What to do after calling pull in trap

[midlife]

I seem to have hit a wall. On good days I'm shooting 23s and 24s. And bad days shooting 20s. It seems like when I'm shooting well, after calling pull I swing smoothly to bird, see the barrel in the right place out of my periferal vision, and crush the clay. Other days I do the same but often miss. And when I'm not shooting well, sometimes it helps to just call pull and shoot bird faster without much thought at all.

For those of you who have more experience what is the process you follow after calling pull, other than keeping head down, and eye on bird.

I shoot both eyes open. Off my left shoulder. I'm left eye dominant.

I know I should also start looking for a coach.

Thanks.

[Nathan Krynn]

I score about the same as you 21-23 typically. Honestly when I think I miss. When I clear my head and shoot with my instincts I hit.

[damon1272]

A coach would do you well.

[Newshooter]

At the point you are at, a coach would help a lot. Someone who has a ton of experience will notice very small things that some good shooters might not catch that cause you to lose birds.

During a class I took earlier this year, the coach noticed small things like, barely lifting your head to to look at the bird, slightly taking your finger off the trigger before pulling the trigger, light calls causing a bird to not be thrown and the list goes on and on.

At the level you are shooting, it gets much harder to get one more bird towards a perfect round. Combine the mental part with an experienced coach and you will watch those 25's come more often.

[mjsweims]

Almost everyone gets to a point where their scores go to he**. You'll work through it eventually.
Work with a coach or someone with a lot of experience.
Meanwhile shoot faster. Works for me when I'm in a slump.

[kdruff2]

Almost everyone gets to a point where their scores go to he**. You'll work through it eventually.
Work with a coach or someone with a lot of experience.
Meanwhile shoot faster. Works for me when I'm in a slump.

That's been my experience as well. Shoot for awhile, your score goes up, hit a new plateau and then dip again. But as you continue to shoot, your high and low scores (i.e., the average) should hopefully continue to progress upwards. From there, hopefully a new plateau is set and you can build from there (w/ dips along the way).

Having said that, it does get freakie when you hit a low and am scraping the bottom of your performance range. The ceiling is out there somewhere for all of us, otherwise we would all be masters.

[midlife]

A few things to remember: 1) You can look at the bird or you can break it -in other words, keep your wood (head) on the wood. 2) Have you developed a flinch? 3) if you can go 23-24 straight and break the last bird or two, its a head trip. Get over it. Go to a smaller gauge or tighten your choke till you shoot to your regular level then open it back up. Its a bit of a trick but it works. 4) How is your overall fitness, arm strength and fatigue level? Hydration? All these can contribute to misses.

Well, I've shot best on little sleep and drinking redbull. Quit caffeine last week. Gonna take some time to shoot well rested.

[midlife]

I flinch about one shot in 50. But sometimes hit anyway. Not sure if that's normal to flinch once in a while.

[stevec223]

I usually miss the easy ones... I try to aim instead of just shoot it... Screws me up and i catch myself after every miss... Hard ones just instinct and swing and break... What ones you missing ??

[midlife]

Most easy ones too!

[mdfb63]

Don't underestimate the power of self-talk. There are tons of mental tricks you could try. A coach and/or a sport psychology consultant might be in order. Find a consultant here: http://www.appliedsportpsych.org/cer...-a-consultant/

[bjl333]

If you don't have a coach then set up a vid behind you. Since you only move 5 times you can just grab the video camera to the next station, or have someone zoom in on you. I'd watch mainly at your form and not too worried about the misses, because it is in the little things that causes you to miss!! You will be surprised at the little things you can catch just watching yourself shoot...

[midlife]

I think I just need to relax and try and have fun for a while. I'm worrying too much about my scores. Gonna find coach soon too!

I thought I'd relax once I got a 25 or two. But actually I put more pressure on myself and getting disappointed if I don't get close to that each round.

[alfred1222]

Odds on, your not mounting the gun or rushing the shot. I dont shoot much trap, but when i miss at skeet, its because me head isnt down, or my mount is wrong

[Newshooter]

Even world class hall of famers miss once in a while and they have been shooting for decades. You can't be tiger woods after three months. Relax, have fun and you will enjoy shooting more. The more relaxed you are, the better you will shoot.