Read the targets, shoot better

In this article we’ll share one way to help you read targets. As time goes by you’ll adapt this method or maybe even find your own way so this is by no means ‘the only way.‘ It’s just a starter for ten.

We could write entire book on reading targets; the different presentations, differing traps, physical targets, speeds, angles and so much more.

Even when we’d finished writing it, someone would say “ah, but you didn’t cover a [insert target name] when it’s thrown from a [insert trap name] off the top of a [insert object] at a speed of [insert speed] – how would I read that?”

With the infinite possibilities on offer from the course setters and kit they have to hand, it’s impossible to cover every eventuality.

So the point of this article is not to set the approach in stone – there’s many more methods out there – but more to introduce you to the notion of reading targets.

How you could approach it, the ways in which it gives you clues and to simply get you moving in the right direction.

It’s the method I was shown in my early years of clay shooting. Do I use it now? On some targets for sure. Do I use it on all of them? Absolutely not – I can’t.

Do I read targets?

Well I try bloody hard to do it each and every time. And that’s the point. Focusing on what the clays are doing along their way gives clues about how to approach them before you call ‘pull‘.

Most clay shooters spend hours working on pre-shot routines, stance, mount, hold points, kill points and everything else that happens in the stand.

But alongside all this preparation is ‘reading the targets‘.

If you do this already then props to you. You’re already destined for clay shooting greatness. And in all honesty, you probably already know the stuff coming next in this article, so why not check out one of the Trending Articles instead (this one’s a beauty).

Still with us? Let’s get into it.

Reading the targets doesn’t just mean reading the board on the stand that says things like “right to left crosser” or “crow”. Whilst that’s the first important step, it actually means watching the target all the way through it’s flight path from the trap arm to it’s final resting place on the deck. Keeping your eyes locked on the clay and creating a mental list of the subtleties you see in flight – what it’s doing and where it’s going.

Break the flight path into 3 distinct stages:

1. Release
2. Transition
3. Drop

Let’s explore each of these a little more.

If you can see the trap it’s a good idea to place your focus around the first few metres ahead of it in the direction in which the target is going to travel. If you can’t see the trap, put your gaze around the area where you’re first going to catch sight of it.

When you call or hear ‘pull‘, lock on to the target the millisecond you see it and follow it with a wide view.

Keep tracking it and talk yourself through what you’re seeing. It’s important to talk yourself through the motion so your brain hears – it’s weird to write that down but hopefully it makes sense.

Is the target climbing at high speed? Is it swinging upwards on a gentle curve? Rocketing across your field of view? You get the idea.

Catching on to this part of the clay’s journey will help you figure out the potential angle and speed it’s going to take.

This section of travel is going to help you dial into where the ‘kill point‘ of a fast-moving target is – the exact point where you’re going to pull the trigger and complete the shot.

For the majority of target presentations and types, the transition will be the point to dust it.

That’s because it’s usually (but not always) the point at which it’s easiest to shoot as the forces of physics do their best to change its path. It’ll be potentially slowing down, marginally holding its line and rotating to its new destination as gravity starts to play a part.

Take a crow as a simple example. As it climbs through the sky it’s doing a lot. It’s being thrust upwards at speed and if you’re brave you’ll swing upwards to it, cover the target with your barrels, pull the trigger and keep the swing going to add the lead needed to complete the shot.

That’s not the best way to shoot a crow target – there’ll be more specific targets later – because a lot could go wrong with this method. It’s better to wait for the change in path and shoot it there – where it’s easiest.

So as it peaks and the energy has gone, gravity kicks in. Now it begins to stall and rotate off its line downwards. That’s exactly the point in its ‘transition‘ you want to spot when reading the target.

The target’s out of transition now, has acquired a new angle and gravity has got its sticky mitts on it.

This is where the clay is going to be doing way more than it has done so far.

It’s going to be accelerating once again, being bumped around by the air flow if it’s high in the sky and probably taking on an angle downwards that would require you to be a contortionist (or sadist) to even try to shoot it.

But keep watching it.

See where it lands for a clue to how far it’s been thrown. That gives you an idea of where in the air it might be during transition.

If you see it wind back to the trap, the approximate half way point is the transition. This is probably going to be the ‘kill point‘.

This is a key piece of intel for many crossing and looping target presentations because by judging this we can then get some clues as to how much lead & gun speed we need and what line to take to dust-ball it.

Finally, watch for its final resting place. If you can see that and it’s not gone behind a tree or over a bank, it’ll also help when tackling targets like midis and minis. What looks like a target in the distance in flight can soon turn out to be something far closer when you see it land. That’s the best way to tackle the course setters’ optical illusions.

There are some target presentations that simply don’t quite follow the halfway kill point rule. But they still need to be read using the same 3-stage process if you’re going to dispatch them.

Think rabbits, teals and the aforementioned crows.

Whilst their kill points vary from presentation to presentation, reading them using the same approach helps to break down the targets’ journey into computable parts and really focus on the 2nd stage. Which is where we’re going to get a strike on our score card.

Remember too that there are some presentations where the cheeky course setter has you stood in a bunker, surrounded by trees. So whilst you’d love to see the trap and where the clay lands, it’s impossible when your viewport is a small leafy gap…

You can only use Stage 2 then.

Try the 3-stage approach on the targets you can read when you’re next out practising and see if it helps.

If nothing else it really does get your eyes and brain focused on what the target’s doing, where it’s going and how you’re going to approach it. It slows the whole process down and by talking it through in your head whilst watching, you’re giving yourself a much better chance of getting the hold, swing and kill points exactly where you want them.