Lady Arwen

Since Len brought this up today I have to vent for a moment. I am beyond sick of being so inconsistent in my shooting ability. I have days of almost Zen-like perfection and then I have days of being so far off that I want to throw my bow away and never shoot again. The only thing that I can see from this is that it isn' t an equipment problem, it is just my inconsistency from day to day. I have read magazines, posts on this and other sites, bought books, etc. and year after year it never changes. I haven' t been able to find a coach out here to help me out either. Do all the rest of you fight the same thing or am I just the lucky one?[:@] Is it possible to tune yourself?

Danny45

Lady Arwen, everybody has bad days. That' s just something you have to accept. One thing I used to do before I got target panic is, if I started out shooting poorly, I' d stop immediately. The tendancy to shoot thru it to get better usually makes you shoot worse. Whatever the problem is, whether your tired, your muscles are tired, or you' re just not mentally into it, won' t get better the more you shoot that day.

Archery is 90 percent mental, 10 percent physical. Some say, HOW CAN THAT BE??? It' s not difficult to shoot a bow. You pull the string back, and you let it go. The hard part comes when you have to think the process thru from shot to shot and do it the same way each time. Form, aiming, smooth release, and follow-thru are all part of the mental side of it.

Don' t sweat it, just chalk it up to part of the experience. And make your practice sessions perfect. Perfect practice, makes perfect. Bad practice makes bad shots.

short-range

So you aren' t a " great" archer. Neither am I. I also can' t shoot a rifle perfectly at 1000yds, throw a baseball in the strikezone every time, I don' t even sign my name exactly the same every time.

My point, yes you are inconsistent you are human (I assume). The problem is that you admit you are missing. Just start saying that you can hit a fly at 75yards 99% of the time, and you just might start to believe it. I won' t, but you might.

Hunt2Kill

The thing i do, is consistancy im sure uve head it a million times but thats it.... grip and hold your boy the same evertime, anchor it in the same place all the time and always use this form. this will help keep accuracy in tact

burniegoeasily

Lady arwen

I gave up golf about 18 years ago because I found a better way to raise my blood pressure and give me a good reason to cuss, its called archery. I feel your pain. The only time I almost lost it was when a nice buck walked up on me at about 20 yards and I missed it. Shot right over him. I did lots of cussing that night and had even stated I was throwing my bow away and only rifle hunting. Good thing I didnt. I wrote it off as a bad day and went on. I have been having the days you are talking about recently. The last two days I shot started out great. first few trips to the target were right on the money, after that I could hit the ocean throwing rocks from a boat. I do as Danny45 mentioned, I put it up and start new the next day. Today is the next day for me, I hope things are back to normal.

Jeepnut

H2K, I' m not sure I' ve seen this shooting form before....and I' m not sure I really want too either.

Hunt2Kill

heh, everytime... not to loose but not to firm.... hehe j/k

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*BOW*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!

JOE PA

I too would like to be more consistent. I have arrived at the conclusion that any problems I am having are not equipment related. Any inconsistency is brain-related in my case.[&:]

I can suggest two books. " Advanced Archer, How to Stay Calm at Center" is a great book for training your mind. I have read it a few times, the only problem being that it can relax you to the point of falling asleep.

I am currently reading Bernie Pellerite' s book " Idiot Proof Archery." Like the first book, it does stress the importance of shooting more or less subconsciously, and only concentrating on aiming. It is also a better book than Advanced Archer in terms of acutal archery shooting form, etc.

I am guessing that your bad days are happening when your conscious mind is trying to control more than one thing at a time, which it can' t do. " Zen in the Art of Archery" stesses the role of the subconscious, but in a round-about kind of way.

The subconscious is where it' s at for consistent shooting. When you start to think too much, a bad shot is coming soon!

I' ve got a lot more work to do, but I think I' m headed in the right direction.

Good luck to you Lady Arwen. Hope you are shooting like Legolas soon.

Len in Maryland

LA: Form, fit and function! We use that terminology in the engineering community and it certainly applies here.

A GOOD coach is hard to find. Many attempt to make you conform to their standard rather than adjust you gradually while adapting to your bodily requirements.

One thing I will tell you is NOT to GRIP the bow or the release. Other than that, I' d have to see you personally to offer any constructive criticism.

benhuntin

Everyday stresses can wreck havoc on your concentration which is the key to consistantcy. I always start my sessions about 10 yards from the target since this is the easiest distance to concentrate on the bull. AFter a few shots the confidence is there so i' ll back off to 20 or 25 and shoot somemore. I quit shooting well before I start getting fatigued. I actually became alot more consistant with good shooting when I started shooting every other day instead of every day. And shoot just enough to keep that confidence built.