# Burn out?



## Dan3140 (Jul 28, 2009)

What do you guys do when all day you think about shooting your bow and really look forward to being able to shoot a few shots but after you chuck a few and they don't go exactly where you want them you start to dread it. But instead of stopping you keep shooting and eventually just say forget it and start to wish you had never got the bow out. I am very picky about shooting and like being dead on. So when I start sucking it blows my mind. I don't know what to do because it happens every time I shoot. Any advice?


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## ron w (Jan 5, 2013)

you need to step up to the 10 yard bale and work on your shot execution, as a diversion that will help you with shot placement at 20 yards. most of the top pros, spend most of their "practice time" at the 10 yard bale, because shot execution is the key to hitting X's from the first few shots you take at 20 yards. in competition, they can't have all that warm up time.... 10 shots, and they better be ready to go. working on shot execution is the key to this type of shooting.
I suffered that exact burnout, 6 years ago and pretty much quit shooting until this year. now I spend allot of time at 10 yards and it really does help get those first shots where you want them.


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## mike 66 (Jan 21, 2010)

without seeing you shoot i can only guess........


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## da white shoe (Mar 10, 2009)

Shooting for accuracy is best not over-done. Too much of it is a sure way to burn yourself out.

Mix it up. 
One day, blank bale with one part of your form or shot sequence in mind.
The next, play 10 yard games.
I wouldn't shoot for score more than 2 days a week.


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## [email protected] (Aug 3, 2010)

Somedays ur just off. Put the bow downa and try again later.if you insist on still shooting like the others said do some close range drills.


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## Xtremesportsman (Mar 7, 2007)

Write out a shot sequence and beat it into your head. My coach taped it to the floor 5 yards from my target so that I need to READ it every shot. Over shooting, under shooting, whatever the cause is from, burning out or target panic can ruin your passion of archery. Blank face target shooting from five yards and following a strict shot sequence is finally getting me back in the game. I finally asked a local pro shooter for advise and he has been coaching me. It's a struggle though and don't expect miracles over night. Target Panic didn't set in over night and it's not going away over night. Blank bale, shot sequence, Carter Evolution hinge release for blank bale and the two shot by Carter has been getting me back. And being open minded and listening to the coach has been the key. Unfortunately I started this during two 3D leagues I was already shooting in, so it has made my correction tougher. But it is coming nonetheless. If you can do this for a month without any other shooting, you'll be on your way.


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## da white shoe (Mar 10, 2009)

Dan3140...

Are you having target panic issues... or are you shooting so much that you just don't feel it some days?

You didn't give any details of how you shoot a bow, so maybe this doesn't apply to you, but if you are "locking up" off target... freezing, punching the trigger, 
or struggling to hold a steady sight picture,* this is what you should be working on*....

Your muscles have to be relaxed at full draw... and remain relaxed... in order for your sight pins to be steady. At full draw, your release hand as well as your bow hand, should be completely relaxed. You don't want to be grasping or squeezing the barrel of the release or the grip of your bow handle. Also, do not force either of your hands open. Your fingers should be hanging limp and relaxed. I lightly touch my first finger and my thumb together around the bow handle, but some like to use a wrist sling. Use the bones in your arms and the muscles in your back to draw the bow. Once at full draw, use the same bones and back-muscles to hold as much of the weight of the bow at full draw as you can. Relax every muscle in your arms that you don't need to use to stay at full draw. That goes for the muscles in your shoulders, torso and legs, too. Always remember; it's the tension in your muscles that causes your sights to wobble and jump around. If you can learn to relax everything that isn't needed to hold at full draw, your sight pins will barely even move. Almost like a bench rested rifle! It is very important that your bow is set at the correct draw length. If it is too long... or too short, you will have a very hard time relaxing fully.

