Left eye dominant and right handed

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coconut
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Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by coconut »

I have been getting lil coconut started shooting a red Ryder BB gun and noticed he was aiming out of his left eye. He is right handed. We did a quick eye dominance test and discovered he is left eye dominant. I have no experience dealing with this any suggestions?
Cut N Run
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by Cut N Run »

I'm right handed & left eye dominant. I throw, write, hold a fork, open doors, and used to shoot a bow right handed. I cut with scissors, shoot a rifle, shotgun, & crossbow left handed. I can shoot a handgun either hand.

I learned to shoot left handed because shooting with my right was off and my grandfather recognized I was left eye dominant. I started hunting with single shot shotguns and double barrels. My first pump shotgun was right handed, because my parents couldn't find a left hand gun back in the 70s. Still to this day, all my hunting guns are right handed because I learned how to work a right bolt rifle left handed and I never notice the shell ejecting to the right from a semi automatic or pump shotgun. I owned a left hand shotgun once,but it seemed backwards & I sold it less than a year after I bought it. My favorite shotgun was an Ithaca 37R, which was bottom eject, though it was stolen over 30 years ago and I just never replaced it.

I would suggest having your son shoot a single shot from each side, then concentrate on developing his skills with whichever was closest to on target. Eventually, he will become comfortable going to his strength side. It's all about making the first shot count anyway.

I hope this helps.

Jim
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ICDEDTURKES
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

Triangle test,have him focus I somenthing 10 yards out, drraw to eye. Whatever is normally dominant

I'm right handed left footed
pullit
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by pullit »

I coach shotgun (SCTP) for the county I live in and I tell kids all the time that I think its a blessing to be cross dominant. I myself am cross dominant, my right eye is dominant and I am left handed. Think about what hand I have the most control with (my left hand) so I shoot right handed (due to my right eye being dominant). Any finger can pull the trigger but my left hand is doing all the work pointing the shotgun where it need to be.
Shoot with which ever eye is dominant and all will be fine. It may feel funny at first (it did for me when I first switched) but it is the only way to fly.
Your other option is to close one eye but then you cut off half of your field of view, not great when wing shooting....
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects

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howl
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by howl »

That's not rare. Gotta go with the stronger eye. I found throwing a ball and casting a line harder than shooting.

If he needs glasses later, it helps to find an ophthalmologist who shoots.
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howl
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by howl »

That's not rare. Gotta go with the stronger eye. I found throwing a ball and casting a line harder than shooting.

If he needs glasses later, it helps to find an ophthalmologist who shoots.
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Hognutz
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by Hognutz »

It’s not unusual for a young kid go do that. It may not be an eye dominance thing, at all. It’s just what feels comfortable to them. Never “shooting” a gun before, it is their “technique”. I’ve seen it many times with very young shooters and BB guns. I’m betting it will go away in time as he is taught different. Just my humble opinion but I’m pretty sure on this one. 👍
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Clydetaylor
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by Clydetaylor »

I am left eye dominant and shoot right handed just have to close left eye. I did not figure this out until I had been shooting a while. Just starting out i would try to start shooting left handed.
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by Hobbes_mobile »

While it may well be eye dominance, Hognutz is correct. My youngest did the same thing, but is not left eye dominant. I thought for a while that he didn't have a dominant eye. He's right handed, but would hold the gun left handed or right handed and look down the barrel with whichever eye. He never could grasp the eye dominance tests. He was our oddball learner. He did everything backwards from how I do things, from how he'd count on his fingers to how he learned to read.

I finally decided he was right eye dominant but was just comfortable shooting whichever way. I think he preferred lefty. Once I was comfortable with saying he was right eye dominant, I didn't let him switch back and forth, probably more for my sake than his (he did pretty good either way, buy drove me crazy).
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Hognutz
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by Hognutz »

Most young kids that are just starting to shoot BB guns and such, cannot close one eye only. When you tell them to close one eye, they close both. Crazy as it sounds.
They grow out of this too. Obviously.

