Shooting consistency?

[Turkhunter]

Ive been shooting my recurve off and on now for 6+yrs now. I have days when I cant seem to miss and I have days when I cant hit inside a 8in paper plate from 10yds. Ive gotten very serious about practicing this summer because I want to hunt with my recurve this fall and hope to take a bear as well as a deer. I have nicely tuned arrows and concentrate hard on both a smooth release and picking a spot not just shooting the whole target. But no matter how much practice I put in my number of "good" consistency days doesnt seem to be improving. If I can get 8 out of 10 arrows to go inside an 8in circle (aiming at a small spot in the center) at ranges inside 15yds I am having a good day. How can I get to be one of those guys that claim to be able to hit a snuff can every time out to 30yds without lying about it. Or am I being unrealistic in my shooting expectations.

[moebow]

Turkhunter,
You can only be as consistent as your form is.  Look at all the recent threads here in the shooter's forum about form, study Terry's "form clock" and probably most importantly find a coach that can get another set of eyes on what you are doing.  Lacking a coach, video yourself and compare to shooting form videos that are posted here.

"Us humans" are not shooting machines -- we do have good and bad days, but the more consistent your form the more consistent your shooting!

By the way, hitting a target while working on form consistency is counter productive.  Work on form without a target until it is really grooved in, then and only then start with a target.  Paper plate or snuff can doesn't matter until your form is repeatable.

Good luck!

[cvarcher]

Mowbow offered great advice. Even though Ive killed  whitetails and countless small game I wasnt happy with my shooting.I wanted to be a deadly shooter. I went back to the drawing board. Sold all my 70lbers and bought 40-48lb longbows and one 35lb teaching bow.No target --EVER! I merely go to a field and draw on the "Horizon".Also never ever shoot less than 50 yards.It forces you to slow down and be deliberate in all points of form.Distance magnifies the little mistakes. After a while you can pick up the pace and youll see that tight consistant shooting.I dont know about always hitting a snuff can out to 30 yds but Ive aimed at my own arrow on the ground at  70 yds and hit it.Drop the target-its whats ruining the shooting. Your instincts will be on when your ready to hit something.

[zetabow]

Some great advice on how to improve and Moebow is spot on about focused on aiming and Form at same time doesn't work.

As for people posting their shooting prowess on the internet, I cant do half the stuff some claim and I've won several world titles and a European title, I NEVER see these guys at tourneys, you know why? because nobody can see you miss in cyberspace lol