Video: What Shotguns and Shoes Have in Common - Fit Matters

I was super excited to be invited by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to do a presentation for its R3 Harvest Huddle Hour series about choosing a shotgun that's right for you.

It was, of course, inspired by my long struggle dealing with cross-dominance and a stupid-long neck - both of which taught me the importance of good fit, and inspired me to become adept at adjusting shotgun fit.

That knowledge has come in handy in my volunteer work with scores of new hunters, including lots of women (among whom cross-dominance is common).

The presentation covers:

• What type of shotgun to buy
• Understanding gun fit
• Buying a shotgun
• Safety considerations
• Ways to practice with your new gun

Enjoy!

© Holly A. Heyser 2021

Op-ed: Ammunition background check disaster in California

When the California Legislature enacted an ammunition background check law in 2016, they said it would be convenient and easy for law-abiding gun owners to go through the check.

The state had three years to develop the regulations for carrying out background checks.

So what happened? The state finalized the regs literally the week before the law went into effect last summer, and did such a bad job on them that literally tens of thousands of ammo purchases by law-abiding gun owners have been rejected.

Click here to read what I've got to say about that.

© Holly A. Heyser 2019

Video: CWA-BOW Women's Pheasant Hunt Weekend

California Waterfowl's Women's Pheasant Hunt Weekend is very dear to me: Before I started working for CWA, I was volunteering for CWA, and this was my favorite event.

Located at Birds Landing between the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, the event gives women the chance to get licensed, learn to shoot and try hunting for just $250. Because gear is provided, this basically means if they decide they hate hunting, they're out just two days and $250 because they didn't have to invest in a gun or hunting gear.

Of course, that's superfluous because the women always want to keep hunting. Check out the video from this year's event and you'll see why. And if you'd like to learn more about CWA's women's events, click here.



© Holly A. Heyser 2016

Video: Argentina dove hunting time-lapse

Virtually every wingshooter has heard of the mythic dove hunting down in Argentina: wave after never-ending wave of doves. Like every hunter, I've had high expectations dashed, so I've always wondered if it could really be that good down there.

Last week I found out: Yes, it can. It really is that good.

I spent the week with outfitter Maers & Goldman in Córdoba, Argentina, on a mission to photograph every angle of their operation, and of course to slip in a little hunting as well. The visuals were stunning, but I felt like still photos alone didn't do the hunting justice. Even when I caught a flock of 50 doves in the frame, that didn't convey the relentless intensity of the flight. What to do?

Answer: time-lapse.

Last Friday we arranged for the two best shooters in our group, Lex and Ken, to hunt together (hunters usually hunt alone there, though in a big, social line along the edge of a farm field, as we do here). I put my camera on a tripod behind them and set it to take one photo every second for 15 minutes - 900 frames.

The hunt turned out to be pretty average for the week - the big day had been Thursday. So what does average look like? The video is below - 1:12 of time-lapse. Be sure to watch to the end to see the numbers!



© Holly A. Heyser 2016

Video: How much to lead a moving target

I work with a lot of new shooters and hunters, and one of the hardest things to explain is how much you need to lead a moving target with your shotgun. It seems everyone perceives it differently.

A while back I told my pal Phil Bourjaily I wanted to use a shotgun-mounted POV camera to examine lead, and he said that was the wrong choice of camera. "What you need," he said, "is a ShotKam."

He was right. Using a wifi connection to your tablet or smartphone, you can align the ShotKam's reticle, then get footage where a red dot (or some other marker) shows your exact point of aim. What an awesome invention! Bonus points: Playback is at 1/4 speed, so you can see clay breaking in glorious detail.

I'll do a thorough review of the ShotKam down the road, but for now I wanted to share a video that illustrates lead at all the stations of skeet. And if you can't wait for the review, run over to the ShotKam website and learn more about it there. Tell 'em I sent you!


© Holly A. Heyser 2016

Democrats and Republicans Shootin' 'Em Up Together - a video for California Waterfowl

Yep, sometimes for my job, I get to spend the afternoon at the shooting range! But don't get too jealous - when you're shooting video, you don't really have much time to play with guns.

But this was a fun little video. Sportsmen's groups do this event every year where we bring California lawmakers and their staffs out to my own favorite range, the Cordova Shooting Center, for a little trap and skeet shooting. Click play on the short video below to see why.

And check out the nice double at 0:34 - beautiful follow-through on the second shot. That's Tracey Fremd, one of our past board members who served on California Waterfowl's legislative/policy committee. She's the one who first got me hooked up with CWA as a volunteer seven years ago!

© Holly A. Heyser 2015

Holly and the Ninja - a column for Shotgun Life

No two ways about it: Staring down the wrong end of a shotgun barrel is creepy as hell. Find out why I was doing that in my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2015

Novice Women's Duck Hunt - a video slideshow

For the fourth year in a row, my friend Judy Oswald and I have organized a fantastic event for women: the Novice Women's Duck Hunt.

It starts with a day of training ... no, wait. It started with a night of drinking, and THEN we started training the next day: shooting instruction, waterfowl ID, calling and plucking/gutting. The next morning, we all head off to a cluster of three duck clubs in the Upper Butte Basin.

This year's group of women was fantastic. They were excellent shots, they were super fun and a few got limits on their hunt, including one of the brand-newbies! Good stuff, for sure, and you can get an idea of the fun by watching this video:

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

I want to believe (in my dove hunting spot) - a column for Shotgun Life.

