Bad shots

[snag]

Similar to some of these responses...when I "think" about what to do instead of "allowing" it to happen.

[IB]

Positive Brain Waves....Doubt Howard thought much about MISSIN only bout HITTIN  

[TonyW]

Every shot is a perfect shot. Every arrow heads right where I shoot it.
It's about time that we put some of the blame on the target! If the targets would focus as hard as the shooter, they would catch each arrow dead center. My damn targets just sit there and let arrows whiz right past them!

[Mike Bolin]

Picking a spot AND CONCENTRATING on that spot all the way through the shot......until the arrows strikes. I have, from time to time, had trouble with what I call peaking. On close in shots, I used to drop my bow arm out of the way so that I could see the arrow hit I guess!? But I have found that if my vision stays concentrated on my spot and my bow arm remains steady, my arrow hits there. It is simple to say, but it at times is very hard to do! Mike

[snag]

So, that's what has been wrong...the targets! Hey, I need better targets! I knew it couldn't be me!   lol

[ChuckC]

Mike.... ya gotta be careful about picking a spot and concentrating though.    

For the record...I think that once you get to the point where you shoot "by instinct"...you just do it, very little will change in your technique come crunch time....but boy is it tough to pick a spot,  a tiny spot.

I missed a nice buck a week ago,  from a tree stand...twenty yards, broadside, head turned away from me, looking toward the walker that spooked it up.  I looked up and said "thank you Lord", and proceeded to hit the tree just above him...arrow was sideways !   I couldn't believe it as he ran away.  

After mentally debasing myself, I figured I would try to hit the small stump that was just next to where he was standing, so I grabbed a blunt, looked at the stump, and   ahem.... noticed the small tree (branches, twigs etc)  I had to shoot thru to do what I did.  

Never....never...saw them when I was boring a hole in the deer's side.

Lesson learned.... ( I think)
ChuckC

[Bill Kissner]

I would have to agree that not picking a SMALL enough spot is the reason most miss. A close second might be overbowed shooters. At 3D shoots it's not unusual to see guys releasing 4 to 6 inches in front of their face.

[Cherokee Scout]

Great thoughts, keep them coming.

[Bonebuster]

We all know you must pick a spot. Sometimes we don`t.

ANYTHING we do to help our confidence in turn helps our shooting. Anything we do to undermine our confidence hurts our shooting.

I believe for me, that if I have ANY thoughts of the possibility missing, I might as well not shoot so I won`t have to resharpen a head.

Positive thinking. Knowing that my arrows fly perfectly. Knowing that I cannot shoot two broadheads at the same small spot because of certain damage to arrows.

Keeping that creeping thought of a miss from being ANYWHERE in my head, is my key.

[jimneye]

My biggest nemisis in the beginning was not bending at the waist when shooting from an elevated possition (tree stand) and always hitting high.

[adirondack46r]

I agree with the comments above about the bow arm, but one thing that I've noticed that screws my shot up more than anything else is my grip. I have a tendency, when I go on autopilot to open my fingers and lose control of the grip when I release. If I keep a good firm grip on the bow - not a death grip, but a firm grip - then accuracy is all about good alignment and a solid bow arm. But when I let that grip get sloppy, I can miss my block at 15 yards - and that ain't pretty.

[McDave]

I have a kind of unusual one that I found out about kind of by accident.

I recently had cataract surgery in my left eye, which turned out great.  For the first time in my life, I have good vision out of my left eye.  It not only took care of the cataract, but near-sightedness and astigmatism too.

Now I'm in the in-between period waiting for my right eye to be done.  Shooting is somewhat difficult, as I am wearing glasses with my old lens on the right side, and no lens on the left side.  This makes it really obvious which eye I'm looking out of.

I'm right eye dominant, and have found that a good part of the time, I turn my head in enough that my right eye is blocked by my nose, and I'm really seeing the target with my left eye only!  This is something I've never been aware of before.  But I assume that if part of the time I have been shooting using my right eye, and part of the time with my left eye, without knowing that I'm switching, it could well be a cause of some mysterious misses.

You might want to check this for yourself.  If you already wear glasses, just tape up the left side (if you're right eye dominant), and shoot normally, and you can see if you've been fooling yourself, like I was.  If you don't wear glasses, you could do the same thing with dark glasses or shooting glasses.

[swampbuck]

Most of the reason's I've read stem back to failing to follow thru to conclusion.

Either a spot wasn,t picked, ya peaked ,short drew rushed in the excitment  or whatever it's that last little bit that makes or breaks it.

It shouldn,t be one's release that "should" just happen.If ya think about letting go or "trigger" the shot than the follow thru will be off and so will the arrow genrally to the left for a rt handed shooter at least thats what I've noticed but I'm no expert either

The gray matter between the ears is a good responce and is genrally the cause for not following thru with the shot

[Shawn Leonard]

Wipita792 hit it on the head except the part about modern equipment. We are not handicapped by the equipment we choose as Traditional hunters. Shawn

[Scott J. Williams]

I have seen guys doing everything under the sun that most of us would consider to be the wrong way to shoot.  

I have also seen some of these very same people shoot fantasticly on the range and hunting.  The one thing that is consistant amoung all the great shooters is a rock steady bow arm.  

I have seen guys pluck, wave to the arrow, and all other kinds of weird stuff. The ones who had the solid bow arm still shot the lights out.

My vote would go to the steady bow arm.

[pseman]

I agree with alot of what has already been stated but for me it all stems from TARGET PANIC!!! Mine is bad on some days and almost gone on others but it is always there to some degree. I think my form is pretty good(for a newbie) and my release is usually pretty smooth, but my TP causes me to lock up just below my intended target. On good days, I can slow down and focus on pulling through the release and I shoot pretty good, but on bad days, I either can't get on target and shoot low, or worse I'll start bumping my bow arm up and releasing. As you might expect, the latter causes some down right awful shots. I tell you what though, I can shoot some pretty amazing groups that are about 2" below the bottom of the vitals on my 3D deer.

Mark

[rnharris]

Mark are you shooting 3 under?
if so you will tend to shoot low and not reaching full draw will cause low arrow groups

lock your thumb and the web of your hand on your jaw bone before releasing this has helped me a lot and is very repeatable Ralph