I was wandering what all your opinions are one this subject. Do you think being a great 3-d shooter(national champion,wins tournament shoots, what have you...) makes you a great hunter? I hear a guy at work say how he wins 3-d shoots all the time and he is the greatest shot and I tell him so how good are you when it comes time to head to the woods. He says well I'm good enough to kill if I have the oppurtunity. This tells me he thinks he is a great hunter and that because he is a great shot all will fall into place when in the woods. I truly believe they are 2 different things! A guy can be an excellent hunter and know his in and outs and not be that great on the course. So my question is what are you or what do you consider yourself and what do you think about it?
I myself am not the greatest at 3-d but i like it. On the other hand I put my time in when it comes to hunting and I feel I am on top my game in the woods. I just need to learn to be more patient!

Being a great shooter on the 3-d coarse don't mean squat to me. Back when I use to shoot in a archery league one of the guys who shot there too was a National champion in one of the classes (can't recall which one) and he looked at me and said (honestly Steve I would rather have your talent on being able to shoot and get animals then be a National champ in targets). This guy couldn't stick a deer 10 yards away. He got so worked up when a deer would be in front of him that he would loose it. I thought it was pretty neat hearing that from a national champ, I was only 16 years old at the time so my head got good and swelled up from that!

Shooting targets and shooting animals are 2 completely different things. One is a shooting sport and the other is hunting.

I do ok at both but I believe I'm a better hunter then a shooter at a 3-d coarse.

They aren't exactly mutually exclusive......even for the shooting aspect of hunting (which is not that big a part of it IMO).

Two different "games".

My thought exactly the shot is only a small percentage of the hunt! there is alot of other work involved!

Absolutely not! I was a hunter before I was a tournament archer. I had shot with some of the best archers around, one was a 2-time world champion. I usually out hunted them because of my hunting knowledge. To be the best in something requires that you sacrifice other things. At times archery took precedence over my hunting which is common for many of the top archers.

The best thing I got out of being an archer was the vastly increased knowledge of bow tuning and proper form along with the extreme confidence in making the shot.

For example, if I had a 40 yard shot at a deer, instead of thinking to myself "I hope I can make this shot", I'd be thinking "I'm drilling this thing right now!"

Archery is one important aspect of bow hunting. You could be the world championbut if you can't find a deer, your not going to get one. On the other hand, Joe average archer, who really knows his deer is quite often very successful.

Trust me, being a great shooter sure doesn't hurt.

Take 2 guys with equal skill sets as hunters and the better shooter has the advantage EVERYTIME. That's common sense.

Who is this guy you're talking about?..........You want me to call him out?

I agree shooting is only the final few seconds of your hunt. In order to get to shooting you need to be a good hunter. Or really really lucky. But being a good shot sure doesn't hurt at all.

I agree shooting is only the final few seconds of your hunt. In order to get to shooting you need to be a good hunter. Or really really lucky. But being a good shot sure doesn't hurt at all.

Totally different, I too have was real heavy into the 3D back several years ago. I am a believer that the 3D course can be a good form of practice for judging yardage but it is not any kind of related to hunting....I still shoot a few courses a year but these days just to get out with friends and have fun ribbing one another...

Some of the best target shooters I know - are the worst shots when a live animal is in-front of them!

With that being said, the pressure of shooting in-front of a bunch of guys you don't know - can be the best practice you can do. It's helped me drastically!