Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: jakesdad on October 30, 2013, 09:48:00 PM
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I know its a pretty broad question,but how long did it take you to get good enough with the trad gear to feel comfortable heading to the woods?Ive just started and have only been shooting at ten yards,but can keep 3 arrows fairly consistently in a softball sized group.Do get the "what the heck did I just do arrow" every so often,but just curious when did it come around for you when hunting accuracy was the norm when you shot rather than the exception?
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Honestly, not too long. I was shooting compounds barebow for 20+ years so when I went to traditional gear it was a matter of learning traditional gear and tuning up the arrows.
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It all depends. It took me a while to become a good enough to fel comfortable hunting. I figure on doubling your group size when shooting at game compared to backyard shooting...
I have a 15 yard limit right now.
B
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Some days I still feel like a beginner. It seems that we reach points in our progress where we stall out. In reality you are not, and that's when you get the ah ha moments and your shooting just seems to improve on its own. Keep at it. Only you can say when your ready. Just remember this, You can kill a deer unless you shoot at it.
Good luck on your trek through traditional archery.
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When I got back into stickbow shooting it took me about 7 months of shooting at least every other day for decent length sessions to feel like I was really ready to head out. The beauty of it is our skills wax and wane with this sport. I have days I can't miss and days I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn door. Love it.
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"good" is not a "good" word here. I shut out doubts at the shot, but that doesn't mean I don't want to be a heck of a lot better shot than I am and hope to shoot better next year.
You probably won't ever get rid of poor shots, but once you get rid of a lot of flyers and start figuring out why they happened you are well on your way.
It's cliched, but only you will know. ;) Good luck.
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Took me 4 years before I felt comfortable hunting
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I let myself get talked into hunting before I was ready and went out and lost two pigs because of it. I was very mad at myself because I knew in my heart that I was not ready and went anyway. After that, I spent about 8 months shooting every day and was ready when the next deer season opened. I have been shooting trad for almost 20yrs and still get an occasional "what the heck happened there?" shot. I also feel like I still have room to improve and strive to get better every day!
Like was said above, only you will know when you are ready, and at what distance you will be confident at.
Bsich
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Been flinging arrows since 1969....perhaps I am patient.
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Got my first real bow the summer of '68. Took my first deer with it that fall. I shot pretty well and took many critters over the next 30 years, but didn't get really good till I started target shooting with a mentor. That made a world of difference.
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I have never been "good".....
However, I have always been "good" enough to be consistant. I started flinging arrows with bows my grandpa made me back in the early 1960's. I got my first "real bow" (a Bear "Red Bear") in 1968 I believe. When I became old enough to hunt, I just started hunting. I killed my first 2 deer in 1976,77 with an old Bear Alaskan recurve, cedar arrows, and Bear Razorheads. Things just progressed from there.....
Fortunately I guess, I have never had this dilema of being "good" enough to hunt... I just hunt!!!
Just one old Woodchucker's opinion.....
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If you went strictly by how I shoot at 3d's, I couldn't say I'm ready, but when we get out in the field and shoot at leaves, holes in the bushes, cowpies, etc. etc. I'm pretty good, my wife is the same way, don't seem to target panic out there as often. I'm lucky, I have an honest to goodness Trad Archery Shop a few miles from my house, a lot of trad shooters at my club and I took an Archery Instructor course that covered shooting non-compound bows in depth. So after elk season was over a couple of years ago, I put up the compound and was pretty proficient by the next April for turkey season, missed some easy shots since, stuff still happens, but I have lots of fun and don't own a compound anymore, I killed a deer my second trad season. Like was said above, you have to shoot an arrow to kill something.
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It took me about 3 months to get confident enough to hunt. I was shooting about 2 hours a day every day once i established consistent repeatable form. I dont get to shoot as much as i would like and there is always room for improvement.
