A jerk?

[Claymore]

Usually a couple of times during a shooting session I throw one right about 2 feet and down a foot at 15yds. If feels like a bad flench. Sometime I catch it before I release and recover.Anyone else do this? Is it a flench caused by maybe a concentration breakdown or anticipating the shot? I can't remember when it started but have had trouble with it off and on for two years or so.

[njloco]

Are you a righty or lefty ?

[Terry Green]

Sounds like a form of target panic.....folks familiar with that can elaborate....I don't know about target panic....and like Barry Wensel, I don't want to know.    

[Claymore]

Righty. Thanks Terry you may be right.

Yep.  Been there and done it way too much.  :^(

You don't seem too have it very bad since it doesn't happen all the time.  That's a good thing.  I'd suggest getting up close and working on your shot sequence on a bale until it leaves altogether, then, bridge your way back from there--a step at a time.  Good luck to you.

[Ben Maher]

What Jim said ...

[stujay]

Yep sounds like your describing target panic.

[njloco]

I did something similar, and It usually happened when I was getting tired, but it would only be about 6-8" right and the same high, but it was plucking the string and I knew when I did it, I have since switched to a static release and I don't do it anymore.

[Trad-Man]

There is no such thing as target panic.  Just a lack of confidence and concentration during the shot.

Being mentally and phyisically tired helps errode confidence and concentration.

10 good arrows is better than 50 half azz*ed arrows or shooting to the point of breakdown.

If you want to build strength jusy pull and hold at full draw.  No target, no arrows, no release.

"There is no such thing as target panic. Just a lack of confidence and concentration during the shot."

Obvious.... you never suffered from the darn stuff.  :^)

[Claymore]

I was not shooting until I was tired. It happened yesterday on the 3rd shot. It is not a matter of shooting to the point of breakdown. Strength is not the issue I was shooting a 33# bow. I hope you never get it.

[Ben Maher]

Originally posted by Trad-Man:
There is no such thing as target panic.  Just a lack of confidence and concentration during the shot.

 

I pretty much disagree with that about as strongly as I have ever disagreed with anything I have seen on the internet .

I have suffered from it for a while , on and off as have a few archers I know personally , and quite a few I have read of and also corrosponded with .Herb Meland had it bad by all acounts , Noted longbowman Dave Richardson supposedly had it something awful and ....
 Keith Bain had it , Denny Sturgis Jr has spoken of his struggles with it , I think Steve Morley has admitted to it and Len Cardinale has adapted training regimens around it ... Simon Fairweather has spoken of it and Rod Jenkins spends a lot of time helping people who suffer from it ......
But I guess we have all been hoodwinked eh ?    

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by Trad-Man:
 Just a lack of confidence and concentration during the shot.

 

You just described the definition of the term 'target panic'.    :D

[njloco]

Whatever it is, It does exist and people still need help with it. I have friends that suffer from and it's so frustrating to them that one can see it when they are trying to shoot and correct the problem.

[metsastaja]

Originally posted by Claymore:
 I catch it before I release and recover.
 

My brother has a saying.
 
Never try to recover..let down and start over.

[Trad-Man]

Originally posted by njloco:
Whatever it is, It does exist and people still need help with it. I have friends that suffer from and it's so frustrating to them that one can see it when they are trying to shoot and correct the problem.

It dosen't exist.  Not any more than Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or any of us dating a super model.  What exists is a lack of confidence in their own abilities.

They are choking, self imposed pressure has taken over their sub concious and they are thinking, not doing.  Just like Texas did throughout the series.  There are many examples especially in game 7.  You can't think your way through a pitch or a swing of the bat...it all happens to fast.

The question is how do you get your head out of the shot.   First, you have to not give a sh*t about the outcome. If you are worried about missing guess what...you're g'na miss...promise.  

Now that we have an understanding it's time to learn how to shoot.  Shooting means missing and accepting that as a fact.  Tired of missing? Make the target bigger, stop laughing, I'm not kidding.

Second, you have to build PROPER muscle memory.  That comes from proper form.  Not what you think is proper form or you buddy thinks is proper form.  Or somebody here on this forum thinks is good enough form.  Until you learn what proper form is and what it FEELS like you are not learning how to shoot.  I learned with a 17 pound recurve, and a US archery coach.  you are not going to learn with a hunting weight bow.  Ppromise..think about it.

"But I'm a bowhunter" form dosen't matter.  Rigghhhttt.  Let's just remember that I don't have this target panic thingy that others complain about.  Never have, never will.

Now that you have a draw weight that you don't have to think about were g'na make it possible for you to shoot without having to think about it.  Get 8 feet from a mongo back stop...no target, just the backstop.  Shoot with your eyes closed, by feel...feel the proper form throughout the entire shot process.

We do not care where the arrow ends up as long as it is in the backstop LOL...all we care about is the feel of the shot.   No thinking, no excuses, no argument, no nothing but shooting, eyes closed, FEELING the proper form through the shot.

Shoot 20, call it a day...ALWAYS STOP ON A PERFECT SHOT, that is what your brain is going to remember.  After about 1500 arrows you will have developed proper muscle memory without having to worry about draw weight, or hitting the target.

This should get anybody started.  The rest is learning how to do just this under pressure.  That comes from shooting under pressure,  competitions, money, trophy sized deer etc.

One last thing...practicing and working out with your bow are two different activities.  You should never be practicing/shooting a bow you can't EASILY draw, otherwise your head is THINKING about drawing.  NO THINKING, just doing.

OH...and if you are mentally pre-occupied with anything else.  Keep the bow in the case or on the rack till you are not mentally preoccupied.

[Claymore]

How do you say something does not exist and then define it and explain how to cure it.

[Claymore]

Trad I like your cure. But I still have it with light bows.

Ah… well… I think I know what Trad-Man means—now.  I had an old chemistry professor who said, on several occasions, “Scientifically, there is no such thing as cold.  What we refer to as cold is actually a lack of heat.”  :^)

….. and I would certainly agree with just about everything he’s said.  I know in my case, the more I have learned and applied, mentally and physically, a proper shot sequence; the pressure lessens during the performance of the same.  It’s like the mental and muscle memory is displacing the apprehension and anticipation—or some such stuff.  :^)