If you could go to one Shooting School

[meangene1969]

If you could go to one shooting school, where would you go?

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

I am going to it next week, Bob Wesley's.  I want to learn to shoot (and hunt) like Howard Hill, since Howard has passed all I can hope for it to learn from people he taught.  I am getting pretty jazzed.  How do you get a 6' longbow on a plane to travel 3000 miles?

[McDave]

I would like to second Rick Welch's school.  After shooting the bow off and on for 10 years, I had more improvement in 1 1/2 days than in all the previous time I had been shooting the bow.  I'm not sure what Rick is charging these days, but whatever it is, it's a bargain for a day and a half private lesson from one of the best shooters and teachers in the country.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

McDave, can I shoot you a PM?

[owlbait]

I really enjoyed my clinic with Rod Jenkins. Improved my shooting immensely. Great instructor with great credentials.

[BobCo 1965]

There are a lot of good one's I'm sure. And for the prices that I see folks charging it is REALLY a good deal and I would suggest going if the opportunity presents itself.

That said, I also highly recommend seeing a coach in person on an ongoing basis.

A lot of folks look to equipment improvements to improve accuracy when what they really need to spend their money on is in a good coach or clinic.

[Pete Darby]

I am also sure many are good.  But I liked Bob Wesley's "Whispering Pines".  Individual instruction at your own pace. Whether you shoot a longbow or a recurve the Howard Hill four point anchor will improve your shooting.  If instructions were arrows in a quiver you will leave Bob's with a full quiver.  You will know your if your equipment is matched and what you need to work on.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

I was watching Rick Welch on YouTube and he seems to shoot with a sort of "Swing Draw" like Howard Hill shot.  Can anyone confirm this?

[Keith Karr]

I have attended shooting clinics by G. Fred, Rick Welch and Rod Jenkins.

I enjoyed my time with Rick (He's a great guy), but the only clinic I can recommend is the one by Rod Jenkins.

The others didn't tell me one thing about how to control target panic, and I had it bad.

Rod gave me a plan to overcome my TP.

When I got the DVD from Rick, showing me shooting from all angles, it made me sick seeing how bad I was collasping and plucking my release. When I asked Rick what I could do to stop plucking, his exact words were "I can't fix that, you've been shooting that way for 30 years, only you can fix that".

Three months later I called Rod. He helped me understand what back tenison is, which is the only cure for collasping and not plucking the release.

Rick's advice when at full draw is, "Hold, Hold", before releasing. I now believe the word "hold" is not at all accurate. You never hold on the way to conclusion.

Rod's clinics are the best, and way more bang for your buck.

[Keith Karr]

Also check out the thread titled, "Thoughts on shooting Schools? Black Widow or Ferguson".

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

I do believe I want to try Rick Welch's school next year.  Once I saw he uses the same swing draw I grew up using I knew I wouldn't have to relearn my form.  I am so focused on Bob Wesley's "Whispering Pines" and excited to actually have formal training in my otherwise "home grown" shooting style.

[kestimator]

Northwest_Bowhunter,

I've not been to any bow shooting schools; but in regards to your 6' bow on a plane, I'd recommend a hard flyrod tube/case.

[TexasTrad]

Gene:

I would go to Rick Welch's school.  I went last Jamuary and it is great.

[amar911]

I went to Rick Welch's school and the following week went to Rod Jenkins' school. Both are great and Rick and Rod are both super guys who know how to teach. Both of them have similar thoughts about shooting well, which should not be any surprise. Both of them want to see a student repeat the same technique over and over again on each shot so that there is total consistency. Both believe in staying at full draw and allowing your body to stabilize. Both of them shoot 3 under, but will teach split finger if you prefer that. The biggest difference I noticed is that Rick would like to see a full draw held at a consistent, static anchor point with an unconscious release while Rod would like to see a draw to a consistent anchor point and then an expansion and a pushing of the drawing elbow towards your back with an unconscious release. Rod's method results in a more dynamic release. Both methods work very well, and both should be tried to see which one works better for the individual shooter.

Of course, on a personal level, Rod is a gap shooter and Rick is an instinctive shooter, but Rod does not discourage people from shooting instinctively, especially at shorter distances. Either one of these great archers can teach you how to shoot very well -- at least as well as you need to in order to be a good hunter. They both are very successful hunters as well as being top notch target shooters. I would have a hard time picking one of them over the other as an instructor. I can say that I liked the fact that Rick took videos of my shooting and could easily tell me from the videos what I was doing wrong. And best of all, I could see my own mistakes on the video. I'm sure Rod takes videos at times too, but he did not use a camera when I went to his school. Instead, Rod did use a Formaster which also revealed shooting errors.

Allan

For taking a longbow on a plane, pvc tubing with the caps taped on.

[kmunch]

Let me tell you, I bought Ricks video The Accuracy factory. It has done alot for me. My groups shrunk right away. If his school is half as good its worth twice the money! Im hitting targets that I would'nt have even tried 2 months ago Buy the video first then make your choice

[Mr Green 740]

Anyone got info on Rod Jenkins school?

[McDave]

I don't know where Rod is presenting classes, but if you contact him, I'm sure he will let you know.  However, his classes closely follow his presentation in MBB III.  The difference in watching MBB III and attending one of Rod's classes is that we tend to kid ourselves, and when you attend a class (Rod's or anyone else's) you find out what's really happening.

[Cherry Tree]

some of you guys talked about a guy that teaches how to shoot like Howard Hill is there anyone out there that shoots the style like Fred Bear did?

[bowslinger]

I just finished watching one of Fred Bear's videos.  He explained his shooting style as snap shooting and said he had poor form and did not recommend any one try his style.  He said he shot that way for so long and it worked for him that he didn't try to correct his form.  Maybe he was just being modest.