Shooting methods

[Hiram]

#3639

There are many ways to aim a Bow. The way you aim is relevant only to how you do it to achieve the goal, which is to hit the mark you have established.
Instinctive, POA, Gap, Split vision, split gap, stringwalking, facewalking etc.
I propose that one statement holds true no matter how you aim.
Form is the foundation of any aiming method! One must attain it to achieve accuracy. I believe it (accuracy}is only relative to your objective. In other words, If you are a Bowhunter, this is the goal, to kill animals quickly, and efficiently. The vital area of the game you hunt should be the goal and beyond. I would recomend your goal be at least half the size, or smaller than the vital area measured approximate of the animal. This gives you a better reference to gauge your effective range.Now calculate the variables you may encounter while hunting(shot angles and positions) according to this measurement.
Why is form the prerequisite to accuracy? Well one word, consistency,If it is the same each time, the results can be calculated both in accuracy and result. I suggest that: Your form no matter how you do it, and no matter how you aim, is the most important aspect of achieving hunting accuracy! Thoughts? on what form is? What do you think proper form is? Discussion!

[Steve Sr.]

#22203

While perhaps there is indeed only one “proper form” taught by the majority of the instructors, there still is at least a few variations of form. Not being clones of one another we do nothing “exactly” alike.

IMHO, there is one and only one item of which that must be, absolutely MUST be, present in any of them…

Consistancy.

Regardless of what “aiming” method used, even SIGHTS, whatever the person’s preferred form, consisting of at least but not limited to, solid consistant anchor, sight picture, and follow through, all must be consistant for consistant results. Some will even contend that stance, cant of the bow, how much and/or if the shooter leans forward, etc, etc also must be consistant, however from a hunter’s perspective I feel those can vary……at least for my form and for me at hunting distances.

An example is a good friend of mine.

While NOT a good “form” he has, for decades, pulled past his SHOOTING draw length and lets up about an inch RIGHT before release.

Not good and scary as heck watching and I (and he as well) feel the performance of his set up does suffer in some arrow speed loss……yet he does it so consistantly he shoots well. NO, I don’t think he shoots as well as he could if he didn’t have this habit, yet he does it with such consistancy and his arrows are tuned FOR that in his release that he has taken more bucks and more BIG bucks with a bow, any kind of bow, than anyone I know personally.

No one would deliberately TRY to learn this “form”. The only point is that consistancy is the main single mandatory part of any repeatedly accurate shot and while a POOR form, he can consistantly succeed in repeating it.

That said, the proper form of consistant anchor,good back tension, release and solid follow through is by far, in my book, the easiest to learn and master.

While only true maybe for me, I will share this.

Not having anyone else in my family shooting a bow. I was self “taught” in my youth. What a disaster!! 😯

Somehow, snap shooting, dropping my bow arm, poor back tension all became part of my “form” mostly derived from my young ego refusing to admit I didn’t need the heaviest bow around.

Years later, that same idiocy convinced me to find out “how much I could pull” and the single good thing that came from that was that by pulling increasingly heavier and heavier bows to the point of lunacy, I did discover that “normal” bows were then “easier” to shoot.

It wasn’t until that point that I took at good look at my form and didn’t like what I saw at all.

From that point on it was mastering ONE single part of good form at a time. It was a consistant fight of habit against conscious effort and it took me a long time to get rid of all the bad habits developed in my youth.

For anyone starting out in archery I offer some heart felt advice.

Shoot WELL first……shoot MORE later when you find good form is a steady and consistant part of your shooting. To this day, I hunt with a bow HALF the draw weight I can pull. Pulling and shooting a bow well are two entirely different things yet time and time again I see people in bow shops picking a bow by “if they can pull it”.

Others here are MUCH more experienced and involved in shooting form and technique that I could ever hope to be. Never too old to learn, I too will drop back in to see what they have to say.

An excellent thread, BTW.

God Bless.
Steve Sr.

[Hiram]

#22290

I’m glad to hear that we agree on consistency as the the primary reason we either do, or do not shoot well. Proper form may come in variety of stances and platforms for the particular task at hand (Olympic or Bowhunter) or just the casual shooter. I could surmise that a Bowhunters form could be built in by the same fundamentals (basics) from that of an Olympic archer, but adaptations from a flat ideal and controlled enviroment would have to be made to introduce these fundamentals into the Bowhunters needs in the field.
The use of sights would probably not be a priority for most Bowhunters using traditional equipment. Not to say that sights are bad, just to say that most of us do not want to use them because we know they are not neccessary for accurate shooting on game. Variations as to the basic fundamentals may change according to our needs but, I believe many are “self taught” as you mentioned Steve, and have integrated this into a deeply ingrained system which would be very hard for them to change after doing it their way so long and taking game with their “style of shooting a Bow”. I’m of the opinion that while I know how I think it should be done, and have an attitude that form and aiming methods can be always evolving into more progressive shooting, I also believe that there is no “cut in stone” way of shooting a Traditional Bow. I would say though that if we “Older guys” would have had the materials available that we all have today, we could have been saved a lot of the hours it took us to go through the mistakes of learning what works, and does not work for accurate and attainable skills within a reasonable time period. DVD”S and magazine articles are more available today, than even in the early 90″s when I started getting away from compounds. This forum is a prime example of the wealth of information we have today.

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