I used to practice in my backyard by shooting alongside the house to my target that is located on the rear edge of my property, at ground level. Starting maybe 4 years ago, I only practice from an elevated position to best simulate being in a stand. I retreat indoors and shoot from my son' s second floor window, as this is about the height I' m normally at when afield. I set up a string from the window and stretch it to various points in my yard (10 yds, 15, 20, 25, etc.). I then take the rope down and measure it with a tape measure to get an accurate distance. I' d do the real thing, but my yard doesn' t have any trees that are conducive to putting my stand in. Benefits to this are: It best simulates a real hunt, if I miss the arrow plugs into my grass and helps aerate the soil, my son' s window gets a workout and my wife doesn' t complain about that double hung window sticking anymore!

Anyone out there have any interesting ways they practice?

Thats a great way to practice...... I wish I had a place to practice from an elevated position.... but I do not. What I do try to do is simple.
I - before work, and after shoot one arrow - at 40 yards... sometimes 30. And I do all I can to hit a bullseye.... I concentrate - on ONE SHOT.... I have found that doing this really increases your concentration.... my goal is 7 10 rings at the end of a week.......
I still practice groups at 40 and 30, and a few 15-20 yard shots...... but I mainly practice at 40... this makes 20-30 yard shots seem quite easy after you have shot 100' s of arrows at 40.......

Thats it

Good luck, and dont loosen that soil too much !!

i usually shoot at my bag target at ground level at 20 yd, 30 yd and then 10 yd and sometimes 40.every now and then i take my target over by the trees and climb up about 20 ft and shoot but ive found im just as acurate in a tree as i am on the ground. I usually shoot about an hour a day but i am going to slack off once the season starts.

I shoot on the ground, from a 2-man ladder stand in my yard, and out of my nieghbors garage/barn at an elevated position....I try all kinds of shots, but mostly shoot 20 yards.

i start ground level and shoot three arrows at a time at 20 and 30 yards, once i am comfortable that the equipment is working ok and my sights are on at those distances i take my ladder and get on the roof of my shed and shoot the same distances, i normally have a buddie over that will retrieve the arrows for me and send them back up to me. top of shed is the same distance i would be shooting in my treestand. i only have two pins on my bow, one for 20 and one for 30 yards, i find that shooting any further then that is a waste to me in that you cannot see the small limbs between you and the deer early or late in the evenings.

I have a treestand hung in my yard to shoot from. At this point in time I shoot 4 arrows a night at varying ranges.

My house is built on a hillside and I have a deck on the back that is approx. 6 foot off the ground. I have a Glendel buck set-up at 20 yards, two morrel bag targets set at 25 yards, a mckenzie doe at 30 yards and THE block at 40 yards. All of these targets are downhill from my deck. I usually take 6-8 arrows and shoot one arrow from varying locations at each target. I generlly shoot most of my arrows during a practice session at 40 yards. IF you can group your arrows at 40 yards, the 10-15-20 yard shots should be a no-brainer!

That is assuming that someone has brains. However, in my case, I, at times find that I can get better groups out further for some reason. I think it is because I know what it takes to get a great group (maybe 2-2 1/2 inches) at 30 yards with broadheads, so my form is right on. But then try to make that little chip shot and the groups are not as good as they should be. I mentally have to treat each shot as if I was shooting 30-40 yards. And not take any shot for granted.

I think BobCo hit the nail on the head, when he said " not take any shot for granted" .

About 3 years ago I started a new system. I perform a strengthening program year round, and add some arm pulls about 1 month before season. Two weeks prior to season I' ll shoot 20 arrows a day for those 2 weeks, groups of 5 at 10, 20, 25 and 30 yards---focusing on each arrow.

The first week of the season, I throw on the broadheads and limit myself to 3 arrows a day, concentrating on each arrow. The second week it' s down to one arrow, one shot. That' s really all that counts, as I' ve only had an opportunity at a second shot, and that was on a second deer.

Notes:
1) I can' t stand to go hunting until October 01, as I find it too warm for afternoon hunts and therefore use the first two weeks of the season as practice.
2) I' ve had the same bow for 8 years, so I know how it shoots and that everything is in tune. Should need very little practice if you (a) don' t change yourself physically or (2) drastically change your setup. This year I switched from Muzzy to Magnus, with no difference in flight.
3) This is the third week of the season, and I' m good to go

S&R