How'd you guys go about learning instinctive

[jackdaw]

Its been great reading all the various conscious and unconscious methods of shooting the stick and string on here..???Most of the guys helping seem to be very competent shots and yet there are still varying degrees of obtaining success. there are some that I personally agree with and a few that are different FOR ME..!!! But Im thouroughly enjoying it..!!! If more clubs kept score, I wonder if you would start to see a superior method as dictated by shooter success...??? I cant believe how many have told me they HATE to keep score at a 3-D event..???? It certainly would provide a personal measuring stick to check your orogress..??? I LOVE competition....I believe it better battle tests you for archery season.....helps deal with pressure..!!! Just my opinion.....cheers

[TSP]

There's nothing wrong with keeping score, it can  give you a feel for where you are with your general shooting.  Useful.  It can make a day of 3D with friends a great time, especially if good-natured ribbing is included.  But if score is THE most important part of your shooting experience then instinctive probably isn't the best choice for you.  A hard (pins) or semi-soft (gapping) artificial sighting system is a better fit, since THE most important objective there is to achieve perfect hits (perfect scores) with every single shot.  Some won't admit it or will try to deflect the obvious, but shooting for score, by design, is built around the eternal quest to obtain dead center perfect hits.  Anything less by default constitutes a measure of failure, to be corrected with constant concern/tweaking of form components, gear or mental approach.  This becomes the fuel that feeds the circular quest, and if you like that sort of thing then there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.  Personal choice is'all.  It's a fact that artificial sighting is far more more productive on targets.  It's essentially a carefully controlled paint-by-numbers machine for meeting the objective, and as with any applied mechanics it is quite effective towards that end... if that's what's important to you.

On the other hand, instinctive shooting is BY DESIGN less perfect and harder.  It's supposed to be that way.  You'll either like/accept the extra challenge or consider it as romantic rubbish.  It won't compete as well or make you famous on the 3D circuit. It's a great 'target' for chat site ridicule and it won't get you into the Olympics.  But if your personal 'painting preferences' align more with the imperfections of an open canvas than the repetitive certainties of numbered paintboxes well then welcome to the cabin of instinctive romantics, lol. Coffee's on, help yourself.

[McDave]

I shoot with one guy who doesn't want to shoot unless we keep score.  The guys I regularly shoot with never want to keep score.

Shooting with the guy who wants to keep score requires a shot by shot discipline if I want to win, which I do.

Shooting with the guys I regularly shoot with, we pick all kinds of oddball shots, in addition to shooting at bullseye targets.  If something occurs to me having to do with the way I shoot where I want to try something different, I go ahead and try it in the middle of the round.  I feel very relaxed when I shoot with them.  I could shoot the rest of my life that way, and hopefully will do just that.

On the other hand, the discipline of shooting to win does improve my shooting more than clowning around with my regular partners.  When I shoot in a tournament, I'm already sort of used to the pressure and don't feel it as much.

If I could only choose one, I'm not sure which one I would pick.  I like doing both.

[njloco]

Wish I could tell you how it fell into place, started shooting around 1957, I was lucky to be an instinctive archer right off. Shot until 1974, then stopped, no reason, just didn't do it anymore. Wasn't until I came back to it steady in 2009 that i started to realize what it was to shoot instinctive and, actually learn what it was that I had been doing right all these years. I would have to say the most valuable thing I learned from the guys on this forum would be blank/blind bale shooting as it is most helpful to both the beginner and most accomplished shooters but especially the beginner.

[Mo0se]

You learn instinctive by learning gap first, then it becomes easier to say you're shooting instinctive and cuts the learning curve in half.

[Wolftrail]

I basically taught myself both forms of shooting, doing other sports like golf, baseball, slings etc. has trained my brain for shooting instinctive. For some people it comes naturally.  Is this hand eye coordination..?

[Wild Bill MCP 808]

Form Form Form work on it constantly, good alignment everytime. Shoot everyday you don't need  to shoot a lot but shoot most everyday. You, your bow, your arrow, release need to become one. As stated above it is a journey.

Tundra

[Lady Frost]

Originally posted by Caleb Monroe:
Best way I have heard to do it is as follows. This is not something I thought up or take credit for. I read it somewhere.

1. Put 6 separate dots on a target.
2. Start at 5yds and focus only on the dot and shoot an arrow at every dot. Continue until all 6 arrows are touching the dot you shot them at. Do not move back until you can hit the dot with each arrow.
3. Move back to 15yds and repeat step 2
4. Move to 10yds and repeat.
5. Move to 20yds.

Do not look at the arrow just the dot. By moving back 10 then forward 5 it is supposed to help your brain figure the distances. You can go back as far as you are able to still focus on the dot.

Good form and mechanics will speed up this process. Instinctive Archery Insights by Jay Kidwell is a good read for instinctive shooting as well.

I have been shooting for almost a year, and I'm pretty decent at it, but I think I will try this because I'm not as good as I want to be.  
Thanks  

[Wolftrail]

My biggest downfall is the follow thru like letting the release hand drop before the arrow hits the target and drooping the bow. But I hear ya about Form; Form Form  and practice.  

Somebody is trying to tell me that shooting Instinctive is still Aiming.  Somebody chime in on this because to me aiming is looking down a rifle barrel with sights or a scope.

[McDave]

Originally posted by Wolftrail:
My biggest downfall is the follow thru like letting the release hand drop before the arrow hits the target and drooping the bow. But I hear ya about Form; Form Form  and practice.  

Somebody is trying to tell me that shooting Instinctive is still Aiming.  Somebody chime in on this because to me aiming is looking down a rifle barrel with sights or a scope.

Letting your release hand drop is not really a problem, since the arrow is gone before you can drop it.  Keep the bow hand wherever it ends up after you release the shot until the arrow hits the target.  The important thing to know is that the position of your release hand and bow hand gives you information about your form, so notice where they end up.  Trying to end up with your release hand touching your neck or trying to eliminate movement in your bow hand does you no good whatsoever.  If your release hand moves back toward your neck and your bow hand doesn't move much, that's because everything leading up to that point put them there.  If your release hand flies away and your bow hand jerks to the side, that's because of the same reason.

Actually, I was watching the finals of some hot shot traditional competition on the Internet, and noticed that none of the participants actually kept their bows up until the arrows struck the target.  It sort of amazed me that they could get by with dropping their bows as soon as they did.  But the only real requirement is that you keep your bow up until the arrow is gone, and I guess they have that figured out.

As to whether instinctive shooters aim, most people would agree that instinctive shooting is an aiming style.  Do instinctive shooters line things up like a rifle shooter would line up his sights?  No.  Do they point their arrows wherever they need to point them to hit the target, even if they don't see the point of the arrow?  Yes.  Most of these arguments could be resolved easily enough if people just defined their terms.

[Wolftrail]

Dropping this dropping that its mostly sloppy shooting style so to speak.

Aiming.
thefreedictionary definition,

a. To direct (a weapon or camera) toward a point.

b. To direct or propel (an object, such as a ball) toward a point: aimed the pass at a wide receiver; aimed the shot at the lower right corner of the goal.

ya ok aimed the shot;  The act of actually throwing or hitting a ball to its predetermined spot. Is it aiming.     :confused:
If a tree falls in the bush miles away does it make a sound.?

[highlow]

Yes it does. You just won't be there to hear it.  

[Mo0se]

I took the shortcut, I learned gap first then it evolved into subconscious aiming.

[Wolftrail]

quote:Originally posted by highlow:
Yes it does. You just won't be there to hear it.