Your shotgun mount is dictated by the goals and rules of your sport. On a 3-gun stage, you will want to keep your muzzle straight or low, since clay targets are static and low to the ground except for a few possible toasters. If shotgun is the first platform of the stage, you may start with the gun mounted at low ready, so you can engage the array immediately on the audible start. If your shotgun is retrieved later in the stage, you need to be able to run with it and shoot the targets as quickly as possible, while being mindful of the 180, reloads, and slugs.

On a sporting clays course, however, all loads are the same and only two targets are presented at time. You’re stationary in the shooting station, which will enable you to set your body position for the targets that will be presented. Clay targets are all in the air, so you will want to keep your barrel high. Choose your hold point so that you can guide your shotgun to the target with minimal movement as the target enters your break area. Dave Miller walks you through it in this video.

In this video, Ed Prater introduces American Trap. He reviews the basics of trap targets and how you set up your body position and hold points for each shooting station, especially when breaking wide left and wide right targets. He also covers how your eyes can pick up the target quicker, how your peripheral and central vision help you get on target faster, and the blind spots that shooters must manage.

In this video, Ed Prater follows up on previous sessions (Pre-Shot Routine, Taking Too Much Time, and Visual Technique) to give you some final thoughts on the mental strategies you can use to successfully break clay targets. Students will learn how to practice for success, how to eliminate distractions and stay positive, and how to focus on techniques and fundamentals. Ed reviews the common reasons why shooters miss targets and tips for problem solving your own performance.

In this video, you’ll learn why taking too much time between “pull” and “bang” keeps you from successfully breaking a clay target. Ed Prater expands on concepts discussed in Pre-Shot Routine and Visual Technique to help you react quickly to be a good, instinctive sporting clays enthusiast. You’ll learn what may cause a shooter (typically a newbie to shotgun sports) to take too much time and how to correct these issues.

“If you can’t see it, you can’t hit it.” In this session Ed Prater expands on the topics covered in Pre-Shot Routine and Taking Too Much Time to explain how to see the target. Are you seeing it in your peripheral? Are you chasing the target? Are you able to see targets with variable speed and variable trajectory, so that you can establish your hold points and break points? This session addresses sight picture, eye dominance, and gun fit, and how they affect your ability to see the target. The gun follows your eyes, so you will be more efficient if you see the target before moving to the target.

From this video you will learn how to set yourself up to successfully shoot a clay target with your shotgun. Ed Prater covers both the physical and mental preparation a shooter must do before calling “pull” for a target. He reviews a good pre-shot routine all the way through the execution of the shot. By organizing your preparation steps in a repeatable order, you can have more “automatic” or instinctive movements, so that you’re able to execute the shot more efficiently, analyze your misses, and break more clays!