Thinking

I recently went to a 5×50 shoot at the Oklahoma City Gun Club.

The club is a great place to shoot with some great people attending the shoot.

I was assigned to a squad that was made up of people I know from Kansas. One of them, Mr. Cloyce Spradling, mentioned that I should write a hint about thinking, so here it is.

During the shoot, as I raised my shotgun to call for high 2, a fly landed on my hand. I had to lower the gun so I could blow it off, and then I proceeded to call for the target while I was still thinking about that ##$^%&$ fly, so I missed the target.

I know better, and I have read the many articles about keeping extraneous thoughts out of our minds when shooting, but there it was—a little green fly had easily caused me to miss the target.

I tell the shooters that come to me for instruction that when some strange thought or disruption occurs, no matter how insignificant it seems at the time, to stop, open their guns, unload, back off the station and start all over again. It’s too easy to have a simple event or thought break our attention.

To be proficient at our sport takes our full concentration.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.