Rick welch: Instinctive Shooting Vol. II

[Brianlocal3]

Hello everyone,

I received this DVD a couple days ago and am finally getting a chance to watch this. I want to start by saying that I have shot 3U with the feather to my nose for quite some time. I am a split/gapstinctive shooter. I, like many others have been interested in Rick Welch's shooting style and instructional material. So I purchased this to see what it is about.

I have spoke with Mr. Welch on the phone a few times and he has always been very helpful and down to earth. In his DVD he comes off much the same. I get from him that he is a down to earth country boy who loves archery. His instructional style is very informal and personal.  

He does not state his way is the only way and he is very careful on his choice of words.  He is clear and concise in his explanation of the different techniques he employs.

Mr. Welch explains why he uses 3U but does not say to only use it. He also goes over how he gets his bow to "shoot where you are looking" use a hard plate to move it left , and build it out if necessary and use a softer plate to bring it slightly right. If you are consistently shooting high, raise your nick a little. If low , lower the nock a little.

His method of breath control of the shot is contrary to everything ever taught to me in the military, which he holds his breath on the shot and the military teaches a full exhale befor a trigger pull ( release). Use what works for you. Mr. Welch also emphasizes a rock solid bow arm. I repeat, a rock solid bow arm.

He goes into detail of how to set your arrows up to use the cock feather as your secondary nock point. He tells about a subconscious release and PICK A SPOT.

So in closing, Mr. Welch's video is alot of common sense, but done in a way where even things that sometimes escape us or we take for granted he brings to light.  I would highly recommend this video for anyone who is looking for a good, down to earth reminder on proper shot sequence and consistent QUALITY practice sessions. He makes it a point to state do not be wily nily about your shooting if you are trying to advance your shooting skills. Shoot a good quality 15min round daily, shoot one arrow at a time, but still keep it fun and shoot groups sparingly. THINK about your shootimg. Try to improve.

Shoot straight everyone

[wasapt]

Ride on, great comments!

[Hawkeye]

Taking a full breath when drawing, and holding it until the shot "goes off" works well for me, because the expanding chest and contracting back muscle go hand-in-hand, at least for my sorry ol' carcass.

The other things I have adopted that he talks about include feather to the nose as a check to keep the eye in consistent proximity to the arrow, slight bend in bow arm elbow to avoid pulling shots left, and triggering the release by continued concentration on the target.

Three-under is just NOT for me, but the other elements from Rick's tape fit my style closely enough that putting them together as a system was of real help!

There are LOTS of ways to shoot a bow well.  If you are looking for something that has worked well for a lot of people, this method might be worth checking out...

[Brianlocal3]

Hawkeye, thanks for that contribution. Very spot on.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

His method of breath control of the shot is contrary to everything ever taught to me in the military, which he holds his breath on the shot and the military teaches a full exhale befor a trigger pull ( release). Use what works for you.  

i believe the full breath while drawing the bow expands the diaphragm helping shoulder alignment and applying even back tension.....

do a little experiment some time.... stand there relaxed, and take a slow deep breath, and watch what your shoulders do.... now hold your arms in the position you normally shoot, and do that slow deep breath again and watch what happens.... it's the most natural way i know to increase your back tension through the shot. if you release your breath along with the shaft, it's a thing of beauty!  

i really like Ricks approach a lot...

[Brianlocal3]

I too like Mr. Welchs approach alot also. Very solid foundation

[Don Batten]

Volume II is my favorite of all Ricks videos and i have all of them.

[amar911]

Rick is definitely a country boy, and a really good person and teacher. He is also an amazing shot who uses an instinctive style that is second to none. Although he is best known for his target shooting, Rick scores just as well on live animals as a hunter. What others have said about him is accurate; however, anyone contemplating taking lessons from him or using his video should remember that Rick does not insist that the student must adopt all of the techniques that are suggested. For instance, Rick advocates using three under but told me I should continue to shoot split fingers because I had done so for such a long time and shot well that way. He also thinks there is an advantage to setting up arrows so that one of the feathers touches the shooter's nose at the anchor point, but my arrows could not be set up that way because I shot split fingers and used an incompatible anchor point. Rick thought my two point anchor was sufficient and my split fingers worked fine, so he told me to keep doing both of those, even though he doesn't believe they result in the most accurate shooting. He understands that it is hard to teach old dogs like me new tricks after more than half a century of shooting. So, he worked on the other aspects of my form, particularly making sure I slowed down my release in order to stabilize my body, to allow time to subconsciously "aim", to concentrate on maintaining my anchor point, to expand my body, and then to let the release occur without any thought as to when I would relax my fingers. When I did all that, I shot well. But when my shot was off, Rick explained why, showed me on the video what had happened to my form that caused the poor shot, and told me how to correct the problem. Rick's methods work well and help archers shoot better, even if the students'  techniques are not always the same as those that Rick would have preferred.

Allan