I have been bowhunting for about 25 years now. Here in the last few years I have developed some problems with target panic and shoulder trouble.
This year I decided I was going to put it all behind me, but something I have noticed and it may have been my problem along is that my pins are moving to much and fast to settle which sometimes causes me to flinch!
I used to shoot between 75lbs and 72lbs but have dropped that 10 lbs over the last few years.
Some days I can go out and bust nocks and other days I miss the target all together because of flinching, i'm guessing, which is caused my problem with my pins!
If anyone has any tips or ideas I would absolutely love to hear them!

I would recommend shooting some blind bale. Take the sight off the bow and shoot from 5-10 feet. Concentrate on breaking the shot as a surpise. Dont worry about where the arrows are going - just focus on form.

Also, make sure you are not shooting too much weight because this is a primary contributing factor to TP. 60 lbs is more than adequate with today's efficient bows and carbon arrows. I shot 60 lbs last year and still achieved pass-thru's - with mechanical's. Even if you must drop below 60 lbs, you're still better off than being over-bowed.

You might also consider seeing a doc about some rehab exercises to strengthen your shoulder.

Also, try tweaking the draw length 1/4" each way. As we age the body changes. Joint wear along with cartilage and such. Maybe a tweak here and there will help.

Very rarely mentioned is the holding wight of the bow. Used to be adequate holding weight to almost force you to use those large back muscles to hold the bow at full draw. With today's higher letoff there isn't enough holding weight and sometimes you are holding so little that you physically have to hold the bow up while you're trying to aim at the same time.

Which forces you to go a little shorter on draw length to be able to pull harder into the wall than what you were used to.


Don't try to force the pin to stop,let it float on and around the spot.Do some aiming drills where all you do is pull and anchor and let the pin float on the spot,then let down.Hold longer than you normally would.You will be surprised to see that you will be able to let the pin settle there without the added stress of releasing.

Then do the blank bail where you are real close with your eyes closed and all you are doing is concentrating on is letting the release go off with back muscles if possible.

Practice these separatley for a couple weeks,alternating between the 2.Do not do any shooting if you can keep from it that you are trying to hit a spot.

A couple weeks and you should be fine,provided you have decent form and properly setup equipment.

Valium. Lot of reasons to get worked up these days. Not much any of us can do about it. If it helps, picture all the other hunters naked.

Hope things work out old man.