20 yard mental barrier
 

I discussed this with Matt/PA a few days ago, and I'm running into this full force. Where the heck does that block come from? I can put an arrow into the kill zone of my 3D deer target ALMOST every time at 10-15 yards. ALMOST 'cause I'm still learning. At 20 yards, it all changes, and I miss the entire stupid deer or get a nasty gut shot or neck shot as often as I hit the kill zone. What causes the mental block? Any ideas?

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Get more practice. Could be a form error, could be a focus problem. Don't worry about 20 yds right now--get your form down, work on your focus.

I don't step off or measure yardage--that might help also.

Chad

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

vision

Your vision probably doesn't allow you to PICK the exact spot you want to hit. Thus your focus is lost.

Do me this ..... tonight put a quarter size white or bright yellow spot on you target. Step to 20 yards or 25 yards.

I'd be shocked if you don't group tight. Why ? You now have something to focus on, a bright spot todraw you to.


try it

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Yep, practice allot more! Another thing to like LBR mentioned it could be form. To me it sounds more like a form problem or maybe a bad release. With these Traditional bows your holding 100% of the weight on your fingers so the farther out you shoot the more its going to show with a bad release (more time for the arrow to move in either direction shooting longer distances). Usually thats the case with me when I extend my yardage when practicing and when I start missing bad its usually my release causing most of the problems.

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

My form can be my best friend or my biggest enemy!!!!!! I know when I don't have my proper form! I see it mostly in my arrow flight! Practice, practice practice... is too much fun not to!

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

How is your tuning?

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

As a general rule, my tuning is pretty good. My sister says I sing a little flat sometimes, but at the higher ranges, I tend to go a little sharp.....

In case you haven't guessed by now, I don't have a clue as to what you're talking about.:D How in the world do you tune a longbow?[X(]

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Some good reading here - might help with your sister if not your shooting:D

http://www.acsbows.com/bowtuning.html

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

BD got it right. Its all mental

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Yup. Reads very plainly... kind of like "bow tuning for dummies".... just what I need.:D

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Quit shooting so much at even yardages. Go stump shooting and concentrate more on having a good time than on grouping arrows. Never shoot more than one arrow at a target when stumping. See how close you can makeone arrow hit at whatever you choose to shoot. Play around a lot with your distances, really close, really far and everything in between. You'll soon convince yourself it's not so hard after all to hit something beyond 20, or even 30 yards.

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Even I can understand it;)

At closer distances, you can hit pretty good with less then perfect arrow flight.
As you start getting back, it makes a bigger differences. If you can verify your setup is well tuned, then you know the Indian needs the work.

Steve

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Actually accurate shots can be made even with very poorly tuned arrows. When I shot the Howard Hill in 2006, I'd only had my selfbow for a short time, and hadn't had a chance to make any arrows for it. I shot my longbow arrows, just for the heck of it. If I did everything just right, they flew ok--but most of the time they were putting on moves that would make a Russian gymnast jealous. I won with those arrows......

The arrows I shot are 75-80# spine. My selfbow "likes" 45-50# spine.

Not to say that better tuned arrows aren't easier to shoot--just that poorly tuned arrows won't always cause poor shooting. Poor form and poor focus pretty much guarantees it most of the time.

I like Art's advice.

Chad

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

As with all sports, you have to push yourself in order to improve....

Move your base line practice distance to 25 yds.... By that I mean, shoot 80% of your arrow from 25+..... Try it for a couple weeks.....

Its all about perspective and focus, assuming you have decent form.

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Okay.... I know this is gonna sound ignorant, but exactly what is "stump shooting"? Surely you're not talking about actually shooting "stumps".:D Seems like you'd ruin quite a few arrows that way. Besides, there's a real lack of "stumps" where I live.:D:D

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Steve,
Believe me, I already know that it's the "Indian" that needs the work.:D

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

"Stump" shooting is basically roving in the woods and taking random shots at random distances--targets can be pine cones, clumps of grass, a leaf, a flower--anything you can focus on as a target (and doesn't have a back-stop that will destroy your arrow). I wouldn't do it with field points though, as they can snake up under grass and leaves too easily (lost arrow). Good points for this are the Judo, Ace Hex blunt, rubber blunts, etc.

This way you aren't fixated on a particular distance--you learn to judge it subconciously.

Chad

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

LBR,
Ahhh, I get it. I've gotta wonder where the name "stumping" actually came from. Was there a time when they actually used to shoot stumps? Doesn'tsound like a veryequipment friendly training method.

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

The term came from shooting old rottenstumps that were soft enough to shoot without damaging your arrows. Must have come from an area where it's wet all the time because stumps around here just don't get soft. Shoot stumps around here and you've screwed up an arrow. Might as well shoot at blocks of concrete. ;)

RE: 20 yard mental barrier
 

Try some near dark practice.It seems to help with focus issues(spot /not hole deer).The yardage blockkind of goes away,atleast for me.

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.