I take a break, have a beer and a smoke, and start shooting at ten yards, taking my time with each shot. The groups at ten are super tight, and it pumps me with confidence. After that, I start shooting much better. If its not your bow, its all in your head. Whatever will give your nerves a break should work.

yep, i have noticed that with me, if i shoot bad like with my bh's i cant seem to shoot good, the next day take a shot at 35 and i'm in the kill zone, i guess its me being tired, i never really new archery was a mental thing when i started, but now i know more than ever, if i have a bad in general usually my shooting is like that too.

I usually fight through it and end up with a perfect group or two at the end but I agree that it is a mental game and the best thing to do is to walk away for maybe a half hour or an hour then come back to it. The more you practice the better you will get. Don't take this the wrong way, but you may not be that good, yet. Just keep practicing. Keep your bow holding arm steady and watch your grip. You should be like a stable cannon and the arrow should be like a missle launching.

Keep practicing!

I move up an get some good shots an try again the next day. The next day if the same thing startsto happen again. I start checking my bow over real close.But, most days Ican tell when things are just not right.

When I am having an off day, or feel like I am haveing an off day, I usually put the bow up and forget about it.

Then I go out the next day and shoot again. Usually it was just a fluke. If it continues, I start considering other things: equipment, form, etc.

Golf is a whole lot harder than shooting a bow any day. Getting the body and the swing arch and all that to a controlled collision at the proper time is much more difficult. In fact, I'd say you can do golf for 40 years and never get it right.[&:]

Not that I took that the wrong way, but just to clarify. I've been doing this for 20 years and practice nearly everyday. Just one of those days. Update: I'm back to normal again [8D]

As I suspected you would be.

You've been doing this long enough to know when it's just a bad day.....and NOT the norm. Playing golf when everything is "on" is fun. Playing when you're not,......is MORE fun, TO ME. Archery isn't that way (to me). Being a little "off" in archery is disconsorting. It spooks me.

Glad you're back to normal.

I agree. Playing golf when the swing plane is perfect, timing and tempoare perfect and everything is robotic gets boring at times. When the game is a "little off" it forces you to grind it out and actually play golf instead of golf swing. If I was going to shoot a 68 I'd rather do it scrambling around the course than hitting every fairway and 18 greens.

btw.... golf and archery ARE twins seperated at birth. So similar it's scary.

I knew you would "get" that, NY. I concur, wholeheartedly.

The difference in playing when everything is right.....v. when it isn't.....is mental. It FORCES you to plan for the less than perfect. It forces you to MANAGE your game. EACH.....EVERY shot/stroke is a novel. It's a valuable neccessity (managing each one) that is oft overlooked when things are seemingly perfect. Your ass getsbittenwith more regularity when you're TOO "on".

I've scored my best rounds when everything wasn't "on" (best rounds, score-wise).....by doing what you (and I) describe. I've played my most solid golf when everything was "on" (bogey-free rounds). In those rounds....I know my play was "sloppy" because the threat of danger didn't exist (and complacency with shot placement snuck in).

When you get back to the clubhouse....after beating the course (and managing your swing and game.....even though you weren't "on", that day) "Fun" is a good dscription. "Rewarding".....and "sense of accomplishment" are best at these times.

If people don't understand how this relates to archery and hunting in general.....they don't know one of the games, very well.

Good luck to you this fall.