More TP observations

[poekoelan]

I recently posted a question concerning whether people believed in target panic or not. I personally do believe in it ( because I was plagued by it ) but was told by a very good shot not to believe in it. I was told to believe that I was just making some sort of mental error in the shot process. It made sense to me, but I didn't have a clue what that mental mistake might be. So I continued to struggle with coming to full draw.


I can already tell this is going to be a long post so please bear with me. Target panic really has my interest.


I shoot self bows. I shot compound bows with sights and finger release for a few years before that and I shot them pretty well. I never experienced any sort of target panic with my compound. I know that some compound shooters experience not being able to release because they never can settle the sight pin on the target. That never plagued me.


But when I made the switch, I figured that I should learn to shoot instinctive ( had no idea what gap shooting was ) and I bought the available books at the time. None of the info in those books seemed to work for me. But I forced the issue anyway for a long time. It didn't help that I overbowed myself. I could easily shoot my 70lb compound. I figured that I should be able to shoot a 60lb self bow with a little training.


I threw out everything that I was doing right with my compound ( ie "aiming" ) when I made the switch. That was my first mistake. My second mistake was over bowing myself. Target panic soon followed and plagued me for years.


Kidwell's book and my friend that doesn't believe in target panic helped me see that this was some sort of mental mistake. They both came from different backgrounds and views, but both of them concluded it was some sort of mental problem. I'm not a small guy and I could easily pull 60lbs or more, but I couldn't mentally control it for the shot. I just couldn't rationalize this.


I later learned about gap shooting and "aiming". So I tried to throw out everything I had read and learned about "instinctive" shooting and start from scratch again. I STILL couldn't reach my anchor most of the time. I later had friends count for me after reaching my anchor and my shots were no better.


Then I got the Push Release dvd. It changed my whole outlook and my target panic started to subside. It helped me to do exactly what I wanted to do. Which was shoot a self bow without sights the same way I shot a compound WITH sights. Of course I also dropped a few lbs in bow weight too.


I've since researched this forum and found ( I think ) what appears to be the physical manifestation of my former mental problem...I wasn't pulling through the shot and using back tension! I was "aiming' during the draw and that's why I couldn't reach my anchor or use back tension. I wasn't waiting till I reached my reference point ( anchor ) to line the shot up, I was beginning to "aim" as soon as my fingers were on the string and my mind screamed "RELEASE" before I had things lined up.


I've thought about this and I also think that another source of my target panic may have been induced by being introduced to archery through a compound bow. Think about it, a compound shooter "pulls through the shot" much earlier in the shot sequence when the cams roll over. His back tension reaches a peak and lets off a little, just like his cams do. After this happens, he can settle in on his sight pin.


We don't have that luxury. Our back tension must remain constant, it can never let down a little so that our minds can concentrate on sight pins.


I've learned a lot over the past year or so, I pray my TP never comes back and I thank Terry for helping me realize that lack of back tension may well have been the physical manifestation of my mental mistake.

[chuckbow]

well said ! for me with the trad bows , my muscle building time ( wich for me was about 6 or 7 months ) was the hardest part , i shot ok for years but when i decided i wanted to shoot as well as i possibly could , (trad) it took me much longer to build up my strengh enough ,so i didnt just want to get rid of the arrow quickly , after that , i spent quite some tome working on a pre shot routine, then and last looking where i wanted my arrow to go, i put a lot of time in this , but it paid off for me ! and correct form and alignment,not to mention back tension , plus alot more ,are all a part of the learning curve!

[BobCo 1965]

Originally posted by poekoelan:
We don't have that luxury. Our back tension must remain constant, it can never let down a little so that our minds can concentrate on sight pins.


 

That is very true even if using a sight on a traditioanal style bow.