Hi, i'm new to this forum, and new to archery. I'm interested in "traditional"/"Primitive" archery. I got into archery because of my interest in learning about ancient/primitive technologies and skills. As a result I want to learn to shoot "instinctive". I want to learn to shoot the way humans all over the world did for thousands of years, without sights and mathematical calculations based on yardage. The problem is that I really can't understand how this "instinctive shooting" works. It seems anyone who claims to shoot using this method says simply to pay no mind to the bow and arrow, just concentrate on the bullseye and shoot. But in reality you could stare right at the target and point the bow at the sky, the ground, or anywhere in between and it isn't going to hit unless it is pointed in the right direction! It seems to me then, there must be some "aiming" involved, whether conscious or not.The same thing can be said of the baseball analogy that has been made on this thread. You can throw a ball to some one and stare right into the catchers mit and throw the ball in a different direction. Normally though, with throwing a ball people would naturally throw the ball somewhat in the direction of the catcher if they were actually trying to.But with a ball the method of propulsion is your arm, which unlike a bow has been attached to you for your whole life! Regardless though, when you throw a ball, you must be aiming in some way.If you are using your eyes to do something, you must be aiming, even if it is natural, or becomes natural. The same can be said of picking up a pencil, or walking out your door.Could it be then that instinctive shooting is really just an archers acquired ability to calculate where to aim at a given distance (the distance being sensed generally by sight rather than being measured)? Another thought: If one archer who shoots gap nailed the bullsye of a target, and another archer, an instinctive shooter nails it standing in the same spot, they must have both had the same gap between their points and the bullseye, though the instinctive shooter didn't consciously aim. He must have been doing the ame thing, just subconciously! Ther is only one bullseye on a target, and one line of aim on earth you can take to shoot it!

Anyway, thats my essay ! Some of you might say im thinking to hard about the whole thing, and that i should just go try it, but I tried and it isn't working out for me. I miss my target completely almost every time, and i'm alfully close! hopefully some of you instinctive shooters can help me better understand how this works!