shooting schools for waterfowlers

U

uncle mike pierce

Active member
This year I have made a commitment to take formal shotgun training so I can be more consistent with my shooting, particularly with steel shot on waterfowl. I want to limit the number of cripples I create by bad hits, and improve the number of ducks that are head shot/dead on the water. To that end, I have found a school in Duluth, Minnesota, called the Midwest Shooting School, owned and run by Patrick LaBoone. He has a very good reputation for helping sporting clay shooters, and his school is about a 5 hour drive from my house.

I have two questions for Duckboats.net members:
1. Have any of you taken coaching/schooling from Mr. LaBoone? Did a friend or colleague of yours take coaching from him? If you did, what do you think of his methods and results?
2. If you cannot comment on Mr. LaBoone or his school, do you have an instructor and/or school you can recommend to teach advanced shotgun skills for field shooting, especially waterfowl? I don't mind traveling a good distance for the right school and instructor.

Any help or suggestions you can give will be appreciated!
 
Most shooting ranges with skeet & SC ranges will usually have a Master Level shooter/instructor that they can recommend.

I shot SC's every weekend for (3) three years.

Due to my sponsorships, I only shot Hunter Class & averaged (73%) seventy-three percent.

Even though I'm a certified LEO Firearms Instructor, I took a couple of lessons from the local pro.

After just (2) two hours, my average climbed to (82%) eighty-two percent & has remained there.

The biggest thing hunters don't understand is the basic charateristists between steel & lead.

Lead is a dense, plyable metal where steel is not.

When shooting lead, the metal "deforms" coming out of the barrel & forms a "shot string" that provided the hunter alot of elbow room in regards to placement.

Lead shooters could lead the birds & due to the string of the pellets in the air, success rates appeared higher.

Steel on the other hand "does not" deform in the barrel so the shot remains true in flight.

Due to the pellets remaining "rounder", the patterm forms more of a round "shot plate/circle" forcing the hunter to be a "better shot!!!"

"Lead'em" vs "Shot'em in the Lips"

The best shooting tip I can give you is practice what you preach.

You shoot ducks with steel & you need to practice on the range with steel.

SC's is the best way to improve your waterfowl shooting techniques.


Good Luck!!!
 
I see you are about 3 hours away from Waukesha but if you don't mind the drive you could arrange a coaching session with Steve Knoll at Wern Valley Hunt Club just west of Waukesha. Phone #'s are available at their website. Have fun
......
 
Mike~

I don't have any info re shooting instruction per se - but that doesn't stop me from jumping in!

Early in my career as a Waterfowl Biologist, it was my responsibility to introduce sportsmen to non-toxic shot. My agency (NYSDEC) hired ballistics exoert Tom Roster to teach us about the ballistics of steel; the instruction included some time on a skeet range with steel. Since those days (early '80s) I have done two things that I feel are very helpful toward the "dead in the air" shots we all strive for.

First, I have kept track of my own lost cripples every season - because many gunners sincerely believed they were crippling more birds than they might be saving with steel. I wanted to see for myself. (and, of course, there has been a lot of R&D since those early loads) Also, I recognize that anyone's lost bird stat must be viewed as known lost birds - no one detects every bird that may be hit (heart, lung, liver) but falls after we have taken our eyes off the bird.

Second, I have shot only steel since I first started using it. I mostly hunt waterfowl (where it's mandatory) but all of my turkeys, my few grouse, and a bunch of skeet have all had only steel thrown at them. I happen to like Kent Fasteel through my Model 12 and by using only it I never have to adjust my rhythm.

I hope you find a good instructor and let us know how it turns out.

All the best,

SJS
 
the best years of my duck shooting abilities always were the years I shot on trap league. I would shoot at least three rounds of trap per week and one or two of skeet weekly for the Spring, Summer and Fall sessions. When I went back to shooting steel with some speed behind it I was amazed at the shot placement I could make on ducks and the ranges that I would drop them stone dead at.

some pro instruction will help but time on the line at moving targets cannot be replaced
 
Hi Mike -

A few ideas that may be helpful to you. Some of my friends that have taken wing shooting instruction have passed on the importance of fit and pointing practice. This mean that you find out where your gun is hitting at a static target ........it should hit where you are looking when you bring the gun up properly. The gun also needs to fit you so that your sight picture, with both eyes open, is correct because with a shotgun your eyes work like the rear sight..........so you want to be seeing bead and bird.

