Practice techniqes

[zinndl]

How did (do) some of you practice to develope shot accuracy and form? I am very new to this; I have a book by Brian Sorrels and He recommended starting about 5 feet from the target and shoot at that distance until you can place 9 out of 10 arrows in a 2 inch circle, he recomends 500 shots at each phase of distance to ingrain proper form and sight picture into the mind / body. He says that once you develope the instinct the distance will be unimportant, your mind / body will give you the correct sight picture. I Made up my mind that I am going to take the time to try that method, the only thing I am doing different it I started ad 5 yards.
I can do pretty well for about a dozen or so shots then I seem to fatigue and lose concentration. What other methods to you folks reccomend? My main goal is to be an instinctive shooter & by that I mean I do not want to develope a style that forces me to figure distances.

[AllenR]

Brian's book is very good.  If you are going to try his method, you will do much better in the long run to do it exactly as he wrote it.  Starting at 5 feet allows you to focus your mind on your form without worrying about where your arrow goes.  At 5 yards, you have to give some of your attention to aiming.  At first you should focus on form.   Archery is not a sport at which you can excel by taking shortcuts.  If you go with Brian's program, do it all the way, every step including the parts where you don't shoot.  You'll be glad that you did.

If you can only go a dozen shots without fatigue, you are starting with too much draw weight.  I tried that several decades ago and it took me 35 years to get back to archery because I thought that I couldn't do it. It wasn't me, it was just too much draw weight for a beginner.  Most adult male beginners should start with about 30# draw weight.  It's not hard to build up draw weight, but it is hard to overcome bad form habits from starting with too much bow.

Hope this helps,
Allen

[zinndl]

Thanks Allen...Good advice!

[Diamond Paul]

 What Allen said.

[scriv]

Yep.  

[Luckyned]

What they said! I grew up with my Grandfather shooting a 70lb bow. I wish I could test it!! See how that works?
  Never shoot what you think you should shoot! Shoot what you can-accuratly. (JMHA)

[Scott J. Williams]

I perfer to use the one shot and pull method. Too many times we believe that we shoot better than we really do.

We shoot a good arrow, then a bad arrow, then another bad arrow, then we shoot two good arrows.  After the session you think things went better than they really did.

In addition, fatigue is a negative factor in development of form.  The more fatigued you become, the more sloppy the shooter becomes.  Soon your are practicing bad techinque, and once learned, it can take an "Act of Congress" to correct. So taking one shot, walking and pulling forces several things to happen.  One, you get a real assesment of the shot. Two, you get to think about it, and make both mental and physical corrections.  Three, you are getting to rest between shots. Some say it even contributes to the calling of one's shots. Which, when it ocurrs, is an indicator that you are well on your way to better shooting.

Another method I use is the bare bale method. That is removing all targets from the bale.  I then move around the yard, and pick a specific spot and shoot for it.  This aids in confidence when it comes to picking a spot on the real deal.

Even though, you most likely will be able find a tuff of hair, or a shadow, or crease.  You can't always count on it.  Especially on hogs, and bears that have coats that make that more difficult.

Shoot lots of good arrows when trying to develope endurance,  shoot few arrows when developing form and focus.  It really builds confidence, with is the intangible that is often over looked in good shooting.

[bowtime]

Zinn...be sure to use a light bow. In Nov.07 I started shooting like you. 40# was easy for 6 weeks then moved to 45# Dorado. I enjoyed shooting so much I would shoot for an hour...was
addicted to shooting those arrows. Somewhere in Feb.08 I couldn't shoot any more. Pain in spine,upper back,shoulder and collar bone. Today
May 3 still have not healed up fully. Next step
is shooting left handed with very light compound.
Plan to use fingers with no sights...at least I'll be shooting arrows again. Only bright spot in this story was April 25,killed two hogs with three shots.I was very happy...first hunt and had not shot an arrow in four weeks.
 This traditional stuff can get a hold of you....
please don't do what I did. Take it slowly...one
step at a time. Good luck

[zinndl]

Originally posted by bowtime:
Zinn...be sure to use a light bow. In Nov.07 I started shooting like you. 40# was easy for 6 weeks then moved to 45# Dorado. I enjoyed shooting so much I would shoot for an hour...was
addicted to shooting those arrows. Somewhere in Feb.08 I couldn't shoot any more. Pain in spine,upper back,shoulder and collar bone. Today
May 3 still have not healed up fully. Next step
is shooting left handed with very light compound.
Plan to use fingers with no sights...at least I'll be shooting arrows again. Only bright spot in this story was April 25,killed two hogs with three shots.I was very happy...first hunt and had not shot an arrow in four weeks.
 This traditional stuff can get a hold of you....
please don't do what I did. Take it slowly...one
step at a time. Good luck

Sorry to hear about your injury, hope you can get back in the game soon! Thanks for the advise, I will take it to heart and learn from it.

[Hattrick]

BE MORE OF THE SAME WITH EVERY SHOT, AS STATED BY A USA OLYMPIC ARCHER COACH