I hope you' re not judging yourself only by what you do standing in front of a target butt. If you haven' t gotten yourself a handfull of arrows set up with judo points and just gone roaming around in the woods, shooting at worthy targets of opportunity, then you don' t have a clue what you' re capable of doing in the woods. I know for a fact I shoot a lot better when I' m stump shooting than I do when I' m trying to stuff a half dozen arrows into a group on a target.

But if you' re determined to go back to the compound, let me suggest a compromise... something I' ve had to adopt because of my arthritis.

Instead of going whole hog back into the rat race, hit the used market and buy yourself an older wheel bow. Something 40" axle to axle or more and in a draw weight you can handle at 65% letoff, max. You' d be amazed at how accurately you can shoot a compound instinctively. The letoff lets you get back and really burn your concentration in one the spot you want to hit.

Asbell talks about shooting compounds instinctively in his Instinctive Shooting books. I don' t go his route, since I shoot mine 3-under and off an elevated rest, but it does work great. Last 3D I shot this year, I shot a 273 out of a 300 possible from the same stakes as all the other compounders, and won the class. Fingers and barebow against the sights/release crowd.

Obviously I didn' t have to contend with the IBO Big Boys at that shoot, but still... I was kinda proud of the win.[:-]