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I went from shooting compound since the age of 16, killed a dump truck load of deer with the wheel bows. Then when I made the switch to trad gear having never learned to trust my instincts it took an honest 2 years before I learned to trust those instincts. Just keep pounding the target day after day and it will eventually come. Don't try to compromise by using the tip of the arrow to aim, or putting sights on your bow, just draw to the corner of your mouth and let it go. You should be nearly snap shooting and not holding at full draw for more than a second or two. When I draw and come to full draw to the corner of my mouth the arrow is gone almost the instant that I reach full draw. The process is staring at my target "AS" I draw my bow with both eyes wide open and "pointing my bowhand fist" at what I want to hit.......while I fix both eyes on the bull's eye. Clear your mind and fixate on what you want to hit, point your bowhand fist directly at what you want to hit, and train your eyes to make the compensation for you. When you can finally see the arrow fly straight to the point at which you want it to hit you will know that you're there. For me it was like being in a dark room and all of the sudden the lights came on and I could SEE. Make sense? Keep trying, you will understand what I'm saying when it happens.
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I am always trying to get better. I never was very confident until I met a fellow at my first traditional 3D shoot last year. He gave me some rock solid advise and my shooting started getting a lot better really fast.
I later went to a Rod Jenkins Clinic. I was amazed at Rod's ability to speak on different levels to different students. Rod's clinic is a lot like college, you will only get out of it what you put into it.
The sooner that one gets started, the correct way, the faster the learning curve will be. To add to this, the sooner that one figures out how to tune arrows, the quicker the learning curve becomes.
Once I met JR at the 3D shoot last year, I became a decent competitor in just a couple months after receiving some great help. I have never felt more confident with traditional gear than I do now. I never felt more confident with wheels in my 30+ years of shooting compounds than I do now with my longbow in my hand now.
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I'll let ya know when that day arrives:)
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I suffer from the disillusion of adequacy in my ability to shoot. :saywhat:
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I taught myself over the course of a summer.
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I've been shooting trad for 5 years. My time for practice varies as does my shooting. This year is the first I've been able to shoot very tight groups at over 20 yards. I got my first robin hood last week. I love shooting and will practice until my arms hurt - which is unfortunately too soon these days!
Listen to that voice in your head - you'll know what shot is good for you and what is not.
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I'd say it took me almost a year, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Of course I still want to I get better. The best thing I ever did was get a bag target and hang it at eye level and blind bale shoot everyday. Working on just one thing ie. anchor, release, back tension,ect. Good luck its worth it when an animal comes in and you pick a spot and all the sudden the arrow is gone, and went right where you were looking!
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I think that the answer is a fleeting one, ever changing.
How YOU shoot is a great determining factor, and by that I don't mean how you hit.
A person that is learning truly instinctive style (a name only, we do not have an "instinct" to shoot), it may take a given time.
By using any other aiming technique, that time MAY be cut down, often quite substantially.
As we see at the range, add a compound device, sights front and rear, release, ad nauseum and obviously it takes much less time. Other steps (three under, point on, gap, string walking etc) might help speed the process as well.
Also.. How Far we think we need to shoot is an added factor. Getting good at 5 yards,and at 10 yards is likely going to come quicker than at 50 yards.
Also.. our own personal "X factor", my word of the moment for your ability to do the shoot sequence under the pressure of the hunt: in a tangled web of forest (not on a manicured back yard range); with a target that is not static and just standing there allowing for long time thought and aiming; and with a target that inherently causes some / most / all of us at least some degree of anxiousness.
All of those things change and cause differences in the amount of "time it takes to be good".
Can I suggest a course of action ?
Get good at a range. . say 5 yards, or 10 yards. Then go hunt. You need that hunt practice almost as much as you need the shooting skills practice.
DON'T shoot beyond your known skill. If the deer is 5 yards too far, it gets away this time. There will ALWAYS be deer walking just a bit too far away, no matter your skill. As you increase your ability, increase your hunting range accordingly.
I am a believer that most folks should not wait to hunt until they reach some lofty shooting goal. There are other factors that count too and those are only met and overcome by doing it.
