So I'm just gonna come right out and be honest, I'm a bow hunting virgin, I've never killed anything. I've been shooting a trad bow off and on a little bit for quite a few years, never anything serious. I've had a 35lb red oak longbow since I was 16 and always enjoyed shooting it. But this past year 2012, I decided to really get into traditional archery and hunting. I've never liked compounds, even when I wasn't an avid archer I just looked at compounds and said "thats so cheating, its a machine, if I'm gonna use 20th century technology with moving parts that do the work for me, with sights and a trigger I might as well use a gun." So I started deer hunting with an osage selfbow nearly halfway through deer season, had to do all my hunter education stuff online and get licensed and all that good stuff. So long story short, I'm accurate at target shooting out to 20 yards for deer kill zone sized targets and rabbit sized targets at around 12 yards. When I'm out roving I can smash cans and plastic soda bottles on the side of the road 4 out of 5 times at 5 to 12 yrds. Problem is, I missed 2 deer this season, dozens of rabbits, plus a couple squirrels, and a raccoon all between 5 & 20 yrds. And just today I had a shot, an easy shot, on a quail, not 2 yards away, it was seriously about 5', 6' at the most from the end of my arrow, and I missed over its back by less than half an inch, their were feathers on the arrow head. But it flew away unscathed. I don't know if its target panic or what because it only happens on live targets. It can't just be bad luck because in all that bad luck I would've had to get lucky at least once. So it must be some subconscious or unconscious "thing" messing me up. Its infuriating because I know I can make the shots that I've missed, but when its a live animal I blow it. Any help, suggestions, things I can do to fix this would be appreciated, turkey seasons is around the corner and right now I'm sticking 4 out of 5 arrows into the kill zone of a turkey at 15 yrds, and when the moment of truth comes I don't want to miss because of this "kill fever" I have. Thanks -Matt.
Have you tried talking yourself through the shooting sequence?
Make it a habit in practice, then try and get yourself to do it on game.
Well, for us to be helpful, you'll need to provide some more information. Specifically, describe your typical miss. Is your form breaking down somehow, or are you just shooting at the wrong time?
If your form is breaking down, post some videos of yourself in the Shooter's Forum, and you'll get better advice.
If the critters are dodging your arrows, well, that's pretty common, especially for new hunters. A good rule of thumb, is that on any game animal, don't shoot at them while they are looking at you, or are alert. Don't beat yourself up, to bad, especially on small game.
Your most likely looking at the whole animal instead of picking a small spot, we have all done it one time or another. You need to focus on a very tiny spot on the animal.
QuoteOriginally posted by Stone Knife:
Your most likely looking at the whole animal instead of picking a small spot, we have all done it one time or another. You need to focus on a very tiny spot on the animal.
Good advice right there as well as what others are saying.
Also, please check your state regulations on shooting quail this time of year. Most small game and upland gamebird seasons are closed in my neck of the woods. ;) :nono:
+1 on Stone Knife
Picking the spot and staying with it until the arrow makes contact is one of the nost important things that lead to success. Thar's considering you are making a complete draw and hitting your anchor point. Buck fever takes on many styles so it's had to say exactly what it is without watching you shoot.
Just shoot! Let your body and mind do what it needs to do to make it happen without thinking about it. Try it sometime.....
Yep....sounds like you're not picking a spot. Pick a hair or feather or blemish, or some other little spot to hit and I bet you kill the next one!
QuoteOriginally posted by Arkansas Osage:
I don't know if its target panic or what because it only happens on live targets.
I believe this is more common than people think. I get it. I was shooting this summer at 40 yards with pretty good accuracy bare bow. I missed a doe that fall at 10 feet. Only happens on animals. I have a friend that had the same problem and so I am trying his fix, I put a sight on my recurve. There are more than likely other ways to fix this problem shooting barebow but I am done messing around. Sights are still traditional. Hope you find something that works for you.
