I am not thinking of giving up the trad way of life! I love everything that traditional archery stands for and would not consider giving up all of the fun and the memories of the things that I have experienced through traditional archery.
What I am talking about is that for the last few months, I have not enjoyed the shooting of the bow and arrow. I use to be able to use my time shooting in my back yard as a means to unwind from the day. Now when I come in from shooting, I am usually more frustrated do to my lack of shooting accuracy. It seems that I am analyzing my routine with each and every shot instead of enjoying each and every shot. I know that there needs to be a balance of enjoyment and accuracy and I seem unable to strike that balance.
I know that I am not the only one to experience this and I was wondering what others have done to return to back to the enjoyment of seeing the feathered shaft fly.
Mike
Remember that we don't need to be that serious all the time. When we go out to shoot, we are going out to play. Just let yourself be a kid, and have fun. Maybe stump shooting might be better than a lot of hard concentration on form. A brief layoff might not hurt, either. When the juices start to stir again, you will remember where you stored your archry gear.
Get together with some shooting friends. I do and we shoot the bull almost as much as we shoot the arrows , brings back old memories and good times!! :campfire:
Shoot with a friend and shoot at things that are fun but not important. Things like stump shooting and 3d where he target isn't a tiny little spot may be the trick to take the attention off of pin hole accuracy and back to the fun-ness of things. Shoot at tennis balls and objects that move that may make it more fun and help strengthen your confidence.
You sound like you are where I was last year and earlier this year. What I finally realized is that as I have grown older (I'll be 55 this year), my strength has slowly diminished and I was ever so slowly becoming over bowed. Shooting was no longer fun and I didn't look forward to shooting anymore and when I did, my arrows were all over the place with little to no accuracy. Dropping from a 64", 58# longbow, a Green Mountain Stingray, a bow I love, to a 58" 51# Robertson Vision Falcon and the fun come back. Not just a new bow but a lower poundage bow.
I am now looking forward to shooting and hunting with my new bow. The sad part is I will now have to sell my beloved Green Mountain longbow. I don't want to keep it as a wall hanger when it could make someone as happy as it has made me over the years.
Friend,focus ,fun,and form.shoot at small ping pong balls and add things to get you on your game again.
Friends to shoot with! My shooting buddy moved away 3 years ago, my shooting has gone down hill since he left :(
It seems the challenge for me is not hitting the target but making a better shot than your buddy so you have bragging rights!
Watermelons and judos :knothead:
Candles on a dirt bank at dusk.
:archer2:
Get out in the woods and do a little squirell(I didn't spell that right did I) hunting!
Take a month off, I usually take from the end of our deer season in Feb. through the beginning of March and sometimes into april and do not shoot at all just so that when I start shooting again I am more focused. I also do not start to shoot everyday until about September.
archery golf i get mad and then got out and just shoot a long ways and make a golf game of it it takes all the seriusness out of it and just watch it fly
I agree with shooting with a friend. was shooting today with Mudd & our buddy Jeff. All the teasing & joking around, makes for a good time.
Forget the targets. All you need to have fun again is a judo point. Wander around the yard or wherever and have a blast! You don't need stumps to go stumpshooting. Dandelions, leaves, whatever catches your eye. Vary the distances, and just enjoy the flight of the arrow.
Don't do "formal" shooting sessions each night - mix it up!!!
ANYTHING can get stale if you don't vary your routine and keep it interesting. With loss of interest, comes loss of focus.
Get out in the woods and shoot some stumps - no two shots, positions, yardages, etc. the same. You'll find your concentration, interest, and enjoyment (even in misses) are rejuvinated.
My two cents.
Rando
What Whip said or 3 Rivers hammers and tennis or soft golf balls ! What a blast !
nocams
Birds on the wing will open up a whole new dimension of fun!! Quit reading about form, tuning, extreme FOC, too many things out there that can take away the fun. Lob some arrows at extreme long range.
yep, forget the targets..that happened to me a couple years ago. I was too frustrated shooting at circles on a hay bale. Grabbed an old foam soccer ball, starting kicking it around and shooting at it and I realized you don't have to shoot 4" groups and shooting started being fun again
Definately stump shooting! Shooting at the target over and over can get monotanous!
Introducing others, especially children to traditional and seeing their excitement serves to inspire me. Typically I shoot at the club on Saturdays and end up working with someone either to set-up their bow or just helping with form. On many occasions, all of my time is utilized working with others. I have no regrets.
Pony rides for gramma and balloons for the kiddies.
take it easy
clear your mind
try different targets balloons watermelons somthing reactive and most of all dont worry so much remember it doesent matter how you shoot your relaxing and unwinding when you get there ill bet you start shooting better again
I had a fellow trad ganger tell me to shoot one arrow at a time a few months ago, that was in answer to a question I had about ideas on improving accuracy, but I also found shooting became alot more fun, I shoot one arrow, walk to the target, then walk back a ways, always different distances, then take my next shot, doing this makes me more accurate, gives my muscles more time to relax between shots and also clear my head, thus more fun, I have not had so much shooting in years. DK.
