Hunting Forum

I am new to the forum and looking for some good advise. I am right handed but left eye dominant. My question is should I train myself to shoot lefty or just sight my guns in to compensate. I shoot right handed with the 12 gauge for ducks.. I shoot more accurate lefty however the swing is very akward as well as pumping so I just shoot righty and lead more or less depending on the direction of the duck... But for Deer or squirrel would it be more benificial for me to train lefty? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks

You didn't mention how your rifle groups are trying it righty . Several years back I sighted in my gun along with a guy from work . Mine went fine but he was shooting poorly . After several shots I decided to watch him instead of the target , and he was using left eye with right hand hold . I suggested him to try lefty hold and he got a good group immediately . That was a 30 30 though , and alot of bolt actions have the stock designed left or right . I'm a lefty and have shot alot of right handed set ups , they do shoot well backwards ; you just have to get used to it or buy a left handed gun if you find it works best for you . That's what I use .

samhalve21,
First let me say this is my experience only. I do not advocate that this will work for everyone.
In my early years of hunting I never considered trying to shoot left handed. Because of this I have watched deer walk from behind me while I was sitting in a tree. I could never afford a commercial tree stand, so I always found a tree I could climb with limbs sturdy enough to hold my weight. The deer would come up and pass on the r/h side of the tree and stop 180 degree from me. When I tryed to turn for the right handed shot the movement,sound, or the deer's 6th sense would alert him.
Then I discovered I was left eye dominate,(Actually the Air Force discovered it, during a Flight Physical).
Anyway I taught myself to shoot left handed and started to not only shoot better, I found out my left eye was stronger, which allowed me to line the sights up faster, with a clearer view.
The greateset advantage of being able to shoot left or right is: Now when a deer walks up from behind either left or right hand side of tree, I don't have to swing my whole body around. If he's in my left hand field of vision, I shoot right handed, and vise versa. Only movement now is lifting the gun and get him lined up in the sights.
My kill ratio has gone up two fold. When you practice, use same amount of time for both positions. I think you will be happy with the results.

Welcome to the boards samhalve21.
Your question has been discussed on here many times and there are as many answers to your question as there are members on this board. The only correct answer to your question is to do what works best for you.
As a firearms instructor, I see this problem all the time with both youth and adults. When I encounter a shooter that is cross-dominate, I'll usually start by trying to get the shooter to at least try shooting a couple rounds from their dominate eye side. I explain to them that everything will feel awkward for a while because they aren't accustomed to handling the firearm from the other side. Most of the time the shooters performance will improve by switching them to the dominate eye and with time new muscle memory will be developed for shooting with the other side.
Some shooters don't feel there is a problem with cross-dominance or that the non-dominate eye can be retrained. And some shooters just don't want to hear that they are different than someone else, I guess they feel that it makes them less of a person.
Eye dominance can change over the course of a person's lifetime.

Great insight.. Thank you all. Looking forward to picking your brains over and over again. Appreciate it. Thanks

I don't know how I missed this thread. I'm in the same boat, left eye dominant but I've shot right handed since I was a kid and shoot with both eyes open. Left handed? No way... I'm such a klutz left handed it's unbelievable. Why it works for me? I don't know maybe just the sheer amount of shooting. I've shot .22 competition in Highschool and toolk 3rd in the estate of PA. I've shot competition skeet and trap. When I pull up my rifles, they're just right there.

I did have to think about and practice having both eyes open but it didn't take long before I couldn't stand trying to shoot with left eye closed. Whatever works for you works.

And welcome to the asylum...

Steve: I shoot right-hand. My dad(bless his dead azz) got me a Nylon 66(wish I still had it)22 rifle when I was about 10 years old. He always told me to just close the left eye, sight in and shoot. He also told me that if I "had" to shoot as a lefty to just shoulder the gun on my left shoulder, close my right eye, sight in and shoot. Even now after a couple of years(yeah) of using a gun, I can do it. His theory was: "let the gun do the job". BTW, that "old fart" used to even try trick shot with mirrors, and shoit like that.
What do you think? I just didn't read it that way in the above postings(not just yours).

No clue - I can't shoot with one eye closed and can't do anything left handed so I'm not the right one to opine.

I'm a righty and shoot lefty. It doesn't matter which way you shoot but you should use your dominant eye because you will be more accurate.

I'm a righty and shoot lefty. It doesn't matter which way you shoot but you should use your dominant eye because you will be more accurate.

well, I beg to differ with you MNbowhunter. My left eye is the dominant one and I've shot right handed with both eyes open all my life. 4TH in the state of PA in .22 and several skeet club titles to my credit along with several other wins over the years. While that may be a generally true statement, no statement like that applies to everyone.

*deleting double post... *

I am right handed but left eye dominant. I started shooting when I was about 7 years old. Apparently I was so bad shooting right handed that my dad figured something had to be wrong. We did the finger pointing test and a few others to determine eye dominance and, low and behold, we found out I'm left eye dominant. So I began shooting left handed from the vey beginning. Since it's all I've ever know it just feels natural and comfortable. In fact trying to shoot a rifle or shotgun right handed would be more awkward than trying to write my name with my toes. I'm assuming you are newer to shooting so if you can I would recommend trying to learn to shoot lefty while you are still developing that muscle memory anyway. Only problem is you'll have a harder time finding LH bolt action rifles and bows. At least my buddies can't try to borrow mine.