.............................. .........THE GRIP.......................... ........................
Before drawing the bow, position your hand on the grip and start pulling with your release hand to put pressure on the string. You are trying to find the exact position for your bow hand to be in. You want to feel all of the pressure from the bow handle on one point of your palm... right from the start of your draw. I have always remembered Randy Ulmer’s description of it. He said to pretend that there is a steel rod running parallel and exactly between the two bones inside your forearm. Where that rod would exit your palm is where this point is. If you find this spot, it will help keep you from torqueing the bow handle. 
Also, if you will rotate the bottom of your bow hand away from the bow a few degrees for your grip, you will clear a path for the bowstring and negate torque at the same time. Learn to find your grip before you draw the bow on every shot, but once you start your draw, do not move your bow hand AT ALL.

.............................. .............................. ...............ANCHOR......... .............................. ..............
There is no universal anchor point that will work for everyone, but there are some things that make a great anchor point. Having at least two solid, easy-to-repeat points of contact with your face is recommended. For instance, the string just touching the end of the nose and a knuckle of the release hand dug in behind the jaw bone. The perfect one would have your head held straight with the rest of your spine, shoulders level, release-side forearm in a straight line with the arrow at full draw and no part of the string in heavy contact with any part of the face.

As long as these things are kept in mind, whatever feels comfortable will be OK, but remember that the higher your anchor is, the lower the peep is in the string. The closer you have the peep to your nock on the string, the lower your sights will have to be. At some point that can make it impossible to shoot at a decent distance... what that distance ends up being depends on the bow and the arrow used.
The main thing to remember is, your anchor is like the rear sight on a rifle... if it's not the same every time... you're probably going to miss a lot. 

.............................. .............................. ............BACK TENSION AND A SURPRISE RELEASE....................... .....................
Using a conscious movement of a finger to trigger the shot is what we’re trying to get away from here. Your finger is loaded with nerve endings. It is much too sensitive and closely tied to your brain. Your mind recognizes a certain sight picture and screams, “NOW!” Your brain is always faster than your reflexes and this method of shooting can be inconsistent... and it can go south in a hurry, leading to target panic!

Flexing a large muscle group to trigger the shot is the answer. In order to use back tension to achieve a surprise release, you must trust the bow, your form and the arrow. In order to become that trusting, your form, concentration and execution have to be very consistent. That takes a lot of work... and enough time and repetition to make it stick! You have to be able to completely focus on the spot you want to hit and let go of control... control of the bow, the sight pin and the moment of release. You’re brain isn’t going to be able to do that without a lot of re-programming! You have to do it in steps and you can’t take any shortcuts.

Learning to give up control is far easier using a back tension release aid. I'm not saying you can't ever use a trigger release to get a surprise release, but it is a lot easier to cheat with a finger-triggered release. After you have mastered this technique, it will be fairly easy to learn to do the same thing with your hunting release. 

With an index-finger triggered release, you will contact the trigger with the pad between the first and second knuckle. Hooking the finger deep over the trigger will keep the sensitive fingertip from taking over.

With a thumb release, you can anchor with the thumb against the side of your face and as you pull through the shot it will naturally increase pressure on it until it goes off. 
To shoot using back tension, you flex or squeeze the release-side muscles of your back... sort of like you are trying to make one shoulder blade touch the other one. To find these muscles, have someone stand facing you while you pretend to hold a bow at full draw. Have them grasp your elbows and try to gently force you to give them a hug while you resist, all the while keeping your arms relaxed. The back muscles you feel resisting are the ones you need to flex to trigger the shot.

............................ ..............THE FOLLOW THROUGH....................... ...............
When you "follow through" after the bow goes off, people say you should try to keep the pin on the target or keep aiming until the arrow hits. I've always felt that that was a bad way to describe it. You can't keep aiming or even see the pin once you shoot. 

What I would say is... keep your T form until you hear the arrow hit, do not drop your bow arm or move your head, stay relaxed and let the bow go where it wants to go without grabbing for it. Good follow through takes practice.


.............................. ..............THE FIRST STEP.......................... ...................
It's tempting to just go right out and try all of this on a target at 20 yards, but DON'T DO IT! When you start trying all of this for the first time, it is very important, and it will speed up the learning process... if you completely eliminate the aiming part of shooting the bow. Work on relaxation and a surprise release before you ever have to worry about aiming. You need to ingrain the feel of the shot process so that it becomes automatic... as in the term, "muscle memory." You do this with your eyes closed at first. 

