I here people say they have this and I know it can greatly effect you accuracy. People say that they should make the shot suprise them. But what exactly is there problem? Are they torqueing the bow because they are anticipating the shot? Or is it because they are trying to hard? I have luckily never had target panic. I never suprise myself when i shoot. I know when i' m shooting and the arrow goes where I want it to. I have found that if I concentrate too hard that i will jerk the bow a little, but i don' t think that is target panic because all I have to do is just stop thinking and shoot and everything goes back to normal.

Target panic is when in your head your saying to yourself " I have to hit that" and your punching your trigger as it goes by the spot. Its a big big no no. I still havnt fully gotten rid of mine but im real close. Do the right thing and never get it, its tough to break.

Basically, it' s a mental side of you that puts way too much pressure on you to hit the target, thus causing you to panic. Literally panic. I shoot fingers and my two versions of the problem are:

1. I freeze off the target with the correct pin, and cannot make that pin cover the target. No matter how hard I try, I can not force the bow up, or down, or sideways to put the correct pin where it needs to be.

2. I line up the pin just fine, but then get the shakes so bad, I can' t get a clean shot. I shoot fingers and I' ve sometime plucked the string like a guitar. .. and worse.


I can draw back the bow without an arrow and hold the correct pin dead steady on the bullseye. But put an arrow on there and knowing I' m going to release? Forget it.

thenuge15,

Taget panic usually crops up when one ventures into the world of 5-spot or competitive archery. When every little miss counts and the pressure is on to hit a very small spot every time.

The fear of missing IMO causes some crazy things on the range

In a Nutshell- fear of missing what your aiming at.

As mordecaia said...it' s the fear of missing.
It' s brought on by the in-ability to FOCUS on aiming AND on pulling the trigger...or letting the string go.
You get stuck off target...soon as your close, your mind wants to switch to shooting...and away from aiming...then you loose your ability to aim.
This is where a Back tension (or Hydrualic release) release comes in. It' s VERY had to tell when the release is going to shoot. You do NOT make a concious decision to fire the bow...ALL you do is AIM...it goes off when it wants to. When ALL you have to do is aim....it' s a LOT easier to shoot accurately.
IF you are having trouble getting stuck JUST off of the target (most of the time people get stuck, or " froze" below the target.) try this.
Let the bow down,
take the arrow off
draw and try again.
99% of the time you will find that you CAN hold the pin on target! The reason you CAn do this with the arrow OFF, is that you KNOW you are not going to fire the bow...ALL of your focus is on aiming, and none is used for shooting the bow....that' s what back tension does for you.

I bet there are countless archers that wish they had the problem of NOT knowing what it is!

Read this article, it details what target panic is, how it is caused and how to cure it.

http://www.n-sights.net/iai/tp.html

the best cure for target panic is a different release, a back tension release is the best cure , but any one that is triggered differently than the one you are currently using is best.