Rick James

Nothing that heartbreaking.......but this was fairly disappointing for me.

The first time I stepped back to the open stakes was this year, and I did it with a pins sight and long stabilizer (MBR setup) competing against the locals that had adjustable sights and lenses...i.e. full blown open class setups. I had a pretty serious equipment disadvantage against these guys.

Well long story short.......shot the first 29 targets clean without shooting anything but 10's and x rings, looked like I was going to clean the course my first time shooting the big boy stakes and had something like 17X's.

Last target was a puking gobbler at around 32-33 yards with a branch between me and him that I had to duck a bit to get under, I was also shooting off a sidehill with awful footing. Ended up shooting that shot from the front of the valley and I hadn't had the bow long enough to creep tune it yet so that shots from the front and back of the valley would still hit the same general spot. Ended up shooting a 5 on that target high even though I picked the right distance. Ended up with a 295 on the course since they didn't count X's......3x of the locals dropped two 8's on the course and beat me with a three way tie at 296 and all had a MUCH lower x count. I went from 1st to 4th place because of that one target.....[:@][:@].

Hoythunter1000000

Well I went to my first shoot last weekend. I shot 211 out of 300 so that's my best and my worst!!!

Sliverflicker

Youll do better next shoot Buck Master, I Hope!

buckmaster

thanks sliver... i hope so this was only my second shoot so im not to hard on myself just embarising trying to act like i know what im doing when i dont. I shot better on my first shoot which had 40 targets took 4.5hrs and this one only had 25. oh well

joejoepeck

You poor feller, shame that had to happen to ya lol

Matt / PA

Buckmaster: An extremely overly simplified quickie guide to start you on the road to 3D success.

At each target IN ORDER:

1. Find a number. Get good at yardage estimation, obvious right?Trickk #1 learn what 20yards looks like inside and out and judge from that point.

2. PICK a number.....not ABOUT 25yds or maybe 35yds. Convince yourself that the target is an exact yardage away. 27yds, 33.5yds.

3. COMMIT to the yardage you picked.

4. Find a spot. Use your binos and find the scoring rings. Don't triangulate using the legs and nose and trees in the background to determine where you aim. Find a shadow or crease or prominent hole and USE IT. you must have something to aim AT.
If you aren't using binos to find scoring rings but are trying to shoot a good score? You simply can't and won't. TRUST ME.

5. If you have done 1 thru 4 properlynow you just make a good shot. Hopefully the arrow finds it's mark. You must do the other things in order or you will find yourself wandering in thought at full draw when your only thought should be executing a good clean shot. If you are at full draw saying to yourself "Maybe 30.......no 35, a little higher...." Then just pencil in the 5 and save yourself having to pull the arrow out of the target.

Make yourself a routine.
1. Find a number
2. PICK a number
3. Commit to that number
4. Find your aiming point
5. Make a good shot.

Also when you practice learn how to gap pins and where you have to hold for every yard out to your maximum yardage. You don't want to try holding high or low with specific pins, you want to imagine yourself aiming at the spot you want to hit with imaginary pins between your settings.

Have fun! There's a lot more to it but I think these simple tips will help tack a few points on your score next time.

RDHunter

Don't feel bad ... we all go thru days like that , but if you want to hear about a bad day at a 3D shoot ...pull up a chair.
I've been shooting on a 3D league at my local range and shot really good though out the league.
Well ... my local 3D range had there annual 3D trophy shoot today and tomarow as well , they had moved alot of there targets around and placed them further back than they normaly do.
To make things more difficlut they added more brush and limbs in the line of fire , now I have a 276 average but you wouldn't believe it the way I shot today.
It almost got me mad at myself cause I know I can shoot better than that but anyway as I went thru the coruse I misjudged on a few shots and lost one arrow.
I'll go back out there tomarow and go another round , hopefuly I'll do better than 201 out of 300 and I might do alittle shaft hunting while I'm out there.

buckmaster

After rubbing in your world finals you give me some valuable advice! I really appreciate that i will remember those i might even print it out. I do use binocs to find spots and "try" sometimes to mark yardages i know andjudge from there but not always expecially when you got 10 people waiting for their turn i kinda rush myself(bad i know) and i do have a real bad habit of holding high, but mostly im bad a judging distance. my widage was almost perfect all day but i guess its just gonna take practice thanks for the help.

GMMAT

Great stories, guys. I'm convinced I need this new way to torture myself, too.

I really would like to get into this, more.

Matt:

Thanks for the advice. I'll print that out.

Brett/IL

This is really nothing compared to Matt's story, but at the time, it was every bit as important to me. I used to shoot 2-4 3D shoots a weekend when I was younger and not married in the early 90's. I managed to win quite a few local shoots. I took great pride in how hard I had worked on my shooting and the results of that hard work. However, the one thing I couldn't manage to do, was "clean" this particular 30 target course. It was less that 6 miles from my house, I shot it every weekend, but I just couldn't get it done. The guy that ran the place always made it more challenging than the other courses in the area, but still I felt like I should be able to do it.
Three of my buddies and I were shooting one Sat. morning and for once everything was going great. It was one of those days we all have when you just feel like you are doing everything right. I cleaned the first 15 without a problem and started off just as hot on the back 15. When we finally got to target 30, a sitting mountain lion, I needed to shoot a 10 for the 300 that I had been chasing on this course. The target was 32 yds. away, in the open, and I felt like it was a chip shot, big mistake. I didn't pick a spot, or do anything I normally do as part of my shot process. I simply drew, kind of put the pin on the target, and punched my release. The result, a big, fat 5! I could have screamed out loud.

That little mental error toought me a few very valuable lessons though.

Shoot every target as an individual target, not as a "stepping stone" to a pre-determined score.
Even "chip shots" warrant 100% concentration and attention to detail.
Once you have established a shot process, stick to it.

Like I said, I was younger and much more cocky. My slice of humble pie was bitter, but I choked it down. I did manage to go back two weeks later and shoot that 300, but it was with much more humility.
As a side note, I was shooting a 3-D course with a buddy yesterday, and when we came up to that same target, I told him that story. Then I proceeded to shoot a very ugly 8 on it. Maybe it's just that mountain lion target.