Is this target panic?

[anchorman]

I hate to use that word but wondering what drills I can use to overcome a issue that has developed. When I draw back and settle into my anchor I am always low of target. Doesn't seem.to matter if I'm shooting 10 or 30 yards. Problem is when I start coming up onto target lot of times I usually will let go before I'm completely settled into target causing me.to shoot low..it's frustrating and I can't seem to rectify it consistently....any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

[McDave]

The key is really not hitting low; the key is that you feel compelled to release the arrow before you are ready to release it.  This is a classic symptom of target panic.  There is no easy fix to this.  However, if you are persistent, you can overcome it.  Two popular programs are Iron Mind by Joel Turner, and a program available here by Jim Casto.  I have taken both and prefer Jim’s approach, although many have benefitted from Joel’s also.  Both require more work and dedication than you would think necessary to solve such a “simple” matter.  But you can either do it now or do it later, your choice.

You can search for Joel’s on-line, or find any post by Jim in this forum and ask him about his program.  Jim’s handle is JC Jr.

[Pine]

An old trick from way back in the olden days.
Put some masking tape next to your sight window and make a mark with an ink pen or sharpie.
Now when you shoot, glance at the mark to help you get the bow up, and adjust the mark until you hit on target.
Kinda like using a sight but it will just help with elevation.
People used to do that and have a mark for evert 10 yards. It's just a helpful learning tool.
It's not cheating because you still need to feel the shot. After you get things working, take the tape off.

[reddogge]

I had a similar thing rear its ugly head during last year's indoor season. I set my barebow up to shoot point on at 20 yards so I could lollypop the white dot on the arrow. How simple is that?  The aiming equation all figured out. What it did to me was target panic, not every shot but enough to drop me 20 points per round. I retuned the bow and used lighter arrows so now I aimed at the bottom of the target and the target panic went away completely and I got my 20 points and more back.

Perhaps you could do the same so your arrow will hit high and you will not need to elevate it to the spot that you were having trouble with.

[buckeyebowhunter]

I do the exact same thing. It mainly started as a result of using a fixed crawl and having to hold under my target. My bow arm now instinctively holds under my target regardless of distance. It's very frustrating.  A clicker has helped me in the past. But I absolutely hate hunting with the clicker.

[McDave]

Many times, myself included, people look for causes in the wrong places.  What was I doing at the time I developed target panic that caused it?  Was I concentrating too much on aiming rather than shooting instinctively?  Was I scratching my a$$?  Years ago, my wife got into a traffic accident while making a left turn.  Ever since then, she's had a phobia about making left turns, and will go way out of her way to avoid one.  We don't need to analyse what caused my wife's traffic accident, but it wasn't because she was making a left turn.

The cause of target panic is very simple: we lose control over the shot; the shot is controlling us rather than we controlling the shot.  Everyone who has been successful in overcoming target panic for themselves or others realises this: Joel Turner with Iron Mind, Rod Jenkins with the Bridge program, and Jim Casto with his program of repetitive drawing and shooting (you need a sexier name for your program than that, Jim).  When we lose control over the shot, we need to retrain our brain to regain control over the shot.

You can probably design your own program if you keep the basic cause in mind and start from there.  Start with doing some action with the bow that you are in complete control of, repeat often, and slowly work your way forward until you have complete control of the bow under all conditions under which you want to shoot.  After you finish your program, if a situation arises where you lose control of the bow again, realise it for what it is and step back in your program until you can fully regain control of the bow again.  Every time you shoot the bow from this point forward, you are doing one of two things: you are either reinforcing your control over the shot, or you are reinforcing the shot's control over you.

[JC Jr]

...Every time you shoot the bow from this point forward, you are doing one of two things: you are either reinforcing your control over the shot, or you are reinforcing the shot's control over you.

Outstanding statement! 

I'm no expert on matters of the brain, but that's exactly what happens.  Somehow there has been a breakdown in the neuro pathways and the only way, that I'm aware of to rebuild them is through reinforcement by repetition. 

[LongbowArchitect]

What happens to us is that our subconscious mind constantly tries to "streamline" our shot sequence to make it more efficient. The subconscious mind is much more robust than our conscious mind. It allows us to do many things that we are familiar with (think driving a car) without us thinking about it. To prevent our subconscious mind from "streamlining" our shot sequence (releasing before we are on target for instance) we must clear our thoughts and concentrate on each part of our shot sequence. Take your time on each part before progressing to the next part. You will regain control of your shot.

[Etter]

I battled this stuff way too long and I tried EVERYTHING.  A month or so ago I decided to do Joel Turner’s program and do it 100 percent right.  It was really really hard and I had to speak to joel on the phone and text him a bunch until I figured it all out but now shooting with a psychotrigger and NEVER taking an uncontrolled shot has gotten so much easier. I wont ever have to go back and retrain so long as I just stick to the discipline. I use tge handy clicker as my psychotrigger and love it.

Id absolutely love to be able to just shoot but my brain is just too busy I guess. Thats fine though because this has made shooting fun and confident again. And I bet I had the worst case of target panic anybody has ever seen