Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect!!
7 Comments Published by T-Bone on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 at 12:07 PM.
Perfect practice makes perfect. We talked earlier about getting the bows out and cleaned and tuned up for the upcoming season. Well, now it is time to put them to use. With today’s bow designs being so innovative and so forgiving, it has become much easier in recent years to get dialed in with archery equipment. But the need to keep performing like a finely-tuned machine is still there (form and muscle memory). So many guys will wait ‘til two weeks before season and then begin shooting 2 to 3 hours several times a week. Kind of cram practicing before the season. What usually happens when the body is not use to that type of training regiment is it goes through changes during a practice session. It begins cool and your arrows seem to group well, then the groups move when you become warmed up and then begin to spray and become more inconsistent as fatigue sets in. Besides breaking down your muscles, you absolutely kill your confidence with inconsistency.
So the proper way to practice, in my opinion, is to pace yourself. When you are hunting, you have to shoot cold. That deer is not going to allow you a few practice shots. LOL!!
Once you have your bow sighted in, try to limit your practice sessions to 20 arrows…that’s all. Pour your heart and concentration into those shots. Walk through each shot, and the whole shooting sequence and visualize that arrow hitting that tiny spot you have picked out. Anyone can just fling arrows down range, so stay focused. Before long you’ll be on autopilot (a deer killing machine). Heck, you can even try as time goes on just shooting only a couple of arrows at a 3D target and pretending that those shots are for ol’ Sad Daddy this fall.
But above all, have fun with it enjoy your practice time. It’s okay to shoot a lot on those days when you and the boys are just plinking and challenging each other all day—that’s what it is all about.
So remember, practice doesn’t make perfect…perfect practice makes perfect.
Yours in archery.
T-Bone
P.S.—Don’t forget to post a comment on some of your favorite shooting routines. Let’s see who has the most unusual one.
the best practice that i have found is to practice everyday. no you dont have to everyday but atleast get the bow out and shot a couple shots. when i shot i try to atleast get 3 out of 3 arrows in the black spot on the block target and i do that at every distance when i can do that 2 rounds i move back to a further distance. T-bone keep up the good work.
Nick Summerfield
Travis,
I for one am really busy....or just plain lazy. I'm not sure but when I figure it out I'll let you know. Anyway, as I've gotten older, I've gotten bigger, slower, I sweat more.....alot more and getting a bow out when it's 97 outside is just tough.
I'm not as mad at 'em as I used to be. Heck, I remember being outback with my Bear Whiteatail Hunter. I had me some arrows that looked a broom handle and those 165 grain Bear SS broadheads. Shoot baby I would fling those things at a target until it vaporized from damage.
Now days I find myself counting more on rangefinders, pedilum sites and bows that shoot flatter than a Hans Solo blaster. You remember that scene where he shoots that alien under the table in that room...........anyhow, I guess I'm getting off track here.
I guess my point is.....Thompson Center.........(can you hear Nick Mundts voice)
Keep up the good work man.
John Brown Jr.
T,
Being I'm a city slicker with country-boy habits, I can't always get to the club to shoot my bow. Thank God for basements. I've got my Block set up in my basement. It might only be a 9 yard shot but, really concentrating on a handfull of shots every other night keeps the cobwebs off me and the Mathews.
Let'er fly,
Jason McKinney
I typically shoot 4 days a week and fling about 15 arrows per session. I shoot three arrows from 30 yards, 3 arrows from 40, and the final 9 from 75. This routine makes a killing shot on a deer at 30 seem effortless. I would never shoot at an anima at that distance, especially considering I live in the midwest where you typically can't even see half that far. Anyway, knock down some big ones!
T-bone
I have found like a lot of other Bowhunters, that archery clubs make good bed buddys. some of the stick and string guys put on great bow shoots over the summer so my bow never really sees any darkness. I am also an Avid 3D guy so i can always find a 3D shoot to go to and some of those range captains can really set up a course in hunting situations that challange you and your bow.
my input never put that bow away, get out find a 3D or Archry club and get involved, shoot year round, then there is now excusses.
Bret,
VA BCH
My friends and I generally get together up on my rooftop about three to four times a week and shoot. We have seven different 3-D targets set up and four bag targets and I have found It to be really fun and sometimes a way to hustle a little money
(p.s T-bone you are the reason I purchase the realtree videos)
t bone i got to ask 1 question when u gonna bring ol"sadie out on a video hunt haha