A knowledgeable mentor helps speed the game immensely.
ChuckC
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x2 on a good mentor. Just slinging arrows at the target is probably not going to work. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is not the way it works. I tried it.
Then I went to see Rod Jenkins. I need to go back.
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Once I figured out that if I hold my form and focus on the spot the arrow will go there and it began to get easier after that.
Its all about confidence. If you don`t have it practice till you do. You don`t have to shoot good at 20 yards. I kill most of my critters around 10-15. My average this year on 4 deer and two pigs and three turkeys is 9 yards.RC
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Been shooting for 40+ years, still workin on it!
LD
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I have hunted all of my life. So a lot of things carry over from gun and compound shooting. But one thing that I have been getting used to since trad bow hunting is to let the animals get close. Real close.
There is a big difference in the intimidation factor from having an animal at 40-50 yards to needing it up close and personal, 20 yards max. in order to be in range. It removes a lot of crutches that I may have unknowingly relied upon. Now I have to give much more attention to scent control and wind direction, skillful technique and stand location. This in itself has taken me some time along with mastering instinctive shooting. All of it together has impressed upon me that I have to be a better hunter to trad hunt.
I love it though.
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In 2009/10 when I was trad bow only I practiced nearly every day and was fairly confident to 20y. I'd say it took me a solid 3 months to get that way. Fast forward 3 years and my effective range has shrank to 7y, I think it takes daily practice and varying ranges to feel comfortable. I still shoot daily but didn't pick it back up until maybe 3 weeks ago. Then one should limit your shot to the ones that you know you can make.
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I never had a problem shooting recuves from the beginnig. Started out with slingshots at a very young age in the 50's went to bows.
Had a good start from Dan Quillian right when I got my first hunting bow and started shooting Field Rounds regulary.
My problem came after I quit shooting recurves for so many yrs and went to compounds. When I tried to pick back up where I'd left off it didn't work.
I'd had a lot of major surgery over the years and was much weaker and older and it was all I could do to handle 40lb recurve. I don't snap shoot and like to take about 3 to 5 seconds at full draw before everything looks right.
I was always able to just pick up a recurve in the past shoot it one time and be right on with the next shot..elevation check. That was no longer the case..I had to start all over with my form, how I looked down my arrow and saw the target..everything..and constantly like two long sessions a day of practice to try and build my strength. Took me about a whole summer to get back right and still have to shoot regular to keep strength up. Shooting little over 47lbs now comfortably.
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Been at this since 1965. At 15 years old, spent a bunch of time shooting rabits and small game,lived in the country in Texas so spent a lot of time out in the mesquite flats hunting and trapping,never had a mentor, just taught myself, took my first deer in 1967 with a Ben Pearson Ole Ben longbow. Never even thought about am I good enough yet. The more time you spend shooting the better you will get, don't get tuned in to a certain yardage, change it up, shoot from different yardage and positions constantly. I still do that to this day.
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I started at 10 and have shot regularly for 57 years now. I honestly believe I am getting closer and closer. I still have my moments of total confusion as to why a shot did such and such but I am now confused on a higher level.
that is progress. I think.
bill
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I think I learned to shoot long before I could even ride a bike and shortly after I could walk. That being said, I'm still waiting to be good. As for hunting, I've always considered myself a hunter that chooses to use archery equipment rather than an archer that chooses to hunt. I don't worry about being good enough to hunt, since that is all I do. If I were to worry about being good enough at something it would be tournament shooting, something I don't do.
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I've been good several times. Never really last long.
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About three months of shooting before this season. I've killed three so far, but I missed the first two I shot at badly. But nailed the last three...
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Not soon enough and I will be the first to admit that it was all my wrongdoing.
1. tried to find the perfect bow
2. tried to shoot like every archery demi god
3. got too used to flinging arrows and not work hard enough on getting better
What put me over the top was to learn how to shoot relaxed with strong form that worked for my abilities.