Picking a spot and locking your dominant eye on the spot you want to hit have really helped me get better. Also, try a mantra to focus yourself during the shot. This sounds very silly but when I'm shooting at my 3D deer and I quietly repeat 'kill the deer" as a mantra through my shot sequence I almost always nail where I want to. The meaning of the words is not the point, more of a murmured phrase that keeps you focused and prevents your thoughts from wandering. When I'm shooting and my thoughts wander/ I daydream I always miss or get a flier.
On small game-birds, rabbit, squirrel, etc, concentrate on hitting the eye. On other game as noted pick a single hair or feather. 2 years ago, I missed a doe at less than 10' hunting from the ground. My arrow hit under her belly without touching a hair-I had her cut up, wrapped, and in the freezer before the shot, I forgot to pick a spot. We've all been there done that!!
All good advice above. As your hunting, think and picture in your mind various hunting scenarios. Like a rabbit sitting along a hedge row, and you coolly and calmly pull up and draw and shoot the rabbit. Go threw your shooting process in your mind,over and over. Be confident in your abilities and relax. Don't dwell on past mistakes or think about them. It's a new day and a new you, and your a cool, calm, collected bow hunter. Put that confident squint in your eye like a unnerved old western gun fighter. Then when the opportunity arises, pick a spot and follow threw. It's all in the mind set!
it'll happen, just keep trying and don't give up or stop having fun, I missed a relaxed broadside elk 2 seasons ago at 7 paces, killed a wary late season white tail doe on heavily hunted public land this last season. Keep trying and you'll get your ice breaker and then start stacking them up. Getting to shoot is the fun part anyways, then it's just work if you connect!
Like on Big Jim's bows (PICK A SPOT)
Join the club buddy! I struggled with this my first couple years a field. I could shoot lights out on targets all day long. But when the time came to shoot an animal, all bets were off. Between my first two seasons a field, I missed 11 deer, all of them were perfect left to right, but every single miss went barely high over the back. Shots ranged anywhere from 8 to 20 yards...
I threw my bows out of trees, got up from my ground blind and walked out with hours of huntable light left, cursed myself to sleep, you name it... I was fed up. I couldn't understand it.
Then the light bulb went off in my second season when I put my first deer on the ground. I picked that tuft of hair out, and my arrow hit right where I was looking. I've had some random misses since, but my accuracy on game animals is very close to my target shooting now because I've gotten in the habit to shoot at live game just like I shoot at targets. Pick That Spot!
Fred Asbell made sense of my syndrom when he said, "the human eye is attracted to defined lines and edges. If you don't conciously pick a spot in the vitals, and you are simply staring at the animal as a whole, you will miss high. The reason you will miss high most times is that the most defined line on a game animal is their back line."
With the minor dropping motion of a game animal as your arrow is in flight, accompanied by the fact that your subconcious has just picked, aimed, and shot at the back line will equal a shot missing high most times.
It took me some crushing misses on still to this day would be my best bucks yet, and countless doe from the ground with no blind which would have made for some great hunting success stories around the camp fire, but it can be overcome with a little bit of composure in the woods. The tough part, is that with every miss, the anxiety of the next shot gets more intense and the desire to make the shot grows more each time. This just adds more pressure to the situation that further inhibits our shooting ability in the field.
Step one getting over this, is to forget about all your previous misses. Just like any sport, if you dwell on your poor performances of the past, it will directly affect your performance today. Put them behind you, and make the next one count. Stop thinking, pick the spot on the game animal the minute it comes into the hunting scenario, do not take your eyes off the spot no matter how long it takes for the animal to present a shot, then make the shot. After you do this on a couple game animals, it will become natural to find that spot right when you are ready to shoot.
Stick with it. It's a journey, and I wouldn't trade any clean miss I've had with my recurve for a kill with another more advanced weapon.
Good luck.
