Just for Fun!

[Cameron Unruh]

#5667

I set out to have a little fun this evening with some personal competition and I thought it might be fun to see if anyone wants to join in…

I set up the following target at exactly 15 yards and shot 45 shots and recorded the following stats. My purpose was simply to see what my percentage of kill shot is from 15 yards and later I will do the same thing from 20 and see what happens. This is with no warm up…starting cold.

7″ dia. outer ring

2.75″ center ring

45 shots at the target from 15 yards…

6 misses outside the 7″ ring – 13.5% miss on a absolute kill shot.

39 hits inside the 7″ ring – 86.7% absolute kill shot.

16 hits inside the center 2.75″ ring – 35.5% I am calling heart shot for fun.

Of course this does not take into account all the conditions of the hunt…but it was fun and gives me something to beat. I am wierd this way the best competition is against myself.

[Doc Nock]

#43265

First, let me say that in my opinion, that isn’t a weird thing to have done…

Second, if I shot 45 shots, I’d not be able to move the next day and likely wouldn’t make it thru 45 shots at one time… the danged Arty Ritis got flamed up back on statin’s for cholesterol. This gotta stop!

Third, next time, you might score them as first 3, and then in groups of 3 to see how much you “improve” as you warm up???

[Cameron Unruh]

#43274

Doc – good input.

Actually I was shooting three shots at a time and five rounds and scoring each three shots. I do 5 rounds to get my big overall score. But I am tracking my best 5 round totals as well. So far tonight my best 5 round total is 61. Center ring is 5 then 4 then 3…the area I count as a miss is still 2 points.

What I find that I like about this kind of practice is that every shot is purposful as compared to some of my practice that is not as focused. Plus I just plain get fired up when I hit the center ring with all three shots of the round!

[Doc Nock]

#43284

What amazes me over the years, is that I can lay off for a week due to health or weather and then go out, and shot lights out for the first 5-6 shots!

I don’t know if it’s the pain issue starts to set in, fatigue or I get “bored” and don’t concentrate as hard.

Yet on a 3D course, I get plumb tired and start to fall apart if I shoot a lot of targets. Bigger groups cuttin up and taking turns really helps…

Archery sure is a mental game, eh?! 🙂

[jason samkowiak]

#43395

That is a great idea!

I do something sort of like it and i tell ya it makes a huge difference.

What i do is when im practicing if i make a bad shot i have to stop everything and sit for 3 minutes. kind of like time out…lol

It works great and really makes me concetrate as i dont want to waste time sitting around.

[James Harvey]

#43692

I like it Cameron, like an NFAA 300 round. But I like your ‘scoring’ system.

Jim

[Cameron Unruh]

#43894

Jim – I have never participated in any type of target comp. And the reason I started doing this was to build confidence in my shot and to measure improvement – plus it is just fun for me to shoot knowing every shot counts. At 15 yards I am in the kill zone 87% of the time. I want to move that to 95 to 100%. I am anxious today to move out to 20 yards and measure my accuracy. I have all of the Masters of the Bare Bow DVD’s and one guy made the comment that if you want to improve your hunting shot join a club and shoot target in comp.

[Doc Nock]

#43958

I could react (rather than respond) to the target issue, but won’t.

Your thread and Jason’s comments made me think way back. I met a guy who never hunted but with a bow…20 yrs when I met him.

I watched him shoot. Every shot, his follow thru either flicked his ear lobe or tapped his shoulder. Finally, I asked him what the heck that was about.

He blushed. Never had anybody pick up or at least ask. If he had a good release and follow thru, he tapped his shoulder on follow thru of release hand. If he KNEW he’d not done what he should, he’d flick is draw hand on his ear lope as a “spanking”.

Not a 3 minute “time out” but it worked for him.

I tend to focus on one aspect of a shot and really try to drill down on that… hand placement / tension; draw finger tension; follow thru…

I did cut back on the # of arrows so I have to take time and walk and pull between a few shots. I like what I’m reading here.

