3D targets help field shooting?
#1
3D targets help field shooting?
I grew up shooting nothing but square targets with dots on them for practice. I could shoot great at a dot, but my accuracy when an animal was in its place was pretty poor. Let's just say I missed more than I killed (at 14 Imissed 5 elk in a week... ouch!). Now some of that was pure adrenaline, target panic, whatever, but I wondered if shooting a 3D target of a deer would help so I bought one and practiced with it instead. The first deer I shot at I drilled (43 yards)and when aiming I felt like I was aiming at a target so I didn't hurry the shot, etc. Have been doing it ever since and I must say I attribute every bit of my shooting to the "life like" practice. Just wondering if anyone has had a similar or opposite experience.
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 9,175
RE: 3D targets help field shooting?
I think you need a combination. Cross training, if you will. Shoot dots to hone your shooting form. Shoot 3D's to enhance your yardage estimation and how to adapt your shooting form to oddball shooting stances and situations.
I'm talking REAL 3D shooting. What IBO and ASA hasevolved is NOT real 3D shooting. Shooting down aperfectly manicuredtargetlane while standing at a stake with your very best target shooting form? Yuck! Might as wellstick withshooting paper dots for all the good that does you.
REAL 3D is having to learn to adapt your shooting form to oddball stances and situations like someone could possibly encounter in the woods. Lean out to shoot around a tree. Crouch or kneel to shoot under a limb.Shoot up or down steep inclines. Shooting laterally across steep inclines. Get on the target and get off a quick, accurate shot. None of that baloney of standing on the stake fortwo minutes, drawing and letting down before finally squeezing off an arrow into the 8 ring. Stuff like that.
Sounds likeYOU know what I'm talking about when you say 'life like practice.' I'm just letting the others in on the secret.
I'm talking REAL 3D shooting. What IBO and ASA hasevolved is NOT real 3D shooting. Shooting down aperfectly manicuredtargetlane while standing at a stake with your very best target shooting form? Yuck! Might as wellstick withshooting paper dots for all the good that does you.
REAL 3D is having to learn to adapt your shooting form to oddball stances and situations like someone could possibly encounter in the woods. Lean out to shoot around a tree. Crouch or kneel to shoot under a limb.Shoot up or down steep inclines. Shooting laterally across steep inclines. Get on the target and get off a quick, accurate shot. None of that baloney of standing on the stake fortwo minutes, drawing and letting down before finally squeezing off an arrow into the 8 ring. Stuff like that.
Sounds likeYOU know what I'm talking about when you say 'life like practice.' I'm just letting the others in on the secret.
#3
RE: 3D targets help field shooting?
Arthur...good post! I agree. 3D can definitely help you in the field if done right. There are no dots on the side of a der so you can practice putting that arrow right where you want it on the body and get a good feel for what you are going to be looking at when you see that deer in the woods. You can also shoot your 3D target from different angles and take a look at the path that the arrow is going to take on its way through the animal. IBO and ASA is not 3D in my opinion either if you are looking to practice for hunting. I get frustrated at 3D shoots because there are so many guys with the super target bows dominating the shoots so the average hunter has no cahnce to ever compete as far as any kind of points are concerned.
#4
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Inverness, MS
Posts: 3,982
RE: 3D targets help field shooting?
Arthur,
I can agree for the most part...... However, many of the shoots I attend do setup the tricky shots..... And in most cases they are not shots I would take on game..... I won't see if I can thread a needle through a patch of leaves.... At least not on a big game animal..... Birds, varmits, etc, sure, but not deer and the like.... On the other had, I also don't care for the wide open shots like IBO promotes either..... I think a medium ground between the two is acceptable..... I've been hunting for a good while and I've killed my fair share of deer... But I've never had to contort my body to make a shot..... I set my stands up so that I will have a decent shooting stance... I think 3-D should be similar..... No spread eagle with the waist turned 45 degrees from the hips...... It makes for fun shooting, but not realistic hunting scenarios in my opinion...
I can agree for the most part...... However, many of the shoots I attend do setup the tricky shots..... And in most cases they are not shots I would take on game..... I won't see if I can thread a needle through a patch of leaves.... At least not on a big game animal..... Birds, varmits, etc, sure, but not deer and the like.... On the other had, I also don't care for the wide open shots like IBO promotes either..... I think a medium ground between the two is acceptable..... I've been hunting for a good while and I've killed my fair share of deer... But I've never had to contort my body to make a shot..... I set my stands up so that I will have a decent shooting stance... I think 3-D should be similar..... No spread eagle with the waist turned 45 degrees from the hips...... It makes for fun shooting, but not realistic hunting scenarios in my opinion...
#5
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 9,175
RE: 3D targets help field shooting?
3D doesn't simulate tree stand shots, Joel, but you've got to get to your stand and back out, don't you? Say you're walking to or back from your stand, quiet as a mouse like you're supposed to...A nice buck jumps up and you have to maneuver around quick to get a shot at him. (It's happened to me on more than one occasion.) If you'vepracticed that kind of shooting, there's a very good chance that you'll get that deer. If you haven't, you get to watch him run off, waving that flag at you. Isn't thata pretty goodreasonfor practicing ground based shots to simulate that type of scenario?
Of course, if you're one of those guys who sounds like a herd of hippos going through the woods to get to the stand, the deer are going to be spooked and gone before you ever seen them. If you're one of those... uh...ultra macho he-men () who sling their bows over their backs because they're too too heavy to carryin their hands, it doesn't matter because there is no way to get ANY shot, much less a quick shot.
Did I ever say how silly I think it is to get so specialized to treestand hunting that you can't evenconsiderhunting any other way?
Back on topic... Sure, a lot of the shots you run into at a good 3D shoot aren't shots you'd actually take in the woods. On the other hand, they do let you know what you are - and are not - capable of pulling off.
Of course, if you're one of those guys who sounds like a herd of hippos going through the woods to get to the stand, the deer are going to be spooked and gone before you ever seen them. If you're one of those... uh...ultra macho he-men () who sling their bows over their backs because they're too too heavy to carryin their hands, it doesn't matter because there is no way to get ANY shot, much less a quick shot.
Did I ever say how silly I think it is to get so specialized to treestand hunting that you can't evenconsiderhunting any other way?
Back on topic... Sure, a lot of the shots you run into at a good 3D shoot aren't shots you'd actually take in the woods. On the other hand, they do let you know what you are - and are not - capable of pulling off.
#6
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Inverness, MS
Posts: 3,982
RE: 3D targets help field shooting?
Fair enough......... I can tell you though, there ain't a whole lot good to be had from stalking around the hardwoods of mississippi..... Unless it rained that day, every step you take will sound like a square wheel'd motorcycle..... But I guess the next time a buck slips up on my while I'm just finishing whiping my arse, I may be able to balance on the log and shoot between my knees........[8D]
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