Please excuse my rambling, but I feel like I just woke up from a coma.
I bought a new to me Quinn Longhorn Classic from a fellow Trad Gang member. It arrived last week. What a beauty. After a little tweaking, and scheduled afternoon dates for the past week, I am in love with that bow. What a sweet shooting piece of work she is.
I shot traditional for several years in my younger days. I've killed enough gar with a recurve to fill a dumptruck. I practiced every day and could hit the skinniest gar swimming at 10 yards, but I never actually practiced the fundamentals of precision shooting. Bowfishing involves a whole lot of snap shooting.
I dusted off my Masters of the Barebow DVD and watched it a couple of times last week and this weekend. The first time I watched and listened, the next time I just watched the people shooting. Studying their form, follow through, etc.. Each day my shooting has improved, but after a "blind" practice session working on nothing by my release yesterday, today it all came together. As most of you would agree, there are few things better than to feel the perfect shot. For me, they don't happen consistently yet, but today, they started happening. One of those shots where you focus on an arrow hole in the target, then hit the arrow hole, where the bow feels like part of your body, where you see the feathers spinning on their way to the target. Pure bliss.
I sort of stumbled onto the "blind" practice session yesterday, but it really helped my release and got rid of my target panic. I had put a fresh roll of hay from the barn in my backyard to use as a target stop. I got within 10 feet of the bale, closed my eyes and shot, over and over. It's amazing how clearly I could concentrate on every aspect of my form, while I had my eyes closed. That one practice session probably helped my shooting more than any one practice session I had ever done.
I own a 1989 model PSE Fireflight that I bought new. I will have that old compound as long as I live. Lots of memories. I haven't hunted with a compound in many years and will never hunt with one again. To each his own. As long as people hunt lawfully, I don't care to share the woods, or a camphouse with a guy sporting the newest whiz bang 400 fps compound bow with lazer sights, and a kick stand. I do however feel a little sorry for the folks who shoot bows and have never loosed an arrow from a recurve or long bow. There is a mighty difference in the two.
Topic: I'm in love.... (Read 125 times)
