EYE Dominance

I had this same issue manifest itself beginning in 2015. Same thing, the optamologist said your left is trying to take over and dominate. Solutions he offered? Shoot one eye closed, nope been a two eyed shooter all my life. Don't like shooting one eye only. Second, one of those tape on to your rib sight blinders by Meadow Industries, doesn't seem like a consistent idea to me so never tried it but who knows maybe it works? He said it blocks the dominant eye from focusing on the bead and switching to that eye. Lastly a piece of tape, in this case a colour matched to my lens translucent oval plastic dot(no glue) purpose designed for this issue over the left eye lens of my shooting glasses, ok I'll give that a try. Been using the dot since. Took some getting used to at first but now I don't even notice it and my shooting improved significantly. You still retain 100% of your peripheral vision but the pupil is prevented from focusing(dominating) over your once dominant eye. I use my shooting glasses for hunting as well and that dot has helped restore my wingshooting birds too.
 
I'd like some feedback on a solution that may or may not work - but it's free and seems to be working for me. It actually wasn't supposed to have anything to do with eye dominance.

I was chatting with a friend about my tendency to cant my shotgun. His ever so simple (and free) suggestion was to rotate my front (left hand) grip a bit so my thumb was against the left side of the rib. It worked. I simply don't cant that way.

What was surprising was a serendipitous change in sight picture from the left eye (which is normally non-dominant). I even tried closing my right eye when I mounted and my brain just said "nope". It doesn't screw up peripheral or offside vision nor does it mess with depth perception. My brain still perceives everything with both eyes open and unrestricted. It just hates seeing my thumb against the rib. Might be just a coincidence, but I seem to have picked up about 8 birds in 100. (sporting)

As an aside, I did have to choke up a bit (forehand grip a bit closer to action) to be comfortable - but that's not a bad thing.

Try it. Let us know if you get similar results.

Rob!
 
the spank said:
I had this same issue manifest itself beginning in 2015. Same thing, the optamologist said your left is trying to take over and dominate. Solutions he offered? Shoot one eye closed, nope been a two eyed shooter all my life. Don't like shooting one eye only. Second, one of those tape on to your rib sight blinders by Meadow Industries, doesn't seem like a consistent idea to me so never tried it but who knows maybe it works? He said it blocks the dominant eye from focusing on the bead and switching to that eye. Lastly a piece of tape, in this case a colour matched to my lens translucent oval plastic dot(no glue) purpose designed for this issue over the left eye lens of my shooting glasses, ok I'll give that a try. Been using the dot since. Took some getting used to at first but now I don't even notice it and my shooting improved significantly. You still retain 100% of your peripheral vision but the pupil is prevented from focusing(dominating) over your once dominant eye. I use my shooting glasses for hunting as well and that dot has helped restore my wingshooting birds too.
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Hi,

I'm curious if the dot affects your hold point at all. I shoot two eyes open and hold a high gun. Does my hold point have to change if I ever needed to use the dot?

Thanks for your posts.
 
A square of Scotch tape in the correct spot with the gun mounted is great. I have peripheral vision but can only see the front bead with my right eye.
 
gr8trapper said:
Hi,

I'm curious if the dot affects your hold point at all. I shoot two eyes open and hold a high gun. Does my hold point have to change if I ever needed to use the dot?

Thanks for your posts.
Click to expand...

No. Same hold points. Only place I notice a difference is on skeet on high 2 if I hold a mounted gun. I just have to hold a bit lower to see the target emerge from the house a little sooner but if I hold a low gun which is how I mostly shoot skeet to practice for hunting then it's a non-issue. On trap nothing changed for me.
 
