Station 8 shot…

Ever shoot skeet? Station 8 is the last station, you stand in the middle, clay is shot right at you over your head, by far the hardest station. That was this teal, it was a station 8 shot. That is #4 size pellet, why people use bigger pellets on ducks I have no idea.

On 8: Hold point should be above and outside (right for high house, left for low) the window. When target appears raise gun, cover target, pull trigger, keep swinging. There is an old saying: If you can see the target when you pull the trigger, you missed. It’s fast but once you get used to it it’s actually one of the easier targets.

Station 8 was described to me when I started shooting skeet as a knee jerk shot and it is a reactionary shot, especially when shot with gun not mounted which can be done.

Guy I haven't shot a duck that way and close but reaction shot on a dove one afternoon, what was left of it I think landed at least twice as far from me as the dove. OOPS

Made a pillow.

I had a buddy who on his first duck hunt shooting a12ga sxs with 2 triggers pulled both with a gadwall right in front at about 20 feet hit him square, needless to say he was covered in guts, blood and meat for the rest of the hunt.,

Not everyone is a duck hunting savant such as yourself, Guy!

When geese are in the mix.

Back in the golden days of lead shot I killed an awful lot of teal, mallards and others with 7 1/2 Hi-Velocities and even took a lot of teal with 7 1/2 heavy field loads.

On my first dove hunt many, many years ago, my cousin had a full-choke Browning Auto. A dove came down the road right behind him a little more than head high. We yelled at him and he turned and shot. Nothing but a scattering of feathers . . .

I don’t shoot a lot of geese when duck hunting, but I do see a lot of Canadas, normally I pass on them, but the ones I have shot I have dropped dead with #4.

You are saying 8 is easier for you than the other 7 stations? What other stations are harder for you than 8? I would say 4 is second hardest. I guess I could see how some might find 8 easier than 4. Station 1 and 7 are the easiest, followed by 2 and 6, then 3 and 5, in that order. To master station 8, a pro will have you first master station 1 low house (the easiest). Once you are breaking every single clay, and not missing, then take 1 step forward to station 8, keep busting several in a row, then take another step forward and repeat till you reach station 8 still busting every single clay... If you miss any in this process, especially missing 2 or 3 in a row, you start over station 1. Master this, then do same thing starting at station 7 shooting high house. Also every shot you take you say pull with your gun down, so you are mastering your quick mount as well, probably most important for wing shooting. Saying pull with your gun already mounted is fine for sporting clay competition, but does not help you much for wing shooting. Also mastering station 4 is the same concept, and really that is the purpose of station 2 and 3, master station 1 before you move to station 2...

Shooting sporting clay with gun unmounted is the only way I do it. To experiment, I tried to shoot sporting clay with gun mounted to see if I shot better, and I shot worse. Pre mounting your gun before you say pull has it's obvious advantage, but saying pull with gun down has it's own advantage, and that advantage is that you can better see and focus both eyes on the target when your gun is down. Looking at that diagram I posted above, when that clay first comes out, it is a blur. When it gets to "look", your eyes are just begging to bring the clay into focus, once you have both eyes full focused on clay (which is a hell of a lot easier without your gun in your face), and your eyes have clay in "missile lock", then mount your gun and pull the trigger as soon as gun hits your face.

And this is what you want to do when you are hunting. When those birds coming in, your gun will be down, and you do not want to move at all or you will flare the birds. You sit perfectly still, only thing moving is your eyes, if it is a flock of birds, pick one bird and "missile lock" on it, then mount when bird is in range. Your mount needs to be instinctive with repetitive practice, a pro will have you do 25 to 100 mounts every day in front of a mirror, but focusing on the target and "missile locking" on target is what you need to be thinking about when those birds are coming in. This "missile lock" concept is very important and something I have to remind myself about, when you do this, everything slows down and becomes much easier.

This short 17 second YouTube I loaded in 2009, was on a duck lease I had. I called it a station 8 shot. It was me and may son (12 yrs old), video starts you can hear him "Oh dad they are coming around behind us...", you can see them, a pair of ringers, left to right behind our blind in a blur, then the whistling wings as they fly over the camera, first shot I take is the station 8 shot, I absolutely obliterated the bird, #4 shot, I'm not kidding guts spattered all over the blind. My son smokes the 2nd one.

Nice

Only # 8 I ever shot was dove right overhead, 12ga, 7s. On edge of rice paddy, where the bird went so no guts or recovery. Never 'mounted' the gun just point up and shoot. Toughest shot was right to left, going to ground (decoy) about ten ft in front of me. Got kudos from hunting buddy who saw it coming.

Not the easiest, station 7 would be my easiest. Station 5 would occasionally give me problems: tracking the high house across the field I would sometimes get lazy and slow my swing down. I am surprised that any “pro” would teach station 8 that way, I had never heard that.

Yep Gaylen Capps (RIP), level III certified. I figured all pros taught it that way. I just did a google search, first one did not teach that way, but the second one did. He recommends stepping past station 8 to make for a more changing shot. But it makes perfect since to me, start out easy, work your way to harder.

I don’t disagree with starting further back to learn but the shooter should also start further to the outside ( to the right for the high house, left for low). By starting on the #7 pad, for example, they end up shooting the target on a line much further to the right than it is when on the #8 pad, which puts their swing on an entirely different plane.

To improve your wing shooting, I think it is a good idea to shot from all locations on skeet field, and all possible angles, not restrict yourself to the shooting stations. And with your gun unmounted when you say pull. Now if you are trying to improve you skeet score, that is different, that has never been my goal.

Y’all are over complicating this. Station 8 is among the easiest stations on the skeet field. That goes for shooting pre mounted or low gun.
In the blind if you are going to shoot that low screamer right at you, shoot it in the head if you want to eat it. Shot size is irrelevant at that range.

Yeah, just shoot'm in the head, what was I thinking..

I tell you most of the time when those GWT come in like little F16's doing tricks over the deeks, going upside down and stuff, I don't even mount my gun or pull the trigger, I'm just not that fast. I just sit there and keep drinking my coffee and laugh. Getting old is a bitch...

I rarely miss on 8. Doubles on 6 is my problem pad.

I always shot my option at station 8 high house. Once you figure 8 out it really is an easy shot.

Dang, jetdad, choosing where you shoot your option shot hasn’t been done in over 50 years! Congrats on your longevity!

I am an experienced human, P_102. And now, at my age that rule of low house 8 doesn't get a lot of attention from me.

Unfortunately, same here.

I shot a teal last year at 5 yards that had a quarter size hole in it. Cleaned the bird and found the wad inside the Duck. That was a first.

I try to shoot my ducks in the inward wing when it is at the top of its cycle. Head shots are for rookies....:)