Lilhunter

Hey Don,

The guy I went on my elk hunt lives in your neck of the woods somewhere. His name, Dan Bisone. I'll email him for ya, and maybe you two can hook up. He is a diehard bow hunter and does it with a recurve.

I think there is more at play then just shooter error here. Many search for the perfect bow, few search very far for the perfect arrow!
Also being able to dedicate a ton of time to it is another factor. You cant shoot a couple days a month, really hit it hard july and aug and expect to be the next Byron, it just wont happen.

Gap, point of aim shooting can help you. Once you get good with it you wont rely on it as much more see the arrow but concentrate on the target (or Hills style of shooting split vision). After that it all goes. You need to calibrate your brain and zero out from time to time. If not its garb in garb out. Even if its good after awhile or a slight lay off things go astray. Back to re calibrating. There is a reason the good guys shoot almost daily. After many years of this they can lay off for days or even weeks and still go back and hit asprins.

I'd hate to see someone give up something they enjoy so much for it is in these things we find peace of mind. Without them life goes on almost meaningless. Be it family, church, work, bow hunting or archery, fly fishing, the list could go on and on.

Last but not least dont count yourself out cuz you cant break nocks at 20 yards. I have killed 2 animals at mere feet, 2 less then 12 steps, 1 at 15 yards. Getting close is why I bowhunt. I would assume its the same for you. So if ya only feel comfortable shooting 10 yards, shoot only 10 yards. Put that stand up in a position where you'll get your 10 yard shot. Sometimes we can make things harder then they seem (perfectionists if you will). But in all reality its that easy. We dont take up the sport for the amount of game we kill. Its obvious that shotgun and rifle hunters can stack up some impressive numbers for the limited amount of time they can hunt.

Last but not least I respect your desicion immensly as very very few are truthful enough with themselves to do this. Not hunt, most will go and shoot 20 yards anyways giving themselves and the sport a bad name. I'll share a campfire any day with ya with whatever weapon you choose to roam with.

WFL\KY

Don, Man I hate to see ya give it up ! Here's some food for thought. A 10" group at 20 yds. is still a good kill shot. If you shoot for middle of kill zone that means that you are off by 5 " either way . That is still a killing shot . I bet your group at 15 yds. is smaller than that ! 90 % of the deer I have ever killed have been 15 yds. or closer.


Something else to think about, you don't shoot groups at animals. Who cares what your groups are . Hang in there man !


Bill Leslie

lamb1647

Don,

Do you want to use your stick for hunting? Or for 3-D shoots? If for hunting, practice one shot groups. One shot is all you are going to get.

If you shoot one shot groups, and focus on each and every shot, I think you will find your group tightening up! And as has already been noted, determine that range where you have 100% confidence and setup your bushwhack at that range and don't shoot at anything at a greater distance.

Bill

Praise the Lord, He is worthy

JoseD

Don,
plenty of good advice here. Hopefully you can try out a few different things and get together with Lil Hunter's buddy. I would recommend trying Lamb's suggestion for shooting one arrow groups. That is how I practice and I practice often. You can often find me in insulated coveralls and hood shooting outside in the dead of winter here in Ohio provided snow isn't blowing. Practice has paid off and I have taken rabbit, a squirrel, and a couple of whitetail doe with the recurve. And I'm a rookie! LBR and Wahya remember when I first started with a stickbow as I was asking questions on the LW. I started with a used Martin X-200 and then purchased a nice Chek Mate Falcon from LBR. My favorite arrows that do well with my Falcon are carbons by Gold Tip and the Vapor Carbonwoods. I love to hunt with the recurve and was fortunate and blessed to be able to kill a nice doe last October for the freezer. Hope you hang in there.
Jose/aka Strongbow

Holy moly, its cold here in Ohio!

DoninVa

Thanks for all the great advice. Yall are some great dudes. I will try some of your suggestions. I only shoot 3D's to get ready to hunt. I try to shoot every day I'm not at work. I shoot year round. I guess I get discouraged when I go out in the yard with the new Bowtech and shoot 2" groups at 20 yards one after the other and then when I pick up the curve 2 shots in the dot and the rest 4" left -right-up-down.I have put a lot of time into trad. practice but I haven't got to the point where I know I can make that shot. As I said, my shots at game come few and far between and I need to know I can make it count when the opportunity presents itself. Thanks again for the support, it means ALOT. Don

traarcher63

Don, my man I fully understand were you comeing from. Been there myself to a time or two. But it sounds like to me that the bug has a hold on you just like the rest of us. And I hate to see you give up on shooting and hunting with trad. equipment. I agree with the others find someone that can really help you out, there's someone you can. My help came from two places one is I bought a tape by Paul Bunner a man respect a great deal that tape is INSTINCTIVE SHOOTING and second tape witch has is wife in it, and by the way as far as Im concern she has the perfect shooting from, watch the tape and you will see what I mean. Second I needed glasses lol. What Im saying here is this, some were down the road you may end up regretting your decision. Besides a 10 inch group is good but I do understand you wont to be better and theres nothing wrong with that.Dont quit useing a trad. bow becsuse of a 10 inch group.Look at the trad. bows you have now, can you realy go back to a compound from now on and only shoot Trad. bow once in while? From me my frist bow was a old Ben person recurve then shoot compound for number years and for the last five years been shoothing trad. bows again. I come full circle. What ever final decision you make me and the others respect that, just remember what I said about later down the road. Your fellow archer Charles Richards

JRW

Don,

Been there, done that. I got to a point with instinctive shooting many years ago where I had peaked...and it wasn't good enough IMO. I shoot with some guys who are just flat-out frightening instinctive shooters, but I wasn't at that level and probably never would be. And things only got worse in the woods.

After much deliberation, and fighting with myself, I tore everything down and started over. Different hold, different anchor, and gap shooting. Yes, it felt strange at first and my consistency was worse. Like any change though, it takes time for it to feel right. Eventually things worked out fine and I've never shot better.

Yes, I still maintain some instinctive shooting, but it's mostly for bowfishing and other close-range fast shots (spitting distance). Anything at about 10 yards or more I gap shoot.

This is the perfect time of the year to make a change. Deer season's a long way off and you've got plenty of time to play around.

JRW

CT Bowhunter

Don't leave<img src=icon_smile_sad.gif border=0 align=middle>. I haven't been shooting Trad that long, but I find it more rewarding than Compounds. Yeah so I can't put 6 arrows into the size of a quater at 30 yards like I use to. I found that talking to different people about shooting, I've found little suggestions to changes in my form and/or technique that have made some surprising changes. Not all will work, but some will. I think it would be a good thing to have someone look or shoot with you for awhile. Might find something that helps tighten up those groups. Remember, if you think you can't shoot better groups you won't!!!!

john nail

Nothing wrong with gap shooting. Howard Hill said he knew a lot of instinctive archers, but he didn;t know a good one. I shoot instinctive, but it's because I can't see the goofy arrow point closer than 30 yards.

Your life is made of time, not money.

Brian_L

Haha John Nail, it's funny you should mention that because I've never been able to clearly see the arrow point myself. I would like to incorporate some indirect aiming techniques into my shooting yet I've never been able to see the point well enough to put it on/above/below the target. What I've thought about doing is just using a gap style method at much longer distances and instinctive closer in. For those of you that do gap, how the heck to you get a clear picture of your point??? Woops, Sorry DonV, I've invaded your thread with my shooting woes.