To get a feel for this, your target needs to be at the same height as your arrow at first. I hang my target from a rafter and stand close, so that the tip of my arrow is about 3 1/2 feet away from the target at full draw. After you reach full draw and have lined everything up, close your eyes, relax and think through every step of the shot. 

.............................. ...............THE FOUNDATION.................... .....................
When that feels VERY comfortable, move to a blank target that is 3 yards away at arrow height and start shooting with your eyes open, but use no spot and try not to aim for a spot on the target... in fact, it would be better to just take the sight off your bow for this step. You have to completely instill the entire shot sequence, (from the draw to the follow through), to the point where you do not have to think about it at all, which takes a lot of repetition... so, you keep on drilling this step until you are ready to die of boredom... something like 3 weeks later... at least 1000 arrows. Only then is it time to learn to do it while aiming.

.............................. ..............AIMING.......... .............................. ..............
To aim, reach full draw with a perfect T form, line up your bubble level, pick the right pin and center it all in the peep. Next, move your whole upper body to get on target. You don't want to just move your arm up and down or side to side. That introduces torque. Your upper body and arms should at all times form a perfect T shape at full draw.
When everything is lined up, start consciously relaxing muscles. Hold the bow back with your back muscles. Start with relaxing your hands and work your way up your arms and through the shoulders. When you've shot this way long enough, you won't have to even think about this step. 
Then go into aiming mode. Your full concentration switches to the spot and only the spot. The pin is blurry and it will still seem to float around the spot, but you need to forget about the pin. You will naturally try to keep it on the spot without even thinking about it. You should be focusing on the spot and nothing else. Keep your concentration while slowly squeezing through the shot, making sure to follow through after the release. 
The first few times the bow goes off, it will scare the heck out of you. Keep at it! You will get used to it... and at the point that you start breaking arrows because they're hitting each other at 30 yards... you'll begin to crave that feeling! Just remember that it's important to never be able to anticipate exactly when the shot will break. You need the surprise... just like a benched down rifle shooter does. No cheating! Focus... concentrate on the spot you want to hit and just squeeze through until the shot breaks.
It defies logic really, but at some point in all of this learning process you will definitely know you are doing it right. How? Because arrow after arrow will keep going dead center of the bull's-eye... even when you know the pin was not on the spot at the time your release triggered... like some kind of Zen-master, ninja jedi! It's cool!


.............................. ....................THE BRIDGE........................ .............................. ..........
At this point, you’ve learned how to trigger the shot with back tension and a surprise release.

Only now, with this last step... will you tie your new shooting process in with the aiming process. Move to 5 yards with a target that has several big spots to aim at or shoot one arrow at a time at one spot... no sense ruining arrows shooting multiple arrows at the same spot. Six inch squares of duct tape or even a paper plate will work nicely. The spot should be large. 

Begin shooting. Let the shooting process you've instilled run on auto-pilot... all you should have in your head is that spot. Nothing else matters. Trust the bow to do it’s job. Keep in mind that at this stage, where the arrow ends up in the target isn't important. What you are trying to do is capture the feeling of the perfect execution of the shot... while aiming at the same time. 

At some point, all of your arrows will start to find the center of the spots. When that happens... and you feel like you are consistent in your form, aiming, release and follow through... move back to 10 yards and do it all again. When it all comes together at 10 yards, use a smaller spot to aim at. 

Repeat the process out to a good distance, but don't be in a hurry to get there! Take your time and make sure it is all working before you move back. If it isn't, move closer again. It is a good idea to begin each practice session at the hanging target with your eyes closed. As always, it is very important to quit shooting when you start to loose your focus... that's when bad things happen.

