SHOOTING

[Florida bowhunter]

I think that confidence plays a big part in shooting well if you practice with the right mind set things seem to go really well..the minute you lose confidence it all goes down hill....

[halfseminole]

I shot golf ball sized groups for years, then a stroke put a blind spot right in the middle of my aim.  I have bad days, not so bad days, and good shots.  I'm gonna try a different bow and see if I'm not overbowed a bit at 70 pounds.  I can shoot it for an hour but I'm feeling it at the end of that session.

With hunting season approaching, I'm finding that I might have to start from square one to bring my accuracy back.  That's not a fun idea.

[riverrat 2]

I shot poorly for about 5 months. Started learning about arrow spine,nock points,tip weight,brace height,and such. Then as I learned more about the mechanics of the sports equipment,I shot better. Found bows that I shot better than others. Switched to 3-under after a year of shooting split and found that style fit me well. Big Jim said some good things in his post. And walking away when things are a fray is the truth. I shoot pretty good now. A friend of mine had the pleasure of shooting with an Olympic Archer on a 3-D course. He told me afterwards.."Ryan..that guy never left the "X" ring the whole 30 targets" Maybe one day.  rat'

[longbow fanatic 1]

I have good shooting days and bad shooting days all on the same day sometimes. If I forget my form triggers while shooting( phrases I use to initiate good form ), I get tired, lose concentration..., I can have horrible arrow grouping after having a good round moments earlier.

I liken trad archery to golf. You will have good days and bad days, but if you have good form you'll have a lot more good days than bad days.

[damascusdave]

Soon after I began shooting traditional seriously I read an article by a European archery coach...he said that on average it is going to take about 10 years to reach your best shooting level...I still have 4 or 5 years to go on that so I do not sweat the days my shooting sucks...when I am going hunting I try to have 4 or 5 bows tuned and I go through them until I find the one that is shooting well for me that day...good form may be number one, but confidence is a very close second

DDave

[damascusdave]

Originally posted by 2bird:
Jake is right on..

for me, not to offend anyone but instinctive is a complete joke.

anyone that tells you you need to increase bow weight past 45# (unless hunting large game) just doesnt know what they are talking about.

For me, not to offend anyone, but aiming is a complete joke...and I shoot 55 to 60 pounds because I am willing to work at it and I find a bow that rips the string out of your hand is more forgiving of minor form errors that often creep in under hunting conditions

DDave

[2bird]

Dave,

why is aiming a joke to you? that doesn’t make sense to me...

It's a pretty well known fact that heavy bows are the leading cause of bad form.

If you read Florida bowhunter’s posts that thought process is exactly what screwed him up.

Not trying to ruffle anyone’s feathers but in my and many others experience instinctive and heavy bows are what turns people away from traditional archery or they try it and say it’s not for them. When I first started that was exactly what I did, 55# recurve and instinctive, I tried to get my dad (compound shooter) to try it, he shot about 12 arrows and said it wasn’t for him, now that I know better he still doesn’t want to try. Most people don’t like things they can’t get good at or think they can’t do, and not everyone will keep running into a brick wall till they break though. look at the majority of top shooters, they aim and shoot lighter bows even when they hunt.

[ddauler]

Yep Howard Hill and Fred Bear shot light bow get real man it takes work some have the potential to get really good some don't look at golf folks.

[2bird]

Get real?

[Jake Scott]

Easy guys...

Look at it this way.  Did Elway play the same as Theisman?  Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth...different styles, all great ball players.  Rod Jenkins and Byron Furguson have VERY different styles, but they can both shoot the lights out.  My point is this, there are a lot of different ways to skin a cat, but in the end the skin still comes off.  If target shooting with light bows and light arrows is your deal.  GREAT!  If bowhunting using an instinctive (or gap, or split or whatever, doesn't matter) method is your deal, GREAT!!!  There are a few universal concepts to shooting a bow well, for everyone.  There are also a lot that are very personal and up to the individual.  Shoot the way that works the best for you and let the other guy do what is best for him.

Shoot straight,

Jake

[Gray Wolf]

Perfect form is not always possible in hunting situations. Half draws elbow against your tree, cold weather and heavy clothes. A heavy draw weight can help in these cases.
I shoot a 36# bow for 3D but for hunting its 52#er
Mike

[RonD]

I'm with you Jake!

[Thumper Dunker]

I'm with Jake also.

[Bowwild]

I started shooting my Dad's Ben Pearson Cougar when I was either 14 or 15 - 1968-1969.  I started practicing at 5 yards shooting a refrigerator box in the yard. When I couldn't miss the box I moved back another 5 yards until I got to 20. Then I started shooting smaller spots.

After a few weeks of this I was hunting chipmunks.

It became a standard practice technique over the years to start at 10 yards (5 yards wasn't necessary) with 4-5 arrows. As soon as I hit the target I intended (usually a magazine turned horizontal or paper plate) I would move back another 5. The goal was always to see how far back I could get, 5 yards at a time.

There was no one to tell me if I was shooting correctly. I relied on the result. This was the wrong way to go about it by the way and a perfect path to TP. I was pretty good, killed critters and placed high in local 3D shoots. I was the best shot in my circle of shooters. Then in the early 80's "it" all began unraveling. I struggled from about 1984 to 1995 until I had THE mental shooting problem so bad I thought I'd have to give up bow hunting.  I had lost the ability to have fun target shooting a few year's prior.

I switched from RH to LH shooting (I'm Left eye dominant) which solved my problem immediately.  I learned how to properly shoot in 2002. Now I focus on the process before the result and I control the shot instead of the target dictating my reaction.

So you see it has been a 46-year journey.

The "Eleven Steps to Archery Success" are the key for me and for 2.15 million student archers last school year.