DRIVEN
SHOOTING

It is this big lead coupled with finish that brings down tall birds assuming the following:

A)   You are on the right line

B)    You use large enough shot and sufficient choke

The line:  First let us describe how a pheasant flies.  Because of its large body size relative to small heart and chest muscles, he is only able to flap his wings for about 7-8 seconds and then like a sprinter that has given his all, he has run out of steam and cannot really fly significantly for about an hour.

When the pheasant gets up, his first reaction (typically) is to fly to his home wood.  Knowing instinctively (in a BF Skinner sense of behavioral learning) that he cannot fly all the way home on full throttle, he attempts to gain enough altitude to glide for most of the trip.  By having these areas sufficiently separate the pheasant gains great height even over moderate terrain.  (Undulating terrain improves shooting.)   After the initial wing flapping establishes height, he then uses the remaining wing flapping time to adjust his trajectory or to alter his line. (He will shy from flagman, a bright sun, an overly shiny face, the glint or a gun, et cetera.)

The main point of all this is that he is often not flying on a consistent, straight line but rather on a curve, the effect of which is increased by wind to produce a curling bird.  Couple those factors with a bird whose wings are set, which means that it is dipping due to gravity, and one has a very testing target indeed.

The old school of thought was to read the line, swing through from tail to head. You should be reaching the head as the gun reaches your face and fire immediately.  (This is a slight over simplification, but this is an article not a monograph.)   Avoid too much “cheek time” or one will tend to slow the gun, look at the bead and miss.

This theory, similar, in a way to swing though, but with less time on the face is very good at two things.  First making a novice or poor shot quickly mediocre (a step up) and consistently killing birds at a maximum range of roughly 25 yards depending on the individual’s coordination and barrel speed.

Observing teams on my own commercial shoots for the past 9 seasons, I have realized that some individuals become very proficient at 20 to 25 yard birds but consistently hit the pheasant in the back third, with a bird five yards higher up and miss completely after another 5 yards or so. They have never grasped the concept that the sight picture changes with distance.