The natural inclination for everyone that first picks up a bow is to use every muscle they have to draw and hold it back. Then, they will invariably try to focus on the sight pin, the target and time the release... all at the same time, which is impossible to do. It feels athletic
and natural to try to control everything, but that is the wrong approach. I shot that way for 15 years before it all came crashing down. I just about quit. I know that when I first started shooting, I felt that I needed to "shoot the bow." After a lot of inconsistency and an epic battle with target panic, I came to the conclusion that I needed to let the bow shoot itself! I had found a new philosophy in archery, for me, anyway. To be static. Like a bow shooting machine. To just be the platform from which the bow launches an arrow. To just stay out of the way and allow the arrow to leave the bow with no outside influences working against it... namely me! After all, if my bow was being shot out of a shooting machine the arrows would all be going in the same hole! 

You may be able to recognize a good arrow from a bad one by now, but to learn this technique all by yourself, you have to be a thinking archer... meaning, you have to be able to analyze and trouble-shoot your shot sequence from the inside... you have to feel what you're doing. This can be very tough to do. Finding a good coach is a true gold mine and it could save you a lot of headaches. Sometimes though, for whatever reason, coaching isn’t possible. A video camera can help, but only if you know what you're looking at. If you’re doing it by yourself and you ever hit a snag that you can’t figure out, all you can do is go back to a blank target, get close and work on the basics. This helps me every time.

In any case, this method of shooting a bow is well worth whatever effort it takes to learn it. 

Good luck and I hope this helps you in some way.
Zane


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## Triggins (Aug 30, 2012)

^^^^^ I'm sorry, can you repeat that???


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## da white shoe (Mar 10, 2009)

Triggins said:


> ^^^^^ I'm sorry, can you repeat that???


Yep! :wink:

Dan3140...

Are you having target panic issues... or are you shooting so much that you just don't feel it some days?

You didn't give any details of how you shoot a bow, so maybe this doesn't apply to you, but if you are "locking up" off target... freezing, punching the trigger, 
or struggling to hold a steady sight picture, this is what you should be working on....

Your muscles have to be relaxed at full draw... and remain relaxed... in order for your sight pins to be steady. At full draw, your release hand as well as your bow hand, should be completely relaxed. You don't want to be grasping or squeezing the barrel of the release or the grip of your bow handle. Also, do not force either of your hands open. Your fingers should be hanging limp and relaxed. I lightly touch my first finger and my thumb together around the bow handle, but some like to use a wrist sling. Use the bones in your arms and the muscles in your back to draw the bow. Once at full draw, use the same bones and back-muscles to hold as much of the weight of the bow at full draw as you can. Relax every muscle in your arms that you don't need to use to stay at full draw. That goes for the muscles in your shoulders, torso and legs, too. Always remember; it's the tension in your muscles that causes your sights to wobble and jump around. If you can learn to relax everything that isn't needed to hold at full draw, your sight pins will barely even move. Almost like a bench rested rifle! It is very important that your bow is set at the correct draw length. If it is too long... or too short, you will have a very hard time relaxing fully.

.............................. .........THE GRIP.......................... ........................
Before drawing the bow, position your hand on the grip and start pulling with your release hand to put pressure on the string. You are trying to find the exact position for your bow hand to be in. You want to feel all of the pressure from the bow handle on one point of your palm... right from the start of your draw. I have always remembered Randy Ulmer’s description of it. He said to pretend that there is a steel rod running parallel and exactly between the two bones inside your forearm. Where that rod would exit your palm is where this point is. If you find this spot, it will help keep you from torqueing the bow handle. 
Also, if you will rotate the bottom of your bow hand away from the bow a few degrees for your grip, you will clear a path for the bowstring and negate torque at the same time. Learn to find your grip before you draw the bow on every shot, but once you start your draw, do not move your bow hand AT ALL.

.............................. .............................. ...............ANCHOR......... .............................. ..............
There is no universal anchor point that will work for everyone, but there are some things that make a great anchor point. Having at least two solid, easy-to-repeat points of contact with your face is recommended. For instance, the string just touching the end of the nose and a knuckle of the release hand dug in behind the jaw bone. The perfect one would have your head held straight with the rest of your spine, shoulders level, release-side forearm in a straight line with the arrow at full draw and no part of the string in heavy contact with any part of the face.

