Bow Hunting Practice
By Paul Moore
Successfully taking an animal with archery gear depends on many factors. Obviously, one of the most important of these is being able to make an accurate shot when it counts. Far too many bowhunters are unprepared when the moment of truth arrives.
Practice sessions are when habits are developed which will lead to success or failure at the crucial time. Repetition of a perfect shot must be engrained upon the shooter’s mind so when the excitement and anxiety of “buck fever” arrives, the shot comes as a natural extension of habit. An old bowhunter once told me, “I practice and practice and practice until shooting that bow becomes second nature for me. When a deer comes into range, I don’t want to have to ‘think’ about a thing when I raise that bow. If you practice properly and often enough, you won’t have to worry about hand position, anchor point, and all that – it will just happen instinctively.”
For that to happen though, practice sessions must be performed diligently and correctly. Improper practice can feed bad habits and actually lessen the chance of success. Proper practice sessions become even more important as it gets closer to opening day.
Everyone has heard the phrase “practice makes perfect.” Well, that’s not entirely true. It is entirely true that proper practice helps develop the direction toward perfect shooting. However, improper practice helps develop a course set on failure.
Shooting form is the starting point for every practice session. Once a shooter develops a personal shooting style that works, it should be kept exactly consistent at every practice. It does no good to shoot high wrist one session and then hold the bow different the next time. One can’t anchor at one location on a particular day and then allow the string to creep the next. Foot position, elbow bend, and other elements of the shot must be consistent every time.
This doesn’t just apply to day to day practice. From the start of a practice session to the end, everything must be kept correct in order not to develop bad habits. Many people attempt to practice too long at one time. As muscle fatigue sets in, mistakes start creeping into the shot sequence. A short practice session with every shot performed with perfect execution is far more beneficial than a long session which ends with poor shooting form and widespread shot groups.
One of the best things a shooter can do is slow down during practice. Whether shooting alone or with others, it’s easy to get caught up in shooting one arrow right after another. By slowing down and taking ample time with each shot, the shooter can better concentrate on every step of the shot sequence and learn to develop a dedicated repetition to each and every shot. This is what helps build that “second nature” that is vitally important when the adrenaline is pumping during the hunt.
The mental part of shooting a bow is one of the most important aspects. Obviously, strength, muscle tone, and other factors come into play, but without the proper mindset all the other factors are moot. There should be a mental checklist of steps throughout the shot sequence. By repeating these with every shot, consistency is developed.
Along with shooting form, the shot sequence itself is of critical importance. Never underestimate the value of each shot. Each and every shot builds on the shot before and collectively these individual shots make us into the shooter we become whether good, bad, or somewhere in between.
Aiming is one of the most important functions of the shot. Learning to aim without developing a complex about it is difficult for some. One must learn to aim intently, but not become stressed about it to the point of creating target panic.
Centering the pin is the key to consistency. Don’t be satisfied with drifting the pin over the target and releasing. Center the pin in the site window and also in the center of the target. Then learn to hold steady and release smoothly.
Follow-through is just as important. Hold steady and follow-through every single shot. If fatigue causes the bow arm to start dropping, it’s time to stop the practice session.
Bowhunters have a lot of pressure when faced with a shot in the wild – especially if the target is a much-coveted trophy-quality animal. Blowing the shot when a quality whitetail or other animal is in range is devastating to the hunter. But, by maximizing every single practice session to its fullest extent, the bowhunter can develop the repetition of a perfect shot to the point of putting the odds in his or her favor even in the midst of “buck fever.”
Notice how words such as consistency and repetition seem to be repeated repetitiously throughout this piece. That has been done deliberately. If there’s only one thing remembered from this writing, it should be that repetition and consistency are the keys to developing good shooting.
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Paul Moore, of Henderson, KY, is an avid outdoorsman and very active in bowhunting/archery. He’s taken 10 different big game species with a bow. He’s a member of several bowhunter’s associations and outdoor writer’s associations. He’s claimed my writing awards. Moore can be reached at
psmoore@henderson.net.
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