Accountability is so critical. One mentor tells me that if you measure accuracy by on-target results “at range” you’ll never improve. His “thing” is to “work the bale” and focus on form and follow thru… then bridge.

Man, that is HARD to give up seeing where you hit at field range! 😯

[James Harvey]

#44166

Cameron wrote: Jim – I have never participated in any type of target comp. And the reason I started doing this was to build confidence in my shot and to measure improvement

Cameron, I have never shot at a round target comp either 😉 But I saw a very impressive archer talking up the NFAA 300 as a means for just what you’re saying, where every shot counts for something in practice and you have measurable improvement AND measurable breakdown throughout the practice, so you’re fighting physical and mental fatigue.

I particularly like the way you’re scoring though as it makes that kind of practice a bit more directly relevant to our endeavours. Rather than simply adding up numbers.

Jim

[Doc Nock]

#44245

I KNOW I’m old, but I guess now I have to add “Fuddy duddy” to that!

Every person I know who started down the “competition” trail, that was mostly interested in hunting, ended up experiencing one form or another of Target Panic!

That tidbit freaks me out!:shock:

I try to train my brain (???) to shoot for the heart so if an animal drops, it still gets the mid-lung area. I refuse to shoot for the 12 ring on a 3D. I don’t want to confuse my poor li’l brain in a high stress hunting situation by having to do something DIFFERENT…

So, yeah…I’m a fuddy dud!

[Cameron Unruh]

#44307

I am having fun with this and I like the tracking of %’s but nothing beats stump shooting for practice that simulates the hunt. In hunting you don’t have 45 trys. You get one shot. Having said that I just finished three series of 5 rounds three shots each from 20 yards and here are my results…not as good as I expected.

30 absolute kill shots inside the 7″ ring

9 of the 30 were heart shots inside the 2 3/4″ ring

15 shots were just a hair outside the 7″ ring…if 2 inches is equivalant to a hair. So I dropped from 87% kill shots at 15 yards to 67% kill shots at 20 yards. It is still a dead deer 30 times out of 45 and technically the misses were still hits just not great placement. I think this encourages me to get within 15 yards.

After all that I turned around and hit a Arizona Ice Tea can at 30 yards. Go figure…That is why I entitled this thread…Just for Fun!

[grumpy]

#44312

Interisting Cam. I like the idea of your scoring system, just a bit more complicated than I would like. Since I am still recovering from sholder surgery, I’m only shooting 6 arrows at a session (at least a cup of tea between sessions). Accuracy is still inconsistant. I’m thinking my accuracy is better when I “Go out to kill some styrofoam.” than I just go out for “Target practice.” Thus, it may be a good idea to record if/who/what I’m pissed off at along with the score. Then when I go hunting I know who/what to visulize when I’m shooting at game.

[Doc Nock]

#44361

Reading back over this thread, Cameron, it’s come a bit clearer to me that the old saw, “To each his own” plays in here.

Numbers don’t lie! You have found a very interesting and challenging way to experience and interpret your shooting quality.

Others have reported the same, yet it seems you’ve given us each a renewed desire to “see how we do” in one form or another instead of just flinging arrows and forgetting the bad ones and remembering the good ones.

When I think about most of my “practice” I’m reminded of a story I read of some guy who was at a family 3D trad shoot.

There was a kid’s range and one of the parents announced they would stay behind and “chaperone” the kids so the other parents could do a round on the mountain.

Story continues that when the guy comes back, his 10 yr old has one of the most beautiful 12 arrow groups he’s ever seen and in amazement, asks his son, “how did you get that beautiful group, Son?”

The kid shrugs and says, “Easy, Dad, I just left the good ones in and kept pulling and re-shooting the bad ones till they were good!“

I’ve never forgot that story. 😀 I think that is how mentally at least I tend to remember any given practice session.

After your good example, Cameron, I’m motivated to want to do a wee bit better than that…and keep tabs and perhaps even records…even if it’s just a small notebook with the # of shots taken and the number of kill shots on my Ames Pillow target with a deer painted on each side!

Thank you!

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