Left eye dominant Right handed son with shooting issues

I was hoping to get my eleven year old son out deer hunting this year. When we finally found time in late fall to start practicing with his rifle he was all over the place with his shooting. I took me a while to figure it out but he is left eye dominant and right handed. unfortunately I already purchased a right handed 7mm 08 bolt action. I am basically a self taught hunter and never have had to deal with this I am wondering what my best course of action is from here. Thank you in advance Shane.

one more sugges. that may help, i am not sure where you guys live, but there is a guy at J&H sporting clays, or j&h gun club in Navarino,wi [ near shawno> that will get your son dialed in on the both eye tech on shotgun for next to no cost. Steve is a Great guy, and love to help encourage women and youth to get involved in the shooting sports. Give them a call. they have limited rifle range area, but if you get your' son up to spend an hour or two with Steve, you will see a huge improvement in form and ability. He used to 'coach' women and kids for no fee.here is there # 715-758-8134. tell him tom and cindy sent you. good luck.

i found out i have the same issue when as a young shooter had the priv. to have Coach Frank Briggs coach my smallbore team. I learned to raise cheek/ close eye enough to get me away from wearing a patch over left, my dad wasn't of the mindset to want me to shoot leftie. as an adult, i have learned to shoot with both eyes open, and am a better shot shooting shotgun left, rifle right. this has had advantages on a few clay courses over the years. my sugg. is to try the patch over left eye, have the kid try and learn to close left eye. or maybe to have him shoot leftie. good luck. good to know that you found the issue. p.s. i burn alot of brass learning the both eyes open deal... but i am a better shot for it, as long as the deer, grouse, pheasants have paper plates on them...i seldom miss. good call on the 7mm08, basically a necked down 308, excellent cal. take care. be safe.. tom a

I am left eye dominant and shoot right handed. Have been doing so for 54 years. Dad said he could not afford a left handed gun so I would have to shoot right handed. It is not a problem at all when shooting a rifle with a scope. Once your non-dominant eye is focused through the scope it is difficult for your left eye to take over. I shoot with both eyes open and it actually seems to help with an animal going to the left. With a shotgun he will have to close the left eye or do as others have said and obstruct the left lens of a pair of shooting glasses. I personally can't hit the wall with a shotgun but have no problems at all with a scoped rifle

There are amedexturs guns out there shot guns Browing BPS Mosseburg & Ithaca or go with Rem and have gun smith install LH safety is what I do. Go with Rem semi auto rifles and switch safetys.

I am living proof of a kids eye dominance changing just like coach wallace examples. I had the same eye dominance problem as a kid. I just couldn't train my brain to switch hands. I got this suggestion from am old timer at Cudahy gun club in the late 90's, I took a pair of safety glasses and placed scotch tape on the left lense to blur it out and I began shooting with both eyes open and shot 20's at trap consistently. As I got older I developed a pretty good stigmatism in my left eye. This of course won't work for all people but with the stigmatism I no longer need the scotch tape since it naturally blurs and my eye dominance changed with age. But until then, the scotch tape worked out great. I was able to shoot shotguns, rifles and bows fairly naturally and very well. Shooting two eyes open trained me to shoot more instinctively as well. I shoot high 30's low 40's at sporties regularly, shoot excellent groups with the bow and I'm great with a rifle. I've never missed a deer with the rifle minus two scope failures, but that's what I get for buying a cheap scope.

I am right handed and left eye domaint. I shoot left handed , but couldnt shoot a left handed gun to save my life! Aint nothing wrong doing things a little different!!

