I'd like to get some statistics on the various shooting styles utilized by the TradGangers.  Please vote based on which of the following criteria BEST describes your style of shooting.

INSTINCTIVE - You have no conscious awareness of your bow or arrow and focus 100% of your attention on the target 100% of the time.  You typically do not think much about "yardage" and just trust yourself to make the appropriate adjustments.

HYBRID - You begin with a conscious awareness of your bow or arrow and use it as a beginning reference, then you shift your focus 100% to your target.  You tend to give some thought to "yardage" as you relate it to your beginning reference point.

GAP - You use the gap method, or a similar method of aiming where you consciously consider "yardage" and use some reference (arrow tip etc.) to align to the target.  You split your attention between the target and the reference point to stay aligned.

I thought you had an interesting poll started. My answer would have been 'hybrid'. I don't really think specifically about yardage, but I am aware of the arrow, and then try to bear down on the target.

ttt

I'm not real sure what I do. I do know every time I think about what I am doing or read one of those gap vs instinctive threads my shooting goes downhill.

I stare/burn a hole where I want the arrow to go,raise and hit anchor(it is at this point I make some kind of adjustment because I can see my bow hand moving} I hold for maybe a second and release.
I can release the second I hit anchor and shoot pretty well but normally I do better if I pause a second to make some kind of adjustment.

I voted Hybrid

I don't think I fit into one of those.

I shoot off of my arrow trajectory.

Thanks for the clarification Mike.  I'd say you are just barely a hybrid - mostly instinctive. I think that final adjustment during the pause is normal with many instinctive shooters.  Sometimes I need to do that and sometimes I don't.  Whatever it takes to make the shot "feel" right.

You can't see your trajectory till the arrow is loosed.  That means you mentally picture what will happen and adjust accordingly.  You are not aiming, you are projecting.  Instinctive.

There is a missing perspective.

What if you look down the arrow sort of like a shot gun barrel for windage and you just use your intuition(instinct?)" to figure the distance and drop.

Dartwick, that fits in with the hybrid style.

i am concentrated on the spot but i'm aware of the alignment of the arrow shaft. i'm looking along it, much the same as how dale karch explains in masters of the barebow. that way i believe any windage error is a result poor alignment or bad release. but in saying that, i've had shots on game that have been completely automatic. don't remember consciously doing anything.

like mikew, i shoot better after settling into anchor for a moment "allowing things to line up".

guess i'm a hybrid/instinctive. voted hybrib though.

Hybrid

Havn't heard of hybrid before. But, thats it.

I dont know. The description you gave of hybrid and what I do - do not have much in common.

If your anchor puts the back of arrow under your eye its fairly automatic that your mind will line it up with the target.
Im fully aware that the arrow is there but Im not focusing on it at all. The arrow it self is being used to aim but Im not thinking about it.

And Im not giving any conscious thought at all to the range.

I concentrate on my target and the next thing I know the arrow is there. The less I have to think about, the better!!!       Pat

Just what Pat B said. In fact if I think about it I screw up. I find that this is also true for when I shoot sporting clays etc. My body knows what to do-my mind just needs to stay out of the way!     I know that some have said you HAVE to be seeing the arrow somehow but I swear I am not aware of it and that if someone could somehow change the color without my knowing they'd done so, we'd have our proof as I wouldn't be able to tell them what color it was. In fact, I have mistakenly fired an arrow without the tip on it.    !  Maybe it can be argued that it is in my preconscious awareness however, who knows?

I shot an arrow without the tip yesterday.  I know where you are coming from Pat B and Curveman.  My anchor puts the arrow some where under and between my eyes.  I'm also left-dye dominant and shoot right handed.  If I consciously look at the arrow it seems to be all over the place and not remotely lined up with the target but if I just focus on the spot it manages to go there most of the time.  Sometimes it's so precise it is scary (I said some times!).

Hybrid for me... I think I use a little of all shooting styles

I focus on my form and the aim point but if the distance is over 15 yards I make a mental note that I need to aim higher but don't change my focal point just instinctively raise higher.  If that makes any sense.  I find if I shoot faster I slide more to the purely instinctive.  I voted hybrid.

Now that depends on the bow!

I have traditional target bows (Bear Tamerlane and Colt Trohpy Mk II)  I shoot them in classic Olympic style

I shoot a Browning Explorer II hunting recurve, I guess by your defintition - it would be a hybrid stye.

I also shoot English Longbow and 'primitive' self bows - they are more more to instinctive style.

Do I get to vote 5 times!!!

ttt