Are you a psycho? (A discussion about Psycho triggers)

[traddad_MI]

I’ve been shooting trad archery for 5-6 years on and off. I killed a couple bucks a few years back with a Bear K Mag off the shelf with trad vanes with an untriggered shot. One of the shots was 7 yards and the other was 30 just for reference. Idk if this matters either but I shoot 3 fingers under and shoot instinctively until my point on comes into play. I was coming into the next season with high hopes and shot all summer but I started to notice some flyers that were starting to become more frequent. The next season I had a series of 3 debilitating misses that just broke my heart and actually pushed me to finish out the season with compound and I killed two bucks. I shot an archery league last winter with my recurve and cut a vane to “shield cut” and tried that as a draw check/psycho trigger but still wasn’t where I want to be. I also started referencing my string on my riser(string blur over riser) which helped with the left to rights but I could never get the tune right but I’m not the greatest at tuning. I shot all summer but my inconsistent shooting was just irritating me and I could just tell I wasn’t where I wanted to be and used my compound with success. Well in December I got a the itch and bought a brand new 56” Fred Bear Takedown in Bubinga/phenolic with a green cap. I love the look of the bow and being a Michigan boy I love the story of Fred Bear and him starting the Michigan Archery season in 1937. I ended up having to build the shelf though because of vane to hand contact on bow hand and it actually helped with quieting down the bow because I had to bring the nock point up and that seemed to give the tune of a split finger shooter which I heard bears shoot better with. I’m still having spotty shooting with moments of pure archery bliss to just straight up why am I doing this to myself moments. I forgot to mention that when I first started shooting a recurve that I bought “Solid archery mechanics” and bought the whole shebang. Clicker execution, back tension and all of that good stuff. I don’t like the clicker though both aesthetically and functional. I just don’t know where to go from here and what the best road is for me. I love the idea of an untriggered pure shot but I just don’t think it is as replicable in the woods for me as I like. Any advice that has helped you guys through the years? I do think that an elevated rest would improve my accuracy and in conjunction with a feather to nose psycho might be the move. Thanks for any input. I attached the photos of those bucks I killed with the K Mag. Very proud of those deer and I’ll forever be chasing that feeling! PS if a moderator could flip that bottom photo to look like the top one, that would be great!

[jess stuart]

Check out Joel Turner he has some solid stuff.

[Terry Green]

Not sure if you have been to this thread, it's been running for years.....

https://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php?board=5.0

Have a look and let me know if it helped any. 

[traddad_MI]

Thanks for the input! I’ll check out that thread!

[EHK]

When you get your fliers, do you think it's due to a form break down, or are you struggling to understand why it was a flier?

[PrimitivePete]

I would say it's of incredible value to establish the foundations of physically executing the shot before adding the extra items like a trigger, clicker. I recently switched hands to shoot left handed and had to learn again how to shoot. It was the best thing I have done archery wise as I had to start from the beginning. I still shoot right handed from time to time but my form shooting left handed is about as perfect as I can possibly get. All those years of studying the shot and putting it into practice has paid off handsomely.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

I think I’m understanding that you are pretty new to this (on and off for a few years). I’d suggest finding a mentor and learning good, simple, fundamentals of shooting. Add complexity, if you want, after that. Maybe it’s just the way your original post is written, but it sounds like a fart in a skillet. Fundamentally, shooting a stick bow is simple.  It’s tough enough just to pick a spot and execute a shot with good form.  Adding 15 other variables, and varying them continually, will only be frustrating.

R