Author Topic: Target anxiety (Read 5661 times)

Black Moshannon · « **on:** May 22, 2020, 09:05:12 am »

I have made good and bad shots while hunting. Recently I made a really bad one. Thankfully the arrow just went off in the bushes and I later found it. I can say my form is not ingrained, in fact I only recently added some tweaks to my shooting style. I’m not real experienced in shooting nor bowhunting. I spend at least three days a week practicing. My shooting has really improved but it went to pieces when under hunting stress. I have never in my life made such a poor shot. My muscles just relaxed and I let the arrow go wherever. My head felt fuzzy and stupid and I was angry. It probably didn’t help that my sixty pound bow is a little heavier than I was formerly used to (used to shoot forty to fifty pounds, average). But while practicing on targets I really was doing well with it.
I will have to practice on groundhogs this summer. I will not screw up while deer hunting this fall. Does anyone have any ideas for dealing with this? I dont want to waste arrows and opportunities and really don’t want to hurt an animal without making a clean kill. I know I need to make my form subconscious and get a lot of practice on small game. Any tips are appreciated.

Pat B · « **Reply #1 on:** May 22, 2020, 12:17:34 pm »

Lots of practice and plenty of concentration! For practice it's not how many arrows you shoot but making each one count. You do have to practice enough to build your muscle memory and your archery muscles in general so shoot one arrow at a time and make it count, recover that arrow and shoot it again with purpose. As far as buck fever I try to concentrate on where the arrow will hit the deer from first sighting. Concentrate on the kill zone and not on the deer. If you shoot at the deer you will shoot over it.
When I first started shooting I would shoot 50 to 100 arrows at each session. Once I got my muscle memory I reduced that to a dozen or so each session and a week or so before my hunt I'd take one shot a day, either in the early morning or after sunset when I usually saw most deer. Being over bowed can really put a hurting on your shooting when crunch time comes. Trying to draw a heavy bow while everything else is happening can lead to failure so if you are shooting the heavier bow be sure you can draw it smoothly with very little extra movement. A 45# to 50# bow will kill a deer just as easily as a 60# bow especially if you are more comfortable at shooting it.

JW_Halverson · « **Reply #2 on:** May 22, 2020, 07:30:03 pm »

My target as seen me shoot many times. It feels no anxiety, whatsoever.

Black Moshannon · « **Reply #3 on:** May 22, 2020, 09:44:49 pm »

Quote from: Pat B on May 22, 2020, 12:17:34 pm

Lots of practice and plenty of concentration! For practice it's not how many arrows you shoot but making each one count. You do have to practice enough to build your muscle memory and your archery muscles in general so shoot one arrow at a time and make it count, recover that arrow and shoot it again with purpose. As far as buck fever I try to concentrate on where the arrow will hit the deer from first sighting. Concentrate on the kill zone and not on the deer. If you shoot at the deer you will shoot over it.
When I first started shooting I would shoot 50 to 100 arrows at each session. Once I got my muscle memory I reduced that to a dozen or so each session and a week or so before my hunt I'd take one shot a day, either in the early morning or after sunset when I usually saw most deer. Being over bowed can really put a hurting on your shooting when crunch time comes. Trying to draw a heavy bow while everything else is happening can lead to failure so if you are shooting the heavier bow be sure you can draw it smoothly with very little extra movement. A 45# to 50# bow will kill a deer just as easily as a 60# bow especially if you are more comfortable at shooting it.

I’m sure I’m overbowed right now for hunting. Maybe I’ll have changed that by October. Sounds like a workable routine. I think focusing on one spot will help with the anxiety, maybe. I hope so. Thanks for the insight.

Quote from: JW_Halverson on May 22, 2020, 07:30:03 pm

My target as seen me shoot many times. It feels no anxiety, whatsoever.

. I mean to throw some fear into mine.

Hawkdancer · « **Reply #4 on:** May 22, 2020, 11:41:04 pm »

No pictures?! It didn't happen!

Black Moshannon · « **Reply #5 on:** May 23, 2020, 10:56:27 am »

Quote from: Hawkdancer on May 22, 2020, 11:41:04 pm

No pictures?! It didn't happen!

