shooting/targeting

[bootboy]

 I've been shooting in my backyard for a while now and my aim is medium and not super. I'm hitting bullseyes (a drawn heart on a cardboard bow) 4 out of 12 shots from about 20 yards. I ideally want to be hitting 12 out of 12 from this range. So I keep practising harder and harder longer and longer and still it is about the same. All shots are in the box now though, so good news the grouping is most deffinatley getting smaller/tighter whatever.  So Then I started to put red ballons heart sized over the drawing of the heart. I hit the target with the first shot and havent missed the heart once.  I think that purhaps im aimming at the bow rather then the heart.
 With a smaller target my accuracy shot up, apart from that, I dont look down the arrow to aim as alot of my friends do. I kind of feel it in so to speak. Do any of you have any suggestions for improving my accuracy further still. Has anyone else tried this method. Lastly do any  of you feel the shot before you fire rather then aim down the arrow?

[bootboy]

sorry 20 FEET!!! terrible

[huntertrapper]

good to hear your gettin better, uh.... as for accuracy, make sure you got a good grip on your bow, not a squeeze but a firm grip.. i shot today and noticed if i held my hand to far down my handle that my arrows shot off. so make sure you hold in the right area every time. good luck

[Pat B]

Sounds like you are shooting instinctively. You look at your target and shoot where you look. To get good, you need to concentrate on the exact spot the arrow WILL hit. Forget the balloons and aim for an imaginary spot. When I started I bought G.Fred Asbell's book "Instinctive Shooting(available through our sponsors). It is an easy read book that is chocked full of extremely helpful info about instinctive shooting. I would recommend it for anyone that shoots or wants to shoot instinctive.
   The secret to shooting well is practice. Start with form. Stand close to your target and concentrate on all aspects of your draw. Proper stance, the way you hold your bow and draw the string and your release. You want each aspect to be exactly the same each time you shoot. Don't worry about where your arrows are in the target, you can get to that later. With instinctive shooting you don't even think about the mechanical aspects of shooting a bow. That is what you are learning now. After lots of arrows, you will see your target, concentrate on the spot your arrow WILL hit and the next thing you know the arrow is THERE! 
    You want everything to be automatic but the concentration. That way you only have one thing to think about...hitting that SPOT!   Pat

ps, aim small, miss small!!!

[Coo-wah-chobee]

Howard Hill wrote a book in the 1950's. Its as true today as then. Read the chapter on shooting and what he says. Ya dont have ta follow his gap shootin; style BUT the read on form and brain burning is priceless and worth more than the price of the book ( available from subscriber on PA ). The rest of the book I think ya will enjoy. Get it its WORTH it .................bob

[Justin Snyder]

Get one inch red stickers and put them on the target.  Aim small miss small. When you get the focus down to a tiny spot your accuracy will improve by leaps and bounds.  Justin

[JackCrafty]

For me, the release is the hardest thing to master.  I can hit my targets well as long as my release is flawless.....something that is not easy to accomplish without a lot of practice.
I shoot instinctively.  My method of shooting is one arrow - one target.  I try not to shoot at the same target with more than one arrow unless I'm picking the best arrows from a new batch.  I also walk around and shoot while moving.  IMO, I think you've got to "see" the flight of the arrow before you make the shot and "know" that your arrow will hit the mark.
Twenty feet is really close range.....you should be able to hit a softball-size target 6 out of 10 times....?(others might correct me on this)  Try using a bow in the 30-35lb range and see if your accuracy improves....if it does, you may need to strengthen your shooting muscles so that your aim is better (less shaky) with heavier wt bows.  Just an idea.   

[bootboy]

Oh man thanks fellas. Thats a lot of info.
I have a 30lbs bow I was shooting with. Though I got the same acuracey the the 70lbs longbow.
The heart that I drew on the target is about soft ball sized. I think what i am doing is instictive. it just sort of feel the shot hit, then I release the arrow. You can really get a weird bzz when you know before you shoot if you're on the right spot on not. But I'm not so great at it ..YET!!

[Pat B]

Practice, practice, practice!!!    Get your form down first. Without that you are just flinging arrows. When I first started shooting instinctively I figured I was shooting 10,000 shots a year, at least. At 30 to 50 arrows a day, almost every day, it doesn't take long to add up...but without proper form, that can be 10,000 bad habits that will be hard to shake.
   The one arrow, one target is a good idea, also. That way you can concentrate on that shot. With more arrows in the target, it can be difficult concentrating on the "spot" you are shooting at.   Pat

[Kegan]

Howard Hill wrote a book in the 1950's. Its as true today as then. Read the chapter on shooting and what he says. Ya dont have ta follow his gap shootin; style BUT the read on form and brain burning is priceless and worth more than the price of the book ( available from subscriber on PA ). The rest of the book I think ya will enjoy. Get it its WORTH it .................bob

I'll second that- it is an outstanding book. But I shoot split-vision (the semi-gap style he teaches) and have gotten much more accurate. Mainly, because I am more confident in my shooting now. In split-vision you concentrate on the center of what you want to hit, draw, anchor -noting the tip of the arrow in your peripheral vision (without concentrating on it), and release. It's like a back-up to instinctive shooting. Since adopting it and longer bows (70" or so) my accuracy has sky rocketed, and 40 yard target shots are well within the realm of possibility, with 50 and 55 yard shots what I'm striving to achieve consistency in now, where as before I was lucky if I could shoot a 6" target five times out of ten at 20 yards. Confidence is a major factor in how well you shoot.

[jamie]

everything that has been said rings true. when i screw up its form. the loose doesnt happen in the hand it happens in your back muscles. the first time you feel it happen youll understand what i mean. stand 2 paces from a target and close your eyes. come to full draw and hold. now squeeze your drawing arms shoulder backward. you'll feel the string come off your finger tips. you should never open your hand or remove your hand from from face. if you use the above method you'll develop a clean loose and notice much tighter grouping.  peace

[Cromm]

Hi, i found that my shooting got alot better after i just stayed at  one bow weight and practiced with that bow all the time, that way my body and brain knew were to put the arrow up to 55-65 yards give or take an inch......

[1/2primitive]

I'm going to tell you what I do to be accurate.......







Get close!!

I'm not good enough to hit consistently from farther than about 10-15 yards. 
    Sean

[recurve shooter]

dude, you to!!!!

form 20 yards i caint hit a 6 inch across bulseye, but i can set a beer can on top of a stump and peg it every time from the same distance. also, at the basspro range i cant hit the paper targets, but i have "killed" hundreds of boar, turkey, and deer 3ds. i think its all about your perception of targets and such. here is what i did.

1. burn your flat target.

2. get a sack o cans.

3. go in the woods.

4. set em up.

5. stick em.

6. repeate.

hope it helps.

[Postman]

I agree with recurve shooter - I've been taking 1 arrow, walking around the woods shooting random leaves, stump holes, etc. getting  much better accuracy than shooting at the target  butt in my yard from exactly a known 20, 25 and 30 yards, even though I've been shooting with my feet in the exact spot for 6 years(wheelie) and 1 year (traditional). Also, almost never shoot standing up - usually  leaning one way or the other, sitting, crouched, or other plausible hunting shots. Personally, I Ain't never shot a deer while standing up firing 20 arrows like we were facing off at the battle of Hastings.
postman