Instinctive shooters, How do you aim at longer distances?

[reddogge]

Longer distances are common in 3-D and stump shooting and learning to hit them is usefull practice.  I shoot basic instinctive out to about 35 yards depending on the bow and arrow combination I'm using and after than I put the point of the arrow either on the target or over the target based on years of shooting experience.

Hitting a large caribou target at 60-70 yards is possible but not 100 percent reliable.  Fun when you do though.

Like Killdeer says trial and error.

[TRAD101]

I find that if I do anything other than my usual shot routine at longer distances that it screws up my normal hunting distance routine. I have had
the best luck increasing my shot distance just by increasing my normal practice shots with a second target just a few yards further away and then alternate between the two during practice and then increase the distance of the second target as I improve. Thats just me.

[Bobaru]

getstonedprimitivebowhunt has it about right for hunting.  

I've played with bullet drop for years and years.  Plus I've moved that info over to archery.  

Here's the thing.  If a deer is at 20 yards and you miscalculate plus/minus 2 yards, your deer is still dead. If a deer is at 40 yards and you miscalculate by plus/minus 2 yards, you have a wounded deer that won't be recovered.  The reason is because of the tremendous amount of arrow drop at those distances with most all traditional archery equipment.

In addition, just because elk has twice the size kill zone as a whitetail doesn't mean you can shoot him at twice the distance.  Same reason.  

So, it seems that, when hunting, hunting skill should take over from target shooting skill and rule how you approach the task at hand.

[KumaSan]

I'm with Killdeer on the method and "press save" part. One boyer was instructing me to site using my fist on the bow as a mark for distance, but my mind just wanted to do it by itself. I shot better by trusting my instincts.

[stickhead]

Up tp 20yds my computer works fairly well  and I do not shoot at deer over that.when shooting 3D over 20 I pick my same spot settle in draw and at that point I let my computer tell my bow hand how far to raise up while still focusing on my spot an let er rip.after 20yds my groups get worse but think the main reason for this is the further you shoot the more critical your form becomes with every yard.I think if you are one of those fortunate enough to be able to see your arrow point that gap is the best method for accuracy at longer distances I can not see mine.I shoot quite a bit of 3D and it is had to compete at longer distances with the guys shooting gap but 20 and under my instinctive can hold it's own.

[gillchaser]

I visualize the arc my arrow will take in order to hit my spot . I  have trouble with close shots , sometimes hitting about 3" high when trying to hit an actual  spot or bull on a target , but shooting at an empty  bale and picking a spot , I hit it most of the time. gillchaser

[GroundHunter]

The way I get better is to start close and keep backing up, then walk back in as you shoot. You will rapidly build the "instinct". It's all practice 'till you just shoot it where it is. Ask any 12-15 year old archer, or hoop-shooter, baseball pitcher. Concentrate and shoot a lot wih good form. Form form form.

I do it just the opposite of that.  I first make sure I am shooting with as near a perfect static form as possible, then with whatever bow/arrow combination I have at the time, I find my point on and then work in.  To be honest, the point where I don't need to do so much static calculating and aiming is where I like to call my maximum range.

[beetlebailey1977]

I personally have found that I have to focus on the spot intensely and I shoot well.  If I let my focus waiver and just look at the animal or target I do not shoot as well.  It doesn't matter the range to me.  Now I would not shoot at a deer over 30 yards max...with 15 to 20 being my preferred max distance.  As said by the others I like to practice at all different ranges and I let my brain compute what I do.  Good or bad shooting the brain and body learns from it.  Early on I tried the gap or point of aim shooting but I don't think it works as well for me.  I can do it but try not to.  

[reddogge]

By the way those who profess never to shoot over 20 yards need to expand their horizons by doing some stumping or 3-d shooting.  You are missing out on half the fun of archery and watching arrows fly.

this weekend I found that shooting at round bails at 62 yards (point on with blunts) is a lot easier than shooting them at a hundred plus yards.  It is hard to hit something when your hand covers the target.  Now if I were to have taken a shot at that group of turkeys that spotted me while I was shooting at those round bails, I would have been prepared to have that secondary aiming point dangling in the clear blue autumn sky.  Just kidding, but I really do get a kick out of taking super long shots at six foot round bails.

[mark land]

Struggled with longer distance shooting consistency for along time until I just decided to leave the 25yd and closer shooting Instinctive and use a Gap method for longer ranges and my consistency improved dramatically.  My natural instinctive point on is abut 20yds so when I draw, anchor and settle in I am on at 20 so anything from 10-25yds or so I am good, maybe a little high or low but still in the kill.  Now for longer ranges with my high anchor point I am just about point on at 35yds so that has me holding the insert or back of point on the bottom of the chest at 30 and top of the back at 40 and I can wear out the 3-d targets with those holds and put them in the kill.  Now anything over that is just a crap shoot for me so I don't shoot any further.  Only negative to using a gap method is having to know the distance so I don't use it much for hunting unless I am positively sure of the range.

