Joe, please keep us posted on your scores. I am fighting a similar problem. My Rx glasses are for clarity, but I'm still searching for the glasses that I am really comfortable with when shooting. At the same time, I can shoot fine without Rx glasses some of the time. I think I have narrowed it down to how much I need to be able to visually focus on the bird. In calm conditions, I shoot as well or better without Rx glasses. However, when it is windy and I really need to see where the bird is and where it is going, shooting without Rx is a disaster. I can handle the fuzziness from not wearing the Rx glasses unless the birds do unexpected things (as they tend to do in the wind). I also think either change (going to or away from Rx) makes me focus mentally a bit more for a while, which leads to a temporary spike in scores. Unfortunately, I'm not shooting enough this spring to really be able to figure this out.

 

It is important for your shooting eye to have the best image. Your brain will choose
the best image to make its calculations. HMB

 

I shootwith both eyes, which one needs the better image?

 

The weird thing is, with both eyes open, the targets are clearer with glasses than without. It took me a while to realize the relative clarity between the eyes is what's important.

 

Joe, please keep us posted on your scores. I am fighting a similar problem. My Rx glasses are for clarity, but I'm still searching for the glasses that I am really comfortable with when shooting. At the same time, I can shoot fine without Rx glasses some of the time. I think I have narrowed it down to how much I need to be able to visually focus on the bird. In calm conditions, I shoot as well or better without Rx glasses. However, when it is windy and I really need to see where the bird is and where it is going, shooting without Rx is a disaster. I can handle the fuzziness from not wearing the Rx glasses unless the birds do unexpected things (as they tend to do in the wind). I also think either change (going to or away from Rx) makes me focus mentally a bit more for a while, which leads to a temporary spike in scores. Unfortunately, I'm not shooting enough this spring to really be able to figure this out.

Wind picked up in second round last night with an effect on targets, just kept breaking them. Without prescription eye wear.

 

IMO, good vision is the single most important thing when it comes to clay target shooting!

You can't hit what you can't see.

 

Avg before the switch was 40/50.

 

I remember I was having a problem crossfiring last year, I noticed during class one day that my right was clearer without my glasses or contacts. I went to the eye doctor and it turns out my eyes (particularly the right) have improved a fair amount over the year since my last eye appointment. My right eye went from +2.25 to +1.00 and my left 2.50 to 2.25. My prescription was too much and it was causing my right to be blurry, this leading to the crossfire. My first round after my prescription change was a 25. Moral of the story is to always get your eyes checked often, especially before shooting season.

 

If you have corrective lenses in shooting glasses you can take the lenses out of

1. Put the glasses on and test your dominant eye by pointing, a hole in paper, whatever.

2. Take one lens out and retest.

3. Put that lens back in and take the other one out.

4. Retest your dominance.

You will then know if "Brain will use the clearer eye."

Try it!

Neil

 

The brain has a remarkable capacity to compensate for loss of vision, whether it be due to injury, cataract, retinal detachment or degeneration, or a brain injury affecting the optic pathways and processing. Put a patch over the eye with the best visual acuity, and we will all use the eye that still works; dominant or non-dominant. That is how the various patches, tape, etc. force the shooter to use the eye that corresponds to handedness.
That is an entirely different issue than dominance shifting. I switched to my left eye...and continue to switch back and forth...but my left visual acuity is slightly less than my right. Loss of vision in the formerly dominant eye MAY be a reason, but is not necessarily THE reason.

 

Great thread, Joe. I believe I've been battling this since my last prescription change. If I take my finger and pull down on the left hinge of my glasses, both eyes get a clearer image. Either they got the astigmatism wrong (both eyes?) or they gypped me when I asked for "Digital Lens". Only cost me $358 and I provided the frames (new). I'm going to try all of my old lenses and see what I come up with. Thanks, Joe!

Bob Falfa

 

Who said anything about dominance? Not me. I contend that my brain is using the relative clarity of my two eyes, when they are not the same, to 'decide' which one to use while shooting and site my recent scores as evidence. The clarity test is simple, close one eye and the the other, take my glasses off and retest.

I need to do something about my low scores which i am doing and apparently others can relate.

Hope to get to the eye doc soon, but i will probably shoot without correction to see if my solution is consistent. It sure feels good to get a straight once in a while again.

 

As people get older they often develop vision problems.

In my opinion, the major cause of this is not age, but
diet.

Probably the leading figure on diet in America is Joel
Wallach. He says supplementing diet especially with
minerals is necessary to proper vision and general
health. I think he is right, and here is an example.

In 1998 Wallach was giving a lecture in Salt Lake City,
UT. During question and answer man asks, can anything
be done for my mother, legally blind now for 8 years from
macular degeneration.

Wallach responds, "Macular degeneration is easy to
prevent and reverse due to the accumulation of
"ceroid lipofucin", pigment caused by free radical
damage to the retina of the eye."

Immediately a man jumps up and says, "You are a liar,
I am an eye doctor and there is no way you can cure
or prevent macular degeneration, it is due to aging,
and there is no cure".

Wallach said, "who are you?".

Doctor says, "Dr. Ronald Pugh".

Wallach says, "Give me 12 of your patients who
have been legally blind for 8 to 10 years and if
I can get (half) 6 of them to read again 20/20
within 90 days, will you apologize?"

The doctor says, "If you can get two to read 20/20
I will apologize."

Next day the doctor gave him the charts of 27
blind patients, from macular degeneration, and
Wallach put them on nutrients in the diet and
25 could read 20/20 within 90 days without
glasses, and the remaining 2 could do it but
had to use glasses.

