Beating target panic

[Lee Dogman]

From 1994-2014, I shot right handed...and was a bit of a snap shooter, but I made anchor and did well shooting about 6" groups or so out to about 20 yards or so, and could shoot further but was not consistent at further distances...that is UNTIL I wanted to be more deliberate and improve my grouping for consistent performance. Well, after shooting 10,000's if not 100,000's arrows over all those years, I had so much muscle memory that it was very difficult to change my style...and I got "target panic" as I approached full draw battling the last few inches of draw thinking, "don't let go at anchor." And while some days could do okay, other days I really struggled, and before too long it seemed like things really went south as I battled it and I could not over come it.

Since I am slightly left eye dominant (when I draw a bow, I can see the arrow under whichever eye I am drawing over and eye dominance is not a sight picture issue for me like it is for some), I decided to switch to shooting left handed, and have never had an issue. I can shoot fast or slow and have complete control. I have been shooting this way since 2014.

I have some old archery equipment that is right handed (back quiver, an armguard that has a compass on the top visible side of the forearm, that when used on the opposite arm is useless as it is on the bottom side)...and well, I wanted to try to shoot right handed again and figured with all the time off, I would be able to. Well...nope, those old neurons still remember "autofire." LOL.

I could always just say screw it and just shoot left handed, and in fact I do plan on shooting left handed 90% of the time, but I would like to overcome the issue even if just for personal reasons.

For those of you that beat the target panic battle, what helped you do so? Thanks.

NOTE: Photo of me and Bob Wesley back in 1998.

[McDave]

I've fought target panic for years.  I've learned how to override it so I can keep shooting at about 80%, but the icewater veins and lack of fine muscle control is always just under the surface.  I've had many theories about how I should be able to lick it, but none of them have panned out in practice.  I haven't given up, because I've successfully overcome far more stressful situations in life with a fraction of the effort that I've put into fighting target panic, so it's become a personal challenge, like you mentioned.

Interestingly, I've run across a number of people who state that they have completely defeated target panic by switching from right to left handed shooting, and I've never run across anyone who said they tried it and it worked for a while but then stopped working.  I shoot left handed as well as right handed, and can't say that I've ever gotten target panic shooting left handed, but then I've never taken left handed shooting very seriously either.  I'm kind of hard headed, I guess.

[Lee Dogman]

I have no problems left handed and I am sure my reason why is because by the time I tried shooting left handed, I knew proper shooting mechanics...and never had to battle overcoming muscle memory on that side.

[Rob DiStefano]

Consciously or subconsciously making "thinking" a priority during the shooting process is a strong reason for TP, perhaps even the only reason.  The ability to overcome TP requires a strong will/desire to block first person forefront thinking and allow an *uncompromised* subconscious do its learned *instinctive* process of drawing, aiming without using any manner of aiming sight: arrow or bow, concentrating solely on the target, and releasing.  It's all as simple and as most difficult as that, because we're all "experiments of one".

[EHK]

Like McDave, I would say that I've fought it for years, but have not completely overcome it.  Through much hard, deliberate work, I now hit anchor 100% of the time.  My struggle is releasing before I've gone through my entire shot sequence.  I incorporate a lot of let down drills into my daily shooting to battle it.  Anchor, aim, expand, let down.  You need to break that mental connection between anchor and release.  I will say that when I implement some kind of "trigger" like a limb mounted clicker, or my preference, the solid grip trigger by Tom Clum at Rocky Mountain Specialty Gear, TP is a non-factor.  Any time the TP starts to creep back in consistently, I put that solid grip trigger on and while it's hard to be consistent with it, the TP goes away almost instantly. 

I also recently saw a video by Trevor of TTT strings.  He says a lot of competition bare bow guys will blink as they get to anchor.  By losing the site picture for that fraction of a second, the urge to fling the arrow goes away.  Crazy as it sounds, that also works for me.

[Rob DiStefano]

.... I also recently saw a video by Trevor of TTT strings.  He says a lot of competition bare bow guys will blink as they get to anchor.  By losing the site picture for that fraction of a second, the urge to fling the arrow goes away.  Crazy as it sounds, that also works for me.

That's blocking the negative thought process via distraction and is one positive method of overcoming TP.

Another is to come to full draw, then *slightly* let down - the act of coming back to full draw and anchor is the distraction that blocks the negative TP thought.

[McDave]

I like the idea of distractions brought up in the last two posts.  Sometimes when I have been distracted by something while nearing full draw, it has worked for me too.  One time I was teaching a class and mentioned Terry's idea that "archery happens from the waist up."  To demonstrate how people can shoot the bow effectively from a wheel chair, I braced my back on a nearby wall and squatted down to simulate being in a wheel chair.  I had only intended to draw the bow and let it down, but I felt so relaxed when I drew the bow that I went ahead and shot a good shot into the target.  I tried it again in another class and it didn't work as well, so I guess it wasn't enough of a distraction the second time around.  However! I do plan to try the blinking idea and partial let down ideas mentioned above.

[Rob DiStefano]

I'd beaten target panic perhaps twice in my lifetime of shooting that goes back to the mid 1950s. 

