Right Handed but Left Eye Dominant

[HuntingJudge]

I am left eye dominate, right handed. I shoot a rifle right handed just the way I learned and its not a big issue. I shoot my bow left handed, and have switched back and forth a few different times with that. Honestly not a huge deal either way.

 

[TexanSam]

Go left handed.

Then force him to learn to write with his left hand. Right handed people are witches.

And teach him how to throw a baseball with his left hand and he'll have a much higher chance of getting a D1 scholarship!

I'm probably too late to the game since every other cross eye dominant person has shared their testimony and everyone is ready for the sermon to be done so they can get to the pot luck lunch, but I am left handed and right eye dominant. I shoot a bow and gun right handed and only miss sometimes..... Lol

 

[Abshire]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this or not already...teach him to shoot left and right-handed. If you have them do it enough, they never have to say they shoot "off-handed".

I was a firearms instructor overseas for a PMC in West Africa. The dominant eye does not mean as much as people think when it comes to shooting, even long-range precision shooting. It is not a large enough factor to really go one way or another. With enough time and practice, he should be shooting with both eyes open anyway. I know most of the shooting I have learned less precision and more snap-shooting, but the fundamentals remain the same for everyone across the board. Everyone should be learning to shoot left/right handed regardless of their eyes or experience. It is just smart..you never know when you might be in a situation where you need to shoot "off-hand".

Terrian and things like bushes and trees might dictate that you need to make a left-handed shot, for example. Sure you can move to get yourself in a position to fire with your right hand, but not without having to move more than you really need to move.

 

[Nameless Range]

This is such a timely thread Justin.

I bought my 5 year old a Red Ryder a month ago, and we finally got it out this morning. At first I couldn't even get him to close his left eye, so I put a patch over it. He was really struggling. He is right handed. I had him see which eye is dominant, and it was his left. I had seen this thread but not read it. I read this thread and we started shooting left handed and he turned a pop can into twisted metal. Everything clicked.

Looks like I have a lot more guns to buy.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I was in the same boat when I learned to shoot. No one around me even knew about dominant eyes. I was right handed, left eye dominant and sufferred throught the whole gamut, to ignorant and stubborn to know how to solve the problem.

Trying to get over the stock shooting a .22 right handed with my left eye didn't work very well. Figured out early on that I had to close my left eye. I had to physically hold it shut until I learned to close it with my eyelids. At the same time I started shooting left handed if the target was on the left, right handed if it was on the right. Never knew why it was just as easy to hit stuff left handed as it was right handed, thought maybe I was one of those "gifted" kids.

Always shot bow right handed, as I get older, and in fading light, I find I have to close my left eye to keep my pins from fuzzing out.

As my kids got into shooting, eye dominance was one of the first things we worked with. Turns out my middle daughter is cross eye dominant. We got her shooting left handed from the get go.

In the process of teaching my children how to determine their dominant eye, I checked mine again. Somewhere, somehow, either through changing vision or my brain rewiring itself it turns out I am now right eye dominant. (no, I wasn't mistaken earlier) Anyone care to explain that one to me? Is it possible I am eye-mbedexterous?

 

[gouch]

I'm right handed and left eyed. I didn't have any trouble learning to use my right eye for rifles and shotguns and I shoot a bow instinctively so no problem there. I saw a hunting show a while back where the guy leaned his head over the stock in order to use his opposite eye which is what I tried to do as a kid but my dad would have none of that nonsense. The guy in the show didn't seem to have any problem though.

 

[C17loadclear]

I am in the same boat...dad was a lefty so he taught me to shoot lefty...what’s funny is I am left eye dominant...I tried shooting a bow righty due to more selection. I shot ok but when I shot a lefty bow my groups got much tighter and it felt more natural.

 

[rideold]

I was in the same boat when I learned to shoot. No one around me even knew about dominant eyes. I was right handed, left eye dominant and sufferred throught the whole gamut, to ignorant and stubborn to know how to solve the problem.

Trying to get over the stock shooting a .22 right handed with my left eye didn't work very well. Figured out early on that I had to close my left eye. I had to physically hold it shut until I learned to close it with my eyelids. At the same time I started shooting left handed if the target was on the left, right handed if it was on the right. Never knew why it was just as easy to hit stuff left handed as it was right handed, thought maybe I was one of those "gifted" kids.

Always shot bow right handed, as I get older, and in fading light, I find I have to close my left eye to keep my pins from fuzzing out.

As my kids got into shooting, eye dominance was one of the first things we worked with. Turns out my middle daughter is cross eye dominant. We got her shooting left handed from the get go.