I am a Hunter Education Junior Instructor and we have a student like this almost every year. You want them to stick to with the dominate eye and switch hands. It is much easier to switch hands then eyes. It is a little tricky to shoot left handed at first but once he gets used to shooting left handed he shouldn't be all over the place as much. Like coachwallace said kids eyes can switch but he would just have to get used to using his right hand for shooting if his eyes would switch. Good luck

I am left eye dominate and I shoot a bolt action rifle. The rifle is right handed. I shoot left handed. I am ambidextrous. Lots of practice. Preferably with a 22. More fun, cheaper ammo. Trouter

I would try and do what the others have said and try and get your son to switch over, but if that can't happen what I would do would be to get him a pair of shooting glasses and put a piece of frosted scotch tape on the left eye piece and then let him shoot with his right eye. You don't what to cover up the whole lens, you just want to block that eye from taking over when he is going to shoot, I must stress you don't want to cover the whole lens with tape this will cut back on his depth perception, you just want to block that eye when he is down on his gun and ready to squeeze the trigger. Give it a try, all that you'll be out is some frosted scotch tape, seeing that he should have glasses anyway.

I am going to give you a piece of advice about eye dominance that has been learned over the past 6 years teaching 200+ kids a year to shoot archery at my elementary school. Eye dominance is not well developed in kids and can change from year to year, month to month, and even within a few weeks. I can give several examples of weak eye dominance in kids and dominant eye switching. I teach NASP to 2nd-3rd-4th graders every year and when I started one of the first things I did was tell the kid what was their dominant eye and that they should shoot that handed. Seemed the smart thing to do to get them on their dominant eye. Problem is that kids' brains will switch eye dominance if it is easier on the brain. The last several years, I changed to handedness. I start the kids out by asking them to stand like they were shooting an imaginary bow. I have them try both ways, left and right, to see if one feels better. One of them most likely will and that is what I start them on. It may not match their eye dominance, but that is as simple as closing their off eye when aiming. I still have kids whose eye dominance switches, but getting them comfortable with their equipment sooner has produced higher retention and enjoyment. Kisik Lee (US Olympic Archery Coach) and several other coaches promote learning with handedness, not eye dominance. It is easier to retrain eye dominance than handedness. Ultimately, you and your kid must decide what works best for him.

I am left eye dominant. I shoot my gun LH, write and do most precision stuff lefty. Sports, I have always done Righty. Lefty has always seemed ackward with anything that needs strength and coordination. I shoot my bow RH, I have done this since age 8 or so, I am now 30. I only had one time where it almost effected a shot on a deer, but since I have been shooting this way, since a very young age, I'm good to go. As far as firearms being the wrong way, I ve never had an issue with a RH pump. With the safety, you just hold the gun tilted to the left with your finger on the button, never has it slowed me up or caused a missed shot. As most others here have said. Give him ammo and practice. The bolt action should be a one shot gun anyhow, so let him learn to shoot with his dominant eye and sell it when he wants something else. Guns that have worked great for me, are a LH A bolt, Browning BPS bottom eject and a 10/22 ruger that never bothered me shooting it from the oppo side. Remington 7600 pump has worked great for my wife and I, a combined 27 years, during gun season. We are both LH'd.

Shane Everyone on here is correct about not being able to change his dominant eye. This is a problem when shooting with both eyes open. On the rifle, a scope will allow him to use only his right eye and with a bow with sites, have him close his left eye. Shotgun might be more difficult but have him close left eye here when shooting as well. inahve dad and brother in the same scenario and it has worked for them. Also, when shooting with an eleven year old, you describe his shots as being all over the place. My here can be a lot of reasons for this in addition to the possibility of it being his eye dominance. Scope or open sights Rest or no rest Distance Take it slow

Those can probably be sold, no? You can't change the fact that he is left-eye dominant. Didn't you do the simple test with him to find out prior to purchasing? Tim

My other problems are he has a RH bow that is 2 years old and is adjustable up to 50lbs and he has a RH pump shotgun.

Being left-handed and right-eye dominant or vice versa is irrelevant. If he is left-eye dominant, have him shoot lefty! As others have already posted, I am left-handed but right eye dominant so I shoot right handed. You don't really have a choice. Tim