Lucky or Accurate

[RC]

First you gotta be committed to hunting with a trad bow. Not doing it short of some injury does not even enter the mind.
 Second you develop YOUR own form and aiming method from what feels good after trying everyones.
Third you practice it till you do it without thinking.Focusing on the shot.
The number one tip I got from watching MBB was from Rod Jenkins. Focus on making a perfect shot. The mechanics of it. Don`t worry about killing the deer...making the perfect shot will make that happen.
 After all that if your effective range ends up being 10 yards...go hunting. Half of the critters I`ve killed were closer than that.RC

[Rob W.]

I shoot one arrow at different times during the day and 3d on weekends. When squirrel comes in I pretty much stump shoot and 3d with no home practice til Oct. Long practice sessions and grouping arrows always had a negative effect on me. There was a time that I was so worried about beinge ready I would shoot too much. Relax, practice smart, and you will be fine.


Rob

[WESTBROOK]

"I find that when I start to get sloppy, it's time to practice with one arrow. I don't get so rushed to fling 'em, and makes me concentrate on the shot more"

X2

Thats what I was doing leading up to Turkey season, 1 arrow with a broadhead. A week or so of that and I suprised myself with my improvement.

Eric

[The Hawk]

Practice until you are accurate, then the luck will come. The reason you lack consistency is form. If your form is consistent you will be accurate. Shooting a blank bale at 10' and working on each aspect of form 1 piece at a time greatly improved my shooting. I have found that a habit from sights is to "aim hard". If your form is correct, just relax and let the arrow go where you are looking. I have found that if I am shooting inconsistently, it's my bow arm. If you push and keep that arm steady through the follow through I think your inconsistency will vanish. I am not an archery coach and I slept in a wall tent last night!    Good Luck and kill a rabbit. If you can kill a rabbit, you can kill a moose.

[Caughtandhobble]

One more comment if I may...

My dad always said that "one makes their own luck"!!!

A new friend of mine that happens to be one of the best shots in Texas also has a saying that I like. He says "you always want to bring a solid game and a little good luck never hurts".

Lot's of great advise offered here, I wish I would have found this site when I first began a few years back!!!

[2treks]

"I would rather be lucky than good any day"
Not me,
"I find the more I practice,the luckier I get"
2 options above,I picked the latter years ago. Seems to work for what I do.
Do get mired in all the options,pick one with some credit,and work at it till you start to get cosistant and then you will notice that things get better. Like RC said,you will start to do things your own way after a fasion. Don't over think it. Just stay with it.

CTT

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

To answer your question, I would absolutely not hunt with any weapon with which my accuracy was that inconsistent. There are a lot of times where I don’t mind luck playing a part of my hunting. Shot accuracy isn’t one of them.

The fact that you’re so concerned about your hunting accuracy is extremely admirable. If more people took their shooting as serious as you, we’d see a lot fewer “I missed another one” threads with “just keep hunting and eventually you’ll connect” responses every hunting season. No animal should be wounded because the hunter is trying to make a fashion statement with his/her choice of weapon. If you like all forms of archery, there’s no reason you should eliminate one for the sake of another. Many people hunt (quite successfully I may add) with both compounds and stickbows. This is a pastime, not a religion. There’s room for both.
 
Orion is correct in that everyone has an effective range. I also agree with him that most wounding is likely the result of people shooting too far for their abilities. That notwithstanding, there’s no shame in concluding that your effective range is too short. If mine was only eight yards (just borrowing an example) I’d either work like heck to improve it or use a different weapon. And I wouldn’t lose a minute of sleep worrying about what someone on the internet thought of that decision

[longrifle346]

Adding my two cents I'll say that I've killed three truckloads of game at less than ten yards with both compound and gun. Even if you're an excellant archer you still have to get close and it takes patience and woodsmanship to get close enough to a whitetail to harvest it with stick and string. If ten yards is your max consistency range set up all of your stands in tight places or funnels where you can get ten yard shots. It's actually easier for me to have the deer "appear" at close range than to watch him/her coming for 100 yds. And too, the further they are when you see them, the further they can see your movement and the longer you have to maintain that "limb" position. Look at it like this...if you use the wind( Woodsmanship 101) and you're hunting from an elevated or concealed position(blind) and they pop out  you've got an easy shot within your comfort range and they'll be less likely inclined to look straight up and/or pick you off.....

[stick_string]

Originally posted by Jason R. Wesbrock:
...If you like all forms of archery, there’s no reason you should eliminate one for the sake of another. Many people hunt (quite successfully I may add) with both compounds and stickbows. This is a pastime, not a religion. There’s room for both...

       

[PaddyMac]

I think I am more accurate now in the woods than I ever was with pins. But there is no way I will ever be able to do at 60 yards what I used to do on a flat range at a known distance with a stone cold dialed in 60-yard fiber optic pin. There is accuracy and there is accuracy. It really is "witchery."

There is no way you can remove risk of wounding loss. The more primitive you go, the more risk and the more you need to get close, practice persistently, have consistently good form and, pardon the cliche, a killer instinct that helps you focus on doing what you need to do to GIT IT.

[lunchbucket]

I can understand your thinking on this matter and we do owe it to the animals we hunt to be as accurate as we can.As for the inconsistency in your shooting form shoot close and work on form.I know that sounds boring but accuracy and distance will come with time along with confidence.