As long as these things are kept in mind, whatever feels comfortable will be OK, but remember that the higher your anchor is, the lower the peep is in the string. The closer you have the peep to your nock on the string, the lower your sights will have to be. At some point that can make it impossible to shoot at a decent distance... what that distance ends up being depends on the bow and the arrow used.
The main thing to remember is, your anchor is like the rear sight on a rifle... if it's not the same every time... you're probably going to miss a lot. 

.............................. .............................. ............BACK TENSION AND A SURPRISE RELEASE....................... .....................
Using a conscious movement of a finger to trigger the shot is what we’re trying to get away from here. Your finger is loaded with nerve endings. It is much too sensitive and closely tied to your brain. Your mind recognizes a certain sight picture and screams, “NOW!” Your brain is always faster than your reflexes and this method of shooting can be inconsistent... and it can go south in a hurry, leading to target panic!

Flexing a large muscle group to trigger the shot is the answer. In order to use back tension to achieve a surprise release, you must trust the bow, your form and the arrow. In order to become that trusting, your form, concentration and execution have to be very consistent. That takes a lot of work... and enough time and repetition to make it stick! You have to be able to completely focus on the spot you want to hit and let go of control... control of the bow, the sight pin and the moment of release. You’re brain isn’t going to be able to do that without a lot of re-programming! You have to do it in steps and you can’t take any shortcuts.

Learning to give up control is far easier using a back tension release aid. I'm not saying you can't ever use a trigger release to get a surprise release, but it is a lot easier to cheat with a finger-triggered release. After you have mastered this technique, it will be fairly easy to learn to do the same thing with your hunting release. 

With an index-finger triggered release, you will contact the trigger with the pad between the first and second knuckle. Hooking the finger deep over the trigger will keep the sensitive fingertip from taking over.

With a thumb release, you can anchor with the thumb against the side of your face and as you pull through the shot it will naturally increase pressure on it until it goes off. 
To shoot using back tension, you flex or squeeze the release-side muscles of your back... sort of like you are trying to make one shoulder blade touch the other one. To find these muscles, have someone stand facing you while you pretend to hold a bow at full draw. Have them grasp your elbows and try to gently force you to give them a hug while you resist, all the while keeping your arms relaxed. The back muscles you feel resisting are the ones you need to flex to trigger the shot.

............................ ..............THE FOLLOW THROUGH....................... ...............
When you "follow through" after the bow goes off, people say you should try to keep the pin on the target or keep aiming until the arrow hits. I've always felt that that was a bad way to describe it. You can't keep aiming or even see the pin once you shoot. 

What I would say is... keep your T form until you hear the arrow hit, do not drop your bow arm or move your head, stay relaxed and let the bow go where it wants to go without grabbing for it. Good follow through takes practice.


.............................. ..............THE FIRST STEP.......................... ...................
It's tempting to just go right out and try all of this on a target at 20 yards, but DON'T DO IT! When you start trying all of this for the first time, it is very important, and it will speed up the learning process... if you completely eliminate the aiming part of shooting the bow. Work on relaxation and a surprise release before you ever have to worry about aiming. You need to ingrain the feel of the shot process so that it becomes automatic... as in the term, "muscle memory." You do this with your eyes closed at first. 

To get a feel for this, your target needs to be at the same height as your arrow at first. I hang my target from a rafter and stand close, so that the tip of my arrow is about 3 1/2 feet away from the target at full draw. After you reach full draw and have lined everything up, close your eyes, relax and think through every step of the shot. 

.............................. ...............THE FOUNDATION.................... .....................
When that feels VERY comfortable, move to a blank target that is 3 yards away at arrow height and start shooting with your eyes open, but use no spot and try not to aim for a spot on the target... in fact, it would be better to just take the sight off your bow for this step. You have to completely instill the entire shot sequence, (from the draw to the follow through), to the point where you do not have to think about it at all, which takes a lot of repetition... so, you keep on drilling this step until you are ready to die of boredom... something like 3 weeks later... at least 1000 arrows. Only then is it time to learn to do it while aiming.

