Let's talk about shooting form. First of all let me say that I am by no means an expert on shooting form. Nor do I claim to be a professional. However, I have shot in archery leagues and learned some tips from professional shooters along the way. These tips have helped me to remain competative and place in the top five in most of the leagues that I have participated in. Hopefully they will help you too. For those of you who are advanced shooters, this will serve as a good reminder to get back to the basics.
1. Practice approach: I am sure that you have all heard the saying "Perfect practice makes perfect". I believe this and try to take my practice sessions very seriously. I start by limiting how often I practice. I usually don't shoot my bow more than 3 times a week. This will prevent your muscles from building muscle memory. I also try to limit my shooting sessions to 30-60 arrows. I do this to maintain proper shooting form. The more arrows you shoot, the better the chance of building bad habits. I also try to build a routine when I shoot. From the way I grip the bow, to nocking an arrow, to my follow through. It is all an instinctive routine that I don't have to think about. It is kind of like a golfer with his putting routine. Everyone on the PGA tour prepares differently for a putt but each individual uses their same routine on every green.
2. Grip: This is one of the most common mistakes that I see people making. They don't grip their bow correctly. When you hold the bow in your hand, the riser should start between the index finer and thumb, working down to the heel of your hand (fatty part of your hand below the thumb. This should create a loose grip and should cause your nuckels on your hand to be at a 45 degree angle away from the riser (see picture). Keep your fingers off the riser and keep your hand as loose as you can. This increases accuracy and minimizes torque. Just let the bow sit inside your thumb naturally. When you grip the bow this way it rotates your forearm away from the bow string. When shooting with this grip you will be much more accurate and should never hit your arm with the bow string again. Don't grip the bow with a vertical closed grip. This creates too much torque.
3. Drawing the bow: Hopefully your bow is already set up to your specific draw length. When you draw the bow it should be smooth. If you shake a lot or fight to draw it back then your poundage is set too high. You can always dial the bow up later in the season as you build your shooting muscles. As you come to full draw and find your anchor spot, you should feel comfortable. Your bow arm should be straight but not with a locked elbow. Your release arm should help to create a natural "T" shape as you feel like your pinching your shoulder blades together (see picture). If your bow wants to creep forward on you then your draw cycle may be too short. If you have to struggle to keep from locking the elbow on your bow arm then your draw length may be too long. Make sure your anchor point is consistently in the same spot. I anchor on a spot on my lower jaw. Once you anchor, you should be able to touch your nose on the bowstring slightly as you look through your peep.
3. Drawing the bow: Hopefully your bow is already set up to your specific draw length. When you draw the bow it should be smooth. If you shake a lot or fight to draw it back then your poundage is set too high. You can always dial the bow up later in the season as you build your shooting muscles. As you come to full draw and find your anchor spot, you should feel comfortable. Your bow arm should be straight but not with a locked elbow. Your release arm should help to create a natural "T" shape as you feel like your pinching your shoulder blades together (see picture). If your bow wants to creep forward on you then your draw cycle may be too short. If you have to struggle to keep from locking the elbow on your bow arm then your draw length may be too long. Make sure your anchor point is consistently in the same spot. I anchor on a spot on my lower jaw. Once you anchor, you should be able to touch your nose on the bowstring slightly as you look through your peep.
4. Aiming: As you aim, pick a spot within your target. In the movie "The Patriot", Mel Gibson asked his two young boys to shoot at British Soldiers after they killed the older brother to the boys. Mel Gibson's character tells the boys to "aim small, miss small". This is great advice for shooters. When shooting at an archery target finding the smallest target or dot that you can. When shooting at deer, pick a tuft of fur that is off color or find something that stands out visually on the animals vitals. As you aim at a target your pin is going to move around it. This is natural so don't try to force the pin to stay frozen on the target all of the time. As you aim, keep both eyes open, center your sight ring inside the peep, put the pin on the target and the arrow should release on it's own. As you aim, the arrow will find the target, just give it time.
5. The release: Your release of the arrow should happen instinctively. Many of my best shots on animals occurred before I was consciously ready to touch the trigger. It just happened smooth and without a conscious effort. The tension setting on your release should be set so you can place your finger on the trigger without it firing. However, there should be minimal trigger travel and tension. When someone starts loosing accuracy it usually is from torquing the grip or trigger punching. To build a smooth release or to improve to a smoother release, set up a target about 6 feet away from you. Draw the bow back and close your eyes. Release the arrow smoothly keeping your eyes closed. You can try this in your garage or basement with a block target. Work on this for a couple of weeks and the problem should be rectified.
6. The follow through: Many people forget about this step in shooting. Once the arrow is released, continue aiming at the target. You should also feel the bow rocking forward, tipping towards the ground. This is because you are maintaining your loose grip, right? Don't worry, you won't drop the bow. Your hand will naturally re-grip the bow so you don't drop it. You can also shoot with a wrist sling to give you additional confidence that you won't drop the bow. However, make sure the wrist sling isn't too tight because when you're hunting you will probably be wearing gloves.
7. Wrapping it up: When you start your practice sessions, make that first arrow count! This is what you will have to do out in the field so don't rely on your tenth shot to be your best. Most good shooters concentrate on only one or two aspects of their shooting form when practicing. Don't overwhelm yourself in your shooting sessions. Eventually you will build your own shooting routine that is consistent and instinctive. Many pro shooters stick to their instinctive routine and don't focus on aspects of their form when competing. When competing they have a saying that they use or maybe they have a memorized bible verse. This helps them slow down and relax under the pressure, concentrating only on the target. The same principle could be applied to shooting at a trophy buck to minimize "buck fever".
More shooting tips:
1. On elevated shots (tree stands), draw straight back (horizontal) and then bend at the waist to aim at your target. If you don't do this you will hit high on your target. In the heat of the moment it is easy to forget this rule when shooting at an animal and it has cost me three big bucks over the years. This simple rule must be ingrained in your practice sessions.
2. If you plan to hunt in the wind, rain or bad weather conditions you should practice in them. Also practice from various positions. Try shooting while your on your knees, sitting down, etc.
3. I live in Kansas so I am often hunting or shooting on windy days. One thing I do, is throw a hand full of grass up in the air and see how it is drifting. I know this seems old school but stay with me on this. Based on the distance the grass carries and direction I can make an adjustment. These are two ways to deal with the wind. If you shoot a sight on your bow with a level bubble on it, you can canter the bow watching the sight bubble. As the bubble moves outside the center line figure out how much the bow shoots to one side or the other (practice this on days with no wind). The second method for shooting in the wind is just to figure out how far you need to aim left or right in a cross wind.
4. Start your practice sessions at 20 yards and finish them at 20 yards. This builds confidence. You should also be practicing out to 50-60 yards. I am not saying you should shoot at animals at this distance. However, this extended distance will emphasize bad shooting form and make those 30 yard shots seem like slam dunks.
5. If you have multiple bows, consider setting one up for tree stand hunting and one for shooting on the ground. I call these my vertical and horizontal bows.
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