How good should you be after 400,000 arrows

[Corvid]

Putting 70 out of 100 arrows in a 6" group will give you one thing!  A LOT OF BROKEN NOCKS AND ARROWS!
   I generally shoot groups of six arrows. If I can keep them within the bull on my bag i'm happy.
   Like everyone else has said, Shoot because you love it, shoot because it's fun, and most important! shoot because it's what we do! Life is short fellow tradgangers, dont sweat the small stuff, and everything is small. ENJOY and REVEL in what we do for we are true.

[BamBooBender]

So, who was the expert archer you were referring to?

[TonyW]

A couple of days ago my brother showed up when I was twanging away at targets in the back yard. I invited him to give it a try, and moved the target in to about 12 yards. He watched me, then fumbled with the glove and armguard, and drew the bow. (I let him use my son's 30# 60" AMO Black Bear, told him to cant it right, draw back to anchor on his cheek, aim with his left knuckle, and release.)
Bullseye.
Okay, I thought, beginner's luck. He took another arrow, and it hit two inches to the right of the first. His third arrow was three inches high. He shot a dozen, his anchor was identical, his stance was identical, his shots were all in a tight cluster.
My brother is a natural athlete, and could use a better coach than me, but he has the God-given talent for shooting a recurve. Did I mention that he is both left-handed and left-eye dominant and used a right-handed bow? Did I mention that he just picked it up, drew it, pointed his left knuckle, and let loose?
I know that 400,000 arrows would help, but some people just have it. (He tried a 50# bow at 18 yards, and hit the target! I noticed that he did not snap shoot, but swung the bow with a natural grace, held anchor for two or three seconds, and released smoothly. "This is fun," he said. Damn, I thought.)
I know that my best groups come when I just walk out to the deck, glance at the target, relax, and release. My worst times come when I self-analyze. If I had my brother's natural talent, I would be afraid to shoot groups, for fear of splintering my arrows.
I think I need a new knuckle!

[John Dill]

Well said Matt E

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by curlis:
Perfect practice makes perfect shots, not the number of shots.

Yep, but 50 perfect shots a day is better than 1 if you want to learn and improve.  You can't learn to repeat something perfect if you don't learn to repeat it perfectly.

[Roger Norris]

I shoot 6 arrows a day...about...I'll NEVER be any good!

[Terry Green]

Roger, once you learn to shoot...6 is fine    

I'm sure you are a fine shot as well.

[Roger Norris]

Someday...maybe...I shot with Fred Asbell and LaClair Saturday morning, and I was on.

Shot by myself today...almost threw my bow in the swamp! Go figure.  

[Terry Green]

Ah..its all in your head...look at that elbow in your avatar....got it back PERFECT!

[Roger Norris]

"Yep, but 50 perfect shots a day is better than 1 if you want to learn and improve"

I couldn't agree more. I said I shoot 6 arrows a day...until right about now. From now through hunting season I try and shoot 30 minutes to an hour per day. Never more than 3 arrows in a group. When I find my concentration drifting, I quit.

[Luckyned]

I'm preedy darn good at making more arrows.

[Steertalker]

DaveKS,

Just saw this thread and don't have the time to read through all the reponses, but here is my response.  400,000 shots practiced the wrong way will do nothing for you.  I guarantee you, with proper coaching, a beginning archer could easily be shooting a 6 inch or smaller group with no more than 100-200 shots, roughly, from a reasonable distance of 20 yds or so.  AND with 100% certainty of hitting his mark.

Brett

[AllenR]

Originally posted by curlis:
... Perfect practice makes perfect shots, not the number of shots.

I don't exactly agree with this doctrine, at least not for non-elite shooters.  IMHO this sets up an impossible goal that gets in the way of improvement.

Len Cardinale taught me to practice by working on only one thing at a time.  Try to shoot a good shot, but focus on only one part of your form during each shot. I've found that when focusing on one thing that something else will often slip.  This way, I improved the part that I was focusing on and knowing what slipped, tells me what I need to work on next.

The best that I can do right now is a pretty good shot, not perfect, just pretty good.  My goal is a perfect shot, but I doubt that I will ever achieve that.  If a perfect shot was the only kind of shot that was acceptable, I think that I would have quit archery in frustration a long time ago. I'm continuously improving, but I'm a long way from perfect.

[Steertalker]

Len Cardinale taught me to practice by working on only one thing at a time.

AllenR....I too have been coached by Len Cardinale and I believe you are forgetting(no disrespect intended) one very important aspect of what Len was trying to tell you.  And that is the importance of the bale to developing your shot.  You work out every part of your shot sequence on the bale.  And yes...you work it out one part at a time.  

Then after you have "baled-in", so to speak, your shot, you test yourself on the target.  If you cannot shoot your "bale shot" on a target with 100% perfection....you go back to the bale.

The purpose of the bale is to implant your shot into the subconscious so that 100% of your conscious thoughts/focus are devoted to aiming.  You should NEVER try to work out problems while trying to hit a target.  Why?  Because the human brain cannot think about 2 things at once.  You cannot be thinking about trying to hit the 10 ring and thinking about your grip or whatever....at the same time.  Hence....that is the reason some archers shoot a bazillion arrows and still haven't made any progress.  It's because of the way they practice.

Perfect practice does make perfect shots.

Brett