burniegoeasily

Practice a lot (as in lots of days a week), but when things start going wrong, put it up for a while. Especially when learing. As you get tired, your form goes. This is especially true with new shooters.

GRIZZLYMAN

Yah know, usually the first five arrows in my practice session are the best. That is the way it should be, because when you are hunting the first arrow you shoot should be the best.

flat feet

It depends on the shooter. In england I use to shoot over 5 hours 5 times a week. I shoot enough to be good that is all. Figure out what you want to accomplish and shoot for it.

Sniper151

Too much practice at one time can do more harm than good. When you start getting fatigued many shooters will start to pick up some bad habits to compensate. A weak anchor point, punching the release or creeping is just a few. Build up your form and muscle memory over a period of time. I try to shoot every other day to maintain my form and help improve my endurance. If I'm going to shoot a 30 target 3-D or target competition I will make sure I have the endurance to shoot two to three times more than required for the shoot. Endurance at the end of a shoot is often the difference between finishing strong with an excellent score or fade due to fatigue and throw arrows all over the woods. Build up slowly; don't try to do it all in one week. Quality practice time is required to build solid shooting form, muscle memory and the results will be improved accuracy and confidence in your abilities.
Good Hunting...

C-WOODS-SHOOT

Alot of good advice so far. This is another practice routine you may want to try. When hunting season arrives I like to set up a tree stand in the back yard and drive several rebar target stakes at different distances around the yard. Every day after work, whether I plan to practice or not, I will set a 3-D target at one of the stakes and take one arrow up the tree stand and take one shot just like when I'm hunting. That first shot is what you want your sight to be dialed in for. Ideally it should be the same as your 10th, 20th, or 30th shot. Doing this every day gives me the confidence,that when faced with the the real thing, my bow will shoot true.

max the dog

What kind of poundage do you shoot? I shoot #55 through my bow and I'm good for almost 100 shots before my groups get weird. If I shoot my buddies #70 bow I'm only good for about 10 before the groups go bad. It has nothing to do with how strong my mussles are but rather how strong my joints are. About 12 years ago I dislocated my shoulder in a very bad way and everything hasn't been the same since. It ruined my golf swing but I can still shoot my bow just fine.
It hasn't limited me in any way (except golf and who cares about that). In fact since I know I can only do so much shooting I try to make sure each shot is absolutely perfect. I have great shooting form. I typically shoot 5 quivers of 8 arrows everyday after work for about half the year and then every other day or so during the hunting season. I figured it out once and it's about 1200 arrows a year. More than enough practice to keep your skills up.

davidmil

If you start flinging arrow with the intention of building up muscles or getting in a certain number of shots... you're practicing wrong. Practice should be all about form, form and then FORM. It should not be about the number of shots.... but rather CORRECT SHOTS. 20 great shots with repeated form are far better than 30 great ones and another 30 thrown at the target in haste or with poor form. A better method than shooting a lot is to say, this is the first shot..... I'll make it Great and think FORM. This is the next shot.... it will be the same as number ONE. When you find yourself snap shooting or spraying arrows you're training yourself to shoot poorly. You'd be better off shooting blind bales at 10 feet with the right form and with your eyes closed. Blind bale shooting will do wonders for your form. I've been on both ends of the spectrum. I've suffered the horrors of target panic and shot the perfect rounds. Believe me, it's easier to train correctly than it is to get rid of poor training and target panic. And like a famous lady told me once, "It's suppose to be fun".

IL Rancher

It varies so much in how much I will shoot in one day or one week. I have gone a week+ without even picking up my bow and I have shot 7 days in a week, 100+ arrows a day. I don't recommend that but I don't shoot a very heavy poundage on the Darton so I am generally not tired and I just take short little breaks as the day goes on. But usually I shoot for as long as my mind can stay in it. I have taken 5 shots and walked off the range because my mind was somewhere else and all I was going to do was hurt my form instead of help it. If your mind can't concentrate on the task at hand than you are doing more harm than good.

I am not an excellent shot. I'm getting there but I do stupid things at times and generally spend time working on fixing these problems. At this time I am also working on back tension and a few other things which, have set me back a bit but in the long run will be for the best. Again, I shoot as long as I feel like I am making progress towards my goal for the day.

One thing that I have learned just recently at my range is spots get awful boring. I bought some Woodchuck, turkey and coon targets that I am shooting at now instead. Still paper but a little more fun. I generally don't use the scoring rings for some shots, instead I will shoot for the eye or something like that for more of a challenge. Kind of fun.

Arthur P

Something I see a lot of guys do, and I'm as guilty of it as anyone else sometimes, is 'machine gunning' their arrows downrange. Don't empty your quiver as fast as you can. You won't tire as quickly if you take 30 to 45 seconds between shots. I like to take two or three deep, slow breaths between each shot. Pumping up the oxygen in my blood seems to help me concentrate and focus better. It's one of the many tricks I learned from shooting field archery.