Sure. Almost never when I'm shooting. Almost always watching another shooter if I'm behind them...easier on the Trap field with the tight chokes or low 7 on the Skeet field and I'm pulling. I rarely see the cloud if I'm off to the side ie. I'm on Station 1 and the shooter is on Station 5 on the trap field. Critically important for a coach...then being able to explain WHY they were over, behind, etc.
It can be seen if conditions are right. The eye and brain are pretty wonderful things and sometimes combine their skills to pick it up. I used to do a lot of long range rifle shooting and this required spotting and scoring for the adjacent shooter. Through the spotting scope the flight of the bullet could easily be seen as a sort of wedge of disturbance in the air and I could tell the score even before the markers returned it even out to 1,000 yards. I must admit my shot cloud spotting was a bit easier when my old eyes were a bit younger. Doing some shooting instructing on a local range helps with knowing just where to focus and just where to stand. Lagopus.....
I love the game of baseball, played for years, but I never saw any stitches unless I was holding the ball in my hand. I have shot clay targets for decades but I have never seen the "spin". Regardless of my lack of talent, I have enjoyed both games as much as if I could "see" what some others can see. Maybe next year.
The ability to "see things in slow motion" (Zeitraffer phenomenon) in order to process images more quickly would have a great advantage in shooting sports, and many others like ping pong and hitting a 100 mph fast ball. https://brainblogger.com/2014/10/09/brain-trickery-seeing-in-slow-motion/
I can see shot cloud when others shoot and sometimes when I miss but never when I hit a target. To me it looks like smoke. It is easier to see if you don't really try to focus on it, look at the target and learn to understand the "smoke " that is about the size of a basketball is the shot cloud. For me a slightly overcast day was easier for me to learn to see the cloud. Both our trap and skeet field have trees for background so that may help.
Doc Drew, I've experienced a very few times the slow motion effect, but when I see a shot cloud, or see the rotation of a clay target, it's not like that. It happens in such a brief microsecond that it's hard to describe. It's over before it registers in my mind that it's happening. Mark II describes what I see as well as anything I've ever heard or read.
I also have watched bullets in flight many, many times. I used to compete in IHMSA pistol competition. We shot at silhouettes up to 200 meters, and utilized a spotter who was watching through a spotting scope. The flight of a centerfire bullet could be clearly seen from about 50 meters all the way to impact, or miss, at 200 meters.
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