seriously how accurate are you.(20 yards)

[critter69]

I bought a morrison shawnee from a gentalman on here about 9 months ago. Got the bow, I thought I shot it great, noraml group size 7 inches. Sent it to bob morrison had snake skins put on it. Shoot it about every day.And have not been able to consistantly shoot under a 14 inch group in the last 4 months. I feel far from confident trying to hunt with it. Just wondering truth fully what group size is average?(20 yards and be honest    )I think iam going to sell the bow but I cant post on here as I dont think I have 100 posts. So if any one knows where I can list it I would appreciate it. Iam just very frustrated,and love the whole traditional bow thing(love the bows) but If I cant hunt with it I dont want it.

[fedora]

First thing you should look at is the poundage.  Are you strugling to hold at full draw for ten seconds.  I have had several bows that I could not shoot that great until I got my Kota.  It is the lowest poundage bow 51# @ 29" and is the longest at 62".  In order to be accurate you have to be able to have good form and pull with back tention, have a good release and a steady bow arm with a push/pull pressure.  I can put three arrows into a 3" circle on a good day but can always shoot in a 6" circle from my knees, standing ect.

[Sean Butler]

once i get dialed in i usually can stay with in about 8" or 9".  I was having a lot of trouble shooting a few years ago.  Each shot was wild and if i did hit where i was aiming it was pure luck. I did a few things to fix my shooting:

1. I moved up to with in 10 yards of my target. By getting close i gained confidence in my shots

2. I had a 25# bow that my dad had bought for my sister when we were kids and i started to practice with it.  The light weight made it very easy to shoot a lot of arrows, and also to practice my form.  Once I got my form down i moved up to my regular hunting bows.  

3. i tried to block out the distance i was shooting and just focus on good form and picking a spot.

4. whenever practice began to feel like work or like it wasn't fun i quit.  

I'm not a sharpshooter by any means and I still have a lot of work to do but when all is said and done I can't think of a better way to spend an hour than to fire a few arrows into the foam.

[ncsaknech1ydh]

I have to agree with poundage, the closer I am to 50 pounds at my draw length the better I shoot, to be honest beyond 55 pounds my groups will start to spread out. An honest figure to me would be about like Sean, I do shoot better some days around 6", but an average would be at that 8 to 9", not to say I am not always striving to get better. I also agree, until you get a consistant form, move up to 10 yards, it seems to close at first but you will soon learn to enjoy it, after all, most of my shots at game have been in that 1 to 15 yard range anyway.

After the shot, counting a few seconds to make sure I don't drop my shooting arm and in fact bringing my bow arm back into focus just like before the shot has really helped me be more consistant. I think dropping ones bow arm a bit after the shot is a big reason for irratic arrows.

Also try shooting 1 arrow at a time, then go get the arrow, go back and take your next shot, that gives you time to settle down and think about your form between shots. Get a routine down and do the same thing on each and every shot, how you bring your bow up, how you draw your bow, your anchor, your realease and follow through, do the same thing on each and every shot. When shooting groups as opposed to shooting one arrow at a time, I just seem to rush things no matter how much I try to slow things down.

Don't give up on traditional archery, just keep trying things until you find what works for you, and enjoy each shot, work on your routine, watch and enjoy the arrow flight in your perephial vision and don't worry as much about your groups as picking your spot and concentrating on form and if you are shooting a poundage you can handle it will come together for you.

[JohnnyWayne]

For some reason I do worse on the open range targets than on the 3d ones (we have lanes cut out of the brush and vegetation down at my club) which is probably caused my letting my mind wander a bit.

It does help to pace off 10 yards from the 3d's then shoot from there to build confidence then pace off more in 5-10 yard increments.

For me at least  

Although today I was hitting them dead from 20 first shot - would have stepped off more but had my daughter and father in law with me and didn't want to hold them off too much with a full on practice session    

[calgarychef]

At 20 yards I can maintain about 3-4 inches pretty consistently.  If you can't do that it might be a disservice to yourself to blame the shooting.  Look very closely at your arrow choice, and tuning of the bow and arrow.

[McDave]

I have a Morrison Shawnee that is the main bow I've been shooting for the last few months.  It is 45#, with 64" longbow limbs.  Most of the time, I can get all my arrows in a 6" group at 20 yards.  Some of the time, I get them in a 3" group.

