? for Instinctive shooters

[StanM]

Do you experience a disproportionate accuracy fall off after a certain distance?  Can you shoot a 4" group at 20 yards, but step back to 30 and find you're struggling to keep it inside a foot?

I know this is true for me.  Out to 22 yards I feel pretty good about hitting something about the size of a softball more often than not.  Get back even to 26 or 28 yards though and I'm not even 50/50.

Anyone else experience this?  

Stan

[McDave]

I think accuracy in instinctive shooting falls off more than proportionately at distances you don't practice at.  For example, if I shoot a 6" group at 20 yards, I should be able to shoot a 12" group at 40 yards.  If I practice as much at 40 yards as I do at 20 yards, that may be true.  However, if I don't, my hand/eye coordination isn't working, and what I shoot at 40 yards is anybody's guess.

[KyleAllen]

hard to really shoot a group past your normal practice distance. Reason being, after every shot you are trying to compensate for the next one. Know what i mean? If you want to really see how you group, get a taller target and dont equate drop into your shooting. For instance, if you regularly shoot at 20 yards, just back up to 30 and pretend the target is at 20. Shoot the same as you would if it was 20. Of course your arrows will fall low, but you will see a group.
Kyle

[Shakes.602]

What do they call that? "Stepping  OUT  of Your Comfort Zone", That is the Best way to Get "Better"!!! Just Scoot back 5 Yards today, then 5 more Tomorrow, you get the Idea!    
 Have Faith in  "PICKING A SPOT"  on whatever it is youre shooting, and fling them Arrows Buddy!!!  

[Kingstaken]

Stepping back typically increases accuracy at closer distances.

[BONE]

I seem to shoot better from 20-30yds than I do short yardage,but I also practice at these yardages.My practice routine used to be short yardage (5-20 yds),but as I increased my yardage I found I shot better.One thing leads to the next,shooting longer ranges has increased my accuracy on lesser yardage.I still shoot better on longer shots, but I am working on it.--Bone

[X2]

Out to about 25 yards my accuracy is very good.  From 25 to 35 it starts to fall off.  40 and further it falls off very fast.  I start to use the tip of the arrow as reference at 30 yards and beyond.  For me using both instinctive and gap works great.  Whatever the situation dictates, is what I use.  Out to 30 I just look at what I want to hit and shoot.  Past 30 I know what my gap is, and use the tip of the arrow as reference.

[Bilbow Bagem]

I regularly practice in the 12-20 yard range.  I have noticed that when things start to get sloppy at this range It helps to move to 25 or even 30 yard tagets and shoot maybe a dozen at the longer distance. My groups always tighten up when I go back to the 15-20.  I think the longer distance makes me concentrate more on my form.  I have been really surptised at some of the groups I can get at the longer distances.  That being said, the longer shots (over 20) are still outside my comfort zone if I had something furry in front of me....especially when the heart rate exceeds 200bpm  :D

[loco_cacahuate]

I practice very day 10-40 yards, at 40 I would pick a spot about a ft higher, one day I was hitting the high spot i was picking. So now I trust my instinct at all distances.

[Terry Green]

If all you do is throw to 1st base from second base, ....then you gotta learn how to throw to 1st base from 3rd......and if you move to left field, you gotta learn that......

Practice more at 30 yards, and your brain will figure it out.......and your form will tighten up.

As always, no matter how you aim, your margine of error grows the father you shoot. If you are off an inch at 10 yards, then you'd be off maybe 5 inches at 30......I don't know the ratio exactly, and aint got time to figure it out...but I'm sure you get the idea.

[Tom A]

I did not feel confident at 30 yards or longer untill I started slowing my shot sequence down, locking in and holding for a second or two. It also helps to have a bow with some good speed. I start using my point out past 50. 50 and 60 yard shots are amazingly easy compared to 40-45 yard shots where my instinctive shooting starts to go to crap an my arrow point is still too low to use.

[StanM]

Thanks to all who replied.

Probably should've put more info in the original post.  I can shoot to 43 yards in my backyard.  I think for me the problem is two-fold.  First, although I'm shooting a lot more at longer distance, in the past I didn't worry too much about it as I was primarily a hunter.  I think there is something to the "comfort zone" theory, although I haven't been able to increase that zone as rapidly as I would've thought.

Second, and more to the heart of the matter for this thread, is a confidence issue and I wanted to see if others would post on that topic before I mentioned it.

For me, I KNOW I'm going to hit what I'm aiming at, at 22 yards or less.  I don't hope for good results, I expect them.  Again, I guess this defines "comfort zone", but I can't seem to increase the zone by merely shooting lots of arrows at 30, and 40 yards.

Outside of 22 yards I'm still in the hope range.  Hasn't bothered me that much in the past because as I said, I generally don't take hunting shots that far away.  Anymore, though, I'm enjoying shooting my bow as much as I enjoy hunting and I want to improve.  Although I do practice at longer ranges, I'm not shooting as well as I think I should.

I know the two go hand-in-hand, but what comes first? better shooting? or confidence?  And, what's the solution?  Keep shooting more arrows at longer distances knowing it will pay off in time?

Stan

[Bonebuster]

I know what you mean by "comfort zone".

More QUALITY practice is the only way to expand that zone.

Being good at twenty five means your even better at fifteen.

No matter how much you practice or how good you can shoot, when you have a buck broadside at twenty five yards, its alot better if he was at fifteen.

[Molson]

Stan, your last post was outstanding.  I had the same problem a few years ago while trying to prepare for the 27yd shot I knew I would have from one of my ground blinds.  I solved it by shooting one arrow at a time.

For some reason, at least for me, if I know I'm going to shoot another arrow, I dismiss what happened with the last arrow and look for a better result on the next one.  When you shoot one arrow at 30yds, you have 30yds of walking up to your target to think about what just happened and 30yds of walking back to think about correcting it.

If you pay attention to each shot, you'll probably find that the reason you fall off so fast is because (in one way or another) you're looking for a result before the arrow even leaves the bow.

Just remember, the lack of confidence is not the reason you are missing. The real reason is an actual, physical error of some kind. The lack of confidence just puts your mind in a condition which allows the error to occur. Identify the error and work on fixing it.  Then, when your results improve, so will your confidence.

[Jerry Jeffer]

Terry, you have a way of making it easy to understand. While stumping recently, I was attempting shots farther than usual. My left/right was right on, but my distance suffered. After a few hours of these shots. I started to get it, and my other shots (closer range) improved tremendously. BTW, since increasing my practice time, I am loving how I shoot and enjoying shooting more, which makes me shoot more. Get it?

[StanM]

Molson,

Thanks for the tip.  I tend to shoot 3 or 4 arrow groups at a distance before I move to a different distance.  I'll try the one arrow thing for a while.

Stan

[StanM]

Hey Molson,

Your tip is paying off for me.  Did some of my best shooting at 30+ yards that I've done in a long time.  Thanks,

Stan

[Terry Green]

[Molson]

Glad to hear that helped you out!