New Shooter

[tsorenson]

Hi, y'all.  I'm new to traditional after shooting a compound my entire life (darn near, anyhow). I bought a 62" 50# Samick Sage (I know, I know) and have been lurking on here ever since (6 weeks or so).  I've been struggling with point of reference aiming for the past 6 weeks without even trying instinctive shooting because it just sounded like it wouldn't work.  I mean, the way I understood it was that you just focus your eyes on a spot you want to hit, and let 'er fly...that didn't sound like it had a prayer of working.  Last night I was about to turn a 62" Samick Sage into kindling after one more frustrating round.  This morning, I thought I'd give instinctive a whirl, focusing on form and the target and more "feeling" the arrow.  Boy, was I impressed with the difference!  Not only did my shooting improve, the shooting became immensely more enjoyable!  Suddenly, I feel like something clicked and I've been given a renewed excitement over shooting traditional.

I'm so far from achieving acceptability with this thing, but it has made shooting fun again.  Below is my group from this morning, all instinctive.  I shot about 50 shots, 2/3 from 10 yards and the rest from 20 (except one from 30 that is the flier in the upper left that you see).  I did miss paper once, too (20 yards).

Since I have not wanted to buy all new everything, I've been trying to make the equipment I had from compound shooting work - so I'm using Beman ICS Hunter 400 arrows with 5 gpi arrow weights, cut to 30" (28" draw), and after spending forever with the test field tips, I have settled on 130 grains up front, giving me total arrow weight of about 550 grains - 11 gpp.

Being in a small community, I do belong to the local archery club, but not one single person in the club is into traditional, so I look forward to getting my tips and help from you fine folks, here.
   

[tsorenson]

Lemme try uploading that image again. Sorry!
 

[ARCHER2]

Welcome Brother,
You've stopped by the right campfire here my friend. The folks on this great site know all the in's and out's concerning traditional hunting and shooting. Plus lots of other stuff too! Good to have you!
Shoot Straight,
Charlie

[paoliguy]

Welcome! I'm fairly new to traditional myself. These folks around here are for sure a wealth of knowledge. I'm starting to "get" the instinctive thing too. There is some amazing advice over on the Shooters Form Forum.

[Whip]

Great job!  That is some pretty darn good shooting if most of those holes are from 20 yards.  I think you'll find that the majority of trad shooters try to limit hunting shots to well less than that, so you are doing very well indeed.  Congrats!

[tsorenson]

Thanks, all.  Most of those holes are actually from 10 yards - about 2/3 of them.  I noticed something at lunch as I was hanging my bow up, I decided to check my brace height again, and it had dropped a half inch.  This isn't a new string - it is a Flemish Fast Flight string.  I put 8 twists in it to get my bow to a 7 3/8ish brace, but when I checked it at lunch it was below 7.  I unstrung, and there didn't seem to be any twist at all in the string.  So, I put 8 twists in it again, and it is now coming in again at 7 3/8. Anyone know what might cause the creep? Is this normal?

[Bruinbow]

I have had that problem and that is why I started making my own strings . The ones you buy are not back laid and they will creep . I make them and they will stretch a little and then settle in . I have B50 strings on a 60# bow that I have shot for 3 mo. and not had to change my brace height .