i think i'm going to give up bowhunting....

[johnnyc]

This might sound like strange advice, but I actually read in the old Archers Bible from Fred Bear himself.  He told about when when someones form is off, to use a bowsite to figure out your kinks and then go back .  When I get to where I can't hit as well, I actually pull out my old compound bow with sites and shoot for awhile at targets.  With the letoff, I have time to hold and figure out what I'm doing wrong.  Usually about 15 minutes with a compound, I'm ready for my recurve or longbow again anyway.  But I swear when I pick up my trad bow, I shoot better after shooting the compound.

[McDave]

I wonder....  Is it target panic?  An example of target panic would be when you shoot many arrows at targets, and it becomes increasingly harder to come to full draw the more arrows you shoot.  Eventually, you become mentally unable to come to full draw, even though you are physically capable of doing so.  That doesn't sound like what happened to you, unless you continue to experience the problem at targets other than the buffalo you shot at.

Could it be that you just blew the shot, without any deeper meaning to it?  We all blow shots, and hope that when we do, it's not when we're drawing down on a prize animal, but there's no guarantees.

Could be target panic, but not if you're not continuing to experience the problem after coming home.  Could be buck fever, but you've taken buffalo before, without experiencing that.

There are ways of dealing with those issues, but those issues are chronic problems, and dealing with them involves methods of breaking ingrained habits.

Dealing with an occasional blown shot is different; it involves an acceptance of the reality that those things will happen, and they won't have any effect on your next shot unless you let them.

[shortstroke 91]

I had the same issues, Jay Kidwell's exercises and 10 days later I was back to my old self. Keep up the exercises and it will come back. I still draw my bows and do the figure 8s and aim at the TV from time to time, just in case it might start to rear its ugly head.

Keep at it and it will become fun again.

[eric-thor]

is it possible that tp and buck fever are close brothers ? i mean think about it what is tp and wwhat is bf? the mind loosing controll of the situation.no? if i have tp twards a target(non liveing) im reacting to selfdoubt,fear of missing ,fear of looking like a arrow slinger,fear of geting a poor score or missing the target compleeetly, ect...if i tp on game : is he gonna bust me when i draw? will he jump the string? OMG thats the biggest :deer ect.... ive ever seen/shot at ....dont miss !!!! hurry up before he see's me!!!dont wound him !!! that would totally suck!!! does this make any sence or am i just overanalizing again?  

[KSdan]

All the same thing.  The unknown variables; i.e. animal moving, wind blowing, cold, etc. are what athletes call "noise" or "distraction."  The key is actually TRAINING your brain/thoughts to minimize the affect of "noise."  This TRAINING is a part of our needed practice that few really do. You learn to build the mental/brain training into your shooting, then when the moment comes you do it. (Kidwell teaches you how to train)

I have had good success, and some failures.  But even when I fail, I now know what I am doing and how to work on it. Keeps my confidence up (another needed piece of the puzzle I might add).

Good shooting and hunting
Dan in KS

[Beezer]

Feel your pain. I'm coming off the worst bowhunting season of my life. Hit 2 great bucks and found neither after days of searching and mental anguish. I was inconsolable, and furious at myself. But then I came home one afternoon and caught my 7yr old son peeing in the front yard while the neighbors watched, and relized I had other things to worry about!
The things I have learned: 1) Animals are even more resiliant than people (a friend killed one of the bucks 2 wks later that I thought I mortally wounded).  2) I was becoming too technical with my shooting and lost all natural instinct that we bowhunters have. And finally, 3) I hadn't killed much of anything prior to those hunts.  
So take solace in the fact that whatever we hunt, its tougher than we are. Go have some fun.  And kill some stuff and eat it, and share it with others.
The best thing to come out of it is that I have decided to have some fun with hunting again and regain my instinctive edge by making the move to traditional archery.  I'm having a blast and I look forward to shooting again.
If none of that works let me know and I'll send my son over to pee in your front yard !