Coconut.. Have your son try to close only his left eye and see what happens. He doesn’t have to be holding a gun to check this out. I’d be interested to how this shakes out! How old is he?
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coconut
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by coconut »

He is 8. We are getting kinda late start because he didn’t show much interest at first. I had a friend who forced his boy to hunt and the boy hates it now so I didn’t want to make that mistake. Mine wants to shoot every day now. I tried to get him to close one eye but both close every time.
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Hognutz
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by Hognutz »

Yup. This is part of the deal! No worries!! He will grow into shooting like all the rest of us. Way to early to worry about eye dominance.
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“Leave the gun, take the cannoli” -Clemensa
When attacked by a group of clowns...Go for the Juggler!!
coconut
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by coconut »

I had trouble closing one eye when I was his age too , until the pretty girl behind the counter at the country store winked at me one day. I got busy practicing and it’s been pretty much downhill from there.
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Hognutz
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by Hognutz »

The Wink! There’s a song there, somewhere!! 😁
May I assume you're not here to inquire about the alcohol or the tobacco?
I am the man from Nantucket.
“Leave the gun, take the cannoli” -Clemensa
When attacked by a group of clowns...Go for the Juggler!!
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Southern Sportsman
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by Southern Sportsman »

I would encourage him to shoot from his eye dominant side. Muscle memory will develop over time shooting lefty, but you cant change eye dominance.

I used to shoot trap a fair amount. One of the best shooters I knew (older guy) was right handed and left eye dominant. He grew up shooting right handed, but to compensate he always shot with shooting glasses and had a very small sticker in the middle of his left lens. He could still shoot with both eyes open but the sticker interfered with his left eye vision just enough that his right eye would take over. He said he wished someone had started him young shooting left handed instead.
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howl
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by howl »

If he's left eye dominant having him shoot RH and close the left eye will all kinds of screw him up on wingshooting later. It doesn't help on rifle shooting either.

I'll agree to not get overly excited at this age. You can't really get a straight answer from kids at that age a lot of the time. They're progressing from concrete to abstract thinking and they don't always know the difference vs. reality. Might as well just have fun and address specifics down the road. Most medical insurance covers a visit to an opthalmologist annually. You'll get good info from one, and more yet if he shoots clays.
firedup
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by firedup »

He is still pretty young but an easy way to experiment is just use an eye patch. He can be your little pirate buddy! You can switch it around so he can shoot left or right.
southpaw
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Re: Left eye dominant and right handed

Post by southpaw »

The triangle things works to some extent but is not the best way. I like to have them point at my nose. I stand back (15-20') and tell them to look at my nose and keep their hands at their side. I have them put both pointer fingers straight out pointing at the ground. While they are looking at my nose I have them bring their right hand up to point at my nose. You will see what eye they are looking at your nose with. Have them put that hand down and bring the other one up. The ones that have a dominant you will see right off. Some will struggle to grasp what you are doing but after a few times will get it. Have them bring their hand up slow and focus on your nose. You may have to have them bring the hand up fast. Just watch what they do.

The problem with the triangle thing I have seen is they tend to look at their hands when they are bringing them up. When they bring up a finger to point at your nose there is less for them to look at and they can keep looking at your nose. That is also why you have them use both hands to point at your nose. You will get the feel of it reel quick.

At some point you will get ones that do not have a dominant eye. They can be tough because they can tend to prefer one over the other. That is why I use the point method. When they point at you with their finger you can tell what eye they are looking with. If it is in the middle and then moves to one side you know they do not have dominant eye and what eye they prefer.

Back story. I guess you could say I am left handed. I write with my left hand. Everything else is what ever is easier at the time. I grew up playing ball right handed then realized I could do the same left handed. Always shot left handed. At an early age (13ish) my much older friends made me shoot right handed since I was much better than them. No problem there. In my mid 20's I took a training coarse to be a class one instructor for sporting clays. Instructor had us shoot off hand on a hard left and hard right crossing birds. I broke them all. Turns out I do not have a dominant eye. Now I know what to look for.

A couple of the neighbors daughters have taken me in and they like hunting. One of them does not have a dominant eye. The other is right handed. One is not sure about hunting and the fourth goes fishing with us. Yup, I have 6 girls around me between the age of 6 and 15. Yes I have painted nail, I have had all my nails painted, I have braided hair, had my hair braided, my bearded braided, went to work with things in my hair and answered the door with my nails done and pretty things in my hair. I don't regret it at all.

My baby is left eye dominant. She is right handed and I caught on like you did. She would grab the gun right handed and use her left eye to shoot. We did all the tests and she is left eye dominant/right handed, just like her mother. I caught this when she was 3-4 years old. Teach them the right way when they are young. Yup, I started all my kids shooting when they were 3. I never forced them to shoot but let them shoot when they want to. They shoot clay birds and spinning targets, keep it fun for them. Let them set the goals. But you set the expectations. If their goal is to hunt then you say you have to keep all the shots in fill in the blank. That gives them something to shoot for. Pun intended.

I prefer to shoot left handed and find it easier to teach right handed kids. Tho I have no problem with the left handed ones as I can relate and have no problem turning around and showing them what to do. Kids are easy to coach, they listen to you. Teach them right while they are young.
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