Main Discussion Area > Shooting and Hunting
Mentally Challenged Shootin'
Timbokhan:
Greg, although I love bows and archery, because of a bad shoulder it has been a few years since I shot a bow. However, I shoot quite a bit when it comes to handguns and rifles, and although the delivery systems are obviously pretty different, there are some parallels. First, the advice to just give it a rest is spot on. I am a darn good shot with a rifle, but my pistol shooting flucuates from being downright impressive to downright sad. When I go out, I work on fundamentals, and if it doesn't happen in the first 20 shots or so, I put them down. Frustration is severely detrimental to marksmanship, be it bow, rifle or atlatl. The second thing I do is that I purposely work on things that I know I am bad at. Because I go into it expecting only incremental improvement, my frustration levels stay very low, and my skill levels build, albeit slowly. A year ago, I couldn't hit a paper plate at 50 yards with my handgun with anything approaching frequency or accuracy. Now, I know that I can do it moderately well. Third, and I mentioned it above, I focus on the fundamentals. Whenever I take shots, I have a little checklist I go over in my head. Before I pull the trigger, I know that I am setting myself up for a succesful shot, and when I don't succeed, I have a basis for examination on what went wrong. I should think that prinicipal would be the same with a bow as it is with a firearm. At a certain point, things become easier. As I mentioned, I am a good shot with a rifle, and thats the result of thousands upon thousands of shots with everything from a .22 on up. I don't mean to imply that I am some Olympic champion shot, but I will say that good marksmanship comes easy to me with a rifle now. Again, this translates to the bow because marksmanship is as much about repetition as it is about technique. I have seen guys with fairly bad technique shoot like you wouldn't believe because they shoot a ton. I am obviously not trying to advocate poor technique, but the old saw practice makes perfect is never more applicable than when it comes to marksmanship. I know this isn't exactly primitive, but it seems to me that the methods behind building the skills are pretty much the same. Also, and this is key, remember to have fun. It's silly to say it, but if your not having a good time shooting your bow, whats the point? It sounds so new-agey to say this, but if your having fun, your probably in a positive state of mind, and if you have that, even a "bad" day of shooting your bow will be useful.
GregB:
Hello Timbokhan, I agree completely with your comments...consistent shooting =doing the exact same shooting process throughout each shot. I'm 46 years old and am trying to recapture my shooting abilities when I was in my mid-twenties. Although I thought at that time my technique was good, I'm not sure now how good it was. But like you said, I shot my traditional equipment a "ton" back then. I would probably average at least an hour of constant shooting a day, and often more then that. And at that time I didn't have target panic at least as I do now, I would occasionally do what I call "double clutch", which would be a slight forward flinch of my string hand while at full draw. I know I was stronger then, and I'm sure that made problems easier to overcome.
I just finished a 30 minute or so shooting session. Started out by stretching, then shooting 1 arrow at a time from various distances. My concentration was nonexsistant this morning, with the result of a scattering of arrows across the target. I might should have quit then, but I hate to stop shooting on a negative note. So I got up close to the target and just concentrated on drawing, anchoring, and attempted to squeeze my back and shoulders together while having my eyes closed. Getting the visual out of the picture seems to help me concentrate on technique. I couldn't get the hang of getting a clean release by attempting this with the back/shoulders. I'm afraid part of my problem is sometimes plucking the string as well as collapsing with my bow arm as a symtom of target panic and flinching. What is so frustrating is that I have been a very good shot in past years, and in my mind I'm thinking "why can't you do this?"! I'm going to keep shooting and practicing some of these techniques of stepping through the process in my mind. I do sometimes shoot extremely well even now when everything clicks. The sound of wood hitting wood and being able to pull all your arrows with one hand if you'd like feels good when it happens. Doesn't happen for me often now. :)
DanaM:
Greg, everyone has given good advice but the more I think on this the more I believe that some if not most of
yer problem is that yer overthinkin this and have fixated on the problem thereby compounding the the problem.
You so want to shoot well that when you don't you get fixated, uptight, ticked off at yourself in other words all stressed out.
Maybe you should take a break for a week then stay away from all targets including the 3D. Take a relaxing walk with a nice light easy shootin
bow, then as you stroll along all relaxed pop a shot off at something, don't think just shoot. If ya miss don't worry just continue along then try again.
Didn't I mention that ya should relax and make it fun becuse if I didn't I have no idear what I just said ;D
Relax and enjoy Greg!!!
GregB:
Thanks Dana, I don't shoot 3D a lot because the competitive nature of it makes my problem worse. Having others around while I'm shooting tends to screw with my concentration even worse. I guess I am trying hard, I've just been fighting this for so long now...I wish I could just get over it!
Maybe stump shooting would do me good... :)
Timbokhan:
Greg, competition does the same to me, which is why I rarely shoot matches. I gave up golf for that reason to! Bows, firearms and golf are all the same from teh perspective of competition, because it really just boils down to what you do, not what the team does. Moreover, none of these sports is something that you can just magically get good at, or be consistently lucky enough at to be successful. It's a wierd thing for me, because I am a great team-sports player and reasonably competitive. When I am on my own, my competitivness jumps up about nine orders of magnitude.
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