Most difficult piece of the puzzle?

[George Metz]

My return to the bow is so frustrating. Near daily shooting from the late 70's thru 94 left my body and mind with near perfect memory of the shot. Can close my eyes and see it, feel it. It's beautiful! Unfortunately, my mind and body will not cooperate on the actual shot right now. Know it is only a matter of time, but was wondering if anyone else foolishly put down their bow for an extended period and if so what was the most difficult aspect of the shot to regain control over?

[Dustin Waters]

picking a spot and the actual release.  those were the two hardest for me to get used to.  especially when shooting at a deer.

[Ragnarok Forge]

A clean release.  You need to just pull thru and not think about the release.  Just let it happen.

[LongStick64]

Staying relaxed throughout the shot and reducing tension.

[Encino Man]

I know how you feel George. I haven't shot for almost 2 years. Had a lot of muscle and tendon strains to get healed up. Well, I've been shooting continuously for about 6 weeks. I find that I still don't have the bow muscles to do what my mind knows I can do. group starts out tight and then quickly goes awry. I figure it will take 3 to 6 months to get somewhere close to where I used to be. I'm just trying to not be so impatient that I hurt something else in the process

[Terry Green]

Getting your confidence back.

[smokin joe]

I put my bows down for almost 20 years while I was making money in a big city. The hardest thing for me going back to traditional archery was settling in to a consistent anchor point and getting to the level of concentration necessary to lose myself in the shot. By that I mean concentration that is so complete that self, ego and awareness disappear and there is only the trust in the physical part of the shot. I had the muscle memory, but I had to work for a year or more to get the psychological memory back. Nobody ever said traditional archery was easy.
Stay with it. Things will fall into place sooner or later.
Joe

[joe skipp]

I put my bows down for 2 months, Feb and March. I need the mental break from hunting season since I bowhunt the month of January in Jersey.

I pick the bow up in April and prepare for spring Turkey, then put it down June/July when the bass and walleyes are biting. I look forward to not shooting every day, an escape from the mental aspect of making every shot count.

August rolls around and I start a slow process of warming up in the shop basement shooting 5 yds into my bag. Slowly working the form back...draw, anchor, pick a spot and clean release. I then make my outside practice fun and realistic. Shooting judos at leaves, stumps, birds and woodchucks.

I find shooting distance, like 40-60 yds at small objects makes me concentrate more. To me it makes those closer range shots easier. It's all mental.
By the time Mid September rolls around and CT and Jersey deer seasons are open, I'm both physically and mentally ready to kill. It's even better when my buddies and I make our annual spring bear hunt in Canada the first week of June.

I would say the most difficult part of regaining the "shot", making sure I'm at full draw and concentrating on my intended target. That changes however with repeated shooting sessions where I never put any pressure on myself to "10 Ring" everything.