Amazing when this topic came up that "we" the problem eye guys have a few others that have had issues as well.The one senior well to me anyway shoots with a dark lenses on his left eye and the yellow or lighter lenses on his right.He says he can still pick the bird up but his right eye retains dominance as it has more light therefore dilation blah blah .Don't know if that would work for me but have got some Shooters Magic eye dots coming to replace the tape .Thanks you Spank for that cheers RD
 
reddog said:
Amazing when this topic came up that "we" the problem eye guys have a few others that have had issues as well.The one senior well to me anyway shoots with a dark lenses on his left eye and the yellow or lighter lenses on his right.He says he can still pick the bird up but his right eye retains dominance as it has more light therefore dilation blah blah .Don't know if that would work for me but have got some Shooters Magic eye dots coming to replace the tape .Thanks you Spank for that cheers RD
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Glad I could be of help. Hope it works out for you. Have someone help you align it. In my case I did as Dr. Barry Nolt(sporting clays shooter-Optamolgist) suggested to me. I put all my shooting gear on including glasses and mounted my gun as I would to shoot loooking down the rib to a hold point over the house(we went to the club). I had my wife use a magic marker and place a dot of ink over the centre of my left pupil on the outside of my lens once I was aligned properly and focusing out over my hold point where I would look for a target upon calling pull. Once she marked the spot I placed the magic dot centred on the ink dot BUT on the inside of the lens. Then I used glass cleaner to remove the ink spot on the outside of the lens. I used a light orange dot for my orange(target shooting) lens and an opaque dot for my clear(hunting) lens. If the dot starts to get discoloured with age I just mark centre again with a magic marker then replace the dot with a new one. I think I've changed 3 in 7 years? I carry a sleeve of spares and a magic marker in my shooting bag should I lose the dot at a shoot.
 
reddog said:
Amazing when this topic came up that "we" the problem eye guys have a few others that have had issues as well.The one senior well to me anyway shoots with a dark lenses on his left eye and the yellow or lighter lenses on his right.He says he can still pick the bird up but his right eye retains dominance as it has more light therefore dilation blah blah .Don't know if that would work for me but have got some Shooters Magic eye dots coming to replace the tape .Thanks you Spank for that cheers RD
Click to expand...

IMHO cause we are all now old farts falling apart :(
 
the spank said:
Glad I could be of help. Hope it works out for you. Have someone help you align it. In my case I did as Dr. Barry Nolt(sporting clays shooter-Optamolgist) suggested to me. I put all my shooting gear on including glasses and mounted my gun as I would to shoot loooking down the rib to a hold point over the house(we went to the club). I had my wife use a magic marker and place a dot of ink over the centre of my left pupil on the outside of my lens once I was aligned properly and focusing out over my hold point where I would look for a target upon calling pull. Once she marked the spot I placed the magic dot centred on the ink dot BUT on the inside of the lens. Then I used glass cleaner to remove the ink spot on the outside of the lens. I used a light orange dot for my orange(target shooting) lens and an opaque dot for my clear(hunting) lens. If the dot starts to get discoloured with age I just mark centre again with a magic marker then replace the dot with a new one. I think I've changed 3 in 7 years? I carry a sleeve of spares and a magic marker in my shooting bag should I lose the dot at a shoot.
Click to expand...

Excellent, thanks again.

My trap scores were suffering, and I (thought) I was dealing with this issue of my left eye taking over sometimes. In my mind I thought I was noticing the left side of the rib and barrel. It turned out I was just bead checking and of course trying too hard. A better gun fit and better technique (holding a higher gun, taking more time before calling) seems to have solved the bead checking problem for me. But with the eyes just getting older you never know when I may need the dot.
 
Well today the "dot "is starting to make the difference back to back 25 in singles and crushed a 23 from the 25. The birds are right there and I'm not experiencing that strain or befuddlement that has haunted me for the last year and change. I know I'm already befuddled but it is not as bad so says me.
 
reddog said:
Well today the "dot "is starting to make the difference back to back 25 in singles and crushed a 23 from the 25. The birds are right there and I'm not experiencing that strain or befuddlement that has haunted me for the last year and change. I know I'm already befuddled but it is not as bad so says me.
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Awesome! Thanks for the update. I am glad it's working out for you. If it's had that much of a good impact in such a short span it will only get better as you get used to it. Eventually you won't notice the dot. It just becomes second nature or at least thats how it was for me. Any misses now for me are my doing(making mistakes) not because of my vision.
 
I can confirm I don’t have a 100% dominant eye when judging lead on long wait for a bird I need to close one eye or lower my gun and shoot more last minute.
I had to change my shooting style to shoot faster (instinctive) and not be a calculated shooter which helps as my brain/eye remains consistent.
I am working through the challenges but I have moved from a 50/100 to 70/100 since my change late last year. It probably won’t work for everyone but it’s how I have started to make forward motion.
 
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