I wasn't real sure where to put this but here goes...

My youngest boy is 5 and shoots his little red ryder pretty well. Not great, but decent. He's right handed but seems to be left eye dominate. I've put him behind a scoped 22lr a few times and he's a natural at throwing the rifle up to his right shoulder but he leans his face way over and looks through the scope with his left eye. He can't "wink" with his left eye so closing it by itself is part of his problem.

What have yall done for youngsters in this situation? Maybe cover up his left eye with an eye patch? Start him shooting with his left hand?

He's really wanting to start hunting (he's obviously not ready now) and I'm having fun with this left eye / right hand situation.

Teach him to shoot left handed. It will take time for him to be comfortable with it but its better to have both eyes open when shooting.

My dad noticed the same and started me shooting left-handed. Still working decent 50 years later. I'm slightly ambidextrous, but right hand is dominant.

Teach him left handed which is great and will be natural since he is so young. The other option that gets used in the shotgun world a lot is a piece of scotch tape or smear of chap stick on his shooting glasses right in front of his left eye, clouds the left eye enough that eventually the right eye is trained to take over. I learned about my cross eye dominance and what that meant as an adult. I have trained myself to shoot OK left handed but I am a better shot closing my left eye because I have better control of the gun right handed.

This^^^^^^^. I just got a shooting lesson and he put scotch tape on my glasses and the results were immediate and jaw-dropping. Albeit, if I were 5, I would probably just learn to shot left-handed.

Have a buddy that shoots left handed because of this same thing.

When I was about 6, I had a eye injury and had the same thing going on. I learned how to shoot left handed and the switch was easy. My injured eye muscles got better with age and now I shoot left and right with equal proficiency.

I'm fairly ambidextrous but shoot right-handed while left eye dominant. I've just figured it out over the years and have no problem shooting well right-handed and aiming with my right eye. But I also didn't want to shoot lefty. At all. It was more uncomfortable and distracting that shooting with my off-side eye.

Not withstanding his inability to close his left eye, you may want to let him figure out which way he wants to go. These questions come up a lot on a bunch of different hunting and shooting forums, and lots folks talk about forcing the kid to shoot left because "shooting right-handed with a dominant left eye is impossible."

I find myself in the "don't-force-anything" camp. Offer suggestions and options (shooting left or right), and let him figure out what's most comfortable for him, and which way he'd like to go. Never know, he just may be a right-handed crack shot someday.

I'm right-handed but left eye dominate also. I shoot left-handed with all right-hand rifles. Never been a problem.

Right handed, left eye dominate and I shoot right handed. No issues here and I feel I am a very good shot especially with a pistol. Just turn head slightly to right.

Now when shooting a rifle I use my right eye, again no issues.

I'm right handed but a left shooter. 2 years ago I started forcing myself to shoot right handed. Now both sides come pretty natural.

Same here. I was all jacked up till my dad figured out what was going on. I was about 5. Started shooting left handed and it’s as natural as can be now. I shoot everything left handed except handguns. I shoot them right handed but reaching over to my left eye. For some reason I started doing this and never stopped. Teach him to shoot left handed for sure!

Snoot with the dominant eye.

A person can make the hands, arms, and legs do anything they want. But they cannot force the eyes to do anything.

I can shoot equally well left or right handed. I am left eye, left hand. When I'm shooting right handed, my right eye does not get focused as fast as with my left eye.

All my firearms are right handed, except my bolt action rifles. Those are left handed, and it is the way.

My wife has the same problem and she can outshoot me on my best day but that’s not saying much I guess. She learned to close her left eye and shoot but I don’t have a clue if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I’d listen to Jason and run with it, if I’d known the situation at the beginning we’d have gone a different route but it is what it is and she shoots the way she shoot’s even though I couldn’t do it.

Natural right handed. Left eye dominant. At about your sons age my dad figured it out. Put the gun on my left shoulder. It is natural for me. If your son is in fact left eye dominant move the gun to his left shoulder but test it first. Hand him an empty toilet paper roll. Tell him to hold it at arms length and look through the roll at the end of your nose with both eyes open. Then tell him to keep looking at your nose through it and slowly move the roll closer till it touches his face. It will go straight to his dominant eye. Do this to make sure he is not simply compensating for the only eye he can close. I bring this up because the dominant eye is often the more coordinated. At your sons age he will easily learn to shoot off either shoulder. In shooting there is a substantial benefit to shooting with both eyes open. Scoped rifles is where the benefits are least. Open sighted rifles it becomes more beneficial. Pistols and bows even more so. Shotguns is where it is greatest. Many people don’t realize they are cross eye dominant until after they learn to shoot. When they finally figure it out they wrestle with all kinds of gimmicks to make things easier because they can’t do it the right way. Set your boy up to be able to shoot the right way and the ceiling of how good he can get will be higher.

When I was very young I tied a string on a china berry limb to make a bow. I don’t remember how it evolved but I always shot a bow left handed even though I’m right handed, and still do.
I never had any serious rifle shooting instruction so I always shot right handed and closed my left eye. I always thought everyone did. I just picked up a shotgun and never shot it much and wasn’t told any different so I shut my left eye on a shotgun too. Way into adulthood someone told me I shouldn’t close my eye with a shotgun and I learned then my “wrong” eye was dominant.
I guess it would be better if it wasn’t this way but I’m too old to change and the deer I shoot at almost always die.
Having said all that, I would listen to what many have said on here, including JG and Smokey for sure.

These are all excellent suggestions and I greatly appreciate it. Both of his eyes are open when open sights on the bb gun. I haven't really pushed him hard to try shooting left handed yet but have been trying to "correct" his left eye dominance when he's behind the .22lr. I really like the toilet paper roll idea and will be giving that a shot.

I'll try switching him over to shoot left handed to see how he does. He's pretty ambidextrous with his hands but is stronger with his right hand/arm. He's definitely left footed though when it comes to kicking a soccer ball. lol.

I am left handed, right eye dominate. When I was taught to shoot, I was taught both left and right handed shooting with a rifle, and to close the right eye when shooting left, and left when shooting right. When I became a police officer, I was taught to shoot with both eyes open, and as a firearm's instructor for almost thirty years, I advocated learning to shoot all weapons with both eyes open, but to adjust to the circumstances.

In teaching a child, it is usually best to show them both techniques, and encourage them to work on both, but allow them to do what is most comfortable. The work has to be enjoyable for them to excel. Make a game of it. The BB gun is great for training and for the fun.

Started getting my son to shoot about 2 years ago (he is 8). Went over it many time asked our eye doctor etc. from what we could tell he was left eye dominant and right handed. He is definitely right handed, but shooting with him yesterday we did the eye dominance test again and now shows to be right eye dominant LOL oh well he is shooting and that’s what makes us happy!

Lol....this is secretly what I'm hoping to happen with him. He'll just wake up one day and be right eye dominate.

It’s amazing how they will not follow what you say. Get him to do the deal where you make a hole with your and and center an object with both eyes and then close one at a time to see which one is dominant. Tell him do not move your head, and every time he closes an eye he moves his head lol.

Just have him point his finger at your nose, you will be looking at his dominate eye over his finger. Simple non thinking test that works

Can your dominant eye change over time?

Or have him point straight out both eyes open.
Close one eye @ a time.

That’s a new one will try it, thanks