I was thirteen years old and had just finished crawling through knee-deep Wisconsin snow in December to position myself within bow range of a deer feeding in a cut corn field. In addition to the numbingly cold temperature, I recall feeling heat pounding in my ear drums and slight trembling throughout my body. [...]
One of the best things about barebow shooting is its diversity. There is no one "correct" way to do it. Spend a day at most traditional shoots and you'll see people differing in how they hold the string, hold their bows, draw, anchor, and aim. Over the past 26 years I've tried countless [...]
Target panic is one of those topics sure to elicit a wide range of responses. Some people will perk to attention, while others will run like a little girl being chased by a spider. There are people who know it exists—usually because they suffer from it—and others who consider it a fairy tale. [...]
A successful competitive archer I know once commented that the task of shooting a bow accurately is more mental than physical. She contended that most people can quickly learn the physical processes of shooting, but that training one’s mind to perform those functions with a high level of consistency is the true challenge. [...]
“Take my wife hunting? I go hunting to get away from my wife!” Few comments about hunting make my skin crawl as much as that one. Perhaps “Women don’t belong in hunting camp!” would edge it out on the Chauvinist Pig Top Ten List, but not by much. While I try not to [...]
Most folks have heard the term “gap shooting,” but some confusion remains about its meaning. In a general sense it refers to using the tip of the arrow as an aiming reference by coming to full draw and visually placing it below what you want to hit. There are many ways to do [...]
One of the wonderful things about barebow archery is the creativity it allows with respect to aiming. Without sight pins, your options are restricted only by your imagination. Even though many discussions on aiming systems give the impression we’re examining highly contrasting ideas, the differences are usually very subtle. For the most part, [...]
With my 14 year-old daughter now beginning her journey as a bowhunter, I often find myself contemplating how things have changed since I was her age. Back then tree stand safety simply meant you didn’t sit on dead limbs—no safety harnesses, manufactured portable tree stands, climbing sticks, et cetera. One of my favorite [...]
One evening I was at an archery club when a local coach asked me to work with one of his up and coming adult barebow shooters. We’ll call her Janet. He pointed her out and commented on certain elements of her form that were excellent, yet her accuracy at twenty yards was quite [...]
