Left eyed dominate

400bull · May 9, 2005

Hay you guys I could use a little help with my oldest boy. Last year for his 5th birthday I bought him his first BB gun. I have taken him out several times sense then shooting his BB gun. He has been doing pretty well with it. But I have noticed that he wants to lean over the gun to sight with his left eye. All though I have tried getting him to shot with his right eye it does not come natural for him. I spent a little time with him this past weekend and found out that he is left eyed dominate. That would explain why he tries to lean over the gun to line up the sights.

The question that I now have is should I teach him to shot left handed because that is the eye that he naturally wants to shot with, or should I keep teaching him how to shot right handed because that is the way he natural feels comfortable holding the gun? If I continue to teach him to shoot right handed I will need to get a patch to cover up his left eye to force him to use the right eye.

I really don't care which hand he shots with I just don't want him to get frustrated with it. If any of you have ran in to this same problem with one of your own children or if you're in this same situation (left eyed dominate but right handed) how is the best way to approach the situation.

Thanks
400bull

DallanC · May 9, 2005

Yes. He should learn to shoot with the dominant eye. He will be better off in the long run. I am currently running into this with my wife as well.

-DallanC

Chef · May 9, 2005

I am right handed.
Yet left eye dominant.

I shoot pistol, rifle, shotgun, all right handed.
I have my tricks but they sure take away from instinct.

I would highly suggest teaching him to shoot left handed. At such a young age, it will come more natural to him. He will thank you later as a young man bird shooting...trust me.

Chef
"I Love Animals...They're Delicious!"

RLH · May 9, 2005

i just had a conversation with my eye dr. about this subject last week. he said the dominant eye theory and shooting is pretty much BS. everyone with 2 good eyes has a dominant eye, but whatever eye you have open is your dominant eye then. see how he shoots left handed. if he can do it well, then he might need to shoot that way. but if he shoots a lot better right handed, then teach him to close his left eye all the way. try an eye patch if you have to, to start . looking down a barrel at 2 sights or looking through a scope isn't anything magic. whatever eye you are looking through is the one that sees the picture. just because you are dominant in one eye or the other doesn't matter if your eye is closed. one thing to think of tho, is that most folks see a little better with their dominant eye. dang sure a reason to think of shooting with your non dominant hand.

nmtaxi · May 9, 2005

Going though hunter ed. with my son, they said that the "dominant" eye thing can be corrected easily with children. At least a lot easier than teaching to shoot left handed.

Phantom Hunter · May 9, 2005

My daughter is left-eye dominate and right-handed. I taught her to shoot right-handed by using a black patch over her left eye. Worked real well with her, she has killed 8-10 whitetails with only one miss. It does take some practice. She hasn't had to use the patch in several years. I think she wore it hunting for about three seasons.

Phantom Hunter

Boskee · May 9, 2005

Some people can change some can't. The easy thing to do is let him shoot the way that's the most comfortable for him. I am right handed and left eye dominant. I went through all that crap as a kid where they tried to get me to switch but it just didn't work. There are firearms, bows and all types of sporting goods made today for lefty's and they work. Let the young man shoot as nature intended and it will be a more pleasant experience for him. Those of you that think it's easy to switch, put a patch on your dominant eye and have a go at it! My point is he may really have some natural ability that you could be handicapping unless you set him up the right way. Hunting and shooting is supposed to be fun so why not eliminate some of the frustration for them up front and who knows you may have a hunting partner for life.

norby · May 9, 2005

My brother is right-handed and left eye dominant, so are his two sons. He shoots left handed and taught my nephews to shoot left handed also. He considered using an eye patch to teach them to shoot right-handed, but thought they might develop a bad habit of closing their left eye while shooting a shotgun and lose their depth perception in doing so.
His only real reason for considering teaching them to shoot right handed was price and availability of rifles and shotguns.

crextin · May 9, 2005

My younger brother has this same problem. I believe it will be far easier for your son to learn to shoot lefthanded. It may take a little time getting used to holding the rifle on the left side, but will be much easier for him to adapt to.

