Ask The Instructor: Quartering Move

Question: For a quartering bird, you once said to establish a gunhold 1/3 back from breakpoint and not move until the target reaches your barrel. From a recent article it seemed like you were saying that I should make my move to the target  earlier in order to sync with target. Can you give a little more detail on this?

Answer: At your suggestion, let’s delve deeper into the quartering move, sometimes called “come-to-the-gun”. As with any target, there is more than one way to break it, however, the quartering move is very effective on quartering birds with a flat/straight trajectory at the breakpoint. Let’s say you are engaging an outgoing right-to-left quartering target that is moving at about a 45-degree angle to your shooting position at the breakpoint. Establish your hold point along the target line no more than 1/3 back from the breakpoint toward the trap. At the ready, your eyes should be about four inches to the right of the barrel as you call for the target. This will leverage your peripheral vision and prevent the target from beating your eyes. As you call for the target, begin a slow “creep” toward the breakpoint with your muzzle in anticipation of the target. The key on this move is letting the target come to the gun before accelerating away from the leading edge of the target. Timing is important, particularly on fast quartering targets. As the target reaches the barrel, insert the muzzle on the leading edge of the target, then accelerate away from the target and execute the shot. As always, it is critical that you maintain acute focus on the target as you accelerate and execute the shot. Anticipating the target, as described above, will allow your gun movement to be less abrupt and to sync with the target a bit more. This slow anticipatory move before inserting on the target will not only smooth out your gun movement, but will also allow you to focus more acutely on the target as you increase your gun speed and execute the shot. This technique is not recommended if the quartering target is transitioning at the breakpoint. If using a quartering move on a target transitioning at the breakpoint, you run the risk of missing over the target as the target falls off the line.