WILL I EVER SHOOT MY LONGBOW AGAIN?

[jerry]

#6300

HI EVERYONE AT CAMPFIRE FORUM. I SURE WOULD APPRECIATE IF ANYONE WOULD HELP ME WITH MY TARGET PANIC. I’VE BEEN BATTLING THIS MENTAL MONSTER JUST A LITTLE BIT TOO LONG. I’VE BEEN SHOOTING THIS WAY WAY OVER 15YRS. I SHOT IN COMPETITION OR JUST FUN SHOOT. SOME OF MY FRIENDS KNOW THAT I’M PRESSURED BY THE MENTAL MONSTER. I’VE MADE MORE BAD SHOTS THAN GOOD SHOTS. I’VE BEEN RELUCTANT FROM GOING TO ANY COMPETITIONS IT HAS BEEN OVER 5YRS NOW. EVEN FOR FUN, WHEN SOMEONE MENTIONS “LET’S HAVE A FUN SHOOT THIS AFTERNOON” I START SHAKING ALREADY, JUST MENTIONING FUN SHOOT. IT’S SO BAD LAST OCTOBER I DELIVERED A QUIVER OF ARROWS AT A GROUSE. I TOUCH FEATHERS EVERY TIME BUT NO GROUSE ON MY ARROWS. I GOT TARGET PANIC SO BAD I JUST COULD NOT STOP SHAKING. WELL THAT DID IT. SINCE LAST NOVEMBER I NEVER SHOT AN OTHER ARROW. THE SADDEST PART IS, I JUST LOVE TRADITIONAL ARCHERY SO MUCH THAT IT STOPS ME FROM ENJOYING ARCHERY; THAT IS SO SAD.

I’VE TRIED EVERYTHING UNDER GOD’S BLUE HEAVEN, BUT TO NO AVAIL. ALSO I SHOULD STRESS MY BIGGEST PROBLEM IS WHEN SOMEONE IS WATCHING ME SHOOT. I JUST CANNOT PULL THE BOW BACK BECAUSE SOMEONE IS WATCHING ME SHOOT. I SHAKE SO BAD I JUST CANNOT PULL THE BOW BACK TO MY ANCHOR POINT. I JUST BOUGHT A BRAND-NEW HOWARD HILL LONGBOW. WILL I EVER SHOOT MY LONG BOW AGAIN? IF ANY ONE CAN HELP ME I SURE WOULD APPRECIATE IT VERY MUCH. THANKS.

OH YEA, I’VE EVEN STARTED SHOOTING LEFT HANDED. IT HELPED SOME BECAUSE I’M LEFT EYE DOMINANT SHOOTING RIGHT HAND. NOT THE BEST THING TO DO; SO I SWITCHED TO LEFT HAND BECAUSE OF AN ARTICLE FRED ASBELL HAD IN TBM MAGAZINE…IT SURE HELPED A LOT…BUT I STILL HAVE THE MENTAL MOSTER WITH ME. ANYONE WHO WANTS TO HELP ME, I WOULD APPRECIATE HELP FROM ANYONE. THANKS. YOU CAN REACH ME AT JERRY DUPLESSIS, 815 EEL RIVER RD, BAIE-STE-ANNE NB CANADA E9A1M1

[Lunar-tic]

#50189

I do not claim to know a whole lot, but I would like to offer you a couple of tips that work for me. First I would move up close, like 5-yards or so. Then I would close my eyes, and practice coming to full draw, with a good solid anchor. After doing that a couple of times, open your eyes pick a spot and release. Making sure you concentrate on a good follow thru. I believe the follow thru is one of the most important links to accuracy. Also when my brother and I started to develop the panic our dad would have us just shoot into a dirt bank instead of at the target. It helped us just to relax and concentrate on our form. I hope this will be some help to you. Nothing is worth giving up something you love to do. Stick it out you will conquer this.

[rod&bow]

#51163

Jerry, the suggestions TIC has made are good. There’s also a few things I’ve learned. I got a longbow about 1-1/2 years ago, after shooting a compound for four years with pretty good success, both on targets and deer.
As TIC said, shoot close and concentrate on form and repeating your motions and anchor point exactly every time.
Along with that, what has helped me is something I do with my eyes. Like you, I’m a RH shooter but am slightly left eye dominant. As I reach full draw and anchor, I visually sight up and down the shaft and to the target, I guess doing some mental calculation. Only takes a second or so at full draw.
My bow hand is very relaxed, and when I release, I try to hold my position with both arms until the arrow reaches the target. Doing these things as really improved my consistency to a solid 15 yards, and when I can do this to 20 yards, again, with consistency, I feel I’ll be ready to hunt deer with my longbow. Won’t risk a bad shot and wounded animal until then. Good luck!

[Ralph]

#52424

I’m going to have to try what worked for me once before cause I’m starting to have the heebee geebees again shooting 3D’s and such. I would try to mentally put a spot on the other side of the kill on a 3D animal and try to shoot through the animal at that imaginary spot. If I really worked on that I never got stupid about the kill on the target. Worked then but now the panic is creeping back so I’ll try it again. I also gotta quit worrying about shooting like so and so says to shoot and go back to my comfort zone. I used to be in the top 5 pretty much everywhere I went doing my thing but doing the “proper” thing ain’t working for me. I finally decided phooey, there’s my proper, your proper, his proper and so on. There are things to not do for sure like plucking and throwing bow arms (big no, no’s), like somebody said, follow through and that don’t include those other bad habits. Good luck to you and all of us who have this problem. The answer may be to quit worrying about it and just shoot.

[Grizz]

#57618

R2 thanks for the idea of imagining a spot on the other side!There is a great article in TBM this issue written by John Vargo it has tonnes of ideas and the ultmate idea on how to shoot a bow if your going through the problems alot of us have.Keep trying brother anything this good is worth the effort

[Longbow55]

#59020

If you shoot rt handed, try shooting a lt handed bow for awhile, if you can find one. Give your brain a rest. Shoot it for a month. Then switch back to your bow and see if this helps. Read somewhere that it has helped some people, or they would get good enough shooting with the opposite hand they would just stick with it. The brain problems your having right handed will not affect you shooting opposite handed.

[MontanaFord]

#24125

Jerry,

I won’t say that I know what you’re going through, because I’ve never been there. I don’t think that I’ve ever truly experienced target panic. I used to have a terrible time with my accuracy, though, and realized that I was not using the “push-pull” to end my shot. I would sloppily draw to my anchor, and let fly. Without tension in my body, I found the bow jerking my form around upon release. When I started focusing on my “push-pull”, my release became smoother, and my accuracy got a lot better. Perhaps if you focus yourself on reaching your “push-pull”, it will help you out. I don’t know. Just a thought. Good luck with your problem, and if anything comes to mind or I run across any advice, I’ll drop a post on here.

MontanaFord

[JDinCO]

#27340

I always like to go on a good bow hike and do some stump shooting. Just relax with your bow and enjoy the land. Give yourself a whole new perspective.

[Danny Klee]

#43308

I have read many books and watched many tapes and DVD’s about instinctive shooting. I would suggest you buy the book; Instinctive Archery Insights by Jay Kidwell. In it he devotes and entire chapter about target painc. It was the best reading about the subject that I have read. It helped me tremendously. Good Luck.

Dan

[Author]

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