Yep!   :rolleyes:

Nope, I shoot just as bad in front of people as I do when I'm by myself...  

It is my shot, no one else's, doesn't matter who is watching... I try my best to execute the shot.  Focus is the key...  Only problem is, the guys I shoot with on these hunts are good!  The center of the target gets full of arrows pretty quick and feathers, nocks, and arrows take a beating.  It isn't out of the realm for me to pic another spot to save my arrows while shooting with friends or at a 3D.  A perfectly placed arrow in the guts at a 3D is still scored as a Kill for me if the vitals are full of arrows and I'm trying to hit square in the guts.

The best thing that helped me in archery is learning to not give a crap about who is around or not.  Not caring what my 3d score is or if someone else is shooting better than I am.  Once I got it through my head that the others people standing there doesn't have any effect on my shot then I started shooting a lot better. Its all about fun and having the best time you can. If you miss just laught about it and get another arrow and shoot again...Shooting with friends will help too.  Let them shoot first and then try to hit their arrows..lolol.  Hit one of their arrows and cost them twelve dollars and I promise they wont try to tell you how to shoot again...lol  I'm just kidding that would be a real butthole thing to do...hehehe.

I guess for me, that's just another one of the things that 3D and Archery has taught me about bowhunting.

I love the BSing, trash talking, and hillbilly camaraderie that comes with a good shoot.  But just like in bowhunting, once my foot touches that stake, I own that piece of dirt.  The only way the attention from your friends can interfere with your focus is if YOU let it.  It's just one more thing you have to overcome along your path to enlightenment.

Be a machine when you shoot....

My suggestion is to join an archery league where you shoot on the line with archers on each side of you once a week for a couple hours.

Personally.... i hate shooting dots indoors on the line.... but... it will teach you to concentrate on running your shot and to tune out everything else...... and it will make you a better archer.

Practice with your kids watching you or your wife or girlfriend, it'll get your best up and out.

What KirkII said about the league's helped me overcome the pressure/anxiety. The only thing I still struggle with in group shooting is when archers are bunched so close together that we are in each others shooting space. rat'

Yep, I hate shooting with people watching me. The neighbor lady was watching me the other day and I completely missed the target and had to dig through the bush to find my arrow. Very Humbling.

Step-up and challenge yourself before the anxiety sets in. Tell yourself you are shooting to make a good shot. It is all mental and usually talking my self through the shot helps.

Welcome to my world.

I second Kirks suggestion.  Quite a few years ago, when I lost my sanity and shot with a compound for hunting and league, I got used to shooting with people around.  One night just for a change we had a traditional night.  I brought my old recurve and was amazed when my first two arrows landed in the kill zone.

That was a revelation to me, that I could pick up a recurve after at least ten years and have reasonable accuracy almost immediately.  So I borrowed my dads 66" 38 lb recurve and shot with that along side compound shooters for a couple of years.

I still don't like shooting in front of a bunch of people, and  shooting instinctive requires a lot more concentration for me, but you just have to take the plunge.  I personally don't shoot league anymore. I am more of a one arrow at a time shooter.

QuoteOriginally posted by ron w:
The other thing that helps ....when at a 3-D don't keep score, just mark "K" for a kill shot "W" for wound and a miss is a miss. Takes a lot of pressure off....

That's a great idea Ron, I'm totally doing this next time!

Hey Sean! Welcome to my world.....

Don't waist your mind power trying to "tune-out" the people around you... That means you are not thinking about the shot... Before you shoot, take a practice shot in your mind... Watch your self from outside your body... Anchor and follow thru in your minds eye...

I like to see and hear a fly buzzing on the ten ring before I shoot... Kinda like Jay Kidwell states in MMB...

Good Luck and hope to see ya soon!

... mike ...    ...

Same here,when I,m out stumping by myself or shooting in the yard I do great most of the time.when I do shoot bad by myself I stop and try another day.

I once shot in a 450 league with all compound guys. Every time I would shoot, the second line would stand behind me to see how the trad guy was doing.

After a ten week season of that, you kind of learn to block others out.

Yeah, I don't like shooting in front of other people either, and I hardly ever have to.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem

Yeah, misery does love company, huh?  

Some good advise!! When I do shoot in a group, it does play on my head for a little while after, but I get it back after a few shots alone. I guess I just have to try to put it out of my head.

Shawn, I've seen you shoot, and that doesn't help my confidence any!!!   I think I can forget about you in the blind once that gobblers right there!!!!!

I have the same problem.