Eye dominance

[kctibs]

So who has or had right handed kids and left eye dominant kids. What do you do and do you teach them to switch shooting hands or switch eye usage. My boy has this same problem I just taped his shooting glasses on the left side until it became natural for him to use his right eye. He does really well now after about two years. No tape now. He has a 4 H shooting coach that now wants him to shoot left handed. It really upset my boy and I stood behind him and told it was up to him.  Which he said no, the coach said we are not doing him right and if he shoots good now he will only shoot better left. What do others think? Has anybody run in to the same problem?

[Dee]

kctibs, I was one of those kids. I taught myself to shoot, and my solution was shooting right handed with a dominant left eye, I climbed over the stock. It worked into adulthood, until I started shooting military rifles, and then things had to change. Although ambidextrous, I am stronger right handed, so I trained myself to close my left eye.
I went on to become a police range instructor, a SWAT team leader and instructor, and never shot below Master lever for 20 years. I NEVER shot below 96% of 100 for that time on scoring runs.
 If you son is strong right handed, but left eye dominant, I personally would train him to right eye. You can start with a patch, and work your way down. Also have him do hand exercises where he lines something like the end of a pencil with an object in front of him, while both eyes are open, and he can shut either eye to see which eye he used. He can train himself this way to switch eyes, with minor adjustments. And yes, it can be done even when shooting pistols and revolvers. Good luck

[kctibs]

Dee Thanks for your story is good to hear I figured what I was doing was ok for my boy. What you suggest is basiclly what we are doing. He now shoots shotgun both eyes open' haven't quite got to where he can shoot a scope with both eyes open. Just furstrating when some tells you to change what you have been doing for a couple years now and having good progess.

[Doublebass73]

I have two daughters, one is left handed/right eye dominant and the other is right handed/left eye dominant. The right handed one could shoot surprisingly well right handed so I never thought to check her eye dominance. When I took her to buy her first bow the guy at the store checked and that's when I realized that she was left eye dominant. I bought her a left handed bow and she shot it well immediately. Just to keep her consistent I switched her over to shooting a gun left handed even thought she'd already been shooting righty for years. It didn't take her long to shoot a gun well lefty after a little practice. You'd be surprised at how well kids can adapt and with a little coaxing he may be able to make an easy switch to lefty after a little practice. It's all in how you present it to him. Make it fun first and foremost.

[kctibs]

That's totally his call. If he want to try it he sure can. I did try coaxing him some but like most kids he's got his own opinion. It's one of those things that it has to be their idea.

[Ron 1]

i myself am left handed and right eye dominant i am self taught as a hunter/shooter.
i have the most trouble on running rabbits thru a scope on.22 becouse i have to close my right eye to see the crosshairs. then try to find that running rabbit with just the scope
i have tryed to be a right hand shooter but was just to uncomfortable  if i could do it over it think i would have tryed harder to use right hand to shoot.as others when using scopes may have both eyes open have a better feild of veiw. just my opinion shooting is sapost to be fun not a choir or like well not fun.
  i dont know if you can make the other eye stronger or dominant  if possible that would have been my choise
the hand switch was just to weard for me.    
                                                          rw                                               

[equinoxbuilders]

I'm so glad I'm reading this post.  Thank you Dee for your input.
I thought nothing to check my daughters' eye dominance when starting her shooting 3yrs ago.  She's right handed, does everything righty and has been shooting right handed.  I just started shooting with my boy who is ambidextrous.  Knowing this I checked his dominance and found his right eye to be dominant.  That's when my daughter turns to me at the range and says, "hey, my left eye is dominant".  It made me feel like a real piece of work.  Upset at myself for not checking her dominance 3yrs ago.
I want to get her to at least try shooting lefty, but she wants no part of it.
I won't push the issue, but I believe with practice I could get her to shoot equally well or better shooting lefty than righty.  But I'm glad to read I shouldn't push the issue.

Thank you everyone for this post.
EQ

[dukkillr]

It depends on what you are going to do.  If you are shooting mostly pistols I suspect you are fine right handed... I'm not much of a pistol shot so I'd trust other's opinions there. 

HOWEVER, if you are going to be a serious wingshooter you absolutely want to switch her to left handed.  It is important to be able to shoot with both eyes open and you cannot look down the sight plane with the wrong eye.  Probably not a huge issue for trap or the occasional duck hunt, but if you think she's going to be a serious wing shot I'd switch now.

I am right handed, do everything right handed, but have a dominate left eye.  I shoot shotguns and rifles left handed but I don't think it makes much difference with rifles.

[luckydawg13]

good read my son is right handed lost most of hi eye sight in his right eye he shoots rifle as a lefty handgun a righty now this works for him

[Mt_Sourdough]

I am right handed and dominant left eye.  I taught myself how to shoot while growing up.  Gophers and plinking mostly.  I never shot shotguns or bird hunted for that matter.  I always shot with my left eye closed and didn't learn that people can shoot with both eyes open until much later in life.  I still shoot with my left eye closed and it works for all the shooting and hunting that I do.

[Lon371]

 My younger daughter now 19. Has a stigmatism in her right eye. It tends to wonder on occassion. She is normally right handed. I caught her laying her head over the stock. So for safety concerns, I had her try shooting with her left hand. Walaa she is a very good shot and have been shooting that way every since. Still does everything else right handed.

 To your question, If the boy is comfortable and likes shooting right handed I would let him continue. But I would also try to get him to shoot left handed. Reason being you never know where the critters are coming from. But I would not push the issue if you think it would chase him away from shooting sports.  Also like you I would stand behind the kid and let him shoot his way as long as there is no saftey issues.

Lonny