It has been a little hard for me to learn to shoot this bow, as I've mostly shot recurves in the past.  The Shawnee has a grip that is close to a recurve grip, but not exactly a recurve grip.  It is lighter weight (the actual weight of the bow, not draw weight) than my recurves.  I shoot wood arrows with it, because I want to be able to enter longbow competitions that require wood arrows.  So for these reasons, I haven't been as accurate with this bow as I could be with a recurve.  I may never be able to shoot it as well as I can a heavier recurve with carbon arrows, but for that reason, it is a challenge to me to see how well I can do with it.

We've all had bows we can't shoot as well as other bows, and some of those we end up selling.  But my Morrison Shawnee is a fine bow, and in my case, I think it's the nut behind the wheel rather than the bow, so I think I'll keep shooting it and see how good I can get with it.

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

It is always that first arrow that counts , how are your first several shots of the day.Also agree with the light bow and close shooting.As for my 20yd group havent done it in a while I seldom shoot at the same target at the same distance , I have a dozen 3Ds in my back yard all in different locations and never shoot the same shot.

[zetabow]

I can consistently keep my arrows within the 5/4 score zone on a 300 indoor face (around 260's in tourney, higher in practice) I personally find it much harder than shooting 1 to 3 arrows at 20y outside.

Whoever invented this 300 round is evil       , because shooting 5 arrows ends at 20y takes some serious focus but it does make you a more consistent\\disciplined shot by the time the warm weather arrives and you're back outside.

[fujimo]

i really struggle with targets- i seem to get "zoned out" and my "pick a spot" goes wild.
i do way better stump shooting- each target is different, the range is unknown, and i can safely get all those shots within about 5 to 6 " nowdays.and most within a couple of inches of my spot.
first shots are what count- thats all you have when you are hunting!!
i changed and adopted rick welches techniques, and am going to be attending one of his clinics this summer.took a while to get it figured out- but boy!!! what a difference it has made for me- a better style of hunting shooting for me.
i was snap shooting before.
g'luck.

[NBK]

X2 on what fujimo said.  I've gotten away from the round targets and done more stump shooting and realized... Hey I'm not as bad as I thought!

If i were to shoot only from from 20 yards at the same target with a back quiver full arrows, I find that I can put the first groups in pretty tight.  then I start to get sloppy and have concentrate to keep four out of six tight, two always seem to be out side of that 6".  yesterday I went out with a punky soft ball and blunts, with that out to 25 yards i could hit it most of the time with the first shot.  I never shot more than two  a round at the soft ball.  Seems like i go stale just pounding a target.  Maybe that was Hill's trick. He was always trying to hit something impossible when he was not working on form, instead of just going through the motions of target pounding.  Once that form is down it is time to see what you can hit, always just working on form orthodoxy can get one trapped into forgetting how to refine the accuracy aspects of shooting.  On the same note adjusting your form so that you become just a tight group shooter may not be the best rhythm for hunting success.  I can learn more about what to expect when I am hunting by going out shooting at a tossed ball and stump shooting than I can pounding my target.  Stump shooting pays big rewards if you get both fussy and honest with yourself. Stump shooting and small game shooting I am more accurate if I only have a slight hesitation at anchor, if I am trying to fit six arrows into a tight pile on a target face I need to hold a bit longer because my pointing ability slips because of the boring repetition.

[tarponnut]

I concur with what fujimo said.
I've always done better shooting at stumps, discarded cans,etc.
Shooting for tight groups at 20 yards has very little application in hunting.
When I work on form, I get really close, say 3 yards from a block target.
Most of my hunting practice is at 10-15 yards which is the distance I get most of my shots on game.
I practice for bowhunting and this is what works for me.

[smokin joe]

We probably all think that, for a bowhunter, the shot that counts is the first shot. We don't often get a second shot. Because of that, I really don't shoot groups any more. Most of my practice is first-shot shooting. Go outside and take a shot. I am fairly satisfied when I shoot within 2 inches or so of the point of aim at about 20 yards. That would translate to a 4 to 6 inch group. I nearly always go pull the single arrow before I shoot another arrow. I have noticed that practicing this way has made me a better shot, probably because I don't have to concentrate for very long to make a single shot.

