Shooting spots

[ranger 3]

I have been shooting spots in my basement about 18yrds. I go to a friends and shoot a 3-d bear and find he hard to pick a spot. Does anyone else have a this problem?

[A.S.]

Absolutely, that is one of the main reasons I switched to gap shooting.

[Friend]

A plague that has existed since the beginning of the 1st activity that requires marksmanship.

[Biggamefish]

What do you mean shooting spots?  Picking a spot to shot at?

[awbowman]

I shot HORRIBLE at a 3-d course a couple of weeks ago, I had been shooting great at the reinhart 18:1.

I am thinking I need to stop shooting dots and start shooting strictly 3-d animals in real life situations.  This really upset my confidence and has even caused me to practice less while waiting on the ordered 3-d targets to get assembled and set out.

I think for me it's also a matter of feet positioning.  Out in the open, where I can set my body/feet in a confortable position I am good, but put me on a 3-d course where the stance is compromised I am am Mr. 5 points!  Changing up my practice 180 degrees from now on.

[ranger 3]

I mean shooting a target with spots

[kbetts]

Stop with the spots.  Got to dial in your "focus", which is much different when your mind isn't preoccupied with looking at the dot.

[kat]

Yup!
Shooting spots really draws your focus to a very well defined point. Picking a small point of focus on an animal target is much more difficult. Concentration is the key for me.

[ThePushArchery]

I actually had the opposite effect this past weekend.

Went to my buddies house, and was shooting with him in his backyard. We were shooting at a Block Target with 10 different spots, and X's , and other different stuff going on on the face of the target.

I only shoot at bails with a plain cardboard target I cut out and put a couple white accents on the belly, etc to give it a real life feel, or a 3D deer target.

I could not for the life of me concentrate on one of the 10 spots on the target. There was so much going on with that target, I couldn't concentrate for heck...

I prefer shooting at things that force me to "find a spot" and concentrate. If a target is too diluted with spots to look at, I crumble..

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

Shooting bullseye targets provides a lot of valuable feedback, but it does not force you to pick a spot. That's why I feel (for me at least) a well balanced practice routine of bullseye targets and 3D is important.

[mcgroundstalker]

If you can imagine a "spot" or "dot" on where you want to hit your target that will help ten fold on an animal (or target) in the shade, back-lit or at dusk. Many times a black bear or boar target can be a nightmare without using your minds eye when shooting.

Jay Kidwell wrote a book about it... Might want to get hold of "Masters of the Barebow" Volume 4, The Mental Side of the Shot.

... mike ...

[gringol]

For me this is a concentration problem.  When I really get my mind zeroed in on the spot I want to hit my shooting is much better.  Targets with spots or bullz-eyes make it very easy to focus on the spot you're shooting at.  3D targets make you "imagine" the spot, which is much more realistic.

It's very similar to "sky-busting" when hunting ducks.  For sky-busters, flocks of ducks are harder to hit than single ducks because they have a hard time focusing on a single bird.  You are probably aiming at the whole animal (and you're hitting it), but you need to be aiming at a ticks ass that is perched just above that deers elbow just behind the shoulder.  It can be fixed, it just takes practice.  Lay off the bull-eye and spot targets for a while and force yourself to zoom in on that tick's butt.

[ranger 3]

Thanks for all the comments.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I find that when I am having a hard time with shooting, going back to my basement and shooting at a red dot really helps me get back.