Shooting a target on a target!

[Holybeardman]

Hey all,

I was out playing around with my new arrows last night with my wife and sister in law and we were just taking turns shooting at our foam block target...

I got the smart idea to put my paper coffee cup on the ledge we have on our target stand and we all started shooting at once to race to see who could hit the cup first.

I started to notice that we were shooting straighter and far more consistent to the point that we had demolished the cup and needed something else to shoot at.

Has anyone else noticed this? Just shooting at the block isn't nearly as satisfying as hitting a 3D target or stuffed animal or something of the sort...

Or am I crazy?

[skeaterbait]

Absolutely. That's why stump shooting is so popular and the best practice.

[Holybeardman]

Man... I felt deadly accurate.

Many a stuffy were killed yesterday....

[Roadsnakes]

Most times I shoot at a empty liter soda container.

When I hit it you hear a nice Pop!

Anything is better then shooting at a paper target.

I saw a video once where they pressurized soda bottles and shot at them.

When you hit them they exploded.


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[Kromer]

Stick a golf tee in your block once. Amazing what happens when you narrow your focus...

[MW]

Hang clay pidgins... or shatter blasts.

[Holybeardman]

We've only got like a 12x12 block. I can hit it quite consistently from 20-30 feet but my grouping isn't the best for sure.

I have issues focusing on a single point sometimes which has me flying all over the place.

We tied up a little stuffed monkey and out of six arrows, I hit it three times with the other three so close it basically pinned the monkey in place.

Thanks for the ideas though. I bet the golf tee would be a crazy good idea.

[Sam McMichael]

I think Kromer has it right. A more narrow focus will bring tighter groups. Just another way of saying to pick a spot.

[Trenton G.]

If I hang a golf ball in front of my target, I can hit that much more consistently than a dot on the actual target. As mentioned above, I think that having another dimension to look increases focus.

My favorite one lately, is a copenhagen can filled with dirt and hung by fishing ling from a long rod taped to a ladder, so that it can be swung in front of my large target.  A bit more consistent and safer than having a tosser lob it across the target. One fishing line to hang and swing it and another to retrieve it for another try, from a safe distance.  The trick to making this set up easy, more Duct tape.

[goingoldskool]

Reactive targets are FUN!

I am out of chew cans, looking for the next thing. My wife got the last one twice and it won't hold dirt any more.

[Orion]

Aim small, miss small.  Shooting at a smaller target helps most focus more intently and shoot better.

[KeganM]

Learning how to focus like that on demand is tough. Small targets make it easy, and some folks visualize a small target (like a button) on their target. I believe Jay Kidwell talked about that in MBB vol. 4 and Denny Sturgis wrote an article about how he used that on a hunt, too. I think he even taped a button to the belly of his bow.

[Pat B]

aim small, miss small!

[skeaterbait]

Originally posted by Pat B:
aim small, miss small!

I had to have that re-written for me...

aim small, miss all

[kat]

Originally posted by Orion:
Aim small, miss small.  Shooting at a smaller target helps most focus more intently and shoot better.

There you go.  New York's Muzzy shoot really brings it to light.

[old_goat2]

Haven't tried it yet, but it's supposed to be a lot of fun to shoot whiffle balls around the yard with blunts if you have the room to do it safely