I shoot 3-4 times a week indoors at 20 yards and also shoot a 3 spot league which adds a little pressure. Then on the weekends I try and get out at least once to the outdoor 3-d course at our club. It has really worked, but takes a lot of time. I have only been at this for about a year but the results have been awesome.
Here are the biggest things I've learned, maybe one or two will help you:
1- make sure that anchor point on your face, ear or jaw is IDENTICAL evey shot. Without this, your groups can never be tight.
2-"knock tune" your arrows. By this I mean, put a name or number on every arrow and shoot it. Track which ones group well and which ones fly left or right. Usually a few arrows have a mind of their own. At this point, I start turning the knock in the shaft at 1/8" intervals and shoot the bad ones again, often the **** vane is lined up with the seam in the shaft and it effects the spine orientation. I can get most to group by tuning this way.
3- of course you want to make sure that each arrow is exactly the same in length, fletching, and point. Any difference will change flight.
4- Don't judge your practice session by number of arrows, judge it by how you feel. I used to hammer away at 100+ arrows and make sight adjustments all the while. All I was doing is chasing a spot that was hindered by fatigue. Don't make sight adjustments when you tired. I have learned that 15 good quality shots are better than ripping off 50 half ass efforts. This also breeds confidence.
5-Make sure you don't jerk your trigger. Just like shooting a rifle, make sure you squeeze the trigger slowly and get to the point where you are surprised when it goes off. To help, I have got a good drill. Draw, get your pin on target and close your eyes, concentrate on squeezing the trigger very slowly till it goes off. It's amazing how you'll feel every millimeter of the creep with your eyes shut. I started doing this at 10 yards, and now feel confident doing it at 20. When you have excellent form, you'll find your closed eye shots are almost as good as your open eyed shots.
6- Make sure you have a good stabilizer. I found that the farther away from the riser the weight was, the more steady my shot. The basic principal being that the heavier the stabilizer, the more movement it will take to bounce around. I use the simms 3 piece stabilizer and put a doinker chubby on the end of that. It winds up being right around 9 inches and it really helps.
6- last and most obvious, make sure your bow is in tune. Its worth the effort to get it into a pro shop and have everything line up. No sense shooting soemthing that will never shoot to your expectations.
Stir up a little competition with friends, get used to taking thos pressure shots, especially from different positions. have a blast!
?America is a great country, the harder you work the luckier you get.?
five_point_buck
AKA Larry Pasero Jr.
