3D Is Not Like Target Shooting

[ChristopherO]

My son and I went to our first 3D shoot this morning.  We had a lot of fun and learned that we have a long way to go, too.  I've shot many animals over the years but not with a nonsighted weapon before.  Shooting at a tennis ball hanging on a stick in front of a round bale is much easier to focus on than the kill zone of a foam critter.  I had the dangedest time picking out a hair, so to speak, to concentrate on.  Left and high was pretty common for me.  
We plan to go again.

[R H Clark]

Christopher, Glad you had fun and will go again. I love 3D shoots. You have just got to imagine there is a spot on the X ring.My biggest problem so far knowing where the X is.

When I miss high left it is usually because my anchor isn't tight.

[Tom]

3d are a fun way to practice but usually the kill zone on the targets are higher than on a real animal. They are good to get one to focus on the spot they want to hit but scoring big on 3d and actual hunting are two different things.
 Meat in the freezer is what I concentrate on, 3d are merely a diversion during the off season. But the 3d shoots are fun if only for the companions one meets there.

[Bodork]

I like the 3-d shoots but I never feel I shoot up to my potential. In my backyard, I usually only take one arrow and shoot from different places each shot. I don't get all kills by any means but I hardly ever miss completley. At the 3-d shoots, I lose focus or something because I almost always struggle. Most of these are at shots I KNOW I can make. That's what keeps me trying. I know I can do better and it's alot of fun. The guys I shoot with are a lot of fun, win or lose.

[bayoulongbowman]

are you left eye domiant??? I am the first time I tried that , I was doing some of that ...I just started closing my left eye...then few years later went lefty...wow what good thing that was...have fun...Marco

[loco_cacahuate]

I pick out an arrow hole where I think is a good spot and shoot for that.

[James Wrenn]

The more you do it the easier it becomes to focus on the shots.I can't see good enough to see any rings most times so I have to zone shoot in the area I thing they should be.Differnt brands of targets can mess you up if you zone shoot sometimes because the rings are in different places on each brand.The first time I shot a course with the african targets I would shot what looked like a great shot to find the rings up in the shoulder somewhere. :)It is a fun game and one you never have to be a winner at to have lots of fun.

[tamure]

3Ds are a lot of fun, especially when shooting with other trad shooters. Although recently I shot a 3D with one compound guy in our group. He always shot first because his stake was furthest away. He generally also always scored a 10. So his arrow gave us all something to aim at when we couldn't see the kill zone (of course, no one but him brought bino's).    

It is a lot different than shooting targets, especially if you just shoot the same targets all the time. But that is the great thing about 3D. It gets you out of your "box" or "rut." I know I tend to fall into a pattern of shooting the same targets from same distance, etc. That's bad, because when hunting you'll never shoot the same target twice!

[Diamond Paul]

Use binoculars so you can tell where the scoring rings are (probably at least an 8X is needed).  The biggest problem is that there is nothing to aim at, as you said, but that is what makes it good practice for hunting.  If you are primarily a hunter, I would always shoot where you would on a real animal, regardless of score, because the kill zones on 3-D targets aren't always realistic.  If you want to be good at 3-D, you must learn the targets' kill zones.