Instinctive "snap" shooting

[silent sniper]

When I started shooting archery I shot the same way you are describing. One fluid draw with no stop to anchor. I did exactly as you said and did all my aiming before I ever drew the bow back. I practiced every day and became very effective at this. On my good days I could really stack some arrows.

Now the downfall, I found if my concentration was lacking at the very least my accuracy and consistency would go down the tubes. I lost all of my confidence and my accuracy plummeted to the point of where I would not even attempt to take a shot at an animal with my bow. This was after a full year of shooting by the way and after successful harvests as well.


So I went to split vision/gap shooting and found that even on my worst days I could be consistent enough to put the arrow where it needed to be. After awhile gapping has become subconscious and it is now turned full circle to where I don't even think about aiming much anymore. To each his own I'd say. Good luck and good shooting! SS

[Tradcat]

Howard Hill was NOT an instinctive shooter ! He did reference the arrow while at the same time burning a hole into his target. This was his "split vision" method

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by Tradcat:
Howard Hill was NOT an instinctive shooter ! He did reference the arrow while at the same time burning a hole into his target. This was his "split vision" method

Yes....but he did claim to shoot many animals 'instinctively' once he stepped away from targets and got heavily into hunting.  There are 2 Howards, the words of the target archer, and the words of the hunter...and there is value in both.

[tracker12]

" Incidentally, on days when my concentration is spot on, I shoot quite well this way.....quite well..!!!! "

So how do you shoot when your concentration is not spot on?

That was what I asked myself.  And the answer was not very well or well enough to chance a bad shot on an animal.  As much as I like shooting that style cause it was fun it was not reliable for me so I switched to the: anchor, hold, aim, release method.

[njloco]

I would have to say, it all depends on, as you stated, how many days your concentration is on when your shooting or hunting. I am lucky enough to be able to shoot either way. I find the taking some time to be more consistent than fast shooting, but this is me. I know I can go out on any day and hold my own or go hunting with complete confidence.

So it depends on you, and how confident you are on any given day.

[t2onboard]

Kind of feel your pain. I'm told, being new, that I need to hold longer. I've tried with very little success. However, many of you explained a method(s) I'm using. I feel that I'm aiming from the time I start pulling; come to anchor, see the spot and release. I've tried holding longer, but my mind is asking why? It's right there, I'm on it, so extend and release. Smile. Aiming, for me is between a gap/instinctive style--bring arrow up on spot, mentally picture the gap and it just happens. And, if we're hitting what we want; no change is necessary. Let's call it "Crack" shooting. Smile. "Without breaking into parts".

[McDave]

I don't believe there are many (any?) professional archers in this forum, so the only ones we have to please are ourselves.  I would consider it incredibly rude to offer another shooter advice, particularly in a tournament, that was unasked for.  Well....maybe if my buddy was shooting better than me in a tournament, I might offer him a little unsolicited advice to get him to thinking about something other than his shot, but all's fair in that situation, right?

So I would never try to change anyone's mind about how he should shoot, particularly if he is happy shooting the way he already is.  However, if a person feels like he isn't getting any better, and wants to get better, then he should realize that it is highly unlikely that he will immediately improve when he changes something. After I attended Rick Welch's class, I decided I wanted to shoot with a 2 second hold.  Everything that everyone says is true: at first, you wonder what the point is and it seems like you're just wasting your time holding while you're doing nothing.  And for a while, your shooting gets worse because you lose concentration and begin to creep during the hold.  But after I learned to overcome those two problems, my shooting got better.  It took a good year before I could maintain my concentration during the hold and avoid creeping with any consistency.  For me it was worth it.  YMMV, of course.

[jackdaw]

McDave, that is a great point you just made right there.  I do realize that by holding longer you must learn to channel your concentration to a longer period off time.I guess I should qualify what is a good concentration day and a poor concentration day. even though I practice at 30 and 40 yards occasionally the bulk of my practice is it 18 to 20yards. At 20 yards on a good day I have my Arrows stacked into a relatively tight to 2-3 inch group. on a poor concentration day it is generally speaking 6 to 8 inches. I do not believe I would shoot a deer over 20 yards and both of these are quite lethal . on a side note, I generally once or twice a month draw the bow with my eyes shut about 20 times very slowly coming to anchor and slowly letting down. recalibrating in my brain what full draw at anchor is. I will then spend the rest of the shooting session shooting 7 to 10 yards. I continue to do this until my groups are extremely tight. I remember as a kid watching my father, a confirmed gap shooter, suffer from target panic where he physically could not bring the point of the arrow up to set the gap, his brain simply would not allow his hand to do it.!! I think with snap shooting it is more subconscious, and far less mechanical . to my way of thinking far less chance of target panic. in seven or eight years, target panic has never affected me yet...???? *at least not to my knowledge..

