Long distance practice

[targets3D]

I read that some compound bowhunters often target practice at 100 yards in the off-season so as to enhance their accuracy in their 40 yards effective range.

Do any trad shooters ever try those distances? I know FITA barebow shooters compete in that range. Can you still use instinctive at that distance?

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

Since my zero gap (point on) is 40 years, I like to shoot at that any chance I get.  Right now I do most of my practice between 15 and 20 yards.

[zetabow]

I shoot IFAA Field (Longbow) out to 80y and sometimes practice out to 100y, it helps give me more confidence, making the 80y and 70y walkup feel easy.

Those kinds of long distances I use POA method, anything else just isn't consistent enough. My point on distance is 65y

It's also FUN to do.

------------------------------------------
IFAA World\\European champ, Fita 3D world champ

[UnderControl16]

I'm going to sound like a major newb but can someone (or zeta) translate what he just said?

[reddogge]

I don't know if you call it instinctive or not but at those yardages I must hold the point of the arrow over the target quite a bit (like in feet) and that amount is done by trial and error.

[ren sarns]

WHat Steve is saying is he uses POA (point of arrow) at those long distances.  If his POA is (dead on) at 65 yards then he shoots knowing his gaps above and below that yardage.  MY POA is 45 yards,  so I have a huge gap when shooting out to 80 yards for field tourneys.  For argument sake say POA at 45,  then at 30 yards I have to hold 6 inches low,  at 20 it is 18 inches low.... and then beyond 45 I have to hold high by whatever gap it is for that yardage.

[ren sarns]

Sorry,  didn't really address the original post,  no I don't shoot instinctive at those yardages.  SHort yardages out to 30 I do... after that I really concentrate on my gaps.  I have been practicing out to 80 in preperation for some field tourneys,  but all in the hopes it will make me more consistent at close yardages for hunting.  By the way I shoot my hunting rigs,  whisperstik voodoostik off the shelf with my hunting arrows at all these tournaments.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

From the people have have read and talked to instinctive is good out to about 15 - 25 yards.  This isn't hard and fast and I am sure there are those that might do it out farther.

[zetabow]

Instinct does work on longer shots but Field rounds require 4 arrows shot at each target, what I found when I first started out shooting Field instinctively was that the first and sometimes second shot would be pretty good, the third would be either just out or a line cutter and very rarely got the 4th arrow in anything past 30 yards, using Gap\\POA on Field I'm more consistent normally around 100 scoring arrows out of 112 where before shooting instinct I would be lucky to get 70 scoring arrows on a Field\\Hunter round.


If I shoot 100y and I knew the distance I would use POA method and would be able to consistently hit but if I had no idea of the distance I would likely have similar results using either Instinct or POA method on first arrow.

One big advantage with long range and using Gap\\POA over instinct is that with POA if you miss you know the gap you used and amount you missed by it's pretty easy to calculate your new gap to hit with second arrow.

[Eugene Slagle]

Originally posted by ren sarns:
Sorry,  didn't really address the original post,  no I don't shoot instinctive at those yardages.  SHort yardages out to 30 I do... after that I really concentrate on my gaps.  I have been practicing out to 80 in preperation for some field tourneys,  but all in the hopes it will make me more consistent at close yardages for hunting.  By the way I shoot my hunting rigs,  whisperstik voodoostik off the shelf with my hunting arrows at all these tournaments.

I'm with ya bud, my Point On is 40 yards with my Zona Recurve shooting  a 445gr. 30" G.T. Trad 35/55 arrow & anything between 30 & below I use instinctive or split vision but above 35 I start using the point as a reference.
50 yards I'm about a foot above the center & 60 yards I'm looking at nearly 2 feet, anything beyond that & I'm guessing right now since I haven't practiced much further than 60 yards yet, but my goal this year is to be consistently hitting the 70 & 80 yards targets with consistentcy & know by memory what my hold & angle should be for those distances.