Dove season in NorCal last month was, um, pretty lame. For the most part. A spot that performed pretty damned well last year was ... well, that's the subject of my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

Why failure is good - a column for Shotgun Life

Whenever I work with new shooters or hunters who want to get into duck hunting, I always work really hard to lower their expectations. Shooting clays is hard enough; shooting ducks that move faster and can change course instantly can be almost impossible for the newbie.

It turns out that embracing failure is really good for your brain, and my latest column for Shotgun Life explains why.

And here's a fun postscript you won't see in the column: Minutes after I sent that tale of epic failure to my editor, I got an email from someone submitting a hunting photo for the magazine I edit, California Waterfowl. The caption - with names changed, of course - said this:

Bobby Jones, age 14 attended the 2014 Youth Hunt at the Quack Quack Duck Club and took
a full limit of seven ducks while only firing nine rounds.  This was Bobby's first duck hunt.

OMG.

Sigh.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

Making it work - a column for Shotgun Life

If you're a bird hunter, you know damn well what you have to do to stay sharp: When you're not hunting, you MUST shoot clays. A lot. Kinda like if you want to lose weight, you have to exercise. A lot.

Four years ago, I did just that over the summer (shoot, not exercise - that's another issue) and I had my best season yet. This year, I discovered how to get my groove back, and that, my friends, is the topic of my latest column in Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

This ain't your daddy's hunter ed class - a video for California Waterfowl

You could take a regular hunter education class if you were ready to start hunting.

But why would you do that when you could do something like this instead?

I shot this video at California Waterfowl's Family Camp in June, one of many hunter ed camps we do at our property in the Suisun Marsh, Grizzly Ranch. At this one, kids and their parents go through hunter ed together, but we've also got kids-only camps, adult-only camps, women's camps - you name it.

This was incredibly fun to shoot - didn't even feel like I was working. Check it out, and if you know someone who's ready to start hunting, please share it with him or her - there's still time to sign up for more camps this summer.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

The one true way to shoot a shotgun: a column for Shotgun Life

All I'm gonna say is the headline above is total B.S. To see why, check out my latest column in Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

Grizzly Ranch Fun Shoot - a video for California Waterfowl

A couple years ago, California Waterfowl was lucky enough to acquire Grizzly Ranch, a fantastic duck club in the Suisun Marsh, just south of Fairfield.

We do a lot of hunts and educational programs there, which is awesome, but summer is when everyone gets a chance to come check out the club's wicked sporting clays course during our monthly fun shoots. Check out the video below for a preview of the course, and if you happen to live a reasonable driving distance from Fairfield, come join us! Fun shoots are held the second Saturday of the month through September.

Newbies are welcome too - we have instruction for beginners.

Pre-registration is required, as is non-toxic shot, because the course is actually in the marsh. For more information, go here.

 

 © Holly A. Heyser 2014

Making a GREAT impression on new co-workers - a column for Shotgun Life

If there ever was a situation ripe for disaster, it was this:

Holly joins hunting/conservation organization as the new editor of its magazine. Organization invites Holly to Staff Day before she even starts work. Staff Day will feature shooting on a challenging sporting clays course. Scores will be kept.

It went as badly as you'd imagine, but with a silver lining you'd never expect in a thousand years. Check out what happened in my latest column in Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2013

Depressing news - a column for Shotgun Life

I've been remiss in posting links of late, but here's my (depressing) May column for Shotgun Life.

Spoiler alert - this column doesn't reflect it but I'm pretty sure there's gonna be a happy ending.

Whew!

© Holly A. Heyser 2013

The Benelli SuperNova: review for thetruthaboutguns.com

If there's a hierarchy in shotguns, pumps are at the bottom (cheap), autoloaders are in the middle (faster!) and doubles are at the top (elegant, nostalgic and ridiculously overpriced at the high end).

Leave it to me, though, to look into taking a step down, rather than up. After growing tired of my autoloader's propensity to develop rust in places I couldn't reach, leading to my gun jamming at inopportune times, I wanted to see if I could make a switch to a more durable pump.

The results of my experiment with the Benelli SuperNova have been published in a gun review for thetruthaboutguns.com.

Included in the review is my very first appearance in front of the camera in this demo showing how easy it is to break down the SuperNova.

© Holly A. Heyser 2012

Fickle confidence - a column for Shotgun Life

The most elusive game for me is not a bird or a mammal or a fish - it's my confidence. Yet somehow, I can still pull out of a downward shooting spiral once in a while and make some really good shots. That little roller coaster ride is the topic of my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2012

Five things you need to know when teaching a woman how to shoot a shotgun - a column for shotgun life

© Holly A. Heyser

Gunmaker Dale Tate fits a shotgun

for a left-handed shooter.

Are female shooters really that different than male shooters?

In proficiency, no. But there are some key differences between us when it comes to getting us started with shotguns, and that's what I've written about for this month's column in Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2012

Biathlon - a story in the Sacramento Bee

                                                            Photo © Holly A. Heyser 2012

A novice biathlete racing at the Auburn Ski Club drops
to the pad where she'll take five shots at targets 50 yards
away with a .22 rifle. Novices are not allowed to carry
rifles while skiing until they're certified.

Man, doing this story for the Sacramento Bee really made me want to branch out and try biathlon. It's not just because I need the exercise (boy do I!), but also because biathlon teaches you to calm your racing heart before taking a shot. Sounds perfect for hunting big game, eh?

Cool thing I learned during the reporting on this one is that one of the very few biathlon ranges in the entire West is just up the hill from where I live in Sacramento.

If any of you locals want to give it a try, the Auburn Ski Club will be doing another beginners clinic April 21, followed by a race the next day. The info is in the story.

© Holly A. Heyser 2012