How "To Pick A Spot"?

[Cyclic-Rivers]

When you are shooting at a deer, i know sometimes they have irregularities in their hide you can focus on but if not do you picture a spot or just envision an arrow fetching burying in the side of the deer?

I sometimes seem like I pick an area  and shoot OK but when I have something to focus on specifically I shoot a heck of a lot better. (like the bar code on the box I have as a target).  Just curious what people do if they don't have that one thing to focus on?

Charlie

[pitbull]

I aim at the crease on the back of the front leg if broadside, if the animal is quartered away I look at the far front leg and follow that line up onto the animal, I won't take any other angle shot.

[TNstickn]

Try and picture where the heart is sitting and it will help with "the spot", and take out the trickery of where to shoot on angled shots from the stand or on the ground. If you study the deers vitals enough it will become second nature. The trick is to really focus and not just shoot at an area. Took me a while and lots of practice on 3-d targets before it all came together and I didnt feel like I was just shooting for the whole vital area.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I picture where I want the arrow to hit /exit the deer/game. From a tree stand I picture the arrow hitting the ground just past the game. Also knowing where the Heart/lungs sit does help.

[ChuckC]

practice.   Use cardboard that doesn't have any distinguishing marks,  or better,   use a bale of hay.  Practice picking out some feature and calling that THE SPOT
ChuckC

[Horne Shooter]

I really do try and pick an exact spot...something, anything that will allow me to concentrate there.  It can be some mud, off colored hair, a crease, anything where I can look at and try and burn a hole through with my eyes.  If I shoot at an area, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  When I can find an actual "target" on the animal...he's dead.

[BlacktailBowhunter]

Originally posted by TNstickn:
Try and picture where the heart is sitting and it will help with "the spot", and take out the trickery of where to shoot on angled shots from the stand or on the ground. If you study the deers vitals enough it will become second nature. The trick is to really focus and not just shoot at an area. Took me a while and lots of practice on 3-d targets before it all came together and I didnt feel like I was just shooting for the whole vital area.

Great idea. Between this and what ChuckC had to say, I am thinking an apple sandwiched between some card board and something else to make up the lungs, maybe a couple pieces of bread and yes I am serious  

[Dave Bulla]

TNstickn has it right.  If you look at one of those "cutaway" view anatomical pictures of a deer and memorize the location of the heart and the big leg bones, it's pretty easy to picture the vitals on the deer.  On quartering away shots, (I call them field goal shots) it's like the big leg bones are goal posts and the heart is a football laying on the crossbar.  Shoot a "field goal" and you'll get either heart or lung and all the big blood vessels in the area and you can miss the off side leg bone.  Still though, I far prefer a far more broadside shot.

[JEFF B]

i just look at where the heart and lung and bore a hole right through it and loose the arrow and if it dont duck im in with a good chance. but it dont always go that good.

[LimbLover]

I like the legbone fieldgoal post idea.

[GingivitisKahn]

Originally posted by BlacktailBowhunter:
 

Originally posted by TNstickn:
Try and picture where the heart is sitting and it will help with "the spot", and take out the trickery of where to shoot on angled shots from the stand or on the ground. If you study the deers vitals enough it will become second nature. The trick is to really focus and not just shoot at an area. Took me a while and lots of practice on 3-d targets before it all came together and I didnt feel like I was just shooting for the whole vital area.

Great idea. Between this and what ChuckC had to say, I am thinking an apple sandwiched between some card board and something else to make up the lungs, maybe a couple pieces of bread and yes I am serious    [/b]

Dang it.  Now I'm hungry for sandwiches and an apple.

[BRITTMAN]

When I pratice at home I like to use targets with no bullseye or aimming point ( hay bale , solid black target ,ect ) . Ive been doing that for several years now and it has made me invision a spot or pick a spot as you say . Really there is a spot already there if you train you mind to look for it be it a puff of hair , shadows , mussle movement , rib sticking out ect . Im not that great of a shot on targets with a bullseye or aimming point but I always seem to put the arrow where it needs to go on a live animal ( besides squirrels , they are still giving me fits LOL ) .

Mike

[KSdan]

Button technique offered by Jay Kidwell in his book "Instinctive Archery Insights."  Also resolves much target panic.  Has worked for me when I practice it.

