Help!!!! I have terrible aim!!!!
 

Hi guys,

I've been practicing with a red oak long bow that I crafted myself. And my aim is not so great. I can basically hit a 10x10 piece of cardboard maybe 50% of the time at 15 yards. Archery season begins in a week.....what do I do?!!!??

RE: Help!!!! I have terrible aim!!!!
 

Can you hit a 6X6 piece of cardboard 100% of the time at 10 yards? If you can, you simply don't take any shots beyond 10 yards.

One thing I highly recommend you do is get a copy of Byron Ferguson's "Become the Arrow" book.

Another is to not do all your practice shooting at a target. Stick judo points on a couple of arrowsthen get out to do some stump shooting. Pick out a worthy target, be it a clump of grass, dried up cow pie (watch out! Some of 'em can look dry on top but still be a little 'green' in the middle[8D]) or even litter, like beer cans or plastic pop bottles. Shoot at them from wherever you see them and see how close you can get. Then pick up your arrow and choose another target.

Tip: When I go stumping, I always carry a plastic trash bag to put the litter in after I shoot it. The forest rangers on thepublic landlove me.:)

I don't know about you, but lots of times when shooting at a target face, I get all wound up in trying to be a perfect shot. That gets me tensed up and makes me shoot terrible. Getting out and just playing bows and arrows, you relax and, for me anyway, shoot a lot better. Plus, it gets you used to shooting in the woods and that's a major advantage for a bow hunter.

This is all assuming you know your arrows are properly spined for your bow and you've got the bow tuned.

Always keep this old saying in mind: Aim small, miss small. If you aim at the entire piece of cardboard, you can miss the cardboard. So, don't aim at the piece of cardboard, but at a spot in the middle of the cardboard. Take a magic marker and put a dot in the middle of it, and aim at that. You might miss the dot, but you'll hit the cardboard. When you aim at a deer, don't aim at the deer, but at a hair, afold in the skinor maybe a leaf stuck to it's hair where you want to hit.

RE: Help!!!! I have terrible aim!!!!
 

Arthur had pretty much said it all. Ferguson's book will help with technique. Like every repeating motion, doing it the same way each time will help insure accuracy.

RE: Help!!!! I have terrible aim!!!!
 

Ok, at 10 yards, I can shoot 4 out of 5 arrows into a 6x6 target. Is this enough accuracy for archery hunting?

RE: Help!!!! I have terrible aim!!!!
 

I guess the first thing I would ask is how long have you been shooting?

When I first started I wondered if I would ever hit the target at 15yds...... And after 6 months, I can keep all my arrows in the kill zone at 15yds.... I can keep 80% on average in the kill zone at 20yds. As such, my effective range is 15yds...... Hopefully I can extend that during the season.....

Only you can decide what is good enough. I personally think you owe it to the animal to only take high percentage shots.

I will recommend Rick Welch's Volume 2 shooting video

RE: Help!!!! I have terrible aim!!!!
 

I did archery for a year when I was 14, but it was only with a 20 lb short bow. Back then, I was able to put 9 out of 10 arrows into a 10x10 target at 25 yards. And I haven't done much archery since then. Around june of this year, I got into bow crafting. Since then, I've built 2 long bows and have practiced for about 2 monthes. One problem here is that, the long bows have a draw-weight of 50 lbs, and I get the tendency of plucking the the string after 10-15 shots. Another thing is that, I've never practiced with broad-head tipped arrows before, and I seem to be to be shooting them with far poorer consistency than I normally do with target arrow heads.

With that said, my practice session went well today. I did manage to put 9 out of 10 arrows into a 6x6 target at 10 yards. So when archery season starts next saturday, I think I shall only take shots that are within 10 yards.

RE: Help!!!! I have terrible aim!!!!
 

Buy a used Bear Grizzly at 45# for no more than $100.00. Aim the arrow and keep your bow arm up until the arrow hits the target.

RE: Help!!!! I have terrible aim!!!!
 

Another good source is G. Fred Asbell's movie Instinctive Shooting, Or his books Instictive shooting one and two.

RE: Help!!!! I have terrible aim!!!!
 

Hi guys,

After morethan a week ofpractice with the long bow, I'm now able to put 9 out of 10 shots into a 6x6 target at 15 yards.