Acceptable risk?

[pintail_drake2004]

if your are comfortable with yourself go ahead but if not, by all means dont.
I have 46 days till season opens here and in that time i have to finish my bow, practice and get good enough to pass my personal confidence test. If i cannot accomplish this, i still have my other bow (compound) to rely on. i am pretty confident that i will be able to use my new bow for this season, but if i cannot use it on opening day, i will still practice with it throughout the season and hopefully get to use it before it closes.

[Bonebuster]

There is no better practice than small game hunting. Shot timing, mental control, picking a spot on something that won`t hold still. Its the real thing, just on a smaller scale.

Being able to sit still for two hours and then put
an arrow where it needs to be with no warm up.
That is where you call on your experience, and the time invested in practice.

The best groups, from the best shooters mean nothing if you don`t concentrate and focus on one tiny spot to hit when the time comes. I would bet that the biggest most common mistake made by trad shooters, is lack of concentration at the moment of truth. Closer is better. It is easier to pick a tiny spot if you can see the target better.

Go chase some small critters. Take extra arrows, and teach yourself to shoot at a speck on the animal you are after. No matter what your target groups were like, if you really concentrate when the time comes you may really surprise yourself.

[bunyan]

It sounds corny, but I've begun to become a fan of taking five minutes a day (or before shooting) and closing my eyes and visualizing my shooting.  This means a mental image of the target, focusing on the spot, imagining the proper back tension, anchor, and release and "seeing" the arrow hit.  It takes practice to visualize properly, but it has really increased my shooting skills.  Along with this I'm a fan of variety.  Closing your eyes and shooting at a bare bale to focus on form, shooting targets, 3D courses, throwing a pop bottle and shooting a judo at it from different distances.  Giving yourself different challenges prepares your mind to cope with the stresses faced while hunting.  The walk out the door, nock, and shoot one arrow tactic is a great way to get focused for hunting.  Good luck!

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Hey there Ryan....there is a lot of good info offered here on your post. I just changed over to Trad in February this year. I went from being a very self confident competition shooter that could shoot 4 inch groups at 80 yards to missing the whole target at twenty with a re-curve....talk about a humbling experience. But i figured i needed a little humbling in my life, and i believe it's making a better person out of me too....I built my own long bow and had to learn all the little tricks of getting the arrows just right for the bow....and then i just practiced my form over and over and over again.....the closed eye method is a favorite of mine too....Nice tight groups of arrows are always satisfying, but irrelevant when hunting. I'm a big time believer in the "One" arrow practice several times a day....when that first arrow comes in sweet most of the time. i feel ready to hunt......I'll leave my arrows in the target and go for a daily group, of a two day group with two arrows a day.....Now THAT kind of group is a hunting group! We all have our bad moments bro....don't get frustrated and try to shoot more.....hang up your bow and shoot less with more focus on that first arrow....that does the trick for me.....It's all about confidence and practice I'm thinking... Kirk

[Deadsmple]

7 of 10? 9 of 10? 10 of 10? what is acceptable? I think only you can answer that.
Are you ready to hunt? IMO if you have to ask us, you are not.