B_F_E · May 9, 2005

I have a cousin that shoots right handed while using his left eye. he is a poor shot & I don't think its a coincidence.

Chef · May 9, 2005

Saying that eye dominance and shooting is BS is BS!!!

RLH, out of all people I would expect you to teach to shoot a pistol with both eyes open! A shotgun the same!

Norby is right on the money in saying you lose a lot of perception of depth while closing one eye. I have no problem closing my dominant eye while looking down a scope or iron sights on a rifle. That is what I HAVE to do, although I constantly open (blink-blink) it to gather more information as far as distance to target and such.

Bird shooting is a real pain for me every year. I do close my dominant eye but its crazy to judge distance on fast flying doves!

Just plinking with revolvers and semi-autos takes more "concentration" if you will to get tight groups. It's amazing what my sight picture looks like when I close and open my dominant eye! My target jumps left to right big time! I practice quick "instictive" shooting with both eyes open (for laughs) and guess what...I miss every time.

Take it from someone that suffers from this scenario. I am tired of closing my eye. I hate the sticker I sometimes put on my shooting glasses over my dominant eye. I even tried placing saran wrap over it to fool my brain into using the right eye. (it works for shooting but try to walk to the truck!!)

Teach him to shoot left handed, or better yet, rifle right handed, shotgun left handed. I think it can be done. I try it every shotgun season and it works a little for me but it's tough to teach an old dog new tricks!

Teach him when he's young.

Regards,
Chef
"I Love Animals...They're Delicious!"

SpotNStalk · May 9, 2005

I am left eye dominant but do most things right handed. There are three things that come to mind that I do "left handed". They are: (1) shooting my bow (2) shooting a shotgun and (3) dribbling a basketball. I grew up shooting guns right handed and using my right eye for sighting. I didn't notice any real problems until I became a better shot and started getting more into shotgun shooting. There is no question in my mind that shooting with your dominant eye is critical when shooting shotgun and bow for depth perception reasons. I think a person can learn to shoot right handed if they are left eye dominant but it will never be completely natural to them. Two years ago while deer hunting I had a nice buck running about 125 yards from me and I quickly dropped to a knee, raised my rifle, found him in my scope, gave some lead and fired. The buck dropped instantly from a bullet hole through his neck. While I sight in and practice shooting rifles right handed, I am pretty sure that when I shot this deer, I shot him with my left hand/eye. I am not sure because it happened so fast I shot instinctively. when I replay it in my mind I see myself dropping to my left knee resting my right elbow on my right knee and shooting left handed. This goes against what I practice but I believe instinct took over.

I shoot in high power rifle matches and shoot the matches right handed. I have seriously considered switching to shooting left handed but my strength and "feel" of holding the different positions left handed don't feel comfortable. I do wonder if I would eventually develop into a better match shooter if I switched but I can't convince myself to make the change.

As for your son, I would NOT let him shoot from a right handed position using his left eye. If it were me, I would have him shoot left handed and learn that way from the beginning. I think he'll be a better shot in the long run. If he wants to hold the gun right handed, he needs to use his right eye. The fact that he is struggling to use his left eye is a good indication that he should avoid later hassle and shoot left handed to begin with.

BCHunter · May 9, 2005

I have the same problem. I shoot pistols, play baseball-basketball and write right handed. I am left eye dominate. I tought myself to shoot left handed. BB's are cheap. I took my BB gun out and would shoot for hours. I now play pool left handed. I shoot real well in both sports.

My sister wanted some help learning to shoot. She couldn't hit a coke can at 20 yards with a 22. I started watching her shoot and she is left eye dominate. I swithed her to left handed shooting and she is a good shot now.

Whatever you decide to do be consistant. If you are constantly confused on what you are doing, it will get frustrating.

