Lehigh Valley Shooting Clinic

This is our third or fourth year to come to the limestone quarry known as Lehigh Valley. We once again had four fabulous days with the staff and students. Some were repeaters, but most were new to us. The weather held out and was only rainy one day out of the four.

What a great venue to teach and shoot. There’s great variety, with targets over the water and under your feet. It always messes with everyone’s reading of the targets.

We had several folks that were shooting with one eye closed and wanted to shoot with two, so we began with the three-bullet drill to help with the sight picture of both eyes. This is such a simple drill that is so effective in creating the correct pictures.

So how did the one-eye shooters do? Great! They all were amazed at how slow and close the targets appeared now, and that they could shoot with both open and not have to close an eye.

I have to hand it to all of them, they stuck it out for the whole morning session without any meltdowns. And by the afternoon, the targets were blowing up. The amazement of the students was gratifying for them and us. It’s nice to help students understand how the body works and that they can use the information to make shooting a lot more fun. When they understand the science behind what they are doing, it makes it a lot easier to accept and try.

Once they preloaded across the barrel and behind the barrel, the pictures came very easily to their shots and they were very relaxed. The shots became more effortless and less tiring.  And we all know that after a long day of thinking and shooting, you’re very tired. Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to work so hard to break more clays?

Having a good gun mount is always important. And once again, several people realized that fact. So the flashlight drill and three-bullet drill were put on their list of practice things to do, along with shooting 1000 singles. Not pairs, only singles until the preload and reality are equal.

Off to Iowa today to train the Iowa and Kansas DNR folks, then home on Friday for a few days.