# Having trouble holding the pin on target....HELP!



## viperarcher

go back to the basics! start up close to the target and do blind bale shooting! Aiming drills, Go back to writing down a shot sequence, and following it. May take some time , but it will all come back!


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## AllenRead

I was having a lot of the same problems trying to see the exact spot that I wanted to hit.

First I tried a circle on my lens and that worked pretty well. But then I went with no dot or circle and it seems to be working better. I don't tense up as much when I get a little movement because I don't see the movement as much.

I thought that my scores would go down when I didn't have a pin, but they've actually gone up a little.


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## STUDENT-ARCHER

try aimimg at various points on a target...aim at a target pin, let down. Now aim pupposly at the 6 oclock position of the bull, let down, now aim at the 9 0clock position, let down...keep varying the spot and letting down, then back to the middle with letting down. Make sure you're focusing on the target spot you wish to hit and not the pin. Also like the shot routine mentioned above...good luck!


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## nag

Thanks to everyone.........I will try to work this problem out.


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## joracer

I don't know much, and I'm just getting back into bow
hunting and shooting, but what if you aim, then close 
your eyes, then fire, for a few doz arrows anyways???
could it hurt?????? if it were me I'd try that......


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## SARASR

I would stop thinking so much about how you aim how you hold how you bring the pin into position, just go shoot but limit the time you have to aim and just let the arrow fly when it "feels" right. take the pressure off yourself and shoot just to shoot. dont care where the arrow hits as much as being out there having fun.

I never enjoyed archery so much as when I did not comprehend the complexities involved, but just did it because it was enjoyable!


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## SARASR

OR just stop shooting.....Really! take a week or two off let yourself focus on 
other things in life for a short bit, then come back to it fresh.


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## mike 66

*ok here*

viper is right. you must reprogram mind. write down shot seq. on limbs. and set time limit. then take target, turn it over to w/ side put small x with magic marker. DONTWORRY about holding on x . your sub . con. will do this for you , you must focus only on x .. dont try to hold... like driving car you cant tell me anything about your last trip. because your sub con . does this for you. but you had training. test before licence. to learn.. ok . you must retrain mind. IF ANYTHING crosses your mind during shot .sequ. stop let down. you must only shoot perfect arrows.... you MUST be total focus on your x only x your sub will aim for you. dont worry about anything but X set time limit if over let down. start over. let me know how its going. mike 66:shade:


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## mike 66

*Ps.you have target panic....*

DONT READ MAG OR ARTICLES ON TARGET PANIC... YOU WILL CATCH THE DISEASE.:shade:


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## Trosper archery

*the evil thing*

Unfouttanly it is the evil thing ive recently incountered this problem and a good friend of mine hhas retrained me....... He had me shoot some back tension then after doing that for about a night oor two he hhad me to put my head straight up then just shoot and your going to think this is crazy but he put an arrow with a sharp sharp broadhead under my arm and made me hold it in the center of u can figure what happened if not lol its all a mental game. U want to see the target. It probally started as one shot that u had a bad release on and wanted to watch the arrow so u droped your bow but thats how i fixed my problem pm me with any questions if u have any


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## Trosper archery

But then u get into the habit of punching because ive been through that 2


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## sharpshooter359

like partially mentioned above it sounds like your focusing more on you pin than on the target. Put as much concentration on looking at the x and you will find that alot of the time your pin or scope seems to put itself there. Look past the sight. For me the best trick of fixing that problem is using a truspot lense. No dot, circle, pin, ect.. just looking at the x.


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## rigginuts

Try coming from the bottom up and relax you left hand, try to let your thumb point down a don't go so deep with your left hand.


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## blazenarrow

You know bud I have the same problem.. I went to a duel lens by specialty archery.. It help alot.. Even in 3-D I have this problem.. I need to see the 12 ring so I would hold low.. All I did was changed my pin from going from the bottom up.. Now I have one from the top down.. Help me..


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## nag

Well, here's an update......I added a #1 Speciality Archery lens to my peep aperature and that has helped with sharpening up the pin a lot.
I do come in from the top of the bull, drop a little to 6 o'clock and then try to lift back up to a dead on hold. So far, only major mental screaming at myself has helped. If I keep telling mtself to "Lift, Lift the pin", then I get the shot off fine.
I did lay off shooting for about a week and that too did take a lot of pressure off me. My first few shoots were terriffic.
At league last week I shot a 290 11-X , (out of a possible 300 score), on a Vegas target....good for me.
So really, there is no one fix for target panic, but a melding of several technics.
All I can say about this is to not get frustrated; keep an open mind to other opinions and keep analyzing your situaltion.
I'm not saying, "I'm Cured", just that I'm learning to deal with it.
Thanks to all who contributed to my ailment.
Hope you don't catch it.