[shoot4fun]

KSdan... I don't have the book, could you give a short explanation on the button technique?
Thanks !
John / shoot4fun

[Brian Krebs]

I used to look at the elbow; then shoot just above it; but after hitting an elk twice in the elbow; and having it continue to feed; that deflated my confidence in my system.
 I now aim for a hair if I can; the smallest bit of something over the vitals.

 I once had a buck that would sneak out of its bedding area and down a fence line with brush only a foot or so tall. Do to the situation I decided to go out in the middle of the day; and dig a pit blind next to the fence. I did that; and had the buck come in and shot up at it at 6 feet or something- and I aimed for a hair. I remember that I missed that hair- and I was super depressed about it. Then no blood sign; then I found a drop; and my deer. Yes I missed the hair; but I made a totally perfect shot.

 The smaller you make your spot; the closer you will be to perfection with the shot.

[KSdan]

I had the same problem you described- for 20 years of trad shooting I would end up shooting at the vital "zone" instead of a spot.  I could easily pick a spot on 3-D, bales in my yard, stump shooting etc.  For Pete's sake, I can hit golf balls at 18-20 yds.!  

But every time I went to shoot at a deer-even after I "picked a spot"- by the time the arrow was at anchor I was looking at the entire "zone" or shoulder. The only time this would happen was on a deer.  There was no way to practice it- it was situational.

I talked to Jay Kidwell about this- he is a sports psychologist.  I know other pro/olympian athletes who likewise affirmed what I was exploring.  The point being: this is a brain issue.  It even has a name for my actual issue, "stimulus confusion."  You can not practice your way out of it by shooting 100s of arrows. It is NOT a physical or "just concentrate" more issue.  It is an actual "way" that your brain is processing information.
(Read that again- it is a "way" your brain processes info- physical training will NOT change it!)

You should read his book, but simply:  I started year-round practice by shooting at a small round sticker (a button if you like).  I put the sticker on everything (even my 3-D deer). In time, I periodically  remove the sticker but "visualize" the sticker on the object I want to hit.  In Jay's case, he carries around an actual "button" that he touches and handles throughout the week.  When it comes time to shoot- he visualizes the button.

This trains your brain that no matter the target- you are shooting at the same thing. So, my brain started focusing on the same thing to be hit every time-a small round sticker (mine is black and about 1" dia- I may try orange this year).  

Now you still have to practice- but your practice becomes as much a mental/brain training as a physical training.  I am now working with the "way" my brain works.  When a deer arrives- part of the "instinct" is now to "see" your "button" on the deer.  And you shoot at the "button" not a deer!  Believe me- it worked.

It made a HUGE difference for me when I apply it as a regular regimen of my practice.

I get sloppy in it sometimes because my confidence goes back up and I just like flinging arrows. (I noticed it last year on deer a couple of times).  I then have to go back to the disciplined routine of practicing my "brain".  

I am carrying on here- sorry- but one thing I notice is that few archers talk about these types of issues, while the world class athletes I know study this as much as physical technique. 30 years ago top athletes just began to think about nutrition and sleep cycles for training- they do now.  Likewise, 20 years ago athletes rarely trained themselves mentally- they do now. I have a daughter that is nationally ranked Div. 1 athlete- she gets all this other training as much as she gets the physical.

Target panic, shooting over deer, etc. is all this mental stuff.  It will take your shooting to a new level if you study and practice it.

Good luck

[Jeff Strubberg]

I imagine a dime sized red dot.  My own little laser sight.  Read about this somewhere, but darned if I remember where.

[razorsharptokill]

I had a doe at 12 yards broadside this morning. The spot I picked was too big..... her whole ribcage!

I shot 4" over her back. She jumped the string too. If I had aimed tight behind the shoulder she would have likely ducked right into it.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Thank you Dan,

Someone actually knows what I'm talking about.  All this feedback is good.  I like the idea of sticker and see that working for me or maybe even wooden nickels who knows.  I do reasonable well on targets especially within 20 yards.  I can usually put my arrows within a 5 inches of what I'm aiming at.

I shot wheelie bow instinctively for years, even got to the pint where I could hit a quarter at 15 yards. But then every deer I shot at I missed no matter the distance.  I was zone aiming and not spot aiming.

I love the feedback and will post later how I improve.
Perhaps hopefully my first trad deer  

Charlie