atlasman

I am a VERY detail focused person. I don't like to leave ANYTHING to chance. Close enough is not in my vocabulary. Good enough is never good enough.

3 years ago when my brothers and I got bows we all shot like crazy. Eventually I was the best shot of the 3 and then my oldest brother was a close second. My older brother had lame equipment that held him back.

My older brother now has my old bow and he has really dedicated the off season to improving his shooting and man he has done a great job. The new bow helped him a ton but the hours of practice is what really paid off.

I consider myself more then good enough to be lethal out to 30-35 yards and practice regularly in my yard with broadheads from a ladder stand in full hunting clothes in all weather conditions. I won't shoot in the woods past 20 yards which I would consider in my slam dunk range. If I miss from 20 and in I will be pretty upset.

My oldest brother has seemingly fallen off the wagon. He has barely shot his bow this year and not much more last year. He just doesn't seem to shoot unless we mention it to him and then he kinda comes along and shoots for a couple minutes and leaves. He gets discouraged and irritable because now he is the worst shot of us 3 and he used to be able to keep up with me and be better then bro 2. He has resorted to moving his sight around CONSTANTLY because he refuses to admit that his skills have eroded and that is what is really to blame.

He came over the other day to shoot and airmailed my bag target twice from 20 yards with fieldpoints!!! Once he settled down and shot a few marginal groups at best he strapped on a broadhead and let her fly. While it wasn't horrible it sure wasn't great either..........couple inches high........couple low.......one left......one right. Just not consistent at all.

I mentioned to him that he was not doing very well and he should have shot more and shouldn't have waited until the last minute. He didn't take this tough love very well and we kinda argued for a little while and he left on not so great terms.

We are all going hunting this weekend (NY Opener) and I'm not trying to be a jerk to him but he really should be better prepared to go hunting. I already know what is gonna happen........like some magical force the deer will be drawn to the guy that is least prepared and we are gonna end up wasting our weekend on our hands and knees looking for blood drops due to a poorly placed shot..........hopefully he will just miss and not wound anything.

I don't know what to do.........he is 40 years old and I can't tell him what to do but man he needs to get his head on straight and stop acting like this is a competition between us 3.

Any thoughts on how I can get his butt in gear before we leave in 4 days??


If not I am just praying that luck is on his side because he is gonna need it when he draws back in a full jacket......up a tree.......in thick woods.......with a live animal in his sights........and all he has to rely on is 20 minutes of shooting field tips in a T-shirt weeks ago.


I am cringing just thinking about it

HAZCON7

I could only say to have a little faith in him. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses as well as level of ability and dedication/discipline. You can't force your values onto someone him, they have to be his values because he believes it - not because you do.

Back off until after this weekend hunt is over and see how he performs. just my $0.02

BagginBigguns

Your situation is quite similar to mine. I take pride in the effort that I exert toward being prepared to make a good shot when the time comes. My dad and brother are very similar to your brother that shoots poorly because of lack of preparation. They shoot a few times before the hunt and then call it good, regardless of where their arrows are hitting the target. Thankfully my dad doesn't do much hunting. My brother does a fair share though, and by my standard has no business drawing on a deer. I've tried to coach him a little but he never puts the time in to become even remotely consistent. The best thing I can do at this point is tell him to limit hos range to 15 yards. Perhaps if you make that same suggestion and are willing to do the same (lead by example) your brother will be less likely to wound, regardless of his ability.

Good luck.

mr4pt

My buddy is like that. I can shoot circles around him and he shoots alot. His practice groups are not even close to acceptable.

When the moment of truth arises, he gets the job done. Beats all I ever saw.

Rangeball

Worry about yourself, you're the only one you can control.

atlasman

If my brother was a sure thing in the woods I wouldn't care...............but he isn't.

He missed twice last year inside 20 yards.

That mess thankfully allowed me to convince him to get a rangefinder.


He is not clueless.........he is just careless. He doesn't put forth the effort needed to be efficient from his stand..........and when things go wrong he blames it on 100 different things.......rather then himself.

I really wouldn't even care if when he screwed up he would just man up about it and say "My fault" or "I need to practice more because I should have made that shot"

That way we could all work together to fix the problem.

atlasman

I know that Range........and you are right.

The only problem is that when he messes up my other brother and I are gonna end up wasting our whole day in the woods trying to hopefully salvage his mess........all the while listening to him make up excuses for why he missed by a foot from 15 yards.

Don't get me wrong.......he is my brother and hunting partner for the last 17 years and I love him to death. I try to help him because I don't want to see him wound an animal and because I don't want to see him heartbroken if he screws up on the deer of a lifetime some day.

He just sees needing help from others as a sign of weakness or something and clams right up............I guess no one wants their little brother showing them how to do something but cmon man.........we aren't kids anymore.



He called me up tonight and said "I am gonna come by Wed night and shoot my broadheads some more because I was at your house today while you were at work and I was all over the place and had to adjust my sights again" This will be his last shooting session before we hit the woods [][:'(][:@]

sunset

If this were a young man say... in his early twenties, then I could see where you might be able to put your 2 cents in.
I love my brother, who is 44, but, I am past trying to teach him anything that he doesn't ask me to teach him.
People will ask when they want to know. Your brother isn't asking. Let him figure it out on his own. He is an adult. You both have your own choices to make. You can't control people. You can only control yourself.
My brother isn't voting for the candidate that I am voting for. I have politely stopped talking to him about my political views on the candidate that I am for. He doesn't want to hear it.
I love my brother, just as you love yours. I try to allow him his free will.
Give your brother breathing room. If he wants your advice. He will ask you for it. Then it will be welcomed advice, more easily received by him.

1TIME

It sounds like he does not have the same practice area available to him. Nor the passion of archery like you do.

atlasman

God that says it all perfectly.


I hope I was clear on the fact that I don't try to force my ways upon him or change him to be more like me. These feelings are mostly kept to myself........my other brother knows and feels the same but we just let him go because you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

He is just the kind of person that waits for things to happen and then complains when they don't.........instead of going out and MAKING them happen.

He will do no scouting all year and then complain that he didn't see any deer..........shoots his gun a couple days before the season if at all and then complains when he misses.


AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH HHH!!!!!!!!


God Bless him..........I couldn't live that way.



Hopefully he will be here awhile on Wed and I will just make sure he is hitting the mark before I let him leave.


If he wasn't my brother I would crack him over the head with my thermos bottle