RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Been stump shooting since I was 3 years old tagging along with dads and his buddy's. Like LBR said a tuff of grass, rotten stump, leaves, clump of dirt anything that sticks out is something you can shoot at. Its the best practice one can get and boy is it fun to do! Make sure you have some sort of blunt on the end your arrow. If your shooting with field tips expect them to go by by being you won't find them nearly as easy.

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

did you try shooting at a very small, bright spot at 25-30 yards ?

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Duane,
I tried it, but it didn't work out too good. I tried a laser pointer, which worked really well, but it was so windy that I couldn't get it to stay put. My daugher tried to hold it, but she kept moving it all over the target. The batteries finally died. I'll try again when the weather is a little more shooter-friendly. I'll try some "stumping" tomorrow in the woods behind the house. I was also thinking about rounding up all of my black Lab's tennis balls (we must have about 30 of 'em laying around), throwing them all around and shooting at those. That should be interesting.

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Good idea!!

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

When I got back into Trad 2 yrs ago I was stuck on 10-15-20-25 yrd shots and after awhile I realized it was better for me to just walk around the yard and shoot rather then doing the ranged yard shooting,granted when I work on forum its from a set range but other then that I like roaming around the yard and shooting at a spot on my bag,I also have 2 3-D targets set up to......Kinda like stump shooting in a way.....

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Yep, I used to use the little plastic golf balls with the holes in them and shoot off the balcony! or from my stand at the cabin!!

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

LittleChief why didn't it work ? Are you arrows falling short ? Way left ? Way right ? All over the place ?

Theoretically, it doesn't matter HOW FAR the shot is, if you shoot the same way every shot your arrows will group.

If you're grouping well, then its just you haven't 'learned" to adaptyour shots to longer ranges.

I'mbetting you aren't grouping well though, am I right ? That brings into many factors. Are you 20-20 ? Are youcrossdominant in your shooting (right hand shooter, left eyedominant ? )


With my Zipper its rare my shots are left/right off. maybe a bit, but not much. Up/Down is the norm, becuase of range of shooting.

Stump shooting is picking something that stands out in the woods - it focuses your eyesight on one spot, not unlike placing a small object on your target. Tennis balls work great.

Could be that NOTHING is wrong, you just need more practice


Also, strip all the feathers off a shaft and shoot it. What does it do ? Nock WAYYYY left when you shoot ? WAYYYY right ? Nock high or low ? Porpoising ?

I can shoot bare shafts and hit the same spots as my feathered shafts.

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

You say you're still learning. How long have you been shootingtraditional equipment? It could be you're trying to move along too fast. It takes time to develope into a good shooter and if you're shooting instinctive, it takes even longer. Work on developing the basics (focus, form, release and follow through). Once those become fairly solid and consistant, start slowly pushing your shooting range out further.