Aerial Shooting/Quick Shooting

[Nomis]

Hi. I have been trying to get my speed up when shooting. Going to try aerial shooting sometime soon. Every time I come up fast with the bow, the arrow corkscrews in flight. My guess is that the arrow is bouncing off the shelf when I reach my position. Would a set arm draw coming up, or a swing draw from the side be more effective? Any other methods are welcomed.

[Fattony77]

Try sending a PM to Oxnam on here. He seems to specialize in aerial shooting.

[Orion]

My guess is you're plucking when you shoot fast.

Swing draw most of the draw and somewhat straight draw the last four or six inches following the target at a tempo of about onethousandone release. Practice getting that tempo at still target first. Then if you want see if you can hit a quarter at 10 yards, stick a quarter in the nock of an arrow stuck in the ground in front of your target. When you can reliably or at least have a chance of hitting it at that tempo, have someone toss them across a large target area.  That vertical toss that is done on films is easier than the toss across, but it also requires more target area and a protective shield for the tosser.  I use an angled 4x8 3/4" sheet of plywood. I have not hit the plywood ever, but it does make the tosser feel more secure.  Pheasants are not as tough to hit as most think, but I would bet real money you will completely miss the first few and then few more after that.  If I hit one in four attempts, I am doing good. Either way, I call it an exceptional day for getting four attempts, regardless if I hit one or not.

[oxnam]

Assuming you are shooting well on stationary targets at a normal pace, you do not need to start messing with your form to start shooting faster or at aerials.  You are getting bad arrow flight because your form is falling apart.  

These are a few of the most common problems I see with archers shooting aerials/fast, short drawing, as Orion mentioned plucking the sting, and never reaching anchor.  All of these problems cause bad arrow flight and poor accuracy.

To shoot fast and accurately, you have to maintain your fundamentals.  The only way to do this is to work on getting incrementally faster at each part of the draw and shot.  This can be a slow process but they results are much better and longer lasting.  Again, changing draw styles isn't automatic fix and may cause you additional headaches.  I'm cautious to give a generic recommendation because I haven't seen how you shoot.  I'd hate to screw up what is working for you.  

I could schedule you for an Aerial Archery Crash Course and you could fly down to Idaho but it's probably not necessary.  An experienced archer and/or some video of your shooting can be your best friend in diagnosing problems and improving fast.  It's fun to show guys on video that they still had twelve inches of arrow hanging out past the riser when they released at "full draw", no where near their anchor.  At a minimum film yourself so you can see what is breaking down in your shot sequence.

I do train people to be able to draw and hit anchor in such a way that they are already on target and ready to release the arrow when they reach full draw.  This saves precious time that would normally be wasted making adjustments and settling onto the target.

Our DVD can help a lot in walking you through this process of shooting at stationary targets and working up to killing pheasants.  It dramatically shortens the learning curve and is a bargain for the time/frustration it will save.

To help you out and a few others, I just setup a 40% discount code for streaming access to Introduction to Aerial Archery.  The discount code is "tradgang" and will work for the first 10 tradgangers that use it.  Here is the link  https://gumroad.com/products/piKC

[Nomis]

Thanks guys! Especially Oxnam!

[oxnam]

Originally posted by Nomis:
Thanks guys! Especially Oxnam!

Glad to help.  Keep us updated on your progress.

[kshunter55]

The old adage slow is smooth and smooth is fast.  If you are trying to rush the shot in your mind you have already missed haha.  Speed comes with practice and repetition.  You can't have it all right out the gate.  

Great guitar players didn't just pick up a guitar and shred fast solos.  

That's the beauty of this game.  The challenge!  Keep striving out of you comfort zone and you will get better.