what shot messes with your head

[Ric O'Shay]

Mine used to be the old football shaped turkey hen. Got to where I was just paranoid about the thing to the point that at a 3D shoot I'd start anticipating the thing well before I got to it.

Then Bill Turner came over one day with his turkey, stuck it up in my yard and forced me to shoot at that god awful thing over and over and over and over.        

Now they don't bother me at all. I still have it and occasionally I'll set it up and hammer it 15 or 20 times, smile and then go on about my business.

[awbowman]

Standing bear and bedded deer past 25 yards, I hit them low 8 out of 10 times.

[reddogge]

I hate any target that is uphill and skylined so your chance of loosing that arrow if you miss is high. I also hate the double trees framing the target.

[Orion]

Was going to say that I really don't have a target that messes me up, but upon thinking it over, I'd have to agree -- turkeys -- 3-D and real ones.  Been pretty good on the real ones, but the ethafoam birds get the best of me more often than they should.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Standing Bear head on.

Why someone would take that shot on a live animal is beyond me except in self defense.

I have a hard time focusing on a spot and tend to hit in the arm/body crease.

[njloco]

Happy to say, none of the different shapes or stances of the 3-D targets messes with my head, it's more of the contortion of the body that might mess me up, like sitting down on a log and having to face my legs and feet forward and twist the upper part of the body around and take the shot., or laying down on my belly and taking a shot.

[n.c.swamp buck]

Any animal in wide open field.hard to judge distance i guess.

[Outwest]

Shooting steep downhill at bull elk.
Missed two five points last year in less than 5 minutes.
Shot over the first one and under the second one.
Been out stump shooting several times since and take every downhill shot possible.
I dare them to try the same trail this year.

John

[Warden609]

Man those turkey targets are tough!!!

[Tron]

The one I'm currently looking at!

[gregg dudley]

Originally posted by robtattoo:
I don't have any. Without wanting to sound clever, I'm 100% convinced I'm going to 12-ring every single target when I get up to it.
If archery is 90% mental, why talk yourself out of a shot before you've taken it?

Cocky, I like that in a pilot.   :D  

Seriously, that is the approach we should all have.  When you walk up to a target and say "I hate these targets," you have already admitted defeat.  

I use to say "dreaded bedded" whenever I saw a bedded buck on an archery course, but I have tried to get that thought out of my head.  It is hard to do!    

[Sam McMichael]

The "non-standard" shape targets give me fits. If you look at most big game 3D standing targets, the body shape makes a rather standard rectangle shape that my mind processes well, making it eaier to pick a spot. The body is slightly wider than it is high but not by all that much. They just seem to look natural to me.

The low, wide rectangle body shapes like the lying down deer and the alligator just warp my mind as does the standing bear. To my mind, they just don't look right, and my brain keeps telling me this is a hard shot even though I logically know that if you pick a spot, it doesn't matter what shape the spot is attached to. Mind games, I guess. I won't even go into the  way turkey targets trip me up.

A live Whitetail deer, the only big game animal I hunt,  has that same natural, standard rectangle body shape, so I have no valid explanation as to why those shots cause me grief. Perhaps adrenalin figues into that equation more on live game.

Shooting through the trees and leaves doesn't make much difference. Its either I hit them or I don't. True, I hit them an awful lot, but that does not register as problematic. It's just an "oops" that happens.

[TxAg]

I hate shooting dots and bullseyes.

I love shooting 3D targets. Sometimes the smller the window to shoot through, the better my focus thus a better shot.

[manitou1]

Turkeys first... and many times the standing bear.  Why is that?  The center is the center is the center of the spot!
I do, however, feel better now that I know I am not alone with this.  Frustrating thing I say!

[3arrows]

Deer standing in chest high grass.

[ericmerg]

i always find standing bear to be almost too easy now alligator targets bother me i can never figure out where to aim

[hammer08]

Bag targets with multiple dots.. Don't know why, it's always been an achilles heel though.

[stabow]

Turkey
Can make the shot 9 out of 10 times on a target and 0 out of 10 times on the real deal, go figure......stabow

[rolltidehunter]

shots downhill from a tree

[huntmaster80]

red a$$ monkey target (Baboon)!!!!  I hate that dang target!!