On this episode I talk with the man who knows more about choke tubes than anyone else I’ve ever met. Lifelong hunter, sporting clays champion, master tool maker, and owner of Muller Choke Tubes, Jimmy Muller. Put your seatbelt on, we are going to cover some very Indepth and important info.
I interview lifelong hunter and sporting clays champion Jimmy Muller about how to gain the most you can from casual sporting clays practice to improve your wing shooting. We cover everything from shooting strategy to ammo, equipment, and more so you can transfer the most possible learnings to become a more effective hunter. Jimmy Muller is also the founder and owner of Muller Choke Tubes.
In this podcast interview, we explore a number of important questions:
- Will target ammo used for sporting clays give you performance that translates to bird hunting?
- Do target loads need more or less lead than steel or bismuth waterfowl hunting ammo?
- Can you use the same choke tubes for sporting clays and hunting?
- How can you become a better shooter the fastest?
- How much money should you pay for a sporting clays course?
- Is sporting clays more effective than trap shooting for becoming a better hunter?
- How often do you need to shoot sporting clays to become a better hunter?
- Should you use your hunting shotgun on a sporting clays course?
- Should you learn how to shoot sporting clays on your own or is it worth hiring a coach?
Jimmy Muller has fired millions of shells training and competing in sporting clays. But he started as a hunter and only began shooting sporting clays because he was having a lot of trouble hitting ducks on the wing. Sporting clays completely revolutionized his hunting life. Soon he found himself practicing more and more. Eventually he began to compete in and win sporting clays events.
After years of competing, he began to make his own choke tubes to improve his pattern performance. Eventually the demand for his chokes began to grow and he decided to sell them and launched his own company. Today he makes some of the highest quality, most technical, and versatile chokes out there. With his set of three hunting chokes, you can use any metal, any shot size, and any velocity through any of the three choke tubes.
Some of the tips he shares in this podcast episode are game changing for new hunters and lifelong hunters alike. He discusses how to take your shooting to the next level so that you bring more birds home with fewer shots. He also shares a number of misconceptions that can distract hunters and lead them astray. Whether you are hunting ducks, geese, grouse, pheasants, doves, crows, or anything else that flies, this could be one of the most important episodes you ever listen to you to boost your shotgun hunting effectiveness.
Listen to the entire podcast episode to hear all of the details.
Do you want to take more game home? On this episode I am going to cover the single most important thing you can do to improve your hunting success rate. In short, I am talking about practice, specifically sporting clays practice, thought trap shooting and skeet can be helpful as well. This is mainly for shotgun hunters but there is also some application for rifle hunters as well. No gear you can buy will help you more than realistic practice. Skills will always trump equipment.
In my experience, the average wing shooter takes home about 30% of the birds they shoot at. Some are better, some are worse. A better shotgun will not do much to improve this. Better ammo will only do so much. Better base layers, camouflage, gloves, calls, etc, will do almost nothing to help this average. The single biggest thing that will help is practice. And that just so happens to be the single most overlooked thing that hunters do and spend money on…
If you want to take more game, you need to practice more. That involves trap shooting, skeet shooting, and most importantly sporting clays shooting. All center around shooting at a clay disc out of the air, often referred to as a clay pigeon. These clay targets can be easily purchased at many big box stores for somewhere around $10 per 100.
- Trap Shooting involves clay targets that are launched away from the shooter at various angles to simulate a bird flushing and flying away. It gets its name from historical practice that was once done when the shooter would call “pull” and someone would pull the pin holding the trap door shut on a cage and thus allowing real birds to flush away from the cage as target practice.
- Skeet Shooting essentially involves firing at clay targets passing or crossing in front of the shooter, similar to real birds passing by or being flushed by a dog or another party. The name “skeet” is believed to come from the Norwegian word “skyte” which means “shoot.”
- Sporting Clays has some similarities to golf as it is a multi-position or hole course. No two courses are identical and often contain 20 positions with a total of 100 clay targets on a full course. Each position features multiple clays launched from various angles, and directions, all unique, simulating a wide range of real-world hunting situations from ducks to pheasants, grouse, doves, and many more.
Each sport is great fun and has great value. But I do believe that sporting clays provides the best hunting practice out there. And the variety of courses adds great realism and infinite shooting possibilities to simulate real hunting conditions.
Typically sporting clays courses cost between $40-$75 for a full 20 position course with 100 clay targets, plus the cost of ammunition. So realistically, you are looking at around $100 per outing. This is not cheap, but neither are the many highly marketed products that hunters pour money into every year for minimal benefit.
I would recommend you toss $10 a paycheck into your sporting clays jar and go practice 2-3 times a year to start. The skills you gain will be valuable for a lifetime, and even if they dull some over time, picking it back up is a lot like riding a bicycle. This will do more to improve your percentage of shots fired to birds taken home than anything else you can spend money on.
Get out there and get some practice. Listen to the full podcast episode for more!
Show Notes:
Dove hunting is one of the most fun types of hunting for those who can find a decent spot to do it, some people even consider it their favorite. On this episode I talk about how easy it is to get started with this cherished past time.
Take Aways:
- Why hunt doves? Sport and cuisine is the short answer. They are the flying bird that some hunters train all year to hunt. They are also easy to prepare and delicious to eat.
- Doves are a migratory game bird, so you are usually hunting them as they travel south for the winter.
- Doves and pigeons are closely related, if not the same bird, and they are among the most commonly eaten birds in the world.
- Doves can be hunted with any shotgun, and the cheapest shells available. Typically size 7-9 shot is ideal. No special gear is needed.
- You do not need a lot of camouflage or cover, the best approach is to position yourself so they fly right into to shooting range without being able to see you from a distance.
- The best time of day depends on when they are flying through your area, so it varies. Test mornings, afternoons, and evenings to see how things work where you live.
- Ideally you hunt doves along the edge of a field or clearing where they will come to land for food, rest, or water during their journey.