The doctor apologized, on a CD, saying "Seeing
is believing".
------------------------------

If you have any interest in following up on this
and getting more information on mineral supplementation
let me know, and I will tell you where to look.

Do not have macular degen. Doc would have caught it.

 

For the umpteenth time "Your brain will choose the best image to make its calculations" is not correct.
It may be for HMB, it might be for you, but it might NOT be for many of us.

Master_eye
The dominant eye seems to be unconnected to left-or-right handedness and even to which eye is currently the ‘best’ in terms of clarity of vision.

And using a scam artist like Wallach as a source adds nothing to HMB's credibility
Joel D. Wallach, the mineral doctor - dead doctors don't lie but this live one does - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com

No need to yell here.

 

My right master eye had very poor vision and I was booked for cataract surgery 2 weeks after the shoot. I was shooting very poor Singles but somehow managed to shoot one good score in Handicap. I could see the target clearly with my left eye but my right eye still noticed the hooded fiber optic bead.

 

If you have corrective lenses in shooting glasses you can take the lenses out of

1. Put the glasses on and test your dominant eye by pointing, a hole in paper, whatever.

2. Take one lens out and retest.

3. Put that lens back in and take the other one out.

4. Retest your dominance.

You will then know if "Brain will use the clearer eye."

Try it!

Neil

Retest my dominance? Don't actually care. I'm working on what happens after I call pull and I believe relative clarity between the two eyes is a key. What should I do when I'm shooting? I found something I believe works based on my scores. What can I change in terms of while I shoot? My ears are open.

General comment: if you alternative theory guys want to site some scores with your own problems/shooting, feel free to jump in. Otherwise, I would appreciate the lack of yelling.

 

Joe,
You are on the road to success. Use what works. The proof is in
the pudding. HMB

 

Gotta get these scores up. Shot a straight my last two times out without corrective lenses. That's more like it...where i want to be. Thanks for the encouraging words.

 

Neil, actually, I'm thinking about this: relative clarity over-rides dominance. What do you think about that? Thanks for your note. Always thought provoking.

 

relative clarity over-rides dominance.

I don't know about anyone else but in my case I am a two eyed shooter, left eye dominant, and a right handed shooter. Had cataract surgery on my right eye 5 months ago and it is 20/20, am near-sighted in my left eye. I shoot with plano lenses for both eyes so the vision is much better in my right than left. I am still left eye dominant and still have issues with cross firing. Anything I use to restrict the vision in my left eye is what I wind up seeing instead of the target and I cannot shoot with my left eye shut.

 

Joe,
You can also enhance the clarity of your shooting eye by selecting a colored
lens that makes the target stand out. While using a clear lens for your other
eye. Give it a try, you might like it. HMB

 

Joe, have you tried blackout around both eyes?

 

Like baseball players sometimes do on sunny days? No, but that's an interesting concept. What can you tell me about it?

 

You mean like this? Yeah, doesn't work.

 

I had some damage to my right eye about 30 years ago. Glasses help but the right is still fuzzy compared to left. I'm a 2 eyed shooter and right handed. Luckily no problems with cross firing.

No survivors
Bill

 

Find a optometrist or ophthalmologist that understands the level of visual acuity you need to shoot targets. I think the ratio of those in that field is about 1 in 100 that understand and are willing to do the work to help a shooter see. It is becoming common to have a "tech" do the refractory test and the doc blesses it and makes their money. I went through umpteen providers before I hit a couple good ones. Some are outright skunks, using just the scan to provide a script for your vision, I walked out on one of those.
Bifocal strength and placement can affect the overall lens and while you may not put them in the shooting lenses it is part of the overall combination that they are relying on for your script. The older you get the tougher it is to see well and the clowns in the business don't make it any easier......

 

Thanks for your note Biged. I believe I have an eye doc who will try to help me. Previous guy in that office was a rifle shooter so he understood and told me what he did - overcorrected my on guy eye slightly. I will ask for same and see what she says after I describe the slight fuzziness in my right eye with my new glasses. I've made friends with her and she smiles when I stop by, so maybe she will try to help.

Thanks again. You've had quite the struggle there.

 

In Colorado, at least in the Denver metro region, this guy is the go-to for a lot of shooters. He is a master class sporting clays shooter and has helped a lot of us see targets much better.

Jeff Marlatt, O.D.

 

How much clarity difference have you got?

With right eye I can see clearly from the beads on my gun to the shot-fall area. With my left eye which has a slight cataract, without a corrective lens I can see about 3 feet clearly, after that everything else is just a blur. Some times it is like shooting with my on gun eye shut and my off gun eye looking thru tape. I never know which eye is going to work and when. I can mount my gun, get my focus with my right eye, call for the target and the left eye will take over.

 

My brain now uses the clearest eye. I'm right handed, left eye dominate, and shoot left handed, and always been a one eyed shooter. I got sick of glasses and wanted Lasik surgery done. Dr. Recommended Lasic only on my left eye to clear up my distance sight, & leave my right eye alone. Often after lasik you need cheaters for close up vision. He said fix left eye for shooting & long range vision and leave right eye alone for close up vision. It worked exactly like he said. The only bad part is when looking at fine details 6-10 feet away, I get mixed results, I can feel my eyes & brain go back & fourth trying to figure out which eye to use.

 

. He said fix left eye for shooting & long range vision and leave right eye alone for close up vision. It worked exactly like he said. The only bad part is when looking at fine details 6-10 feet away, I get mixed results.

I don't believe I would have fell for that line of thinking. Gotta be a disaster.