Trad Gang

Main Boards => The Shooters FORM Board => Topic started by: Aspirinbuster on September 26, 2009, 09:38:00 AM

Title: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: Aspirinbuster on September 26, 2009, 09:38:00 AM
I wanted to let you all know that as a new member here I enjoy reading this site and your posts.  

As a lifelong instinctive shooter since 1971, I still have a passion for archery & instinctive shooting and really enjoy being in your company on this site.  Thank all of you....

I will try and answer any questions if you ever have something I can help with---just email or send me a message.  After 38 years I still learn something new all the time...

Shoot Straight,
Frank

PS
And be sure to look up info on the late Rev. Stacy Groscup if you want to read about the man I consider to be the greatest instinctive shot ever... he was a good man and is missed.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: jcar315 on September 26, 2009, 10:08:00 AM
Welcome!
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: billy shipp on September 26, 2009, 10:52:00 AM
Hello Frank....glad to have you join the forum.

Billy
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: straitera on September 26, 2009, 11:01:00 AM
Welcome Frank.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: George D. Stout on September 26, 2009, 11:14:00 AM
Welcome Frank.  I talked to Stacy many times over the years at Forksville, Pa., and at the Denton Hill shoot.  Never got to spend much time with him as he always had someone wanting to converse with him.  He was a fine, giving gentleman for sure.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: GingivitisKahn on September 26, 2009, 01:20:00 PM
Howdy - nice to meet you!
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: Aspirinbuster on September 27, 2009, 12:23:00 AM
Thanks gang..
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: sdpeb1 on September 27, 2009, 12:27:00 PM
Hi Frank, I've only been shooting trad a few years. I bought a few books before I bought my first bow, one of those books was Jay Kindels(sp?) instinctive archery. I didn't know and didn't want to know any other method. I purposely ignored any info on gap style shooting. I'm not sure instinctive  is the best way, the learning curve is a little longer but it sure is fun way to shoot once learned.- Steve
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: Aspirinbuster on September 29, 2009, 08:41:00 PM
Instinctive shooting has pros and cons.

Cons--it is bascially a short range method of shooting, and also takes awhile to learn/master.

Pros--fun, not much equipment required, satisfying, and a challenge.

I don't care how someone shoots as long as they shoot and enjoy the sport.  GAP, Sights--or instinctive... we are all bowhunters.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: cedar swampman on September 29, 2009, 09:02:00 PM
I totally disagree that instintive with subconscious aiming is great at any distance. I recently attended Rick Welchs school and he teaches a method that stresses repeatable,solid form combined with picking a spot and letting your bow arm come up(and surprisingly it will come up where it needs to be for various distances). I am shooting better than I have ever have over a span of about 40yrs. Nothing magical but solid repeatable form and setting the bow to shoot where you look.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: sweet old bill on September 30, 2009, 06:44:00 AM
welcome to the site. I also am still learning this art of trad shooting. I sure wish I could shoot as well as a lot of the people on this site. At 68 years young I still shoot a few arrows most days. I finally for some reason am starting to get how to shoot a recurve. Will be asking questions as they come up. I use to have a hunt camp in Hanging Rock west va, when I lived in Manassas VA for about 10 years. Loved the area and hunting the GW national park areas or off of the Blue ridge  rt 81. Sure is god's country with lots of good folk in the area.