[Terry Green]

I look at the spot and shoot instinctive no matter if its 10 yards or 100.

It takes practice and lots of arrows to learn the trajectory.  It doesn't happen over night, or without commitment.

[seabass]

i get a quiver full of arrows.then i walk around the yard shooting from different spots every shot.if you do this enough your brain will learn to hit at different distances.if you think about aiming you will probably miss.try not to think,just aim and shoot.hope this helps,steve

[Gundog68]

Originally posted by Terry Green:
I look at the spot and shoot instinctive no matter if its 10 yards or 100.

I am a left hand shooter. Normaly right handed, but my left eye is a lot of better. So if i am looking at a spot beyond 40m, the arrow is in front of my view. I can not compensate this in any way. This is because my right eye is not as good as the left.

Gundog

[damascusdave]

The Olympic style shooters figure it takes an archer at least ten years to reach their potential.

Get back to us after you have been shooting instinctively for ten years and let us know how it is going.

Seriously, if this was not difficult we would not be doing it. We would all be shooting compounds with sights or guns for that matter. Limit your shots on game to whatever effective kill distance you choose. Mine right now is 15 metres under perfect circumstances and 10 if less than perfect. Maybe in ten years it will still be 15 metres, maybe a bit further.

My friend Marty, who I once witnessed staying with a compound shooter in a side by side match out to well over 30 yards (they were shooting through a 4X6 inch "kill zone" on a steel antelope) still sets up for hunting shots at 12 to 15 yards. He once shot a buck at 12 feet out of a ground blind.

DDave

[Terry Green]

Glad I'm not an Olympic shooter....it sure didn't take me 10 years to get seriously accurate, nor most instinctive shooters I hunt with.

Just don't want someone's bubble to get busted by reading it take 10 years to get accurate and be able to kill stuff....cause that is FAR from the truth if you really want to learn and commit.

However, I do remember that Olympic shooter  that won the gold back in 96 missing his 1st two deer around 20 yards after the games.  Targets and live animals are two totally different games, and comparing the two as apples and apples doesn't do either any good.  HH said it best....and I agree with him.

I've taught several folks to be pretty proficient at 15 yards after one shooting session.....what they do after that is up to them and the talents God gave them and how much they apply themselves.  Lots of those guys started killing game the next season....not 10 years later.

So, don't be discouraged in your game by someone's comments from another game.

[Andy Cooper]

Originally posted by pavan:
this weekend I found that shooting at round bails at 62 yards (point on with blunts) is a lot easier than shooting them at a hundred plus yards.  It is hard to hit something when your hand covers the target.  Now if I were to have taken a shot at that group of turkeys that spotted me while I was shooting at those round bails, I would have been prepared to have that secondary aiming point dangling in the clear blue autumn sky.  Just kidding, but I really do get a kick out of taking super long shots at six foot round bails.

Yeah! And once you've killed one, you can hollow it out and make a blind out of it!!
 

[Stumpkiller]

My question for the instinctive shooters out there is if you are shooting at the longer distances (over 20yds do you still look at the spot you want to hit or do you pick a spot above and let the arrow drop in?

I guess if anyone tells you something other than "I focus on the spot and just shoot" they are not instinctive archers and are mixing systems.  ;-)

I hunt instinctive and keep it to 30 yards or less.  However, for field work and roving I have a few "cheats" that get me to 65 yards or a bit further.  I know my "point-on" range, which varies a bit by bow, of 65 yards +/-.  That is, if I look at the target the tip of my arrow will appear to just touch the impact point at 65 yards.  Don't tell the compound shooters as this is worth a soda, usually.  "Bet I can hit that 3-D deer from here".  Once you go down that dark side path you can "walk-the-tip" and hold-over or under with the "phantom" tip as you focus on the target (this might be where Hill was going with his "split-vision" technique).  I can hit tree-stump sized targets out to 80 yards more often than not doing this, but it will goof up your instinctive brain and I always fire off a few instinctive shots to "recalibrate" my mind after doing these.  

If I am in a deer situation and start to think about things like hold over or point-gap I might as well skip the bow entirely and throw the arrow overhand.

[Terry Green]

Oh...sorry....thanks Stump....I usually am the guy that answers the original question....my bad.

I look at the spot.