Trad guys/gals please explain

[stinkbelly]

I have played with traditional gear for more than 10 years. I never feel confident enough to hunt with it. I hunt with my compound. I have noticed that when I shoot at my yellow jacket target, I am all over, but when I shoot at a smaller target, I hit much better. Why?

Last night I took the longbow out and shot at 15 yards. The first 8 arrows were all in a 6" circle. So I decided to try 20 yards. I never shoot it at 20 yards. The first 4 at 20 yards were also in the 6" circle, then they started flying. I started hitting all four corners of my 2'x2' target. It got awful. About that time, my older boy walked outside to watch me. I told him I was going to shoot his ball at 25 yards. I did shoot it. Since it was now destroyed, I tried again. I ended up shooting it about 9 times in a row at 25 yards. I moved it and put it in front of the target so that if I missed it would catch my arrow and immediately missed 2 in a row. I don't know if it is the old saying "aim small miss small" or what.

I did find out that I should only shoot one arrow at a time into a ball that moves, because I broke 2 arrows by hitting them with another arrow once they turned sideways.

The ball is the size of a soccer ball.


Here I am shooting a 30 yards shot at a rope while stumping last weekend. It was a little low, but it was pretty darn close. I was amazed that judo stuck in that pole.

[DTala]

tragic total failure to pick a small spot to shoot at, like a dime size spot. Focus only on that spot.

[Deb]

Aim small miss small. Focus, focus, pick a spot. Follow through.

[jerp]

For some reason my accuracy often improves when shooting at something 3 dimensional like a tennis ball or a Coke can, as opposed to a flat target. Not sure why that is, but for that reason I like to hang random stuff on the target face to shoot at instead of just spots.

[Loreva13]

For some reason my accuracy often improves when shooting at something 3 dimensional like a tennis ball or a Coke can, as opposed to a flat target. Not sure why that is, but for that reason I like to hang random stuff on the target face to shoot at instead of just spots.

X2 Same here, the only advice I can give you is to work on focusing a little more on a specific spot. Good luck!

[stinkbelly]

The funny thing is that I don't focus at all. I just pull back and shoot. When we go stump shooting I do really good. I just seem to know where it will hit. When I shoot at a target, I think I focus too much.

I do the same when bowfishing with my recurve. I just shoot the fish. I don't aim or focus, just shoot.

[LoneStarHunter]

For some reason my accuracy often improves when shooting at something 3 dimensional like a tennis ball or a Coke can, as opposed to a flat target. Not sure why that is, but for that reason I like to hang random stuff on the target face to shoot at instead of just spots.

I am the same way...always like to hang a 3D object on target, think its a Jedi Mind trick or something, but it works.

[jerp]

The funny thing is that I don't focus at all. I just pull back and shoot. When we go stump shooting I do really good. I just seem to know where it will hit. When I shoot at a target, I think I focus too much.
I do the same when bowfishing with my recurve. I just shoot the fish. I don't aim or focus, just shoot.

I seem to have a "perfect focus window" of just a second or two. Sometimes at anchor it's like a bell goes off in my head, and if I release immediately I know the arrow will hit the spot. Sometimes the bell goes off as soon as I hit anchor, sometimes it's after holding 2-3 seconds, but generally my misses are when I hold too long. I guess that is an example of overthinking instead of letting your subconscious "instinctive computer" take over.

[equin]

I thought this passage from Saxton Pope's book, "Hunting with the Bow and Arrow," about the archery feats of Ishi, the last Yana Indian, is kind of interesting:

"Small objects the size of a quail the Indian could hit with regularity up to twenty yards. And I have seen him kill ground squirrels at forty yards; yet at the same distances he might miss a four-foot target. He explained this by saying that the target was too large and the bright colored rings diverted the attention. He was right."

A free, online copy of the book can be found here:

http://www.archerylibrary.com/books/pope/hunting-with-bow-and-arrow/

Anyway, a bowhunting co-worker friend of mine once told me that if you aim for the side of a barn, you'll barely miss it. If you aim for an object the size of a door, you'll barely miss it. If you aim for an object the size of a paper plate, you'll barely miss it. And if you aim for an object the size of a quarter, you'll barely miss the quarter. I guess it's kind of like that saying, "aim small, miss small." I sometimes struggle with this myself, especially when shooting at a large target face. But if I shoot at a tennis ball or a small leaf on the ground, I may miss it, but if I do, many times I do it just barely.

[Ron]

I think you need to just go hunting with that longbow. It appears to me that you shoot it pretty darn good.

[huntinpool]

Try gapping, it's as accurate as your wheel bow.

[TxAg]

I'm far from an expert, but I do listen and read a lot. In a recent class, I learned the following:


This is paraphrased...
Form is the most important thing....doing it the same way every time. Sometimes, when we focus too much (either on form or the target) we mess up. Our body can only really concentrate on any one thing at a time....and even then it's only for about 2 seconds.

One thing I've learned since the class...if your form is consistent, the aiming will take care of itself.