[UnderControl16]

So i have two questions one on topic the other slightly off...

First where do you find these long distance turni's?

Second, how can you guys shoot so well instinctively. I think that my POA is about 25-30, not completely sure i just started shooting a new bow. Does instinctive just come with time and experience because right now i'm shooting POA at all ranges.

[zetabow]

Does instinctive just come with time and experience because right now i'm shooting POA at all ranges. [/QB]

Even shooting Gap becomes closer to instinct after a while, when first learning the Gap is in the front of your mind and accuracy suffers but as you grow confident you focus more and more on where you want arrow to hit, shooting is about taking many bits of info to make the shot and some of it is to do with experience and FEEL and most importantly self confidence.

[ren sarns]

Originally posted by UnderControl16:
So i have two questions one on topic the other slightly off...

First where do you find these long distance turni's?

Second, how can you guys shoot so well instinctively. I think that my POA is about 25-30, not completely sure i just started shooting a new bow. Does instinctive just come with time and experience because right now i'm shooting POA at all ranges.

The long distance tourneys are for me,  the NFAA field and outdoor sectionals or nationals.  THe NFAA marked 3D tourney also this year in Redding (every year) which is from 4 yards to 101 yards.  NFAA changed the distances for "traditional" to the youth stakes for State and below tournaments but maintained the original distances for sectional and above.

[Ragnarok Forge]

After a year and a half of working hard on instinctive shooting I can shoot effectively out to 35 yards. By effectively I mean expect to put it in the kill zone ( 8 ring ) on a 3D Deer size target every time.  Farther than 35 yards and I  I switch to gap shooting and can hit foam out to 60 yards.  I am shooting heavy arrows so anything past 65 yards is a total hail mary shot for me.  For hunting I keep all my shots at 25 yards and under

[xtrema312]

Originally posted by Northwest_Bowhunter:
Since my zero gap (point on) is 40 years, I like to shoot at that any chance I get.  Right now I do most of my practice between 15 and 20 yards.

Same here.  I shoot a little between 20 and 35 some days, but not a lot.  I have just started to shot some longer stuff.  Compton is tomorrow so I plan to miss a lot of stuff over 25 yd.  :D

[Diamond Paul]

I can shoot to about 55 yards in my yard if I shoot from one corner to the other, but I mostly shoot from 30-40 yards.  There is a nice club here that has a field range, with targets out to 80 yards; it sometimes hosts the state tourney.  If you have a club nearby with such a range, that's a good place to go to experience longe range shooting.  I know that shooting at 40 has really helped me with shorter ranges.  30 yards is now like 20 used to be for me; in fact, I think I feel most confident from there now.

[Bill Turner]

I don't do it enough, but I believe every instinctive shooter would help himself by incorporating long distance shooting into his/her practice routine. Most of my practice is done inside 20 yards. When I venture out to 40 or even 50 yards, and truly shoot for form, I not only get to enjoy the flight of the arrow even more, but it seems to have a positve effect on my short range shooting.Great way to build confidence.

[zetabow]

Originally posted by Bill Turner:
I don't do it enough, but I believe every instinctive shooter would help himself by incorporating long distance shooting into his/her practice routine. Most of my practice is done inside 20 yards. When I venture out to 40 or even 50 yards, and truly shoot for form, I not only get to enjoy the flight of the arrow even more, but it seems to have a positve effect on my short range shooting.Great way to build confidence.

Agree 100%, you can get away with alot under 20y but past 40y Form is everything.

[Jack Whitmire Jr]

We have a lot of fun here at home shooting at anything we can find into a dirt bank out to 85 yards . Pumpkins in the fall are a  favorite target . Shooting at those distances sure tightens up your groups at hunting ranges. Sad thing is that is has only extended my effective range from 20 yards out to 25 . Although the confidence at 25 yards is 100% . But that is what bowhunting is all about -getting close .


Good thread
Jack