.............................. ..............AIMING.......... .............................. ..............
To aim, reach full draw with a perfect T form, line up your bubble level, pick the right pin and center it all in the peep. Next, move your whole upper body to get on target. You don't want to just move your arm up and down or side to side. That introduces torque. Your upper body and arms should at all times form a perfect T shape at full draw.
When everything is lined up, start consciously relaxing muscles. Hold the bow back with your back muscles. Start with relaxing your hands and work your way up your arms and through the shoulders. When you've shot this way long enough, you won't have to even think about this step. 
Then go into aiming mode. Your full concentration switches to the spot and only the spot. The pin is blurry and it will still seem to float around the spot, but you need to forget about the pin. You will naturally try to keep it on the spot without even thinking about it. You should be focusing on the spot and nothing else. Keep your concentration while slowly squeezing through the shot, making sure to follow through after the release. 
The first few times the bow goes off, it will scare the heck out of you. Keep at it! You will get used to it... and at the point that you start breaking arrows because they're hitting each other at 30 yards... you'll begin to crave that feeling! Just remember that it's important to never be able to anticipate exactly when the shot will break. You need the surprise... just like a benched down rifle shooter does. No cheating! Focus... concentrate on the spot you want to hit and just squeeze through until the shot breaks.
It defies logic really, but at some point in all of this learning process you will definitely know you are doing it right. How? Because arrow after arrow will keep going dead center of the bull's-eye... even when you know the pin was not on the spot at the time your release triggered... like some kind of Zen-master, ninja jedi! It's cool!


.............................. ....................THE BRIDGE........................ .............................. ..........
At this point, you’ve learned how to trigger the shot with back tension and a surprise release.

Only now, with this last step... will you tie your new shooting process in with the aiming process. Move to 5 yards with a target that has several big spots to aim at or shoot one arrow at a time at one spot... no sense ruining arrows shooting multiple arrows at the same spot. Six inch squares of duct tape or even a paper plate will work nicely. The spot should be large. 

Begin shooting. Let the shooting process you've instilled run on auto-pilot... all you should have in your head is that spot. Nothing else matters. Trust the bow to do it’s job. Keep in mind that at this stage, where the arrow ends up in the target isn't important. What you are trying to do is capture the feeling of the perfect execution of the shot... while aiming at the same time. 

At some point, all of your arrows will start to find the center of the spots. When that happens... and you feel like you are consistent in your form, aiming, release and follow through... move back to 10 yards and do it all again. When it all comes together at 10 yards, use a smaller spot to aim at. 

Repeat the process out to a good distance, but don't be in a hurry to get there! Take your time and make sure it is all working before you move back. If it isn't, move closer again. It is a good idea to begin each practice session at the hanging target with your eyes closed. As always, it is very important to quit shooting when you start to loose your focus... that's when bad things happen.

The natural inclination for everyone that first picks up a bow is to use every muscle they have to draw and hold it back. Then, they will invariably try to focus on the sight pin, the target and time the release... all at the same time, which is impossible to do. It feels athletic
and natural to try to control everything, but that is the wrong approach. I shot that way for 15 years before it all came crashing down. I just about quit. I know that when I first started shooting, I felt that I needed to "shoot the bow." After a lot of inconsistency and an epic battle with target panic, I came to the conclusion that I needed to let the bow shoot itself! I had found a new philosophy in archery, for me, anyway. To be static. Like a bow shooting machine. To just be the platform from which the bow launches an arrow. To just stay out of the way and allow the arrow to leave the bow with no outside influences working against it... namely me! After all, if my bow was being shot out of a shooting machine the arrows would all be going in the same hole! 

You may be able to recognize a good arrow from a bad one by now, but to learn this technique all by yourself, you have to be a thinking archer... meaning, you have to be able to analyze and trouble-shoot your shot sequence from the inside... you have to feel what you're doing. This can be very tough to do. Finding a good coach is a true gold mine and it could save you a lot of headaches. Sometimes though, for whatever reason, coaching isn’t possible. A video camera can help, but only if you know what you're looking at. If you’re doing it by yourself and you ever hit a snag that you can’t figure out, all you can do is go back to a blank target, get close and work on the basics. This helps me every time.