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I got my first traditional bow in the summer of 2005. I started hunting a little bit with it in Febuary of 06 and in October of 06 I shot and killed my first deer with a traditional bow. I was and still am lucky though in that I had a man who has been shooting traditional bows for quite some time ( not sure how many years but at least 20+) who is a close family friend who really helped shorten the learning curve for me.
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I know I am accuracy hunting ready when I can hit my 3D target with consistency on the first shot of each shooting session. But really hunting live game is a totally different ballgame than shooting in the yard in a perfect stance. Get as good as you can and limit your shots to the distance you feel comfortable. Hunting small game like rabbits and squirrels makes for good practice.
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I don't know, but I'll let you know when it happens.
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Woodsmanship is as important as marksmanship. If you are confident out to 12-15 yards, then get good enough with your woodsmanship to get that close to your prey. The Wenzels wrote an article "When did Hunting become Shooting" in the PBS mag (or mebbe it was Trad Bowhunting). Just the title gave me the drift of the story.
400 yard shots at an elk on the other side of a canyon with a 20x scoped .338 isn't (IMHO) hunting, but shooting. You can extrapolate that out to bowhunting if you wanna. I read stories of 3 yard shots at elk(Don Thomas)and my heart races right along with theirs..
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I fear that answering this Q may put a pox on my success. but the first few years was thin and then the pieces began to come together.
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Can I get back to you on that?
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I was always good but my brain just kept getting in the way
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It was three months between the time I started shooting a traditional bow in mid January and when I went hunting for spring bear on April 15. The first morning I got a rock chuck and that evening spot and stalked my bear for my first Traditional big game animal with a longbow.
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Heck I just was born good. :laughing: At messing up.
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Originally posted by Over&Under:
I'll let ya know when that day arrives:)
:thumbsup:
I shoot every day. I'm not the best, not the worst, but adequate and when deer hunting, patient and persistant . . . which, as they say in Russian Aircraft Factories, seems to be Godunov.
As far as comfortable hunting - you will get no better sitting home. Go out, shoot at small game, shoot at stumps, clumps and watch rumps (whitetails waving "goodbye" as they scamper off). Eventually your stars will align and the deer will be where you want when you want and your arrow will find the right spot.
Truthfully - I don't remember not being good enough with a bow for hunting. I just had a problem getting within three yards of deer at first. :archer:
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ChuckC's advice was terrific!
Measure the size of your quarry's kill zone. On a deer this would be about the size of a full-size magazine (horizontal). When at any distance you can consistently put arrows in an area 1/2-3/4 that size you have established an effective range. If that's 5 yards your chances are very restricted but you can do it. I'd move back 5 yards at a time.
Some of the most range extending practice I've ever done (this goes back to my original curve days in the early 1970's)was to start at 5-10 yards and shoot an arrow. If I hit the "zone" I stepped back another 5 yards and shot again. I wouldn't reward myself by stepping back further until I had an arrow in the "zone" at that distance. Sometimes I can start at 5 yards and make it all the way to 30 with 6 arrows.
When I returned to recurves in 2010 I practiced for the 8 months prior to season opening until I could do this at 20 yards. I killed two deer with the curve that year, one at 21 and the other at 16 yards. Last year, 2012) I only felt solid at about 15 yards. This year I'm at 30 yards thanks to preparations for a Moose hunt that didn't happen.
I absolutely woud not attempt a shot, on an unwounded deer, at a distance more than 1-2 yards further than my established effective range. I don't believe in luck. Nor do I subscribe to the theory that "nothing dies unless arrows fly". It doesn't turn my stomach to gut shoot a paper deer. Nor do I have to spend 8-24 hours or more trying to recover a poorly struck paper or foam target.
When I was 16 a veteran bowhunter came into camp with an empty quiver. He had launched all his arrows at about 80-90 yards at a buck across a gulley. When I asked him why he shot so far, he quoted that line to me. I knew back then (1970) that this fellow twice my age had an unworthy ethic.