I missed a dandy of an 8-point at dusk last night. The shot was a long one for me -- over 20 yards. But with all of the pussy-footing around the buck had done when he was closer, the first clear shot was the one I took. I had been at 3/4 draw when he was at about 12 yards and perfectly broadside, but a doe behind me let out a bark that made him turn his head in my direction, so I froze.
Well, by the time he offered another opportunity he was over 20 yards away and almost behind my tree stand to the right. I missed him high and left.
When I took the shot I was twisted around to my right about as far as my body could twist. I shoot right handed.
So, today I set up the same shot with a target and twisted as far as I was twisted last night. I took some shots. They were all the same as last night's shot -- high and left.
Here is what I learned from the recreation of the shot: I was so far into a twisted position that I was short drawing the bow. So the shaft was too stiff for the amount of draw, thus the left sailing of the arrow. In addition, when I was twisted that far I was placing so much torque into the string with my string hand that I forced the shot to go a bit high.
Lesson learned. I am not as flexible as I used to be when I was younger and the ability to twist my body a lot and maintain any form to make a good, or even decent, shot is something that is way way in my past.
Luckily, my shot did't spook the buck very much. I expect that if I give him a week or so to forget the noise of the arrow hitting the leaves and dirt near him, I'll see him again and get another opportunity.
I am glad that I took the time to reproduce the shot and find out what went wrong. In the future, if a decently shootable deer gets behind me I will wait for it to get far enough in front for me to have reliable form. If that doesn't happen the critter gets to walk away quietly without knowing I'm anywhere around.
Topic: learning from a miss (Read 311 times)