True

Hawkdancer · « **Reply #6 on:** May 23, 2020, 12:12:17 pm »

Mean't to add:

! Pat B has some real good advice. But if you can shoot very good at 40-50#, and does the job, why go heavier? Good luck with your program, and only eat on the days you practice

Hawkdancer

Black Moshannon · « **Reply #7 on:** May 24, 2020, 05:47:47 am »

Quote from: Hawkdancer on May 23, 2020, 12:12:17 pm

Mean't to add: ! Pat B has some real good advice. But if you can shoot very good at 40-50#, and does the job, why go heavier? Good luck with your program, and only eat on the days you practice
Hawkdancer

The reason I wanted to shoot sixty pounds is rather convoluted and personalized. I decided to stick with just shoot shafts, around here in Central Pa rose is everywhere, so that’s what I use. Now it has this pith through the middle. I was making arrows which I was sanding down close to the correct spine for fifty pounds. This pith was making me uncomfortable because the diameter was so small by the time the arrow was finished, it left the walls around the pith too thin. I did sinew wrap some of them and I never had one split out, but it made me nervous. Further, the finished arrows are heavy, like in the 650-700 grain range. And some of the arrows “clacked” off the side of the bow, which I heard meant overspined. So I made some arrows with safety in mind and shot them from my sixty pound bows and they shot great, no clacking and clanking, right straight. So yes, I know I could solve the spine problem by making my arrows longer or upping the head weight, but I’m pretty comfortable with the head design and arrow length which flies well out of a sixty pound bow. I decided to just put in the work to use the heavier bow.

Black Moshannon · « **Reply #8 on:** July 13, 2020, 02:59:57 pm »

Update: I have killed two groundhogs so far this summer. I have lost a little of the panic but I still shoot poorly when making the final shot. I am now making the shot 10 yards or less or I won’t shoot at a groundhog. Further, I am taking one shot per hour in practicing to attempt the first shot as a perfect one. None of them have been so far. The first shot of my practice shots is always the worst. Also I have been making groundhog stew.

Pat B · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2020, 03:44:32 pm »

Try thinking of each aspect of your form on to your release as it is taking place. If something interrupts, thoughts or deeds, start over. Concentrate on where the arrow WILL go, feel the string at the beginning of the draw and as tension increases through the draw, feel your anchor and allow the string to SLIP from your fingers all the while concentration where the arrow WILL go.
Also try going through your draw sequence and when you hit anchor hold for a second then let down slowly. Don't release the arrow. Do this 10 times and on the 10th draw concentrate on where the arrow WILL go and release.
It seems to me you aren't concentrating on the important stuff while you shoot. Try to eliminate everything else in your vision except where the arrow WILL go.

Black Moshannon · « **Reply #10 on:** July 13, 2020, 08:43:01 pm »

That makes sense, I’ll give it a go. I am focusing a lot on my form right now and not so much on the focus on the target. I’m hoping to make the form automatic and ingrained. I’ll start drawing and suddenly I’ll go weak and just draw quickly and release without coming to a strong anchor, allowing things to settle down, focusing on the spot, and releasing cleanly. I know I need to incorporate that sense of making the arrow go where I will it to.

Pat B · « **Reply #11 on:** July 13, 2020, 10:07:10 pm »

Once you get the arrow going where you want it to go the rest will be peripheral and just happen naturally. When your form and release are perfected your muscle memory will carry you through with your shooting so you can concentrate on hitting that "SPOT".
The last 2 deer I shot with a compound, probably 35+ years ago, I remember putting tension on the string and the next thing I saw my bloody arrow in the ground, both perfect shots but I don't remember either. I had replaced the cams with wheels for smoother draw and I was shooting instinctive, without sights. These last 2 hunts made me put the compound away and started instinctive shooting a FG recurve. Around that time I started building selfbows...and the rest is history.

Black Moshannon · « **Reply #12 on:** July 14, 2020, 11:42:25 am »

That’s where I want to get soon, where the technique is ingrained into my muscle memory. Plus getting deer would be great too. Today the first shot of each set, one each hour, has been a good shot. I won’t be going back out in the field until I can hit a groundhogs kill zone with the first shot every time at ten yards

StickMark · « **Reply #13 on:** July 14, 2020, 04:41:08 pm »

Hey Kenneth,

I have gone up in draw weight to use thicker mulefat shafting. I like thicker walls around the pith as well. You are not alone in that regard.

Black Moshannon · « **Reply #14 on:** July 14, 2020, 06:25:47 pm »

Quote from: StickMark on July 14, 2020, 04:41:08 pm

Hey Kenneth,

I have gone up in draw weight to use thicker mulefat shafting. I like thicker walls around the pith as well. You are not alone in that regard.

Oh that’s good to know I’m not the only one. At some point I tried to think this through: cutting a notch for the nock and cutting in a big enough slot for a stone point would require a certain size diameter with these rose shoots anyways. And sizing them down to flex enough to accommodate say a 45 pound bow seemed to get them into the danger zone. Makes me wonder if the Natives chose types of shafts to fit their weight bow. Love thinking about it.

Primitive Archer