Aiming method

[Hoosiergrass]

New to trad shooting and looking for some help as far as aiming methods. I plan to only shoot 20 yards while hunting. I like the idea of string walking but not sure if I can do it with a 58" recurve without making the bow too loud or throwing the tuning out of whack. Gap shooting, especially for turkeys kind of seems like it would be hard to accurately do. And I haven't shot long enough to even consider instinctive. Would a fixed crawl work well with the 20 yard maximum distance I have set for myself? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have a loaner recurve I've been shooting but am making a trip to Three Rivers next week to purchase my own bow and get setup. Happy to be leaving the compound world..it has been 2 decades of headache as far as keeping up with the latest and greatest. Ready to make things more simple with a traditional bow.

[moebow]

Cart before the horse IMO Hoosier.  NEW to trad shooting??  Then just shoot for a while!!  Get your shot routine and sequence down before you worry about aiming methods.  Aiming is, again IMO, the LAST thing to worry about.  Decide to shoot either split finger OR 3 under but then just learn your shot (NO fixed crawl YET!).  Aiming is just one part of the shot sequence and not the most important part of the sequence.

Too many beginners seem to want to tune, or aim or get high FOC things going before they are ready for any of that.  Trad shooting is not compound shooting and priorities are very different.  Have 3 Rivers set you up then don't worry about anything for a few MONTHS while you work on your shot!!  Start close range, don't try to hit a bull's eye, JUST SHOOT!!!!  IF you do that, you will find that aiming will mostly take care of itself.

Have fun, but learn the shot FIRST!!

Arne

[Hoosiergrass]

Thanks Arne, I will do just that as I have plenty of time before next deer season rolls around to work on aiming. Guess it's sort of like blank bale shooting, just learning my form and release first.

[BWallace10327]

Don't forget the fun.  There is supposed to be a little bit of that wound in the procedure of things.

[Hoosiergrass]

Oh I'm gonna have some fun. The recurve I've borrowed has already got me addicted to shooting barebow. I can tell I'm probably never gonna a go back to training wheels again.

[McDave]

As Arne says, focus on the form until you have that down.  But WHY focus on only the form for a while?  Why not do it all?  What’s the matter with learning fixed crawl along with everything else if that’s what you want to end up doing anyway?

The reason is, you only have a limited ability to learn things, and it actually takes longer to learn something if you spread yourself too thin.  Just like it’s easier to learn to drive in a big empty Sears parking lot (too empty these days 😢) than it is on the road with other cars.  It’s not just safety, it’s learning to steer and brake and drive between the lines without the distractions of a lot of other stuff going on.  Even champions like Rod Jenkins spend a lot of time in front of a blank bale so they can focus all their attention on one thing they think needs working on.

So enjoy the journey; that’s what traditional archery is all about.  None of us has reached the goal yet, and probably never will.

[Hoosiergrass]

Makes sense McDave. Thanks and I am looking forward to the journey of traditional archery.

[pavan]

If one is only going to take 20 yard shots, any solid repeatable shooting style will work.  I never understand why anyone would want to restrict themselves to a limited shooting style right out of the gates.  I would suggest to learn basic split finger form until it becomes a natural thing to do.  You may find that you can hit tennis balls at 20 yards quite consistently like my 66 year old wife can.

[Jock Whisky]

And if you can find a good coach go for it. It will steepen your learning curve tremendously. Sometimes just a couple of sessions will get you started down the right track. I did and it was a game changer.

[Hoosiergrass]

Thanks Jock Whisky. I will look for a coach for a couple sessions.

[pavan]

A video of you shooting can tell you a lot.  When viewing videos of me shooting, what i see and what I feel can be two different things. 

[Hoosiergrass]

I agree pavano,  I used videos back in my 3D compound shooting days. It is a great way to critique form flaws.

[Krex1010]

I was in the same shoes as you a couple years ago. I was annoyed at the gadgetry that the compound bow world had become and saw trad shooting as a simpler way. I’ve made lots of mistakes and had many frustrating moments, still do. Shooting compounds is actually the more simple way to go....but the traditional journey is far more rewarding.
Based on my experience, if I could go back and talk to myself as I was starting out, I would have told myself to buy a reasonably long and low weight bow to start instead of buying a bow I intended to hunt with. It is soooo much easier to get your form figured out when you’re not shaking all over the place.

That would be the one piece of advice I’d give a new trad shooter, own a light weight bow that you can shoot all day comfortably. Doesn’t have to be expensive or fancy, just comfortable in the hand and at full draw. It will save you time and frustration, believe me.

[YosemiteSam]

Gap shooting isn't hard at all.  For me, it's the best way to work on form as I can eliminate that variable by putting the tip of my arrow at a single spot and then focus on the expansion to release.  If the tip of my arrow is at the same spot but my arrows are scattered, then clearly, it has nothing to do with my aim.  It could be my release, my head position, my finger tension...  But it isn't my aim.  With instinctive, I could be holding the point at different spots but I'd never know. 

Gap shooting at turkey-sized targets requires more fiddling so maybe put that off for a while.  But full-length, heavy arrows can shrink your gaps down to manageable sizes.  With full-length arrows, my gap at 20 yards is only about 8-9".  I put the tip of the arrow right near the turkey's knees (where the feathers start on his legs) and, assuming I did everything else right, the shaft lands somewhere in the kill zone.  Pretty hard to mess that up, though I often manage to find a way.  Put a full-length arrow of 600+ grains through any modern recurve or longbow that's 40-50# and you'll probably get similar results.  It's horrible on our local 3D courses, though, since most of those shots are over 30 yards.  But the 0-20 game is a lot easier with that kind of setup.

[Hoosiergrass]

YosemiteSam, thanks for that feedback. All the info I can get at this point is going to help.

[Wolftrail]

I focus on the target as I slowly draw the bow and bring to anchor and line up the arrow somewhat then re-focus on the target for the last 30% of the shot sequence then release.
Not totally sure what spit vision is,  but this is what I do:  or is this instinctive..? I taught myself gap shooting but would rather not rely on it for target or 3-D.  I shoot trad bow so I have learned my distances better to allow for a higher aim at longer distance.