I have been practicing out at 40 yards to increase my ability and confidence on 10-15 yd shots.  I practice shooting at a 16oz water bottle anywhere from 40 to 10 yards and everything in between.  I can hit that bottle or get within an inch or so out to 15 yards about 99% of the time.  Even at forty yards I hit the bottle about 1 in 6 arrows (the other 5 are usually not too far off).

The problem is this;

When I shoot at a standard target I am no where near as accurate.  Anyone else notice this with their shooting?

-Charlie

Sounds like the bottle has you more focused. if you shooting into a larger backstop, you may be looking at the whole target instead of focusing on the exact spot you want the arrow to impact. Lots of folks shoot over deer for the same reason.

JL

Like Ishi said, the target is too big.  You need to develope the ability to focus or imagine a smaller target within the target.

This is where the saying, "aim small, miss small" came from. Focus on the middle of the middle of what you are shooting at and see if you get better.

get rid of the bottle and put a 1inch blaze orange sticker in  its place.  even when shooting other targets you will see that little orange sticker in your minds eye!  even at 40 yards!

There is another possibility.  I experience extreme "target panic" when shooting at bullseyes.  I can shoot 3d all day and stump shoot like a demon, but put up a circle and all the stress comes back and bam, can't hit a thing.

Mike

little target = little miss

I hear you, too. I can stump shoot pretty dang good, but I am lousy at 'targets' past about 20 yards. It is, again, a matter of concentration. Plus, I would much rather be in the woods stumping than flailing away at a target in the back yard.

I've experienced the same thing, the smaller the target, the tighter my groups, I hate bullseye targets! Roving and stumnp shooting really boost my confidence.
John

stump! spell it correctly! gosh what a waste of college money!  

Sounds like alot of us are the same way. 3-D and stump shooting I'm pretty accurate. Yesterday while trying out a new arrow set-up, I shot the new arrow and missed by several inches (at a thirty yd target as it turned out). But my tried and true arrow was dead on! Target was an old orange Hubby had thrown out into the back yd. We live in the country, we can do that, even though I'm not crazy about it.
But that shot was a thing of beauty with that perfect arrow flight!

Anyone that can shoot at a circle and stay within the 7 or 8 ring with 30 shots impresses me! That takes alot of mind control.

pick an imaginary spot and burn a hole it!

I agree with the other posts. The target is too big. It all boils down to being able to pick a "spot" on the target. I just cannot see well enough to pick a hair out past 20-25 steps. I want to shoot animals much closer than this anyway.
I can be surpisingly accurate at 30 steps but a gap situation developes and this is NOT how I want to shoot a bow.

Focus Grasshopper.  The guys have it right.  It's hard to define a small spot on a big target, but learning to do so will help you immensely.   It's the very reason sight shooters can kick our a$$ on big faces.

Aim at a rabbits head and miss the thing...
aim at a rabbits eye and you hit its head.
   

Paulie