Can't beat the advice everyone here has posted. When I get bored I get the flu-flus and judos and shoot at pretty much anything but a "target".
That said, skip the hornet nests hanging from the trees. Learn from my mistakes.
Cheep stuff doggie toys . Hang somthing from a string. Plastic soda bottles with the cap use blunts on them real noisy and they bounce all over.little water ballons. Get out somplace and shoot an arrow up in the air and try to hit it with another shot while its still in the air.Just go play.
Go hunting
Something I really enjoy is an old tennis ball just thrown around a paddock and shot at where ever it lans, I guess it could be called golf as someone eluded to earlier. My kids love it with me, got kids ? ever thought of having a young bloke tag along with you ??
Cheers
QuoteOriginally posted by Sam McMichael:
Remember that we don't need to be that serious all the time. When we go out to shoot, we are going out to play. Just let yourself be a kid, and have fun. Maybe stump shooting might be better than a lot of hard concentration on form. A brief layoff might not hurt, either. When the juices start to stir again, you will remember where you stored your archry gear.
Pretty great advice from the "gangers"! Picture in your head that "mental photo" of a kid the first time they let loose an arrow.......you can't get that smile off their face!
I have a couple of old Bear Kodiaks that are lower poundage than I normally shoot. When I find that frustration is rearing its ugly head, the next time I shoot, it will be with one of those old light bows....not many things are a sure thing in life.....but drawing and shooting one of those bows ALWAYS puts a smile on my face!
Targets have a tendency to bring on frustration sometimes.....there's always that mental stress resulting from the need to have those tiny groups. Stumps, leaves, etc. are "targets" as well, but never seem to produce the same stress.
Go kill some dead wood or leaves and have a blast. This is meant to relieve stress....not produce it! Have fun again! :)
QuoteOriginally posted by Mitch-In-NJ:
That said, skip the hornet nests hanging from the trees. Learn from my mistakes.
You HAVE to share THAT story on another post!!!!
It made me cringe just thinking of the outcome!
Boy, there are lots of good suggestions here and some I want to remember for myself...
I would, however, take you back to ole Ricketts post above: If you're over-bowed, things can go to pot in a hurry! Things change with time.
I had shoulder surgery, dropped weight and shot so much better, I never went back to my old 'hunting' weight... now shoot better design limbs and less weight and have more fun and am more accurate and haven't lost any killing power.
I also got the Masters Barebow III and made one of those danged Formaster things. Whew... talk about realizing some bad habits have krept into one's form!?! :scared: :eek:
Yes, accuracy shouldn't be the only criteria for enjoying archery, but when one is trying hard, used to shoot better and then 'poof' doesn't... it's hard to use some "distraction" to make it more fun.
Go find if there is a ROOT CAUSE to your more recent accuracy issue: see if your form is suffering in any area, work on that (whether draw weight or not) and then watch the fun come back when you're staring at a spot and the next thing you know, there is a bright nock sticking in that exact place! Now THAT always gets me juiced back up! :)
Thanks for all of the great information! :campfire:
find a friend that can shoot with you so he can watch you.. they may notice something you are doing wrong. If you cant find anyone film yourself with a video camera play it back or even post it on here and assk if anyone can notice something your doing wrong
Think of yourself as a kid and make it fun! We shot ballons blown up and filled with some bady powder. The kids love the puff of smoke, when they hit the ballon.
We also shoot clay pigeons, Cabelas sells a clay pigeon holder (half circle holds the clay w/ a metal rod to stick in the ground), think it's called a Rooster Holder. Made for 22 target practice. Once again big smiles when the kids break that clay.
Hang a gallon milk jug ful with water, shoot away.
If shooting w/ friend and want a little competion, make urself a "T" w/ pulles (two) and a rope . Hang a gallon jug (Quart container, water bottle or whatever size plastic bottle) on either side of the "T". The both jugs haning in the air at same height first guy to empty the jug...wins. The 2nd place winners jug will hit the ground.
My wife says I'm the biggest kid, always have a smile when shooting w/ the kids.
I have a second home in The Catskill Mountains with lots of wooded area for stump shooting, but... Can't get up there as often as I'd like to. Living and working in the city leaves me to "hunt animal crackers" in my backyard! That's Right! Makes for good bird food when I'm done.
... mike ... :archer2: ...
QuoteOriginally posted by lpcjon2:
Friend,focus ,fun,and form.shoot at small ping pong balls and add things to get you on your game again.
This last Saturday, I got together with about 12 friends, we had a great time, most of them had the "Other Type Bows" but I shot on the same line as them at 30 yards.
(http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac22/TraditionalBowhunter/30YardsKneeling1.jpg)
We were trying to see just who could nail the wiffle golf ball with just one arrow shot. I have nailed them at 15 yards kneeling, so I tried to do the same at 30 yards kneeling.
Oh well, I got close anyways.
Fun? Ever try bowfishing? Just my two cents. If you do I believe you will not be able to take the smile off of your face.