[eric-thor]

lol beezer !!! arent sons the best ? they tend to either send us through the roof or bring us back to the ground.

[Looper]

Clint, I was just pondering your post and thought I'd offer my 2 cents.  It might not be target panic.  It might be the fact that you're hunting something that could stomp the living stew out of you.  And at a distance where you're very vulnerable.  It may be that your sense of self preservation is overtaking your desire to take the shot.    I certainly don't know if this is the case, but you might want to experiment.  

Go hunt some rabbits.  If you miss, no big deal, unless, of course you run across that big-fanged one from the Holy Grail.  If you're having the same issues, feel free to ignore any more of my advice.

[bow'narrow]

I agree with Stokes.  And any consolation? Sure. Coyotes need to eat too.  Nothing is wasted in nature.

[Zog]

I just now re-read your post and saw that you were shooting 17m with a Bob Lee?  I'm pretty sure those are made in the US and so they probably shoot in yards.  I don't think you can shoot metric with that bow.  Next time be sure to shoot 18 yds and you should do OK.

Sorry, I couldn't resist that one, ozy.  Thanks for the info on Kidwell.

A couple opf years ago I found that I could not shoot at any deer that looked at me.  One came straight at me and gave me a hard stare over.  when it was leaving I tried a shot and stuck the arrow in the ground with about a 16" draw about halfway to the deer, 8 feet from where I was standing.  Frustrated, I emptied my quiver at chunk of bark on a bank 35 yards away, five out of eight were in a tennis ball sized pack in the middle of the six inch chunk of bark and three an inch left.  The next day I shot a fast walking buck at almost 30 yards, he never looked at me.  TP is a mysterious thing that comes in many flavors, all of them bitter.

[meangene1969]

fight thru it, it will go away. Trust yourself

[jmh]

I feel for you.  I have had bad tp for the past 5 years and have almost quit hunting the last 3 years during bow season.  I just don't like gun hunting near as much.

[buckster]

Get in touch with my friend Keith Karr, he had similar issues and went to both Rick Welchs and Rod Jenkins shooting schools.  In particular, he found Rod's instruction to help him kick this develish habit!

[Orion]

If this was a first occurrence, it probably wasn't target panic. Maybe a bit of buck fever, which is close to target panic.  Both involve the brain short circuiting to somehow screw up the shot.  Lots of good advice already offered  to tackle either.  Only you can decide which it is and the best approach for you.  Good luck.

[Stykbow62]

I did what earthdog did, I started using a Formmaster and that solved my TP. It worked great for me.

[Gene R]

Don't give up! I suffer from TP too and I am overcoming it, it takes alot of work but it can be done. I understand the frustration, I have gone to drawing and anchoring with my eyes totally closed when the compulsion to release gets too geat. It is hard to overcome, but it is doable. I know with Kidwell's methods you can overcome this and your joy of archery will return. Hang in there!

[string bean]

don't give up man!!!  I just plain suck at tuning one of these stick-n-string bows much less shoot very good BUT I'm gonna keep on pluggin' away at it.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

Stand really close to your target and close your eyes and focus on form.  Don't worry about aiming right now until you can feel your form getting back to perfect.  Then start close and slowly back away from your target, practice your focus ... form then aim, I have to say to myself "that's my spot" to drill into my mind to not let my eyes flick away.

This is all academic at this point because aside from very small game (read mice, squirrels and toads) I have yet to harvest anything of note.

[RocketDog]

Posting about it here is a giant step toward overcoming it.  As one mentioned, it may be the danger of the game you were hunting.  When hunting beig game taht could be dangerous if wounded, before you shoot figure out an escape route or safe place to go, then when you are ready to shoot you don't have that fear in the back of your mind.  Contingencies -- always have a plan.

Most importantly, practice until EVERY part of your shot is absolutely automatic.  If you have to think about form when you draw on an animal, you haven't practiced enough.

When you are ready to harvest game it is too late to worry about form or if you are a good enough shot.  You have to be confident in your ability, automatic in your form and at ease in your situation.