In the process of teaching my children how to determine their dominant eye, I checked mine again. Somewhere, somehow, either through changing vision or my brain rewiring itself it turns out I am now right eye dominant. (no, I wasn't mistaken earlier) Anyone care to explain that one to me? Is it possible I am eye-mbedexterous?

It's not uncommon for eye dominance to change with age.

 

[Gerald Martin]

It's not uncommon for eye dominance to change with age.

So I am not special..... such a downer.

 

[WalkingBird]

Thats how my gf is, she started shooting left handed and has excelled with it. She noted that it was easier to train her hands rather than her eyes. She even got a southpaw savage 7mm-08 rather than shoot a "correct" rifle backwards

 

[brnsvllyjohn]

When my son first started playing with toy guns I noticed he was left eye dominate. I tried for a couple or years to get him to shoot left handed but he refused. It became an issue and my wife talked me in to just letting him shoot right handed. We tried shooting glasses with a patch on his left eye but that didn't work. I have no idea what he does now but he is a better shot with a shotgun than I ever was. He shoots in a few competitions each year and does well. Shooting with a scope was never an issue he was always a good shot with a scope. The shotgun took a little longer but he is now very good. He is now 40 years old. I don't think cross eye dominance is as big a problem as you might think. At least for my son it wasn't.

 

[maxx]

My oldest boy is this way, right handed left eye dominate. I switched him instantly at 5 years old when I saw him trying to shoot right hand with his left eye.

His first bow was left handed and he never knew any different and he has always been a pretty good shot. After a few months of shooting left handed he tried to pull his bow back with his right hand and he couldn't even though he is stronger right handed than left.

The only downside is left handed guns aren't as easy to get. He likes bow hunting way better anyway. He has killed a few with muzzies and he killed a hog with a AR that ejects by his face.

 

[Adski]

Hey All, newbie here. Resurrecting this old thread. Good info within. Due to eye injury I am left eye dominant but right handed. Shoot a Browning BPS 20 ga just fine. Looking at getting my first scoped rifle now. I have to cycle bolt and safety with right hand. What’s your success using righty rifles on your left cheek?

 

[DouglasR]

This is probably ridiculous, but when I took hunters safety as a kid I remember the instructor mentioning something about wearing glasses and putting a piece of scotch tape over the dominate eye thus forcing the non dominate to become dominate.
kinda seems like bro science but idk

 

[OntarioHunter]

Anyone ever run into this? I noticed my son is in this boat.

Is it easier to teach him to shoot a LH rifle from the beginning or will your eye still look through a scope alright?

If shooting a rifle with a scope he is fine. He shuts the other when looking through the scope ... or he can't see through the scope. Now, wingshooting a shotgun is a different story! Then it gets complicated because most folks shoot moving targets with both eyes open. I am right eye dominant and right handed but my left eye has been wrecked due to multiple retina surgeries. If I shoot with both eyes the pattern goes high and to right. To correct this I do repetitions at night in the house practicing mounting the gun quickly at a spot on the wall, preferably in poor light. The object is to make closing the left eye mechanical and automatic when swinging on a bird, especially in poor light when the brain tries to activate all resources. This exercise is also good for staying focused on target and not looking at the gun ... the bane of all wingshooters.

If your guy is naturally right handed and wants to shoot birds, that's what I'd advise before trying to switch to left handed gun. My daughter's partner is right handed and left eye dominant. He's a fine shot with his right handed Berreta auto. Not as good as me of course, but still excellent. It can be done.

 

[MarvB]

I’m all jacked up myself; right eye dominance but raised with a lefty father and brother. As such, Sort of became a mixed bag for me in the sporting world. Shot rifle/pistol RH but bow LH (have since converted), hit LH but throw RH, bowl RH but shoot pool LH... it’s pretty fugged up but my optometrist says my eyes were so close in strength to just “do whatever was comfortable”

 

[88man]

You shoot where you look. Since he is young have him shoot with the dominate eye side. Very important in the shotgun sports.

 

[Zach]

I'm RH and LE dominant. Rifle & shotgun I close my left eye and shoot, not many issues. Bow I shoot left handed.

 

[Dakotakid]

My wife is cross eye dominant. It is challenging...

 

[thebestusernamesaretaken]

Anyone ever run into this? I noticed my son is in this boat.

Is it easier to teach him to shoot a LH rifle from the beginning or will your eye still look through a scope alright?

I ran into this in the Marines. We taught everyone to shoot left or right handed for obvious reasons. However, precision shooting generally required the dominate side as opposed to switching sides for the dominate eye. Generally speaking, it was better to bring the sights to the eye using the dominate side for this situation.