It's just buck fever. Just keep at it and it will happen. The first year I hunted with my recurve I missed 6 yes 6 deer under twenty yards! I still struggle with buck fever. Ya just gotta stay calm. Pick a spot. And it will happen.
Bow hunting can be such a mental game to me. After the machanics of shooting a bow have been learned its about 80% mental after that IMO. I find most people put to much pressure on themselfs to make a kill. Once your first kill has happen and with that monkey off your back it will become much easier. I think you are already ahead of the game by getting shot opportunitys, thats the hard part. Maybe try letting some animals feed around you and try not to kill them right off. Let yourself relax while they hang around you. Maybe even draw on them without letting the string loose. Just have confindence in yourself and your equipment and it will happen.
95% in your head.
you have to expect to kill everything you shoot at.
go some where and kill some hogs and get the monkey off your back
Pick your spot BEFORE you bring up the bow, and never take your focus off that spot till the arrow hits it. Been there and done that myself.
Ron
When I started years ago, it seemed that I was having the same problem. What I finally figured out was I was concentrating way to much on "a kill" instead of "the shot". It will come, just learn as all have said to pick a spot, and not focus on having to make a kill.
Many of us have been there and especially looking at the whole animal and the scene.
Join a club, find a mentor and let him/her help you along. Making it social will get you fixed up sooner. Also stop shooting groups and from the same spot. Change up everything on every shot: distances, angles, elevation up down you name it "make every shot your only shot". And above all keep us posted.
As stated its in your head. You have trained your mind for shooting targets now you have to train your mind to shoot animals. Many pro athletes use visualization techniques to be prepaired for the moment of truth, try it it will help. It helped me.
Chris
Take a breath and relax, pick a spot and be confident. Hey your getting chances and that's a big part of success. I'm a confident as can be but have only one shot on big game in 41 years.....take your time it will come!
Let's put this in perspective. You have taken a lot of shots. You are doing a lot right. I believe saxton pope hunted with Ishi for 5 years without bagging a deer. A lot of it is just experience. The more shots you take, the more comfortable you'll get. Your nerves will settle down and you'll put meat on the table. Just stick with it.
back in the 70's it took me 8 years of hard hunting to ever kill a deer with my bow (recurve) this past year was the first year in about 41 years to not do that. once ya kinda learn how, it just starts flowing. i have re evaulated my past season and plan to fix that... your doing the right thing, find a fix, then relax and have confidence......a big part of target panic or freezing up on a animal is fear of failure, lick that and your on your way...
Try thinking about it in different terms. Are you there simply to kill? When you use the phrase "I don't want to miss because of this 'kill fever' I have", you already missed. Hunting is a process. The very nature of hunting is to out wit an animal on his terms. Missing is part of the process. You certainly must understand this premise deep inside your soul or you would not handicap yourself with traditional archery equipment, much less an osage self-bow. So, give yourself credit for that much. MISSING IS ALL PART OF IT. While I never go into the deal thinking I am going to miss...I DO MISS.
You are not out there to KILL. You are not out there to hunt. You are out there TO HAVE HUNTED. Again, you are out there to HAVE HUNTED. If all you want to do is kill, take a gun. If you are all about BECOMING A HUNTER, then let your pride go and enjoy the process. When the day arrives that you hang a red Lifesaver on a toothpick placed on a white paper plate on your target butt and hit it dead center from 30 yards, killing an animal will mean very little to you.
BTW, YOU MISSED THE QUAIL BECAUSE IT IS NOT QUAIL SEASON. THE POWERS THAT BE CHECKED YOU ON THAT ONE.
You are not having fun. TAKE TRADITIONAL ARCHERY SERIOUSLY, BUT DON'T TAKE YOURSELF SERIOUSLY. I honestly believe that the next critter that presents itself to you, IN SEASON, you are going to complete the process--I really believe that!!!
