Ask The Instructor: Head vs. Eyes

Question: I’ve always been told to keep my eyes centered in my head to follow the bird and turn my head to see the target. Is that right? Or should I be shifting my eyes back to see the target?

Answer: In shotgunning, we are intercepting a moving target with the shot string emitted by our shotgun. Simply put, we are intercepting a moving object with another object. Intercepting the target, requires visual focus. We must use saccadic eye movement, as well as head movement, to visually acquire and track the target. Our goal is to achieve a smooth visual “flow” with the target just prior to, and through, shot execution to optimize the intensity of our focus. By synchronizing our head with the target, we can maximize the intensity of our visual focus thus feeding the brain high definition target information. This input enables the brain to perform the subconscious calculations of line and speed to accurately lead the hands and gun to the target. Studies have shown that excessive head movement inhibits an athlete’s ability to achieve acute focus and therefor accurate interception. However, there are anatomical limitations to how far the eyes can move laterally without the need to move the head. Those same studies show that top performing athletes experience a brief moment of “head stabilization” prior to target interception. With all that as background, we can safely say that less head movement is better. Translating these physiological truths to clay target sports, we can conclude the following: If you have to move your head to acquire the target, fine, but head movement should be avoided in order to optimize visual focus. In clay target shooting, we should position our eyes and head in such a way as to limit head movement and maximize acute visual focus at the moment of shot execution. On those rare occasions when we must move our head to acquire and track a target, we should attempt to limit the amount of head movement just prior to and through shot execution. Ideally, we should achieve a moment of head stabilization just prior to shot execution when our central visual gaze is oriented on the target and aligned with the barrels of our shotgun.