RE: How important is it to pratice shooting your bow, before you hunt?
 

I shoot once or twice a month, January till July. August and September, I shoot 3 or 4 days a week. During the bow season, I turn the outside light on and shoot one arrow off my back deck at a 3d before I go hunting. If that one shot feels good and hits on, I take off for the woods. If it doesn' t feel good, I shoot some more until it does.

RE: How important is it to pratice shooting your bow, before you hunt?
 

As said above :

Practice does not make perfect..........

Perfect practice makes perfect. You can only be fully confident when drawing on a deer when you have spent your time practing and know in your heart that you hit what you aim at at the distance you are shooting. I also would ask this of a bowhunter - why spend the money on a tree stand, camo clothing, scents, accesories, a bow, arrows, your tag, gas, etc, etc.... and not KNOW you can hit your target.

You can only KNOW you are going to hit the mark when you practice a lot period.

I admit I did not practice all year because I had an injury to my knuckle ( I cut the bone with a chopsaw ) and its still bothering me......
I shot all this weekend at 40 yards.... best group - 5 arrows, 3 inches... worst group, 5 arrows 8 inches..... mainly cause I was getting tired from shooting so much

Here is something I try to do as much as possible. I walk out in my back yard right before i go to work and shoot one arrow - ONLY ONE....... every morning... at 30 yards, and make it count. When you nail it every morning you are at the point you want to be - confident, and able..........
As also mentioned above - equipment comes into play. I am a pretty good ' natural' - I mean shooting a bow always came pretty easy to me.... however I had a fit this year because of my equipment. I had string stretch one.... and a contact problem.... Lets say I went out and only shot a few arrows and though ' ok - I hit ok,I am ready to deer hunt' well then when you shoot at a deer you find out the hard way your bow was not tuned well enough because your arrow windplanes downwards and slaps the ground...... My point again is you will only have FULL confidence when you know you can walk out - at any time, and drill a bullseye - period. When you can do that it also calms you down greatly because you know to say to yourself when drawn on the deer ' relax, center the pin, ok no torque, theres the spot, and watch the arrow fly' I have a quick mental list like that i run through on each shot - it takes 2-3 seconds and it works for me.....

Just my 2 cents.......

RE: How important is it to pratice shooting your bow, before you hunt?
 

Being able to hit a bullseye, and being prepared to hunt are different things in my opinion. You may be able to hit the bullseye your first time out, but IMO that does not make you prepared for the hunt. It is more a state of mind, and running through your pre-shot routine over and over again that prepare you for the moment of truth.

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RE: How important is it to pratice shooting your bow, before you hunt?
 

And if you wait to the last minute and find out you need repairs, you' re at the tail end of a very LONG line of other guys that have done the same thing. All the shops are backlogged this time of year because of that very thing. You might not even get to see your bow again until after opening day.

RE: How important is it to pratice shooting your bow, before you hunt?
 

ossy - you are right there also and thats a good point. Thats why I have my mental shot checklist I mentioned to help me mentaly prepare and focus on the shot - a good shot, not a chance shot, one that will quickly harvest the animal in your sights... so good point.

I think everyone summed up the anser - yes you need to practice.

1. You should start early - if not all year
2. Be familiar with your equipment
3. Know your true limitations


All of these will require practice - lots of it.

RE: How important is it to pratice shooting your bow, before you hunt?
 

Which is another reason to shoot alot. You get tired of paying someone else to serve a string or do a minor repair and learn to do it yourself. Case in point: I took my NBEF bowhunter education class for Alaska last weekend. I had to get up Sat. morning at 5:30am to drive 120 miles to take it. The last shot on my Friday night session resulted in a blown center serving. Every guy I shoot with would have hung it up and rescheduled his class so he could get his bow fixed by the shop. Nope, I have FORCED myself to learn how to fix things. I reserved the string and tested the setup by my truck lights at 10pm. I aced my shooting portion of the class (it really wasn' t too tough) and feel more like a true archer because I can deal with the repairs myself.

Like Arthur, there is stuff for me to shoot year round. I never really put the bow away anymore, and neither do my kids.

I am an archer first and a bowhunter as an extension of that.