Chef · May 9, 2005

Funny how this affects our everyday activites!

I thought I was the only one that had it this way...
I am left eye dominant
shoot right handed
write right handed
eat left and right handed
kick (karate and soccer) left footed

interesting to hear others' stories.

Chef
"I Love Animals...They're Delicious!"

ELKMASTER101 · May 9, 2005

its just so easy, have him close his left eye.
when shooting.
eventualy hell use it as a natural.
the patch is a good way.
they teach you that in hunters ed. class.
nail a chunk of plywood to the stock of the gun on the opposite side this will keep him from sticking his head over teh gun.

Gator · May 9, 2005

Just have him shoot left handed. Some of us are just made that way.

beaner · May 9, 2005

I went through the same issues as a youngster learning to shoot my first bow. Dad bought me a right handed bow and I was all over the target until we figured out I was trying to use my left eye to aim. Being right handed learning to shoot left was awkward at first, but got easy with practice after a few months. Had to start with a lighter than normal weight. Now, 20 years later shooting as a lefty (both rifle and bows) is second nature.

Good luck.

huntnfool · May 9, 2005

Just a thought... He's left eye dominant and right hand dominant. Why is it easier to change hand dominant that eye dominant? Looks to me he could do either with the same effect...

Evan

rost495 · May 10, 2005

I'd love to see the hunter ed book that says forget the dominant eye. As a hunter ed instructor and a top ranked national highpower competitor the best thing I can tell you is teach him IE let him shoot left handed. At his age it will be so easy.

Heck I'm Rt all the way and I shoot left handed in matches for giggles sometimes. What I'm saying is that either lt or rt handed is not tough. Changing the eye is impossible.

I've seen way too many documented things in shooting that say always use dominant eye!!

Jeff

bigbullhunter · May 10, 2005

I am right handed yet left eye dominate. The reason being is that when I was 16 I managed to shoot my eye out with a BB gun (different story in itself) but I have learned how to shoot left handed with a right handed rifle. The only down fall to being left eye dominate is now I had to purchase a left handed bow to hunt archery. in my opinion use the patch thats how I had to do it. It does pay off because I found I am a better shot now than I ever was.

just my opinion
BBH

400bull · May 18, 2005

I just wanted to thank everyone for there input on how I should go about teaching my boy how to shot. After all the thinking and contiplating I have done over this it was my boy that gave me the answer as to what I should do.

I was home playing Cops and Robbers with him and my youngest boy Monday night. We would run arround the house pretending like we were shoting everything. At one point I noticed that Braydon (my oldest boy) was aiming the gun with his left hand. I asked him to switch over and use his right hand to shot acouple robbers with and then we run over to a different hiding place. Guess what hand he was shoting with when we got to the new hidding spot? .... His left hand. If he feels more comfortable shoting with his left hand that is the one I'll have to teach him to shot with.

Once again thanks for all you help with this.

400bull

Chef · May 18, 2005

Great observation!
Here is to many years in the shooting sports!

Chef
"I Love Animals...They're Delicious!"

rost495 · May 18, 2005

Rest assured that what your boy showed you is the way you need to go. I can find the actual research data in many books.

Plus if he ever wants to shoot a shotgun he'll be all but worthless with the wrong eye.

And what you saw is what will happen, when crunch time comes he'll do whats natural, which makes learning it un naturally mostly a waste

Jeff

RELH · May 18, 2005

400bull;

I have encountered this problem as a firearms instructor. You are lucky that you found out while the son is very young. I have trained adults to switch over and after some practice they were more efficent with using their dominate eye.
Go ahead and teach him to shoot left handled, since he seems more comfortable with his left, you will have no problem. due to your statement about your Son always switching the play gun to his left hand, you may just have a southpaw in the family or one that is ambidextrous. I have a Son and Grandson that is ambidextrous with a left master eye. My son was trained to shoot left handed and I will be teaching his son, whose is 5, to shoot left handed.

RELH