In any case, this method of shooting a bow is well worth whatever effort it takes to learn it. 

Good luck and I hope this helps you in some way.
Zane


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## Dan3140 (Jul 28, 2009)

Thanks for the advice guys. I was going to upload a couple pictures to show my form and maybe a short video of me going through my shot sequence but I couldn't get it uploaded off my Iphone5. Ive been trying to a couple days to get it figuered out and it never works.


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## AJ the TP Guru (Jul 29, 2011)

Been there, done that. And I agree, it sucks. Actually, I question whether it doesn't happen to top shooters as well. One guy I work with consistently finishes around the top (if not the winner) in most of the tournaments he enters. But recently he was like 23rd out of 36 pros. His only comment regarding that finish was, "that's just not like me."

Of course, in a tournament you can't just wrap it up and walk off (without being considered a jerk, and perhaps reprimanded). But as to practice, some days are just not as good as others. Recently, I had one of those days. I just quit, went home, and listened to my own archery message that night. Next day I was ok. I don't expect to shoot lights out at my age, but whatever one's level of proficiency is, it's just not any fun to not do as well as you know you're capable of doing.


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## peace (May 25, 2006)

Good stuff Zane, archived for future use under the title: Approaching The Shot. Again thanks.


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

Dan3140 said:


> What do you guys do when all day you think about shooting your bow and really look forward to being able to shoot a few shots but after you chuck a few and they don't go exactly where you want them you start to dread it. But instead of stopping you keep shooting and eventually just say forget it and start to wish you had never got the bow out. I am very picky about shooting and like being dead on. So when I start sucking it blows my mind. I don't know what to do because it happens every time I shoot. Any advice?


When I have days like that, I do two things. First I check my equipment to see if something has gotten out of adjustment. This is very rare. Second, I head to the blank bale to check to see where I've gotten out of adjustment. Unfortunately, this is not as rare as I would hope. 

I've gotten to the point where the blank bale is a refuge. Standing a couple of yards away and mentally watching each part of my shot, usually lets me figure out what's changed. Once I know that, it's usually easy to get back on track.

Make friends with your blank bale. It will treat you better than most. 

JMHO,
Allen


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## [email protected] (Aug 3, 2010)

Amen no better advice from AREAD!


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## predatorslyr (Feb 14, 2012)

There is a book titled Idiot Proof Archery, written by Bernie Pelerite. 
The book if followed has a 2 to 3 month program that really helps an archer and teaches perfect shot execution. I would look into it. I have followed program allong with friends and it helped everyone I know who has followed Bernies program.


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## NCstick (Aug 14, 2011)

Personally, I put the bow down. I shoot again the next chance I get and if the problem consist more than two days, on the third day, I start checking equipment then me if I find nothing, I start checking me. As said above, I doing bale until I figure out what I was doing differently. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Pete53 (Dec 5, 2011)

sometimes i just change to a different back tension release for a while,sometimes a different release,bow,sight helps .i am not a pro or a coach for hire,but i have help some people shoot very well ,and i did take bernie`s class and some others .alot of the ideals on here are very good . i will say one more thing the best two books to learn to shoot well i think are idiot proof archery and core archery.i have read many more but its really tough to beat those two books.larry wise wrote core archery and he won the hard male pro classes not any easy class there is a big difference .good luck,Pete53


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## Fury90flier (Jun 27, 2012)

put the bow down for a few days...maybe a week. 

The next time you come back, do the 10 yard deal, don't use your sights, just shoot...for about 15-30 minutes. It doesn't sound like much time and it isn't. But it's enough time to practice the fundamentals and get your head clear. Skip a couple days then do the same session again...do this for a couple weeks.

Shooting without sights is one of the best ways to clear your head and get your form back in check. Skipping days and only shooting for a half hour or less further helps to clear your head. Basically your forcing yourself to slow down and reinforce your form. 

What's fun is when you start grouping without sights then you start stepping back and soon realize that you're at your normal shooting distance...grouping very close to how you did with sights.


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