WARNING: If you take out a bunch of worn out, mostly weird, stuffed animals, hang them from a tight rope in front of your large targets and then have the neighborhood kids shoot at them, there are whimps that will get into your fun. My argument was that it is ok for kids to play death and destruction video games, but a stuffed dragon that my dog chewed up? How cruel, but fun; it is 3d small game practice. I have another collection ready to go, kids and adults have fun shooting stuffed toys, especially if they are free hanging. I would agree that carp shooting is fun, but everything around here is flooded this year.
QuoteOriginally posted by Mitch-In-NJ:
Can't beat the advice everyone here has posted. When I get bored I get the flu-flus and judos and shoot at pretty much anything but a "target".
That said, skip the hornet nests hanging from the trees. Learn from my mistakes.
That brings back some painful memorys from when I was a teenager! There was just somthing about a big ol grey hornets nest that said try and hit me if you can. I guess I also made a good target for the hornets!! :knothead: :laughing:
QuoteOriginally posted by hayslope:
QuoteOriginally posted by Mitch-In-NJ:
That said, skip the hornet nests hanging from the trees. Learn from my mistakes.
You HAVE to share THAT story on another post!!!!
It made me cringe just thinking of the outcome! [/b]
This was a long time ago and the story has been embellished with age, but here it goes.
I was about 11 years old and had just graduated from my yellow, glass, shoot from either side bow (my first ever) to a Browning 45# recurve.
I lived in Union, NJ back then (around 1975) and for those of you who know the area, there were woods still. Today, those woods are all gone.
There was a wooded lot about a mile and a half from my house that bordered my best friend's house. That's where we played Army, cowboys and indians, etc.
So I get my new bow and decide to go "hunting" with my best friend, Eric. Pulling about 30# at my draw length and carrying around some old Gamegetters my uncle gave me tipped with blunts, we set out.
Must have killed me about a dozen skunk cabbages and missed a couple squirrels when I see this hornets nest hanging about 15 feet up in a tree.
This is where I prove that adolescent boys are truly brain damaged.
In my mind, those hornets would never know that "I" shot at them.
Yup. Brain damaged.
Let me pause for a second... Eric started backing away as soon as I started to draw. Why? I don't know. Perhaps he had intuition or experience. Regardless, he was almost at his house when I loosed that arrow.
And missed.
The first time.
Arrow number two hit its mark with a satisfying "thwack!". I jumped and did my happy dance (I don't really have a happy dance, this is one of those embellishments I spoke of) and turned to see Eric hopping over his fence and into his yard.
The satisfying "thwack" was followed by a disturbing "thump" as the nest hit the ground at my feet.
My happy dance quickly turned into my panic run.
I remember little else except for the buzzing and stinging and what I was told after.
Seems Eric ran inside and got his father who saw me running off toward my house. Fast.
Faaaaaast!
He hopped in his car to chase after me but I was in my house (over a mile away) before he could catch me.
It was two weeks before the swelling went down and I could go out and play. It's been 35 years since I've shot at a hornets nest.
I still give them a wide berth when I see one in the woods. Hell, it could just fall.
Lesson learned.
You can always go REAL trad and shoot in the buff! That ought to keep it interesting,at least for the neighbors...LOL :laughing: :laughing:
When my accuracy falters... I get back to the basics. I put my bag target up on the bench.. I shoot in the garage... No aim... just blind baling and concentrating on my basic form from addressing the target, through draw and release...
By going slow and blind-baling so to speak... I fix my lil lazy spots in my shot routine... I find my accuracy recovers...
I think shooting a bow is like dealing with women, if you have confidence, it works so much better and goes much smoother! And not to mention is much more fun!!! :biglaugh:
Bring in the Belly Dancers! :dunno: This sounds like it would be fun.
Well if you run out of targets to plink at with your judos I'm sure your wife/gf has plenty of targets lying around in the closet. Just watch them high heels thou cause they can be trickey buggers to hit when they move so fast. That should liven things up around the house too.
Have fun, don't take it too seriously.
We're not perfect, and sometimes accuracy needs to take a back seat to enjoyment.
Relax, and enjoy the release of the arrow, and its flight.
A-E-R-I-A-L :)
all of the above make crazy shots little stuff through stuff over stuff . if your not breakin arrows your not havin enough fun. accuracy is fun for me too but it even more fun when i consistantly make stupid crazy shots.
get out of the back yard go on and adventure meet some new people teach someone learnfrom everyone. life is and adventure adventure requires risk. :bigsmyl: :campfire: :goldtooth:
This time of year, I try to go find some carp. Or like others have mentioned, get a bit creative with targets such as tennis balls, balloons, barn cats...oops!...er, I mean...stuffed animals, etc.
Actually, I have sparrows that nest up in my old barn. So I will sometimes take my kids on a "guided" bowhunt for sparrows...
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h77/TEAMRETRIEVER/0918092007a-1.jpg)
teach some kids how to shoot and to do it right.....very satisfying to pass on the tradition, and that puts the spark back in it for me......