Where Is My Next Arrow!As bowhunting season draws near archers start to increase their practice/shooting routines in hopes of hitting stride at the optimum moment. But all too often archers hit a plateau or even experience a loss of consistency in the final two or three weeks before opening day. Entering into their season with a loss of confidence and worried about when the opportunity for that one shot presents itself.
These little tortures are often a result of shooting and not practicing. This culprit is so often over looked as a source of failure the archer never realizes it is happening. All they know is their time and effort is not paying off. They make last minute changes to their bow, release, sight, arrows, string, their rest… All in an attempt to purchase a solution to a problem caused by no mechanical issue whatsoever!
The solution is so darn simple most students immediately claim,
“That’s not it!” or
“I’m not doing that!” when I advise them of the issue. But if I show them a short blip of a video from my phone the response is usually,
“Wholly cow. I can’t believe I’m doing that!” This
Little Thing is what I refer to as -
Where is my next arrow?
Shooting is important in the early stages of archery development. Our muscle memory needs to become ingrained in the subconscious, our muscles need to strengthen and our trajectory needs to become ingrained into the mind’s eye. But once those things are developed shooting leads to habits. Unfortunately many of those habits are bad. To avoid those bad habits we need to transition from
Shooting to
Practicing. Especially in those days and weeks before hunting season!
Practicing means slowing things down – A LOT! We want to focus on the individual motions. Shooting each arrow one by one. No longer are we in a nock the arrow, draw the bow, aim and shoot mode. We want to break every single element down to its basic form. Nock the arrow,
then think about it. Attach the hook to the D-Loop,
think about it. Breath,
think about it. Draw the bow and settle into our anchor in a single smooth motion,
think about it... And the deliberate step-by-step doesn’t stop when we touch off the release! We need to be sure we take the time to think about each shot even after the arrow hits the target. We don't get this luxury in the field so we need to take advantage at the range.
I like the last moment before I start the process over to be a series of questions to myself. I ask,
“Was that a good shot? How did that feel?” Most importantly…wait for an honest answer!! If my honest answer is,
“No” then I review each step in the process and try to figure out where it went wrong. I could care less where the arrow went or if I even know where it landed on the target. I know if I made the right shot the arrow will be there. My concern is whether I want to repeat as just completed or if I want to adjust the approach.
What happens when we abandon
practice and just
shoot is that we rush. We rush so much that we do not recognize the bad when it bites.
And worst of all we reach for the next arrow to shoot before we have finished the current shot. For right handed shooters that breakdown usually results in strings going high left or flyers going low right. Though complete random shotgun patterning can also result if it gets bad enough.
After watching hundreds of shooters I am willing to bet well over half break away from the shot early reaching for the next arrow. Leaving the archer with only one arrow in a quiver representing their true form and accuracy. That being their last arrow knowing they no longer need to find the next one!
Archers that use a ground quiver on their draw arm side are usually bit the worst. I believe the biggest disservice archery shops do to their customers is supply traffic cones and/or ground quivers on their range. Besides being poor business when your business is to sell target quivers, field quivers, side quivers and bow quivers. These free use ground quivers breed collapse in form and destructive habits. Do yourself and your shop a favor and buy a quiver!
(or two as will be explained below - #3)If you are like my wife you love to shoot and hate to practice! And even more so she hates to load and unload her bow quiver while having a fun day of shooting. If that sounds like you, I do have some solutions that will help keep the
shooting demons at bay. I like to mix these up so she never gets used to doing this the same way and form a bad habit. Here they are:
#1 – I walk around behind her being her personal caddie. Sometimes I’m on her left side, sometimes I’m on her right side and sometimes I am right behind her. I make sure she never knows where the next arrow is coming from. Without her turning around I have her ask,
“Where is my next arrow?” –
Hence the reference! If she asks too soon I will withhold giving her the next arrow for a moment or two. This is by far the best scenario. Unfortunately it takes two people and usually ends in an argument if the shooting session goes on too long!
#2 – I will stick arrows in the ground at random distances from the shooting line. Making sure each is located behind and to her left as she is a right handed shooter. This way she cannot simply reach for the next arrow. She needs to
locate and find where the next arrow is after each shot. This doesn’t always get her to shoot slower, but it does stop the habitual reaching before the shot has been completed. This works best if I place the random arrows, but she can do it herself if she remains disciplined.
#3 – I have her wear a left handed target or field quiver on her left hip. With this method she must completely let go of the bow with the left hand between shots as the bow hand is now also the arrow retrieving hand. Truly amazing how effective this is! And it can be easy for someone wanting to curb the
itch to reach when shooting alone.
#4 – And finally there is the best bowhunting practice/shooting method. Of course beyond 25 yards this is the wife’s least favorite. This is to show up at the range with a single arrow. No helper needed. Just a lot of walking back and forth to the target. Shoot one perfect arrow, walk to the target and pull it, walk back to the line and repeat!
So there you have one of my little things that will help you continue to improve in those important days and weeks before hunting season. It may seem like an insignificant
Little Thing, but it pays off in a very
Big way!