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## SAB1

I have the same problem as you! I bring the pin down onto the bull from top and settle in just under the bull at 6'o'clock. I can't seem to break the habit. When I force the bow/pin back up I can get a decent shot off for the first half of the shoot but do not do well on the back half (shooting 3 spots, 450pts). Using my hunting bow (Bowtech General at 58lbs, 5 pins site) my scores have gone from 402-416 last year to 370-400 range this year. Driving me nuts. I hate regressing and I dont know what to do. I have tried letting down and re-drawing but no luck.


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## nag

I feel your pain, really!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But I do have good news; This past weekend I shot at the Iowa Deer Classic's 300 Vegas Tournament and am please to say that I took 1st. place in the senior womens freestyle class.

I think my score could have been higher. Obviously, the other competitors had low scoring arrows too, so I guess this was just one of those days were we all shot below normal.

I REALLY had to work at holding the pin on target. To make it a little easier, I did raise my pin so I could hold in the lower 6 o'clock position. 
This was my only saving grace, and did work.

I'm telling you, target panic _*IS MENTAL*_!!!!!!!

My advise is to lay off shooting for a week or two and start visualizing your perfect hold. The go back to shooting again.
If that doesn't work, my next best reccomendation is to start drinking heavily:darkbeer: :wink:


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## LimbsaverKeenan

i know exactly what your talking about. for 4 months i struggled with the same sort of thing. i would set my feet my hand look at the target draw back aim at the dot then when i put my finger on the trigger zoom a foot off to left. i would then lock up and could not move. i tried everything blind bailing taking time off everything. it took me four months of this to finaly get passedmyself and how i dispised backtension, but my evo came today havent had a chance to use it much but it does feel nice.


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## philhoney

Hi
I've been having the same problem for the last couple of months, just could not lift the bow so that it centred on the gold. I think I found a cure (for me) last night. I have always drawn the bow until it reaches the valley and then aimed. Half way through last nights session I got annoyed with myself and pulled the string hard into the stops. Like magic the sight lifted to the gold, a gentle squeeze of the trigger and the arrow went where I was aiming. I tried the same thing with the next arrow and sure enough, another gold.
The next end (3 arrows) I made a point of pulling to the stops and scored 3 10s. The next end 10,9,9. I did go downhill a bit after that but I think it was because I was so pleased at sorting it out that I was not fully concentrating on each shot. I can't wait for Monday night when I can try it out for a full session.
Phil


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## Squearly

This takes a little bit of work but this helped me. Change your anchor by moving your face up on the string. I put my chin on my release, if you have a peep you have to move it up, along with your sight. This keeps your arm in the lower position your talking about, which is more stable. Keep your release arm pointing up and away from your target. Use back tension to release.:cocktail:


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## bowhuntntxn

Glad you are getting this back under your control. Here is something I tried and it worked for me in terms of the mental side of this game. I used to come from bottom to top, and would lock at the 6 just like you are saying you do. I then switched and come from top to bottom. Here is what I focus on: SHOOT THE PIN NOT THE X. Sounds simple enough but if you really think about it all you are doing is shooting at the little glowing pin in front of you. And I will tell you, that arrow will go EXACTLY where that pin is.

The X ring is much larger than the pin, so when your mind's eye is focused on that, your sub conscious mind will put the pin in the middle of the circles. When you are sure you are not going to hit anything but the pin, then the shot should fire. 

Adding yards, moving scopes and scales to trick yourself will only last so long, and then the hold creeps back to where it was(low), and you are right back where you started. The pin needs to be the focal point and the hold needs to be as relaxed and natural as possible, not forced. You might also try finding a small orange dot that your pin will completely cover when aimed at from 20 yards, and see if you can focus on making it totally disappear behind your pin.

Good Luck working through it and I feel very confident that you will get it roped back in.


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## busdriver51

I think this happens to lots of people, including myself, my problem was after I drawed and anchored I was trying to make up and down adjustments with my arm, instead of pivoting at the waist.


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## avzaid

Using a ring on my lens helped with my 6 o'clock problem, I figured that if I can center my sight inside the peep ring then I can center my target inside the ring on my lens, and it was faster to aim and if I relax my bow arm I can stay aimed for couple of seconds which more than I need to trigger the back tension release.
I am not saying the 6 o'clock problem has disappeared, what I am meant is it was noticeably minimized. meaning instead of scoring 296 30x I managed to get 299 45x from the first try.


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