[jackdaw]

one other thing, I have far more good concentration days than bad concentration days or probably I would have switched to something else sometime back.....

[Terry Green]

I don't understand the lace of concentration on a hunting shot at all.  I can't comprehend that.  

Not saying it doesn't happen to some folks, but I'm just saying I don't see that ever happening with me....since its never happened.  That's why I'm hunting....for the shot, so I am definitely concentrating.

Yes, I have lost concentration in my back yard due to other issued of life entering my mind, and I just quit shooting.  Its best if I'm out roaming in the woods where I can concentrate
.

It doesn't matter how you aim...if you have distractions you are going to have distractions.  Especially on the target butts in your back yard.

  I just don't see that happening on game while hunting as I am so immersed in the hunt and aiming to not be concentrating and focused.

[jackdaw]

I pretty much agree with you Terry. not really sure I ever had a concentration lapse while hunting. these concentration lulls basically occur while at the indoor or outdoor ranges. guess that's why I never changed my shot routine....it all works at the moment of truth.  target shooting, that's a whole other animal..

[jonsimoneau]

I've seen some guys that snapshoot that are quite deadly on both game animals and targets. In fact, if I could shoot this way I definitely would as I think it would be better in most of my hunting situations. I've watched the videos of our very own Terry Green shooting and it can only be described as beautiful!
I think that as long as you are getting to anchor each time then you should be good to go.
    I too took shooting lessons from Rick Welch. When I went to him I was unable to even get to anchor on each shot. He literally cured me of that in 2 days and this was back in 2006 I believe. Since then I have not taken a single shot where I did not get to anchor. However I have since slightly changed the way I shoot. I don't hold for 3 seconds anymore as I found it was often too long in a hunting situation. In fact if you watch Rick Welch while he is hunting he doesn't always hold as long as he does when he is shooting at a target. The more I do this stuff the more I realize that Howard Hill was wise when he said there is a big difference between target shooting and bowhunting. They really are two completely different sports....although related.

[fnshtr]

I envy folks like Terry Green that can "snap shoot" and shoot so well. As Jon said above, as long as you are getting to a repeatable anchor you should shoot well.

I too went to Rick Welch and improved my shooting exponentially... and watched Arne's videos as well at Jimmy Blackmon's.

As others have stated... whatever works for you.

[Terry Green]

I think incorporating a 'double anchor' ON THE BAIL is the best thing for any aiming style.  The second anchor should be one that guarantees proper alignment and back tension every time.

You should program for the arrow NOT to go till the 2nd proper anchor is reached.

I have posted about this before and covered it in The Bowhunters of TradGang DVD.

[LongStick64]

Regardless of what you do, if you do it the same way everytime, you are on the path to developing a great shot.

[jsweka]

I shoot the same sort of way jackdaw shoots and probably even a bit quicker.  When we get together at a 3D shoot, it doesn't take us long at a target ( unless we're looking for our arrows    )

[jackdaw]

Thats only when Keith Zimmerman is along john...:-D

[jsweka]

Yeah, that SOB can talk me into a bad shot every time    

[Jake Scott]

When I first started shooting, for a long time afterwards I got really hung up trying to shoot like my "hero's" shoot.  Hours and hours and thousands of arrows were spent trying to emulate the style of a few.  Terry gave me some of the best advice I've gotten since I started shooting a bow in a thread a couple months back...

"Shoot like Jake"

All of a sudden my groups tightened up, my fly off releases almost stopped, and I became a much better shot with a bow and arrow.

Make no mistake, I can't take credit for hardly any of my shot sequence, I'm not the first guy to do any of this stuff.  Hit your spot, and let the other guy hit his, using any (ethical) way you can.

Jake

[two4hooking]

from Straight Shooting:

When Howard was first instructing my brother and me, he said, "Boys, make up your minds what you want to do, hunt or shoot target, because the two just don't go together.

Target style of form is what I call a static style.  It is basically inflexible.  It will produce results in hunting only if the game is stationary or just barely moving.  There may be some exceptions, but by and large this will hold true.