2393.