Bill
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: Tom-Wisconsin on September 30, 2009, 04:40:00 PM
Welcome to the site. Glad you found it.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: zetabow on October 01, 2009, 02:19:00 AM
Quote
Originally posted by cedar swampman:
I totally disagree that instintive with subconscious aiming is great at any distance. I recently attended Rick Welchs school and he teaches a method that stresses repeatable,solid form combined with picking a spot and letting your bow arm come up(and surprisingly it will come up where it needs to be for various distances). I am shooting better than I have ever have over a span of about 40yrs. Nothing magical but solid repeatable form and setting the bow to shoot where you look.
Nothing wrong with instinctive shooting I use it on short range shots but Split-vision\\gap and POA are much more effective than Instinct on longer shots (talking past 50 yards) I'm not saying it cant be done but I've never met an Instinctive Archer who can shoot accurately at these longer distances.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: Aspirinbuster on October 02, 2009, 01:03:00 PM
I am done at short yardage.  I have made shots at great distances--- once in front of a large crowd in Union Grove, NC.  It was a long distance charity shot and the 3-D target was maybe 80 yards away.  I was doing an exhibition for a large group when a man who'd had one or three too many beers kept interupting the show with, "Shoot the deer".  It was annoying me and so about the 4th time he did it I simply spun around and took a quick shot at the 3-D target.  The arrow glided up and landed right in the ten ring!  The audience went crazy.  But if you paid me a million bucks I doubt I could repeat it.  I know the difference in luck & skill... and folks that was winging it!  

However, my dad used to be VERY accurate at long distances instinctive.  I've seen him hit black birds at 90 yards!  But he shot extremely heavy tackle... 90# bows.  

Shoot Straight,
Frank
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: TheFatboy on October 02, 2009, 02:24:00 PM
Frank, you must've been sky high after hitting the bullseye. I know I'd have been!
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: zetabow on October 03, 2009, 01:27:00 AM
Good story Frank.At the weekend I hit the spot on a tricky 80y uphill shot, the sighted Compound who shot with me gasped "You hit the spot, I only got a 3" it made my day. lol

I was talking IFAA tourney shooting in Bowhunter (max 60 yards) and Field rounds (max 80 yards), more so on the Field rounds because you shoot 4 arrows at each target (112 per round) and really need a consistent aiming style.

You can make those great long shots instinctively but when I started shooting Field I found that needed to be consistently be scoring at all distances so I added Split vision to my mid range distances and POA to my long range shots.

Because I still use instinct I'm pretty handy at short range 3D also, so it seems that blending all aiming styles has worked out the best combination for me, you might say the best of all worlds.

good shooting
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: strcpy on October 03, 2009, 04:02:00 AM
Quote
Originally posted by zetabow:
I was talking IFAA tourney shooting in Bowhunter (max 60 yards) and Field rounds (max 80 yards), more so on the Field rounds because you shoot 4 arrows at each target (112 per round) and really need a consistent aiming style.
Yea, consistently hitting the 65 yarder without doing some POI is ... rough. Even with a POI a consistent 12" group would be world record shattering for NFAA traditional let alone what we call traditional here. At least further than that is the walk-ups so you do not have to stand there and do four arrows in a row  :)

I shoot "instinctive" and up to 25 yards its going to be a personal contest and your aiming style is semi-irrelevant. 25 to 40 yards and that starts going down hill as it begins to be hard to shoot instinctive and your gap is large enough that the ones that practice it all the time will do slightly better. At 40 most start being at the bottom of the target and then you get to your point on distance (usually your best scoring long range target). I end up point on at ~57 yards (a little low at 60, a little high at 55). At 80 we all are flinging it into the wind and praying anyway  :)

Then there are those crazy FITA people who do 90 meters (98 yards). But then that is why they tend heavily towards the metal riser and really light arrows too. I shudder to think how high I would have to hold to get there. I'm used to 65 yards as that is an easy practice target for us - but given the difference between there and 80 yards I know 100 yards is going to be rough.

Shooting dots is a humbling experience with a bow - you can't fudge it and think you are shooting better than you are nor do you really have any excuse but yourself. You can get away with a lot of things in 3-d that you could *never* do in a field round (especially at longer distances) or even a NFAA indoor round (be it Vegas or a Blue Face).

Really, for shorter distances - 25 yards and under - aiming is not the reason most of us miss. Once you get a decent sight picture it becomes largely a game of form and concentration. My NFAA indoor barebow recurve scores are not wholly different from my open class recurve scores. The only equipment difference there are dropping sights, a clicker, and the stabilizers. My traditional scores are quite different, amusingly enough the plunger/flipper make more difference in score than the sights do at 25 and below yards.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: zetabow on October 03, 2009, 07:41:00 AM
Quote
Originally posted by strcpy:
Quote

Yea, consistently hitting the 65 yarder without doing some POI is ... rough. Even with a POI a consistent 12" group would be world record shattering for NFAA traditional let alone what we call traditional here.

