We’ve all had them, some people dread them - those awful days when the wheels just fall off - or were never attached. The days when you couldn’t hit a peacock in porridge with a punt gun. Some people beat themselves up so badly about bad days that they turn into near nervous wrecks. A few give up going into the field because of their fear of failure and perceived humiliation. Even for hardy souls, it can be a grim experience but MICHAEL YARDLEY has some tips to help you beat the bad day blues…

First things first...

The first thing is to eliminate any underlying problems [see box] - all the more important if bad days are becoming a regular experience. The next - and perhaps the most important thing - to be said about bad days, is that shooters with good, practised technique and who understand what they should be doing have more consistent success than others.

By contrast, the worst sufferers of bad days in my experience are those shots who trust only to blind luck and natural prowess in the field. On a good day, they may tell you: “I don’t know what I do but it seems to work.” When things break down, though, they are completely stumped because they were not aware of what they were doing in the first place. So….

Things to be eliminated.

If you are of middle years, you need to make sure that your vision has not changed - both with regard to visual acuity (your ability to focus) and your eye dominance (which typically alters significantly in the fourth and fifth decades of life). Such changes and others which relate to physique may require a significantly different gun fit. A visit to the optician is easy enough to organize - and will sort out your ability to focus at range - annual health checks are sensible too.

On the gun front, I often find myself suggesting a little more cast and a little less choke to 40+ gunners - the cast to compensate for changes in eye dominance, the reduction in choke to make the gun more forgiving of errors of line or lead (something that can help shooters of all ages).

You don’t have to be old to have problems, of course. Teenagers may have particular difficulties when they go through their growth spurt. Their movements can become a bit unco-ordinated as they try and adapt to rapidly changing body shape and size.

Happily, it is a stage that is usually passed after a couple of awkward years. But, there may be gun fit implications, meantime. As youngsters grow they will typically require a longer and lower stock (lower because the distance between their eye orbit and cheekbone is increasing). Changes to vision may also occur at this time. Young men may develop dominance in one eye for the first time - allowing for two eyed shooting - where previously it was not possible.

At all times of life, bad days may often be tracked down to temporary changes in vision brought about by stress, tiredness, or other causes such as long distance driving. Commonly, the left eye may become more dominant than normal (squinting the eye opposite the rib is always a good plan if you suspect a visual issue).

RULE NUMBER 1 

Discover the simple stuff that works.

For example:

• the importance of keeping vision locked on every bird
• learning your leads (and limitations)
• using your feet well (so that you are in balance when you take the shot)
• keeping your head on the stock, and the gun moving as you shoot and follow through.

If you discover the simple stuff that works for you - preferably through planned practice on a shooting ground - you will always have an ally in adversity.

RULE NUMBER 2 

Don’t panic when you miss.

If in trouble: relax and re-focus. Don’t throw in the metaphorical towel, or, worse, lose your temper after a string of misses. Don’t beat yourself up mentally in any way, in fact. Recognise, moreover, that your natural response may not be the right one. A miss or two can cause some people to rush wildly or poke at the bird in frenzied desperation.

Concentrate on head-down focus, and smoothing out your gun movements. If it still does not work, stay cool. If you are going to miss, you might as well miss in style, with the weight on the front foot, the head on the gun, and focus locked on the bird!

RULE NUMBER 3

Recognise the effects of your mood or psychological state.

• Distraction and anxiety will disrupt the flow of your physical movements (as will trying too hard)
• Your attention will tend to come back from the bird to you and the gun.
• Your visual contact with the bird will be disrupted
• Your weight may come back as this happens and…
• Your head may come off the stock
• The barrels of the gun will tend to stop and rise (resulting in misses behind and over)

RULE NUMBER 4

Don’t push yourself beyond your limits

A lot could be written on this, but let’s focus on just two issues here.

Don’t try too hard - it is likely that your performance will deteriorate rather than improve. Psychologists have long note the ‘inverted U’ hypothesis that suggests that we all have an optimum level of arousal to achieve good performance - fail to reach it and you will not be performing at your best, exceed it and your performance will crash. You have to operate at your own optimum level - is hard to describe in words, but one might say you need to achieve a state of ‘relaxed concentration.’

The next point is much simpler, but not less important: bad days are often caused by poor personal administration. I have found, frankly, that I can shoot quite well with a hangover -  but I am not advising it! However, I rarely perform well if I have to get up at two or three in the morning to get to a shoot on the other side of the country for half eight or nine.

Go easy on yourself - generally a good principle - and spend a bit of extra dosh on accommodation or a driver if it is going to help you start the day in a relaxed state.

RULE NUMBER 5

Know your situation - train hard, flight easy

Bad days are often brought about by unfamiliar circumstances - for example, a partridge at 20 yards is a very different proposition to a pheasant at 40 yards. One bird may require a few feet of lead, the other several yards.

It might also be noted here that whilst the normal pattern of missing is behind, I have noticed many experienced shots missing close birds in front. This frequently gets them very agitated, moreover - because they cannot work out what is happening (and typically they start piling on even more lead - the very opposite of what is needed).

In conclusion

In conclusion, although one could identify many factors, I would say most of us usually miss because we lose connection with the bird for one reason or another. The principle consequence of this, worth repeating, is that the point of focus comes back to the gun and the gun tends to stop.

So, here is the bottom line:  If things go wrong: Relax. Focus. Get your eyes back on the bird and keep the gun swinging. If you have a bad day, don’t crack up, crack on.

Michael Yardley is the author of many shooting works, an APSI and CPSA shooting instructor, and a London University qualified experimental psychologist.