What did it take ???

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

 I have been at this game of shooting a Trad bow a long while now. And like many or I think I should say most I have had my share of issues. Working my way into being a better shooter is always what I want to do but things don’t always go as planned. I think I’m a ok shooter and have been working hard on being better than just ( ok ). What have you done that has helped you as a individual get to that next level in your shooting?? Not what you think will work and not what has worked for your buddy or the guy you read about last week. I know of several things that have helped me and I will post what they are here. But really want to hear from others what some of the biggest breakthroughs were for you..

,,Sam,,

[8upss]

Caveat; I’ve been shooting trad seriously for less than a year. This advice is worth what you payed for it.

I played with it as a kid, bowfished some a few years ago, but really got into “bow hunting” last year.

Sam’s post got me thinking about my journey on the road to improvement.

First, I have to admit that I was overbowed initially. I didn’t shoot my 30# bow enough to perfect my form before I picked up the 45#er.

I work a physical job, I’m strong, I can handle this. It’s not about strength, it’s about form.

I got good enough to kill a deer before last season ended.  Lucky me. Since then I’ve been working on becoming a better shooter.

The things I believe have made the biggest difference for me are;

1: A tuned set up. Once I was certain my arrows flew straight, I knew any inconsistency was with me and my form.

2: Consistent form. When I achieved a “relaxed” draw, I began to see consistent accuracy.
I think this is a result of the “bone on bone” alignment I read about. It’s the feeling that I could hold that draw indefinitely.

The best description for my aiming style seems to be “split vision”. I focus on the spot, with the arrow in the periphery.

At that point I slightly expand and relax my string hand.

I want lateral perfection. Left/Right is an unbalanced draw. I call it overdraw or collapse.

Vertically, point on to a little low is acceptable. I’m aiming center mass. A little low is good. A little high may be a kill, but the blood trail could be tougher.

I now know that I rushed the process. Don’t be me.






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[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

I can think of three moments that stand out to me:

1. a guy casually commented that I looked overbowed at a fun indoor shoot. It opened my eyes to the root cause of my target panic.

2. a compound shooter at the local range taught me about pulling my bow arm shoulder down and back, not letting it roll up.

3. Once I developed decent form I made a determined effort to learn Joel Turner's grip sear. That got my mind off my string hand (used to pluck the string something fierce).

Everything else is refining the fundamentals, and I pay a lot of attention to anything Joel Turner, Tom Clum, as well as anything Arne, and McDave here on TG have to say.

[katman]

Rod Jenkins course. Well worth the $ to set you on the right path.

[reddogge]

This is my personal thing and makes a huge difference in my shooting. I gap shoot but after the gap is established I focus on the target but when I draw and anchor I must make myself wait until the arrow stops bobbing up and down slightly in my sight picture. When it steadies I release. If I don't wait and the arrow is still moving I will mess the shot up.

[McDave]

This is my personal thing and makes a huge difference in my shooting. I gap shoot but after the gap is established I focus on the target but when I draw and anchor I must make myself wait until the arrow stops bobbing up and down slightly in my sight picture. When it steadies I release. If I don't wait and the arrow is still moving I will mess the shot up.

Me too; not always easy to wait.  Something I have to remind myself to do before every shot.

[reddogge]

It's my only shot thought now.

[Sam McMichael]

I use visualization. I have a strong tendency to pluck the string, so I spend a lot of time imagining myself making a perfect release with the string hand merely relaxing and letting the string go with no action by the bow hand itself. It is useful, but I need to do it a lot, trying to develop the muscle memory to make it automatic.

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

Thanks for the reply’s , will post my thoughts soon..

,,Sam,,

[Alvey]

For me it was shot sequence!for many years I shot by simply looking at the spot I wanted to hit and not thinking about my shot process thinking it was the only way to shoot a trad bowcould be shot.not saying it can’t be done with desirable accuracy for some  individuals,it just wasn’t a good fit for me.

[BruceT]

    Jim Castro’s program !!
 Still “ a work in progress “ for me , but making headway .

[Todd Cook]

Sam, I've been at this quite a while too, and have tried just about every style of shooting at least once. FOR ME, I shoot better than I ever have because I shoot more instinctively than I ever have. I'll try to explain.