That is what works for me. Your results may vary.
Joe

[BuckeyeBoy]

I know this wasn't my post, but I also have the same problem. At 10-13 yards I'm dead on but when I go out past 15 I get less and less consistent. Even worse at 20 yards. . I'll be trying all the tips in this post. We'll see if I get better.

[Doug Treat]

Last year I shot 1500 shots that I kept track of.  From 25 yds. I hit a 9" circle 92.4% of the time, 20 yds. was 96.5%, 15 yds. was 99%, and 10 yds. was 100%.  My personal goal for hunting is better than 95% so I needed to keep my shots to 20 yds or less.  I shot this elk at 12 yds. so it worked out that I was within that distance.  I hope to get better and extend my range a bit-maybe to 25 yds. this year.  
 

[71model]

Doug, that's a great philosophy! I can also relate to the problem of high poundage. I have a 60# @ 27" Custom Bighorn that I love, but I just started getting serious this year. So I went on the bay and got a 45# Bear Grizzly and now I'm having fun, building my strength, obtaining good form!

 My own opinion of the grouping at 20yds, yes and no. Sometimes I can just about split my arrow or hit within 3" at 20yds, then an arrow will go 1 or 2 feet left or right.
 
 What I figured out today(after much studying Masters of Barebow), that I really have a lot of blind bail work to do on each aspect of the shot. There's many things going on in the mind right now, such as drawing, body position, anchor, bow tilt, moving my draw elbow back with back tension(expansion per Rod Jenkins), and last but not least...Concentrate on a super small spot that I intend to hit.

 So, I also learned, I just need to relax and Shoot, so I did. I was shooting big 3' wide bales today and every so often I hit right were I was aiming. Well, standing from the  side(45deg) I decided to shoot the side of the target, which is only 1' wide between 2 4x4 post. 1st shot was right in the middle. 2nd shot was right on the post and cracked my new PO Cedar in half.

 Right away, I realized what happened, I wasn't focused, I let the arrow before get me out of the zone. From then on, all I did was shoot between the post 1' apart and this increased my attention span 10 fold, I was so focused cause I wanted the arrow to land right between the post..."become the arrow" kind of attitude.

 Try putting in a days work on building some wood arrows, then go shoot and have one break...it'll make you cringe!
 With respect, I recommend shooting between trees, or at least small limbs to tighten focus down and challenge yourself to really focus and "become the arrow".
 Good luck!

[zetabow]

Think this is were the focus and discipline comes into play with the 300 round, it was shot by both target archers and hunters alike.

When I shoot any arrow I ALWAYS approach it as my one and only shot, if your just pounding the target for groups then you will get fliers because focus will drift

[BobCo 1965]

Originally posted by zetabow:
Think this is were the focus and discipline comes into play with the 300 round, it was shot by both target archers and hunters alike.

When I shoot any arrow I ALWAYS approach it as my one and only shot, if your just pounding the target for groups then you will get fliers because focus will drift

Especially when your first four arrows are in the "5" and you have one more to go on the end!  

[BuckyT]

I guess I usually average around 4 to 5" groups at 20yds.  I've had days where my arrows are grouped up like a baseball touching.

I've found that I'm more of a snap shooter.  I don't hold at my anchor point for more than a second.  

I've also found I'm more of an "instinctagap" shooter too.  Before I even draw my bow, I look and see where my point of the arrow is in relation to what I want to hit.  I've gotten this mental record of where the point needs to be at 20yds and out to longer ranges.

Then I draw and when my fingers hit the corner of my my mouth, I let it go.  I'm not looking at my arrow anymore when I start to draw.  I'm staring a hole through whatever I want to hit.

At any range closer than 20yds, I just shoot.  Don't even bother looking at the tip of my arrow.  I've found at 20yds and up, I switch over to gap shooting to stay accurate on the target.

I'm very new to trad archery, but this is the system I've put together for me.

I've also found, that the biggest factor to me in being accurate or not accurate is my release.  I know the moment I let go of the string if it's a good or bad shot by how my fingers roll off the string.

I really work hard on my release.  To me it's the biggest factor that affects how I shoot.