Good Shooting Session

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

So I've been shooting on and off for a while now, shot with kids bows when I was a kid, then a few years ago I got a very lightweight scythian bow, said it was 30# but had to be closer to 25#. I shot with that using a thumb ring in my back yard in Ga for over a year or so and was pretty good with it, then I bought my 50# manchu style bow about six months ago and learned that I knew nothing, lol. That lightweight bow taught me nothing, I apparently was just muscling it into doing what I wanted. It was like starting over from scratch, had no clue about proper technique etc. and no one local shot thumb ring and oddly enough there's not much information online, there's a ton of stuff out there but it's mostly "Hey, this is a thumb ring, this is how it works, ain't that neat" and nothing more. Took me a month of research just to find details on various bow hand grips to find what worked well for me. Then by the time I got enough practice in to even realize I discovered my arrows were terrible and the stock string that had come on my bow had stretched over an inch. So new string and some bamboo arrows and it was night and day and I've been practicing with that setup for a couple months now.

I say all that to get to this, when I first got the new bow I had just moved back to FL and found a local archery club with a very nice range including a 3D trail. Well early on in my adventures with this bow some of the guys talked me into going out on the 3D trail, I'd never shot like that before and it was a total blast, completely different than shooting at target butts. Despite being a ton of fun, I broke three arrows and lost one, cause I sucked, lol. So I said to myself I won't go back on the trail until I'm either much better, or if I happen to order a bunch of arrows at once and losing a few won't make me cry, lol. Well I've been practicing a lot and I felt I was getting better but not quite confident enough to go on the trail. This past Saturday I was at the range and some of the guys were admiring my bamboo arrows and I was discussing how I'm down to 7 arrows and need to order some more and I may order two dozen and then brave the trail and not worry about breaking some. Well one of the older gentlemen apparently saw something in my shooting that I didn't because he said "grab your favorite arrow, you're coming with me down the trail". I said to myself "what the hell, it's just arrows" and off we went. Well I didn't miss a single shot! I was shocked, the other fella wasn't but I sure was! Something about shooting at those 3D targets made me shoot better than I thought I could, which tells me perhaps I'm having trouble picking/aiming at a spot on the target instead of just shooting at the whole butt, regardless though, this shoot was a HUGE confidence booster, I mean when I came off that trail I felt ten feet tall just for not missing, lol.

[Ranasp]

I had a similar experience when I was taken on my first 3-D hunt.  I actually did pretty well, but had no idea how much fun it would be!  I'm self taught too, haven't tried using a thumb ring yet but was thinking about trying it out, sounds like you've made some great advances but are still willing to learn more, which is great. 

[loon]

Niice. That sounds really fun, I've got to try 3D trails

I've thought about Adam Swoboda's thumb ring book. Not sure about how useful it could be. There's a link on his facebook page to a free sample which is interesting. I could upload it to my website but I guess he wouldn't want that. There's a few other thumb ring books but I don't know if they really are worth it.

 I want to try casting my own thumb ring from brass or bronze now.

[jayman448]

this always happens to me. to shoot a tight group at a butt i may as well be shooting blind. but i get to a 3d tournament and i am top five. or i aim up on a grouse or squirrel and know damn well its dead. (as long as i dont nick a stick on the way).

[mullet]

I drove 15-16 hours to NC to pick up my Chinese Horn bow. I shot it at 20 yards with a Thumb ring, the first time using one
, and was hitting the target. Then shot the 3-D range at the Tenn. Classic that same year, and missed two targets shooting with a Thumb Ring.

 But I find I have a hard time shooting accurate under 15 yards. But I have gotten better switching from a horn and Pool Ball thumb ring to a leather one, or hooting Bare finger.

My Hybrid horn bow is 53# and the Chinese bow fluctuates  between 58 and 60# depending on the humidity.

[bowandarrow473]

Are you shooting at fort Caroline archery club, if so, I've lost a few arrows to their 3D trail myself!

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Actually I'm shooting at the North Florida Archers range across from NAS Jax, it's a better range IMO, and a lot cheaper at $50 for the year and you get the combo to the gate so you can go shoot anytime it's daylight. They have a strong contingent of traditional shooters and a couple of bowyers that are members too.

Loon, I haven't gotten any thumb ring books as that is the one bit of info about asian archery that is readily available on the net, lots of stuff about making thumb rings on youtube as well as how the grip and release works. I made my own ring out of a PVC pipe, the pipe was maybe 3" diameter and 1/4" thick, I just cut an oblong out of the side of the pipe, drilled a hole and went to work with a dremmel. To put a curve in it I just warmed it up in the microwave and grabbed it with some kitchen tongs and put a little pressure on the tip until it cooled. I made about 3 or 4 before I got one just right.