There was a time, a few years ago, when I just could not overcome TP.

I searched around the 'Net for help and found Joel Turner's website, signed up, and literally in less than an hour my TP was gone ... for good ... hasn't returned ... doubt it ever will.

So these are big words, but they're my words and my experience with learning to employ a "mechanoreceptive trigger" in my shot sequence that was the distraction that disconnected my brain thinking and allowed a push/pull release to naturally happen, whilst my actual aim remained the same as it always had been - focused solely on a pinpoint of the object I wanted my arrow to penetrate (aka "instinctive aiming").

[Arctic Hunter]

I bought Joel Turner's dvd several years ago. Going to a psycho trigger (feather touching my chin) helped me more than anything. Also, jay kidwell has some good drills and information in his book "Instinctive Archery Insights" on how to retrain your brain.

[Kirkll]

I've seen this subject come up now and then for years, and never really could understand what this "Target Panic" really is. Could someone explain it? 

I battled my issues with inconsistencies due to improper alignment, and things dramatically improved learning proper back tension and learning to relax and let the release just happen, rather than consciously think about it.

 Shooting a blank bale with my eyes closed, and just concentrating on my breathing and the feel of the back tension did wonders for me. The follow though after the shot is just as important as the release itself too.  The release is only a point in the draw cycle that leads to conclusion and needs to be subconscious.  .

When I was helping beginners get their form and alignment tuned up I used to tell them to pretend that you have a string tied to your arrow from your shooting glove. After the release, you need to keep that bow on target and steer the arrow into the bulls eye  holding that string behind your ear. That little trick helped a lot of kids on follow though insight.

02 cents worth... Kirk

[Rob DiStefano]

TP is purely a mental issue - the inability to properly release whilst properly aiming. 

Those who've never had this archery malady will never be able to understand it unless they experience this disease first hand.

The "cure" for TP might be a very Very VERY arduous undertaking because it's not a physical ailment, it's a mental affliction.

[McDave]

Imagine that there's something that you've done for years, like riding a bicycle.  Then one day you want to go for a ride with a friend, and the thing just doesn't work right anymore.  You're wobbling all over the street, and can't keep going in a straight line for some reason.  The next day, you get on the bicycle again, and it works just fine.  You breathe a sigh of relief and say, "I'm glad that's all over.  I wonder what happened yesterday?"  But the same thing happens again and again, more frequently.  So you go to a neurologist, and he says that you're fine physically, no strokes or anything, and asks you if you've been under a lot of stress lately?

Nothing that you can recall, but you try things to reduce your stress anyway, plus a whole lot of other things, but more often than not, you can't steer the bicycle in a straight line anymore.  You can still play racquetball as well as you ever could, so whatever the problem is seems to be unrelated to a general hand/eye coordination issue, but specifically related to steering a bicycle.  And not all the time.  There are still times when you can steer the bicycle just fine.  But it happens often enough that you tense up every time you get on a bicycle thinking that you might not be able to steer it in a straight line this time.  And you wonder why, if you can steer the bicycle fine some of the time, you can't steer it fine all of the time?

That is the problem of target panic.

[Kirkll]

Sounds a lot like a condition called buck fever. I've seen that happen to many guys with different types of weapons too. These Guys were great marks men and excellent archers too, until an animal was involved. Then they would either freeze up, or completely muff the shot and were shaking like a leaf.

Now that I think about it, I remember a guy at the Baltimore Classic years ago that we were shooting with that would get to full draw and hold WAY too long, and let down a lot. At a busy 3D shoot, that was kinda bad. I never questioned him about it, but others did. He said he had problems getting of the string sometimes. Funny thing was, I watched the same guy shooting at the practice range, and he was shooting excellent. But target panic was never mentioned....

That would be a tough condition to deal with if it comes and goes like that.

[Arctic Hunter]

Buck fever is a little different than TP.  TP is one of those things that will make you quit shooting a bow all together. I envy guys that have never had it. I sent a few arrows to Jesus early on because the second I saw the bale at full draw, I'd release the arrow. Even with nobody around.  If you've never had it, it's hard to relate to the guys who do.

But Joel turners method of changing your shot process (or creating one in general) and using a trigger to get around it worked for me. And it's definitely worth trying.

Shoot a controlled shot or let down... no matter what.

[Surffever]

As a self taught archer I have had to search for answers to many aspects of this sport.  With no instructors or coaches, I relied heavily on what I could read in books or online.  When I was trying to figure out my target panic issues there were many bandaid type fixes and lots of folksy remedies. What eventually worked for me (which I found here on the forums) was Jim Castro Jr "system" for basically renovating your shot process.  It seems to be primarily centered around grooving your subconscious to get to anchor and hold before moving to aiming and release.
I could never divide all the small steps of a shot. And Castro's method was built around methodical, repetition and building muscle memory to get the desired pause at anchor before moving on toward release.  It involves a rigorous schedule that must be followed strictly for 63 days.  It worked for me and I still practice with his system.  I must emphasize that the schedule must be followed strictly and completely to get good results.  It seems a bit weird at first but it changed my sloppy shooting technique to a much more controlled, methodical, accurate shot.