Thank you everyone for the responses, I didn't expect to many replies or such helpful ones. I was mostly expecting a "cause you suck!" kinda reply lol. Too many helpful responses to reply to each one individually, but I think the general consensus is right, I am not picking a specific spot. Thinking back on as many of the misses as I can I have not once picked any spot on the animal, just the vitals area. Someone asked how much I'm missing by, and if the animals were just dodging, one rabbit did enitirely jump my arrow, he jumped straight up and did a 180, the funny part is he jumped a millisecond before I released. He jumped, my arrow went under him, and he landed. It was weird. Other than that, its just inches at the most. Several times I've had rabbit hair on my judo points where the spring arms grazed them.
Again, thats everyone, I'm be picking spots on my target turkeys, and on the real things come April.
P.S. Forgot to check on small game seasons. No more rabbits, squirrels or game birds lol. Squirrel season opens may here though.
Pick a spot pick a spot pick a spot. When you see a critter you are going to shoot start the chant.
We may laugh with you, but we certainly can't laugh at you, since we have all been there, too. I missed the same deer twice this year standing in the same place on 2 different days. It sounds like your basic archery is pretty good, but when hunting it truly is hard to pick a spot and concentrate solely on that spot. When it does finally happen, it will truly be sweeeeet!
It could be you just don't have it your heart to kill anything,otherwise I'd agree with pick a spot.
QuoteOriginally posted by GRINCH:
It could be you just don't have it your heart to kill anything,otherwise I'd agree with pick a spot.
Oh I do Mr. Grinch, I do. I've shot rabbits and squirrels and birds with small arms my whole life. I've hooked, killed and cleaned tens of thousands of fish. I know to pick a spot, but after hearing everyone suggest it I realize now in the heat of all those moments I completely forgot to do it...
QuoteOriginally posted by Stone Knife:
Your most likely looking at the whole animal instead of picking a small spot, we have all done it one time or another. You need to focus on a very tiny spot on the animal.
I think this nails the problem.
Sure you want to kill the "whatever" but don't shoot at the "whatever" but pick out a hair, a feather, a something small.
Chances are if you miss your small target by an inch or two, you will still kill it.
My 2 cents worth.
God bless,Mudd
PS: Never give up!
I just wanna add one more thing here because it may help you. Like I said. I missed six deer with my recurve before I killed one. After that though I killed plenty of critters. Yes I still miss and buck fever can override good form. But when I miss a shot at a game animal that I know I can make 100 percent of the time on a target I know it was a mental thing. I think Biggie Hoffman once said that the best way to get good at killing things is to kill things. Keep at it and I promise you it will happen. When I was first getting started I remember getting ahold of Gene Wensel. I told him my story of wo about missing a shot at a very big buck that I had watched all summer. His response was so light hearted that it made me feel better. It let me know that everyone misses. It's part of it and I'm glad it is. But ihe also gave me the encouragement I needed. And it worked. Again. Keeps at it. Do not lose sight of your goal. It will happen. But also do not put too much pressure on yourself. If you mess up, and keep trying, you absolutely will get another chance.
Take your time when the shot comes. I still do this. You have limited time to hunt due to school, work, etc. when the deer gives you the chance in the back of your head you are saying "shoot it now before it gets away!". In that process you rush the shot and mess up. It has happened to all of us. It's hard to do but when the animal you wanna shoot gets in range, try to pretend you are shooting at a tame cow or pig. I do this and it works for me. Act like you have all the time in the world to pull it off. Because in reality you probably do have more time than you think. You can do it. And once you do it once, you can call your compound shooting buddies Pansy's! HA!
I heard that "Arkansas Osage" is an old Indian phrase that means vegeterian. Just kidding :)
Jim has it for me, pick a very small spot on the critter you are shooting that will help a lot!!Also from your post you seam anxious about it, like it is getting to you. Best thing is relax and not worry about the killing and more about just making a good shot. Shawn
To much pressure on yourself it sounds to me! Relax and let it happen.