Best clays to practice for duck hunting...

Between only skeet and trap, that's a given. Skeet.

If you can find one close, a 5-stand can be great because they can throw crossing, quartering, tower, teal and just about everything else you might like to shoot for practice--all in a close area where it's easier to get many shots in in a short time.

A sporting course would be a second best choice, IMO.

But if all you've got is skeet or trap, well....

How many ducks have you taken a shot at as they flush up from the water away from you on some slight angle?

Since you are limited to Skeet, stay at 3, 4, and 5 and start gun down (below the belt even). When you get bored, call for doubles! Think of it as getting 'buzzed by a flock of divers'. The best practice is a good SC round though!

Ha! Looks like Mike beat me to the trigger! Sounds like we are on the same page though! :lol:

southpawnot said:

What's the best event to practice for duck hunting ?

-"All of them"....

You're gonna say....

But I only have a skeet range, and occasionnal trap...

So?....

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Will the club allow you backup a couple of yards/meters on the skeet range? Shooting stations 3,4, and 5 (and between those stations) from 30 yards/meters can be most enjoyable and educational.

Just go shoot. The better you get at breaking the clay birds, the better you'll get at the ones with feathers. Of course if you really want the practice to be realistic you need to wear your waders, your parka, stand in a barrel full of freezing water, worry about what the hell your dog is doing...

Lee

...or have 3 or 4 Final approach blinds installed on the 3, 4 and 5 stands, while the operator lets go 2,3 or 4 clays in a row... :lol: ...

That gives me a lot of ideas :idea: !!!!

Our club has about 5 regular members, so we can just do about anything on weekdays... ...

LouisN

southpawnot said:

...or have 3 or 4 Final approach blinds installed on the 3, 4 and 5 stands, while the operator lets go 2,3 or 4 clays in a row... :lol: ...

That gives me a lot of ideas :idea: !!!!

Our club has about 5 regular members, so we can just do about anything on weekdays... ...

LouisN

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There you go, start thinking outside of the box (pun intended), just be safe with the shot fall zone. If you can get 3 or 4 other traps to set out, you will have soon have a 5 stand on your range. :wink: 8)

I am just a casual target shooter but I was always told skeet was practice for upland game while trap was practice for duck hunting.Not sure why .I guess maybe because sheet is shot at close range like most upland game while trap is shot at longer ranges that can be encountered while duck hunting.

Actually, they can be much longer than that. Let the high house target get close to the low house and it will be significantly farther away. Same for the low towards the high. You don't need to shoot them in what is the "right" place for registered skeet. :lol: Even high one or low seven can be shot around 60 yards if you shoot it right near the stake. And if you want more velocity on the cross-field (H4 near the low house, for example) shots, just get management's permission to crank the springs up on the machines.

I think the Skeet for upland and Trap for Ducks is more because of the way guns were choked before choke tubes. Upland guns were short with open chokes, duck guns were long barreled with full chokes.

Louis,

Can you stand about 20 yards behind the High house and a few yards to the left, to shoot some incomers from the low house safely?

Like I said think outside of the box or may be that should have been outside of the skeet field. 8)

Sporting clays.....closer to real duck hunting.

Skeet is best for the basics of developing a smooth swing. If you are able with the range operator permission move back to the fence once you are consistent breaking 22 or better from a low gun all the time. Then you can graduate to sporting clays.
Bottom line shooting clays will always improve your wingshooting skills if done right.

seb7515 said:

Will the club allow you backup a couple of yards/meters on the skeet range? Shooting stations 3,4, and 5 (and between those stations) from 30 yards/meters can be most enjoyable and educational.

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seb7515 has a good idea here that we have used at small clubs with isolated single fields.... Shoot from low gun as well!

Some Sporting Clays courses have great simulations as well! We shot a great one south of Minneapolis a while back... You even had stations right down in the tules!

Slidehammer

southpawnot said:

28,

It's pretty rare that you shoot ducks going away
LOuis

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In pass shooting a going away shot is fairly common.Even when cross shooting durning pass shooting the shot here is not usually taken until the wing and bill line up.By that time the bird has just slightly passed you and is headed away.Many of these shots are taken at quite some distance and over large bodies of water.

The theory being that the shotgun pellets would penetrate the birds feathers better at this angle durning pass shooting than a head on type shot.

I suppose that in different areas there are different traditions of how to do things.The old fellows I use to hunt with used the above rule in their hunting and taught me the same.

I know that sporting clays is supposed to be the best practice for hunting. It seems like common sense because it gives you so many more shot presentations than skeet and trap. The problem for me is it doesn't work. I do my best shooting on game birds after a steady diet of skeet and trap shooting only. Skeet to simulate crossing targets and trap to simulate upland birds that jump up in front of you and quarter away. With only skeet and trap I learn to keep my head down, concentrate on the target, and follow through, shot after shot. I am headed for the range today to shoot a round of each.