Shooting dots is a humbling experience with a bow - you can't fudge it and think you are shooting better than you are nor do you really have any excuse but yourself. You can get away with a lot of things in 3-d that you could *never* do in a field round (especially at longer distances) or even a NFAA indoor round (be it Vegas or a Blue Face).

Really, for shorter distances - 25 yards and under - aiming is not the reason most of us miss.  [/b]
I enjoy shooting 3D but as you said shooting Field tells you a LOT more about your aiming choice and Form, by the way I have the Natinal Longbow records in my country 375 Field and 370 Hunter.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: strcpy on October 04, 2009, 02:10:00 AM
Quote
Originally posted by zetabow:I enjoy shooting 3D but as you said shooting Field tells you a LOT more about your aiming choice and Form, by the way I have the Natinal Longbow records in my country 375 Field and 370 Hunter. [/QB]
Wow - that's *really* good shooting and would have been a decent score under the older face.

I never have shot a full 24, 24, and 24 target course, ours is a 12 target one (we usually skip the animal round as you seem to have done) and I just play. If I recall correctly a little over a 150 is the best I have done (12 targets) and that was when I was trying to decide if I wanted to compete or just play. I felt those scores had no real lapses in concentration in any shot and *all* were good. A full FITA is really the only other comparable venue (144 arrows).

A nice bout of target panic along with an increase in time at a job made that decision for me. Plus I can always rationalize "I'm better than that person if I only had tried"  :)
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: zetabow on October 04, 2009, 12:47:00 PM
Strcpy those score are for IFAA marked Field and Hunter rounds, only a few points off the WR's
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: Aspirinbuster on October 23, 2009, 10:41:00 AM
It was a lucky shot... pure luck.  It was in Union Grove, NC in June 1988 at the National Bowhunter Jamboree.  I don't know if they still host it but back then it was a huge event.

The shot was more luck than skill... trust me.  HAHA
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: reddogge on October 25, 2009, 10:30:00 AM
That was once in a lifetime experiences you will take to the grave.  A great story and I wish I had been there to see it.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: Steve Crowl on October 27, 2009, 07:50:00 PM
Hey Frank ... do you remember an Eric Dickinson. I worked with him and he spoke of you many times. By the way .. it was always good   :biglaugh:
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: d from phx on November 05, 2009, 10:23:00 AM
I have been shooting Barebow over 45 years. I shoot Target competitions where the distances are up to 100 yrds. Would not shoot any other style. As a shooter rep for White Wolf Bows they help me reach those distances, I plan to shoot the upcoming shoot in Vegas and will shoot the barebow class as a senior.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: Aspirinbuster on November 23, 2009, 01:54:00 PM
Thanks for the posts.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: junker on November 24, 2009, 10:34:00 AM
hello.  I had not hunted in 16 years roughly until one of my customers got me into traditional archery.  Now I'm addict.  I shot for a year before i actually hunted.  call it beginner's luck or call it hardwork; but i managed to harvest 4 whitetail last year.  2 bucks 2 does.  my first harvest was 6 point at 48 yds.  i missed him 3 days prior at 12 yds.  You can save you comments; i have already been scolded for taking such a long shot.  But in my defense; he only ran 20 yds.  those were taken with a recurve.  I made my first longbow harvest this year....doe.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: Irish Archer on November 27, 2009, 10:51:00 PM
Welcome Frank. Thanks for the offer.
Title: Re: Instinctive Shooters
Post by: TSP on December 24, 2009, 07:32:00 PM
Frank, thanks for offering your expertise.  I've never had much interest in aerial or long-range shooting but find 'hunting shot' shooting to be fascinating and enjoyable (no sights, basic shelf/sideplate, normal hunting-weight wood or aluminum arrows).  Would be very interested in hearing about the approach and style you use, and any tips that might add consistency regarding your sight picture and the basic gear you use.