Lifting the head on driven tower birds

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Bebo

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 15, 2013
Messages
2,172
Location
East Sussex
I really, really struggle with straight driven birds off the tower.  I'm not too bad at driven targets coming up from the ground, its just the ones that start high and stay high straight over my head.  When I say struggle, I'm lucky to hit one in ten.

We had a practice session at Brook Bank in Somerset last week and instead of keeping my face tight to the stock and following the 'bum, belly, beak, bang' routine that I've been told by game shooting friends is the way to deal with these I tried staying ahead of the bird with my face just off the stock and hit four from six.  I know the mantra is 'never lift your face from the gun', but are high driven birds an exception to this rule?  Or was I just lucky?

 
I really, really struggle with straight driven birds off the tower.  I'm not too bad at driven targets coming up from the ground, its just the ones that start high and stay high straight over my head.  When I say struggle, I'm lucky to hit one in ten.

We had a practice session at Brook Bank in Somerset last week and instead of keeping my face tight to the stock and following the 'bum, belly, beak, bang' routine that I've been told by game shooting friends is the way to deal with these I tried staying ahead of the bird with my face just off the stock and hit four from six.  I know the mantra is 'never lift your face from the gun', but are high driven birds an exception to this rule?  Or was I just lucky?
Sounds like 'luck'. Sometimes you see somebody hit clays due to two errors working together! Having the face off the gun may put the gun shooting ahead of where you normally look ('high') thus correcting a possible insufficient lead problem, but otherwise is not a good plan.

Are you ok with eye dominance? Lifting the head may allow you to see the target with the correct eye?

 
I'm right eye dominant, but squint with my left eye when I shoot.  I think part of my issue with high driven targets is that you can't see the clay when you shoot it and that causes me real problems as it makes me want to lift my head anyway. 

 
I'm right eye dominant, but squint with my left eye when I shoot.  I think part of my issue with high driven targets is that you can't see the clay when you shoot it and that causes me real problems as it makes me want to lift my head anyway. 
If you are right handed (gun in right shoulder) and right eye dominant, lose the squint, it cannot help. Definitely a handicap on driven as you note..

 
I am right handed.  Right to left rising crossers cause me a similar problem with wanting to lift my head.  Next time I'm out I'll try to not squint, but I seem to do it automatically.

 
Could be several issues but get someone who knows to have a look at your gun fit. I'd put money on the stock being too low...

 
Wierdly, I manage to see the driven bird pretty much all the way through the shot unless its a real low one that I am shooting well out in front. Its the same as teal, I can see the leed on these as well. After all what is a driven apart from a reverse teal.

I dont know if my left eye is taking over to some extent but I seem to be able to look "through" the gun. It doesn't hamper me as I shoot driven and teal quite well , I think it may actually help as I can see the leed rather than having to feel it if the bird is blocked out.

Regarding lifting the head, I read an interesting piece from Richard Faulds in the free clay shooting mag about shooting teal and he said he lifts his head slightly to build in some leed. I wouldn't advocate it for the novice but its an interesting thought and obviously he can get the slight head lift the same every time, making it repeatable.

 
Could be several issues but get someone who knows to have a look at your gun fit. I'd put money on the stock being too low...
Definitely agree with this, it really is difficult to second guess the issue, it could be two or three faults together. I would say this though that women appear to need somewhat different stock needs and only a few coaches/fitters seem to understand the subject but bet someone like Cheryl Hall would nail it in double quick time. 

In my experience tower birds are very hard to master, even a great many good shots never really get to grips with them and this despite the fact they show oodles of belly and are rarely more than thirty yards away ! This is almost certainly because you have to ultimately shoot them with tempo and sight unseen at the moment of firing. You often see good shots adopt pretty extreme methods when faced with seemingly simple incomers including firing at them a few yards out of the trap well in front or twisting around and taking them as crossers, the former particularly, is rarely 100% successful and exposes their lack of confidence more than anything. 

As others have already said learning to lift your head off the comb is not an option, more than any other presentation these need prior thought on your part to assess your own particular sweet/kill spot. Too early and you're just snatching, side ways is OK at times but if the clay is directly overhead then that too is not as good as learning to shoot whilst facing the clay. 

This bird needs the line read like no other, even small amounts of L or R inclinations should be dealt with by a change in your stance. As for method the best I have found is not pointing towards the launch point but rather have the gun much much higher up, perhaps only as little as 3-4 yards below the actual kill point. Watch the bird come to you and don't move too early, you'll soon see it appears slower than you thought, watch it, raise the barrels into the space immediately behind it's trail, track it for a half second, and flip through it with whatever tempo or lead you believe it needs depending on it's speed. In my experience most tower birds are best shot when almost directly overhead, unless dealing with a pair in which case you may well need to touch off at the first one a bit earlier. 

One last point, these do not need choke, anything over 1/4 is a handicap and anything less is almost cheating. 

 
A true tower is not a tower unless it is high.

Roundwood is about 120ft

.....just saying

 
Are you guys trying to scare me? :wink:

I'm bad enough with the 100ft tower where I currently shoot.

 
According to their web site it's 145 ft which is under 50 yards.

 
I was convinced it was 180... but not been for years and i cant count. sporting targets have a 120 and a 110 which is on top of a big bank. Nither are scary, just a nice height...

 
Just shows that we cannot see height effectively.......and that my game birds are obviously extreme birds as i have practiced on the Roundwood tower thinking it was 120ft and a nice height to start at ready for the season. We always shoot higher.....so goodness knows the real height then ...now that my 120" is really 145" or 180".

:laugh:

Who cares ...so long as they are testing and come down.

(p.s. Girls tend to shoot real towers better than boys in my experience....!)

and .....I may regret saying this but......

"As for method the best I have found is not pointing towards the launch point but rather have the gun much much higher up, perhaps only as little as 3-4 yards below the actual kill point"

is the effective way to shoot towers. ..... IMHO.

Now if you want a very tasty high tower thrown as an extreme right hander crossing the tree tops and the skyline...............then head for RBSS and get them to keep pushing the trajectory further and further out (they have auto adjustable traps with the push of a buttom). When i was there last month with the Germans, we had some really extreme tower birds...........Brilliant.

Not saying who hit the most..........................hahahahahahah

:laugh:  

Dum, dum dum dum  diddy dum dum, dum......

 
I'm at Roundwood all day tomorrow -  I'll ask Brian for you.........

 
Shot down at roundwood all day last monday, it's f**king high and they throw a midi off the top as well. :hunter:

Mark (28boreshot) got some pictures somewhere.

 
Shot down at roundwood all day last monday, it's f**king high and they throw a midi off the top as well. :hunter:

Mark (28boreshot) got some pictures somewhere.
take a look on photos at roundwood tower is in back ground .. :hunter:

 
Raisthorpe Manor is 300ft IIRC. And husband wonders why I suddenly think a holiday in Yorkshire is a good idea. 

 
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