[DannyBows]

I have the same problem and have been shooting Trad for 3 or 4 years, but always alone. Then I finally got a chance to shoot with a very good shooter at a local range.

Ken (njloco) watched me shoot and right away pointed out several form issues. One was a floating anchor, another was hunching my shoulders which didn't allow me to get full rotation in the shoulder to get the back muscles doing the work.

He had me shoot some Blind (or Blank) Bale. What an eye opener! When you aren't thinking about hitting anything, (eyes closed), you really feel all aspects of your form. Now I always start a session with some Blind Bale.

I've been using a lighter bow too, about 5 pounds lighter than I usually shoot. It's coming together now. I've added an inch or more to my draw length, and have adopted a 3 point anchor (feather on nose, corner of mouth, and thumb tucked under jaw.

I am confident I'll be deadly out to 20 yards well before the season. Try to shoot with an experienced shooter, or make a video and post it in the shooter's forum for the pro's to look over. I was thinking about that before I was able to shoot with Ken.

[Kingsnake]

stick_string...I feel your pain. I am new to trad, but I have had good success with compound.  I am frustrated with good groups one minute, followed by horrible 'groups' the next.  I will not hunt until I figure it out, or--as noted previously--I will limit myself to a known good yardage/high percentage shot.

at least I have 5 more months to work on it!    :D  

Kingsnake

[Joeabowhunter]

The sound answer is hunt within your effective range.  Comparing  your trad accuracy to your compound bow can be frustrating.  They are two different weapons.  FWIW I'm only a year into trad but with a compound I could felt very confident out to 60 yards (even further).  Last deer season I let a buck walk at 15 yards with my recurve because I was inconsistent and didn't trust my accuracy.  I shoot almost every day.  Stump shooting and 3D shoots have really helped with my accuracy and confidence.  I hope I get that shot again this year because I would feel very confident shooting now.  Keep practicing and enjoy the limitations, commitment and difficulty level that trad archery requires.

[straitera]

Huge Ben & most proud of your ethics!

No guarantees even with a gun.., even at 10 yards! Things happen. No excuses! We need to be the best we can be to make sure we take the animal out of the woods if hit. Includes so much more than simply bow, arrow, & shot selection. Need woodskills & enough experience & confidence to do the job. Read the dog trailing thread. Why not? They're great tools! Everything at your disposal will keep the ghosts of deer past from your door. Unfortunately, many have ghosts. It's what drives me to practice what I preach. PM for more.

[ChuckC]

If you want to argue that point. .  your compound skills pale compared to a scoped rifle.  Why not put down your bow and take up a rifle ?

My thoughts. .  trad bow hunting is not compound hunting.  There is a reason why they are not competing in the same class in tournaments.  If you feel the need to shoot 75 yards and hit a life saver. . . well. . . .

Doing it the other way means getting in closer and taking shots that you are able to make. Period.  A very few are capable of taking those long shots.  

That may mean waiting for a slam dunk at 5-10 yards.  If so. . .  well, that is the game you chose.   OR. .  go back to your compound.  Your choice. .  really.

This whole thing is not a religion,  it is not about being better or worse, it is simply a choice. . your choice. .  in what you want to do.

Don't think for a moment, however,  that trad archery is a crutch.  Look at the "book" (which seems almost too important now days).  It is full of great animals that have been taken by folks just like us, and that number pales against the numbers not in any "book".  By Folks that didn't give up.
ChuckC

[gringol]

I agree with Chuck.  The best advice I got when I started hunting with trad gear was "get stupid close."  The rush of getting within spitting distance of your prey is unbelievable and it really tests your abilities.  Isn't that what trad hunting is all about.  We use trad gear BECAUSE it's hard.  Trad hunting makes the hunt more about the hunter than the gear.  The gear is important, but not nearly as important as you are.  Keep practicing, improve your shooting, but by no means stop hunting.  Good shooting is only part of the game.

We all worry about wounding an animal, but I say if you can consistently hit your target at a certain distance (even if it's only 5 yds) you should go hunting and limit yourself to that distance.  Even if you don't loose an arrow, you'll learn a lot more about hunting than you would if you took a wheel bow or a gun IMO.

[Atennishu]

For hunting , accuracy far outweighs anything else, I wont take a marginal shot, Maybe at a coyote , but never at a deer, or other big game, no one is perfect and everyone is capable of making a bad shot for one reason or another, but I try to save my luck for the 3D range

[Gehrke145]

I shoot both, compound mostly for 3d now a days but will still take it out for some high stress hunts (great elk tag, sheep so on)  Most other animals I shoot with the recurve.  I will grab the compound if I have an off time or get busy and dont shoot much with the recurve.  I'm a bowhunter first and wont have a high risk of a bad hit because I'm having an 'off' week hanging over my head.

That being said, I switched to a real high anchor, split finger shooting style and it basically got rid of all 'off' days.  If your shooting is that out of wack even after a few weeks off, you have form/anchor issues (not bagging on you,  had the same thing'.

[kbetts]

Focus has been mentioned, but I believe needs to be looked at very closely.  Personally, I'm an okay target shooter.  I have good days and I have better days.  What sets them apart is where my mind is at while shooting.  If the mind wanders, so does the arrow.

When we shoot to kill, we do just that........concentrating 100% on one arrow only.  Big difference.