Here’s the scenario; I' m 10 years old, my father has just bought me my very first shotgun. We take it out to the Sand Dunes where we sight our rifles in so I can try it out. He hands me a can with a bunch of 2 3/4" Turkey Loads (Since we will be hunting turkey in just a couple months) and I begin to shoot them. My dad, thinking I would be fine trying a bigger load hands me a 3 1/2" Magnum Turkey shell and tells me to try it out. Of course, trusting my dad thinking that if he says I can do it, I can do it, I pick up the gun, aim at the target, and BOOM - I shoot. Now, I have to admit, this hurt like heck, but I didn’t wince, I didn’t cry, I just loaded another 2 3/4" shell and kept firing. About 3 shots later I can barley hold the shotgun up and I wind up at home laying on the couch crying because I felt like because I got hurt, I let my dad down in some way... I also ended up getting strep throat three days later...

Next scenario - I’m still 10 years old and my dad has bought me my very first rifle, a .30-06! I’m jazzed, we' re going hunting, and I got a new rifle! Let’s go shoot! Now, because of the shotgun incident I’m a little skittish when it comes to shooting anything bigger than a .22. We go back out to the sand dunes, set a target up at 300 yards, and I begin to fire. After about 6 shots I’m spent. But, being the trusting little boy I was, and not wanting to " Let my father down" again, I keep going. By the time we' re done, I’m not keeping my eyes open when I pull the trigger, anticipating the " bite" from the gun, and instead of squeezing, I’m jerking the trigger. Next, not only does my shoulder hurt, I' ve set my face too far forward and the recoil slams the scope into my forehead, just above my eye... That’s it, I was done for the day, my shoulders killing me, and I’m bleeding, I’m starting to dislike this!

Well, now I’m 15 and I still have the same problem, I sold the 30-06 and bought a .270, it doesn’t have as much kick, I' ve only hit myself in the forehead with the scope once, and it doesn’t hurt me. But, because of my past incidents I still wind up anticipating the pain, thus closing my right eye before I slam down on the trigger. Each deer I' ve gotten has taken 2 shots. I shoot once, and completely miss, the next shot I’m more relaxed, I know the gun wont hurt me, and I' ve dropped the deer in the tracks. Am I ashamed of this problem? A little yes, and then again no. I' ve taken 3 deer in 4 years (We' re only allowed one deer per year). I' ve been lucky, I' ve only taken does so far since I am a meat hunter and am not after trophies, but I would like to start hunting bucks a little harder than I have been, and what I’m afraid of is that they wont stand there and look at me when I miss the first time and slam another shell in. I' ve tried the Breath deep, let it halfway out, then squeeze the trigger, but this doesn’t seem to help... Does anyone have any advice to help me with my problem? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance ,
Daniel