I have a very well defined shot sequence, but I do not "aim" per se at all. I use a very slow swing draw coming up from the bottom, drawing the bow as I come up. My "anchor" is my index finger at the corner of my mouth and the top of my thumb at the point of my jaw. But I never stop the draw until the shot goes off. In other words that position triggers my shot but I'm pulling through all the time. My bow arm stops when it gets to where it needs to be but I don't think about it at all. Truthfully I don't think about anything at all. I just focus on the smallest little spot I can see well enough to aim at. So the entire shot sequence is one slow movement.

I don't see the arrow; don't want to see it. If I try to pre set my bow arm I see the arrow and don't shoot as well. From 0-25 yards it's the most deadly way I can shoot. 3-d, hunting either way. And it is SO MUCH more fun for me to shoot that way. No thinking about yardage, anchor, this or that. Just relax, focus and trust myself. I firmly believe the Good Lord gave us a tremendous amount of hand/ eye coordination. We just have to trust it long enough for our brains to remember what to do. After a short time it will become automatic.

It has a lot of advantages hunting over other methods. You don't need to see your point( low light), You can adjust with a moving animal easily, You cannot colapse or creep before you release because you are always pulling rearward.

The one downside- really long shots. FOR ME, somewhere around 30-35 yards is the limit that I can pick a tiny spot, and I need the tiny spot to focus on. So it's only limited on how far you can see well. For long 3d targets a gap or point on might work better. I like 3d, but it's just hunting practice for me. I don't shoot very far at live critters.

[Fattony77]

For me, taking Rick Welch's class taught me everything that I needed to know to become a better archer. Now, I've remembered & implemented them at different times, causing my progress to be slow, but that's no fault of Rick's. He taught me the structural parts of a good, consistent shot. Once I started doing those things, and became more consistent, I was able to better tune my arrows to my shot. With all of that in place, my 3D scores have GREATLY improved, as will my shots on live animals (as soon as I get a shot again...).

[limbshaker]

Switching to Hill style bows and giving up static shooting form. Best thing I've ever done. Conscious gap shooting and recurves almost ruined my life lol.

Don't be afraid to try something way off from your normal way of shooting. Find what works for YOU and run with it.

 

[PrimitivePete]

1. New grip on the string that led to a better anchor
2. Shooting less, give myself time to decompress and only commit to strong shooting sessions. The second my form is starting to break down, I stop shooting
3. Stop trying to copy anyone's style or form and only use what I am comfortable with

[GCook]

Figuring out it had to work for me.  Yeah my anchor point is different.   But it works for me.  Yes I like a glove when more people shoot tabs.  But it works for me.
Finding a way that was easy for me to be consistent and comfortable made me want to practice more.  The more you practice the better chance you have of getting better.   

The biggest thing that made a difference for me was a couple of internet mentors like Bisch.  Guys like Crittergetter who answered questions all day when I first started learning how to really tune and bareshaft. 
I believe if you don't have or don't want to get a coach, you better have some good folks who will put up with you as you learn and explain things in an easy to understand manner.  No matter how dense I seem to be at times.

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[Wilderlife]

I'm very new to the whole thing, but I will share some thoughts anyway.

I have worked towards a few different skills later in life. I'm not what I consider to be old, but I was an adult when I taught myself how to skin an animal, shoot a rifle, sharpen a knife, etc. I'm also a school teacher, so I have a good idea about how to approach a new concept and learn it. So having said that, my contribution to this thread is that I have benefited greatly from being very critical of my own form. I take pictures and video of myself regularly and analyse it, I send the video to people who are good and listen to their advice. I always implement what they tell me and add my own flare and differences to see what works for me, while at the same time trying to get the fundamentals right. I am also constantly watching videos on youtube to gain every perspective possible. Knowledge is power for me. I'm at a point now where a few things 'clicked' for me a week or so ago and I've made some solid progress. Still a long way to go for me but being critical of myself and keeping an objective mind has helped.

My comments about coming into it later in life are more to do with the fact that I've had the ability to learn from scratch when I'm old enough to understand how to be consistent. It's much easier to learn things the right way the first time than it is to learn with horrible habits at first and then work towards breaking them after many years.