Imagine that there's something that you've done for years, like riding a bicycle.  Then one day you want to go for a ride with a friend, and the thing just doesn't work right anymore.  You're wobbling all over the street, and can't keep going in a straight line for some reason.  The next day, you get on the bicycle again, and it works just fine.  You breathe a sigh of relief and say, "I'm glad that's all over.  I wonder what happened yesterday?"  But the same thing happens again and again, more frequently.  So you go to a neurologist, and he says that you're fine physically, no strokes or anything, and asks you if you've been under a lot of stress lately?

Nothing that you can recall, but you try things to reduce your stress anyway, plus a whole lot of other things, but more often than not, you can't steer the bicycle in a straight line anymore.  You can still play racquetball as well as you ever could, so whatever the problem is seems to be unrelated to a general hand/eye coordination issue, but specifically related to steering a bicycle.  And not all the time.  There are still times when you can steer the bicycle just fine.  But it happens often enough that you tense up every time you get on a bicycle thinking that you might not be able to steer it in a straight line this time.  And you wonder why, if you can steer the bicycle fine some of the time, you can't steer it fine all of the time?

That is the problem of target panic.

TP is purely a mental issue - the inability to properly release whilst properly aiming. 

Those who've never had this archery malady will never be able to understand it unless they experience this disease first hand.

The "cure" for TP might be a very Very VERY arduous undertaking because it's not a physical ailment, it's a mental affliction.

I've seen this subject come up now and then for years, and never really could understand what this "Target Panic" really is. Could someone explain it? 

I battled my issues with inconsistencies due to improper alignment, and things dramatically improved learning proper back tension and learning to relax and let the release just happen, rather than consciously think about it.

 Shooting a blank bale with my eyes closed, and just concentrating on my breathing and the feel of the back tension did wonders for me. The follow though after the shot is just as important as the release itself too.  The release is only a point in the draw cycle that leads to conclusion and needs to be subconscious.  .

When I was helping beginners get their form and alignment tuned up I used to tell them to pretend that you have a string tied to your arrow from your shooting glove. After the release, you need to keep that bow on target and steer the arrow into the bulls eye  holding that string behind your ear. That little trick helped a lot of kids on follow though insight.

02 cents worth... Kirk

Can you tell us what kind of longbow you're shooting?

I draw my 38# ASL just over 27". 1816s cut 28 1/2" with a 145 gr point are almost too stiff. Big Jim's 700 Dark Timbers cut 28 1/2" with a 145 gr point are about perfect. With cedars arrows cut 28 1/2" inches something close to a 40# spine with a 125 grain point shoot well.

What a great story and thanks for reposting it.  Dave Johnson is what all archers should strive to be.  Hope he's doing well.  He sent me a post on one of the archery sites a year or two ago.  Hope he sees this!

I guess I'd heard of it but never saw one before.
Pretty sure I could take one of any model they make and it would work for me.

1916 equal a 50-55 in a wood spine.  1816 equal a 40-45.  I couldn't imagine shooting a 1916 from a 35 lb bow with an average draw length.  I shoot a Kanati 38@28 that I draw 28 and I shoot 700 dark timbers with 225 up front cut 30 inches.  I vote 1816. 

Quote from: Flemish Twister on November 17, 2025, 10:14:05 AMSo this thread is perfect timing for me. I'm getting ready to call and order the Full Shot.  Anyone have experience with that style full glove?  Feedback?

Got my new Full Shot today and it is awesome! Fit is perfect. Ordered the medium, with a palm measurement of 7.25 inches. Finger stall depth is super too. Quality is pretty dang impressive. Now to the range for break in.

I bought Joel Turner's dvd several years ago. Going to a psycho trigger (feather touching my chin) helped me more than anything. Also, jay kidwell has some good drills and information in his book "Instinctive Archery Insights" on how to retrain your brain.

I'd beaten target panic perhaps twice in my lifetime of shooting that goes back to the mid 1950s. 

There was a time, a few years ago, when I just could not overcome TP.

I searched around the 'Net for help and found Joel Turner's website, signed up, and literally in less than an hour my TP was gone ... for good ... hasn't returned ... doubt it ever will.

So these are big words, but they're my words and my experience with learning to employ a "mechanoreceptive trigger" in my shot sequence that was the distraction that disconnected my brain thinking and allowed a push/pull release to naturally happen, whilst my actual aim remained the same as it always had been - focused solely on a pinpoint of the object I wanted my arrow to penetrate (aka "instinctive aiming").