Gunning waterfowl is especially challenging because of the amount of clothing we usually have on and this affects fit........so practice and test with whatever you wear when gunning.

The other important variable is pattern and you should test a number of different loads at ranges that you plan to gun and see what loads pattern best for you with the choke you want to use and you will see some marked differences here between different shot sizes, amount of shot and choke.

Another idea is to understand what your skill level is for different types of shots and consider skipping the shots that you know are low % for you. That, in itself, will prevent a lot of crippling if you can have the discipline.

One more - if you shoot from a particular position, like sitting up in a layout boat..........try to practice that way. One year we took our sneak boats and set up a thrower on another truck and tried different shots by sitting up to shoot.........a little of that goes a long way toward reminding me to wait for the candy shots !

Good luck with it. I admire your desire to reduce cripples.

sarge
 
I do not think you need a shooting school for waterfowlers.
You need a shooting school. One tip that helped me out was a business card..........
I was shooting at the skeet range, or should I say firing shots and not hitting targets LOL
A fellow comes up to me and asked would you like and advice I answered yes.
The guy tells me to put my gun in the ready position then takes a business card out of his pocket and
places it between my stock and cheek. Then yells pull. I swing and the card drops and the clay goes untouched.
I try again, and again with the same results. Then the card stays and the clay crumbles.

Now when I am duckhunting I am suprised when the duck does not drop when I fire.
If you go for shooting lesson be sure to bring your winter duckhunting clothing encluding hats gloves ect
 
Last edited:
I am a old duck hunter and shoot clays. Try these and see if they help. Do not premount your gun, look at the target, not the whole target. FOCUS on the front end of the clay, raise your gun slowly, touch the front of the clay and pull away and pull the trigger. When to see a bird you eyes go to the wings, focus, move to the head, focus, move to the bill, pull away, pull the trigger. Stay Focused on the bird, NEVER the barrel.
Go to the skeet range, get a instructor. Ask if they do groups, get your buddies to share the cost. You won't regret the instruction. I teach and still take lessons myself. I have changed my shooting over the past 5-6 years. I shoot pull away, two eyes [wow what a change] and mount the gun to my face, not the face to the gun.
If you get cripples, I use #7 steel trap shells, DEADLY. Off to the range, one student today...
 
Thanks to all for your great ideas and suggestions................

I will keep plugging away, and will find good instruction. It is hard at 62 to change how you have shot your entire life, but it is easier if you are motivated to change and can get a good isntructor who can facilitate that change. 46 years of bad habits and learned compensations don't go down without a fight.

It may take the rest of my shooting career to get this right, but I am committed (my wife says I ought to be.... "committed" that is, but she made the choice to be with me. After 43 years, it's a bit late to complain about my little and big quirks, isn't it?)
 
They're a bit pricey, but the Orvis shooting school (2 day course) will teach you all you need to know for instinctive shooting. My wife (then fiancee) got t for me as a bday gift years ago. the techniques learned, and practiced over two days with the final "test" on the sporting clays course are exaclty what you need for waterfowling.

I would put trap next, and skeet last only because they do not reflect actual hunting conditions as well as sporting clays does - that's not to say tbey're not fun, or that people who shoot trap and skeet aren't successfull waterfowlers, but I have see these guys have trouble at sporting clays shooting low gun. And while duck hunting, you can't sit there (or stand) with your gun on your shoulder when yo don't know when or where the ducks will be coming.

Just my $0.02

Anthony
 
Four things I did that helped me tremendously:

1.) Patterned my gun and used that load when hunting.

2.) Read Michael Macintosh's book on game shooting.

3.) Shot 100 rounds of 5 stand every week for a year.

4.) Learned whether I was right or left eye dominant and corrected for it.

Hardest part for me is keeping my head on the stock and focusing on the birds. Good luck.
 
