In your opinion what is the most important skill in shooting /hunting with trad gear!

[Pepper]

Patience is the operative word, and it appperars that most of us agree on that.
If you have patience, all else will come along.

[NY Yankee]

The entire reason we shoot bows and arrows is to be able to put our arrow on the mark. Being able to hit where you are looking, without effort, is of utmost importance. This requires proper tuning, proper form, and the patience to work your way there. With out accuracy, we may as well just be flinging paper airplanes!

[Jerry Wald]

1 - Perfect practice in REAL life situations and then lots of opportunities hunting game.

If you tree stand shoots lots from your tree stand in the wind/cold etc. We can generally shoot pretty good if everything is perfect...but not always is it that way.

If we hunt in the mountains and have to shoot straight down at a sheep or goat...then you need to practice lots of that.

Moose hunting THEY ARE HUGE....and they seem to be closer than they are. You need to practice with a life size target some how.

Caribou feed/walk at 30 miles and hour it seems    so you need to be comfortable with that. Set up a bag target on a long rope and have someone pull it down the rope so you can get used to shooting it on the move (just a suggestion).

Bears - hmm baiting - see tree stand - spot and stock WIND WIND WIND.

You get the idea right

2 - I think you can practice lots and then blow the real hunt just because of the rushhhhhh you get.

I think we can get all kinds of opportunites and not enough practice because (life happens) and then we can't deliver the arrow....

We need to find a good balance in these two aspects or something will suffer.

Mostly we are a time poor society so something always suffers...that's life so make the best of it.

Jer Bear      

[Bama Recurve]

Try to learn something new everytime your in the woods. Practice practice practice. Drawing your bow and hitting your anchor point should be completely instictive.
And yes... patience

Tyler

[Earthdog]

Finding deer to shoot at in the first place is a good start,,,for me.
After that,shooting at the things is no different than shooting at any other target.
Shooting during target shooting and shooting during hunting situations are both identical to one another.
This mind set that they are some how different is one of the main reasons people continue to shoot "over the top" yet again.
If you shot your bow the same in a hunting situation as you do during practice or during target shooting,,,the out come would always be the same.
Your change your methods or mind set from one to the other,,,you won't get the same results.
Lets be serious here people,the only thing that changes from one situation to another is "your" mind set,,,nothing else.

[getstonedprimitivebowhunt]

...the skill of waiting for a "SHORT DISTANCE" shot !!!! Your homework will do the rest !!!  

[Sean B]

confidence in your shooting and plain ole' woodsmanship.

[michaelschwister]

Hunting=getting close undetected.
Shooting=how to properly tune your setup

[brill16hockey]

Shooting- Eye/Hand coordination

Hunting- Keeping the wind in your face...Unless your hunting somethin that cant smell you!

[Bill Carlsen]

Hunting skills are multi-faceted. It's almost like asking which organ in your body is the most important. However, when I think back over the years my best successes have come when my shooting skills were at their best.

[Predator Man]

I say the best skill to have is being able to make the first shot of the day a good shot.  Form, skill, everything aside.  First shot needs to be a good shot.

[Smallwood]

Originally posted by lpcjon2:
Ok what do you feel is the most important skill in trad shooting/hunting, physical,spiritual,and or technical
Mine would have to be having good form.  

I think some of all of these is required.
Being physically fit helps you shoot more effortlessly without fighting to get the bow back.
Being spiritually right, and having faith that God will guide that arrow where you want it, and praising him for these abilities/skills/strength that he has given you.
And being techically competent to have tuned your gear to get the best performance out of it, and to maintain your equipment to keep it in good working order.

[twitchstick]

Mental.

[FerretWYO]

Originally posted by Rob DiStefano:
there are shooting skills and there are hunting skills - both very different, both very required.

This is dead on Rob.

In shooting it is form and solid shots every time.

In hunting it is patience.

[straitera]

Hunting- stealth & confidence (including woodskills)

Shooting- confidence

[Stiks-n-Strings]

You can be the best shot there ever was and if you ain't got woodsmaship you might as well stay on the shooting range.

 WOODSMANSHIP, WOODSMANSHIP, AND OH YEAH WOODSMANSHIP.
 Know your land you hunt and know your querry.

[wtpops]

Hunter skills, you need to be able to get into that confort zone of the animal you are hunting that spends most of thier life not wanting anything to be there.

Once you get there every thing else happens on its own, seeing the spot, draw, anchor, release, for me any way all this part happens and most of the time i dont even remember it happening. But i can remember every detail of the stalk, the leaf that crunched to loud that stick i didnt see that brushed my pants ect.. ect..

[rickshot]

practice/know your quarry. rick.

[Mudd]

My ability to think......with my God given smarts I can master all the skills I need to kill and eat.

My 2 cents worth.

God bless,Mudd

[Archer Fanatic]

Without good shooting form all the rest is mute.