Trad. Archery and Accuracy

[Tree342]

Im fairly new to archery and have had 2 right handed bows. I've never gotten to serious about archery and now desided to swich and shoot left handed since Im left handed. So I dont really know what bows are capable of.

Well now I want to start shooting again but don't know what is considered ok accuracy.

On an adverage day with a trad. bow what kind of groups do YOU get at say 20 yards?

Also would a #40 recurve be a good weight for small game? Thanks

[Richie Nell]

Tree....40#s is enough to kill a deer as well as small game.

[Shawn Leonard]

If ya can keep every shot on a paper plate at 20 yards, go kill something. There are a lot of good shots out there but there are way more average shots by far. What I have seen is that not quite half the guys shooting can do the paper plate thing at 20 yards and I mean every time no flyers. Shawn

[Tree342]

sorry I posted pretty much the same question earlier today but didnt see it until now. (Im knew at this form)

[MW]

Check out the results of the online tourney and see where you compare!

Interesting that you a switching hand.  I am starting to shoot both right now.  I was amazed that shooting right handed ( I am a lefty who is right eye Dom) I was able it get fairly accurate in only a week.  I usually shoot left handed but am now wondering if I can get more accurate a a righty over time.

Good luck!

[Otto]

At 25 yds (the length of my indoor basement range), on an AVERAGE day, a DOZEN (not 3-5, but a DOZEN) arrows go into 6 inches.

 

And it only takes 2 little brain farts to screw up a REALLY good 25 yard group.

[longstick]

Everybody gets a slinger every now and then Otto...thats some good shooting buddy

[Lookinforlunkers]

Otto I am sooooooo jealous, I wish I had 25 yards indoors  

[Matty]

EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT, And it depends on your passion for the sport and practice received.  I spend alot of time shooting and UNDERSTANDING my shot so that they are better than good, and I shoot with people who have been shooting for decades that can barely hit a 3D deer target at 15 yds. I want to be the best at wht I do and I put the time in. do the same and oull be fine, 40# is plenty for many Large Game animals.

[Ray Hammond]

you should switch right or left based on dominant eye being right or left, not which hand you do things with.

I can do everything left handed except writing...but my shooting right handed is because of eye dominance.

[Biggie Hoffman]

IMO...(here we go)
How many arrows you can put in a plate or the dot or whatever never moving your feet means little in the bowhunting world. It's how often you can put that ONE arrow in the kill zone everytime. If you can't do it consistantly at 20 yards, don't shoot at a critter at 20 yards.
Pretty simple actually.

Packing arrows into the pieplate might help with form but in bowhunting realities, only one arrow counts.

[Precurve]

Alot of it depends on how you practice.  I think it's hard for trad shooters to stand in one spot and nail arrow after arrow into a target.  Maybe it's just me and my short attention span, but if I shoot just one arrow, retrieve it and then shoot again, I'm much more consistent with my accuracy.

[dino]

Biggie is right on the money!!!  What can you do with one arrow.  dino

[mcgroundstalker]

Thank You Biggie and Precurve... I could never understand why "Shooting Groups" would be important to a hunter. What game animal will stand there and give you a second shot?

 Shooting groups is good for short range form practice or target archers. Also important for some new archers. For hunting practice nothing beats stump shooting or roving! Make Your First Shot Count. Then you will be very accurate in hunting situations.

My 2 Cents Worth ...     ...

... mike ...

PS... Best Of Luck Tree!  

[killinstuff]

`Like Biggie, one shot one kill. The other thing is not to get to hung up on yardage. I kinda roam around the yard taking shoots from different angles and yardage. I might be 5 yards away or 35, I don't know but that's how hunting shots are and on the 3D range so that's how I practice. Works for me.

[mildrd]

In my opinion the best shot,obviously,needs to be the first shot.That's how I made the choice which bow to shoot this last year for hunting season.I would go and shoot each bow the first thing in the morning.I would alternate between bows from day to day.After a few weeks one bow stood out as being able to pull off that first shot better than the others.That's what I hunted and practiced with the rest of the year and it worked out great.The bow for me is a Shrew.I think it's the grip.For someone else it might be completely different.

[Otto]

Biggie and others are correct.  It's that 1 arrow in the breadbasket that counts.

I shoot groups because that's my way of honing my form such that when I do loose an arrow at a critter, that I KNOW it's going to go where I want it to.  Shooting groups does that for me.  Others may do it by spot shooting or stump shooting or some other means.  The fact is a fella has to practice.  Because some of us like to see how well we can stack arrows against one another doesn't make what we do useless or wrong.  It's just a different form of practice.  The implication that a guy who can shoot small groups is a lousy bowhunter...well, that's just...shall we say...uninformed.

EVERYBODY who wants to be a good shot has to do that in some form or another.  If a fella can achieve that by hanging upside down shooting one arrow at a time at an old pair of bloomers hangin off the clothesline....well, whatever works for ya.

[George D. Stout]

Well let me be the devil's advocate here.  If you can shoot good groups, you will probably not shoot bad in the woods.  Helllllllo~~~!!!

I became a much better hitter in the deer woods, when I concentrated on becoming a better shot with the bow.  Shooting groups means you are consistent.

Work on becoming consistent in your form and accuracy will follow.....even that mystical, first-shot accuracy in the woods....on animals.

Instead of a pie plate, use a paper cup.  Then take that form in to the woods and shoot stumps.
Learn first shot accuracy (which will come with practice and shooting a lot...even groups).

[Biggie Hoffman]

otto, I don't think anybody has implied that at all. Certainly not me.

Lemmie ask you "group shooters" an honest question.

Do you stand in the same spot, and shoot the same way every shot?
I mean, same bow angle, same stance, same distance, same anchor point?

[mcgroundstalker]

Was It Me? Well... We all have OUR way of being accurate with our bows. Otto does make a fine point also. Grouping works for him and others. There is no way "I" can group a bunch of arrows like that at 25yds. I'm a one shot guy. Gotta move around and shoot over, through, under stuff. Maybe I get board too fast. Guess I'm an odd-ball. Whatever.... To me that is the true art of traditional archery.

... mike ...        ...

PS... Leave my bloomers out of it ...    ...