practicing standing to shoot

[TimBo]

I like to hunt from the ground, and sometimes end up in a low tech natural materials blind.  If any of you have Fred Asbell's ground hunting book, you may remember that he says you need to make the choice of whether you will stand to shoot, or shoot while sitting, when making the blind.  Well, tonight I figured I should practice standing to shoot...and IT'S KIND OF HARD!  It adds a whole new dimension of timing...do you draw while standing (which tends to make me shoot too soon apparently) or stand, then start thinking about shooting?  Maybe kind of in between?  Anyway, it messed up my shot for a while...I think I may prefer to sit!  (Actually I would rather stand in the first place if the blind will allow it.)  We hear about practicing from tree stands a lot, but I would recommend trying out some different ground blind scenarios if you like to hunt that way. 

[StickMark]

I can't stand for more than an hour or so, but I wish I could, because I can shoot further with a standing stance. But shooting siting is both deadly on game, and hard. All deer but one I have killed sitting, and should have been another this weekend.

This weekend, missed a shot from sitting position in a very lean on concealment blind. The does was right up against the mule deer buck, and it was not a great shot opportunity. I may have subconsciously worried about hitting the doe. I had to substantially cant my 68.5" bow.
Been practicing vertical bow, improvise sight, but the borderland mesquite desert does not allow that up close to deer. Also I practice instinctive, kneeling, but I got lazy, forgoing the sitting practice.
Shot a judo point at 15 yards numerous times after the botched job before I left the desert,  darn near all perfect. 
"The agony of defeat."
I think this is a good topic...since we self bow hunters can be versatile. Rarely are we killing it at 60, 70, up to 100 yards like the wheelie bow guys down here. I know the deer never figured out what happened; they just don't ever have humans surprise them up close anymore, so they figured it was a bird or something.


Timbo, Arizona is waiting for you....

[TimBo]

I am still planning on doing my AZ trip, getting there to hunt on Jan. 1 if possible...unless the country is in red alert pandemic lockdown of course.  Boy, I hope that isn't the case.  Maybe we can be in touch again around the end of the fall. 

I have practiced the standing up to shoot thing more, and just decided it needs to be two separate things - stand up, then shoot like normal.  I will probably keep working on doing the draw while standing, but it is surprisingly hard to coordinate at this point.  I do sometimes work on shooting while sitting too.  Good luck out there!