As Steve did, I also took a weekend course from Tom Roster on shooting steel shot. I used to shoot trap and skeet and went throuh up to 20,000 rounds (lead) per year but the class from Tom was the best thing I ever did for my waterfowl shooting. I would highly recommend it if he is still teaching those courses.

One thing that stuck with me is the importance of gun mounting and focusing on the bird. Mount the gun as you are swinging on the bird, when you pass his lips, slap the trigger and keep on swinging through. Your acceleration will match the birds speed and you will stone the bird, regardless of distance. Pretty cool trick.
Lou
 
I figured I may as well jump in here.

I haven't ever heard of Patrick LaBoone, and don't personally know of any shooting schools, but I have heard the Orvis Schools are great.

Probably sounds like bragging, but anyone who has hunted with me knows I can usually hold my own.

Trap, Skeet or the best, Sporting Clays will all help. If for nothing else, you will get comfortable with your gun, (as long as you're not re-enforcing bad habits of course). However nothing can actually compare to actually shooting live Ducks. There are so, so many variables to consider. Wind, temperature, lighting, seating, etc. all come into play while hunting. Add to this, where you're hunting has a lot to do with it too. Everyone knows it's a lot harder to accurately define ranges and speeds of your target on wide open water than it is where there are physical landmarks to include in your "site picture". Your surroundings on a particular day can take a whole lot of what you practiced over the past few months and send it out there with your shot string.

Now with that being said, I will offer up a little of my cheap expertise on the subject.

Two VERY IMPORTANT things that haven't been mentioned, per se anyway.

There are a lot of basics that have been written about here. However-

1) Gun fit is probably the single most important part of "shootin' straight". If your gun doesn't fit comfortably and swing properly, you'll never be consistent. That includes while wearing your afforementioned heavy clothing.

2) Ammo you have confidence in. I'll bore ya with an oft repeated true story- A few years ago, I bought a mess of the most expensive, latest rage, brightest colored, latest fad ammo. I couldn't hit squat. Oh it patterned well and looked pretty in my gun bag. But I was having trouble killing ducks with it. Then a buddy says to me- everytime I swing my gun on a bird, I am subconsciously thinking to myself- "I better make a good shot----here goes $2.25 BOOM, miss, I better make a good shot----here goes another $2.25 BOOM, miss"... on and on. So on a whim, I traded all of the "good stuff" away on silly things like decoys and decoy parts and bought a few boxes of basic, high speed steel. Never regretted it for one second. The point is- I took all of the second guessing and thinking out of the equation. I could just sit back and instinctively shoot.

Thanks for lettin' me rant for a few...

Jon
 
Sporting Clays Magazine has a roster of NSCA instructors on their website. Here's what I got for Wisconsin.
I went with an instructor here in AL and I think it did me a world of good. Don't know if any of the instructors is near you or not, but it gives city/phone #.

BERT BAUMGARTNER Level - 2
FOND DU LAC, WI�� (920) 921-8846
MARK BORCHARDT Level - 2
MANITOWOC, WI�� (920) 683-2092
RYAN J DORAK Level - 2
BRILLION, WI�� (920) 864-2939
ALAN R GARVEN Level - 2
NORTH FREEDOM, WI�� (608) 522-3683
MIKE KETTNER Level - 2
MENOMONIE, WI�� (715) 505-3289
DUSTIN OLSON Level - 2
MENOMONIE, WI�� (715) 505-3603
JAMES SARKAUSKAS Level - 2
RHINELANDER, WI�� (715) 362-9421
STEVE WARNER Level - 2
OCONOMOWOC, WI�� (262) 367-4238
ROY BARDEN Level - 1
PARDEEVILLE, WI�� (608) 697-9188
ALAN L CHICKERNEO Level - 1
SILVER LAKE, WI�� (262) 206-3292
MICHAEL J FLANAGAN Level - 1
APPLETON, WI�� (920) 740-3969
JEFF GUENTHER Level - 1
BROOKFIELD, WI�� (414) 750-7873
DENNIS SPRENGER Level - 1
RICHFIELD, WI� �(262) 305-7200
FRANK WININGHAM Level - 1
SUN PRAIRIE, WI�� (608) 825-7812
ROBERT T WORKINGER Level - 1
MARSHFIELD, WI�� (715) 384-8276
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top