Q: Does your shooting ability deteriorate as the day progresses?

If so, you may assume that fatigued or sore muscles in your arms or legs are causing you to wobble. However, many rifle shooters use a head position that guarantees their eyes won’t last the day.

If you’re right-handed, hold your rifle in the firing position and sight down range. Both eyes should be open. Now close your left eye. The target should be in the center of your visual field, not close to the shadow formed by the bridge of your nose. Too many shooters sight with their eyes in extreme left gaze, rather than pointing their nose at the target and thus keeping the target centered in the visual field. A day of shooting with your eyes looking hard to the left will leave you feeling hung over, and your late-day shooting accuracy will reflect how you feel. If you are in the field hunting or shooting trap, an extreme left gaze makes it very difficult to hit targets moving right to left, whether running or flying.

The object of the game is to keep the target centered in your field of gaze. This produces the least amount of fatigue and lets you react to a moving target with the greatest flexibility. Good shooting!

Dr. Guiley is a doctor of optometry practicing in Bend. He served as an Army Combat Engineering Officer and Basic Rifle Marksmanship instructor for the M1A.

Q: Are you happy with your shooting ability?

Most of us aren’t. We spend lots of money on better quality barrels and actions, telescopic sights and special ammo. Yet most shooters know very little about the guidance system that controls the outcome of all their efforts on the range. I’m referring to your visual system.

Those of us who served in the Viet Nam era are struck by the incredible technology in today’s military. Individual radio communications, GPS and night vision equipment seem to be the norm. This equipment has a common purpose; to improve our knowledge of where ”we” are and where “they” are. It’s all about guidance systems and moving ordinance from our location to their location.

On the firing range or when hunting, it’s exactly the same. Your visual system tells you where the target is, what it is, what direction it’s moving and how fast it’s going. It gives you information on the terrain the target is in and consequently what the target is likely to do. It also tells you where your weapon is pointing and how its movement correlates to the target’s movement. All in the blink of an eye, and hopefully without much thought on your part.

Many of you see “20/20” but don’t have good shooting vision. I say this because there are a number of visual skills necessary for good shooting, and acuity (how clearly you see) is only one of them. Other important visual skills are tracking ability, peripheral vision, figure-ground discrimination, eye-hand coordination, visualization and glare recovery (reduction). Top shooters will be naturally good at most or all of these skills. The rest of us may have to train them to improve our performance.

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