The little things

[kentrek]

Lots of these stories are familiar....I've for got how many times I've shot with a rifle more then a fwe times ! Even last year's whitetail I had one extra empty laying on the ground....more then a couple occasions I won't remember taking off the safety!  Once with a musket I forgot which way the elk was facing....back at the house telling the story my dad was a bit confused 

Had some archery shots that have time nearly stop....a 18 yard shot that I watched the bull turn and roll away before my arrow got there....almost seems like I can remember my string wobbling around...but split seconds later it's amazing how fast everything goes and all of a sudden I can hear noise again !! Things go quite when my pins are finding there spot

Also pretty sure I've forgot to breath on my 2013 bull....it was next level focus I guess 

Great thread

[RadSav]

Why do I shoot Low at close range and High at long range?  #1 of 2


..."I don't understand it", the guy says to me, "I had a good rangefinder reading, the bull just stood there until the arrow hit and the shot felt great!  How could I have shot so high?"

..."He was so close!", the hunter tells me, "So close I knew I could just center punch the heart.  But the shot struck him extremely low and now I've been blood trailing for hours.  I'm thinking of giving up this archery stuff!"


Sound familiar?  These are actual stories from guys I met in the field.  Both after 2004.  Stories like this repeat often.  It is concerning that they seem to be multiplying at a rather accelerated rate with the popularity of the round pin guard.  So much so that I have begun preaching the use of single pin or triple pin slider sights more than ever before.  It really has nothing to do with the sight itself, but rather the way hunters use them in the field.  The popular trend in centering the pin guard in the peep creating so many confusions and field troubles.  Add to this the crazy notion of needing seven pins when hunting really adds to the margin of error. 

I was there myself in 2006.  Three friends and myself spending the night in the woods following drop after drop of blood looking for an elk that should have been dead within seconds of an easy shot.  Transfer blood all high on the branches told us my shot had gone high.  But, as good stewards we crawled and stumbled forward in the hot September darkness.  Hoping to get lucky and find my elk before the early season heat turned it into sour coyote bait.  Everyone's time wasted, blood spilled, muscles bruised, equipment lost...all for nothing. 

But I was lucky!  The next day while glassing across the canyon I was able to identify the same elk feeding together with his harem.  Peace of mind could replace that sick feeling in the pit of the stomach.  The nightmares could stop.  The constant images of a slow death and rotting flesh could once more be turned into plans for another battle on another day.  Besides a long gash across his back and the blackness bearing witness of a flesh wound he was just fine.  Only thing on his mind was grabbing small amounts of vegetation and routinely checking his cows urine for signs of possible breeding acceptance.  I still felt horrible, but at least that night I was able to sleep knowing the ravens and coyotes had to find other sources of sustenance.

Earlier that year I had decided maybe everyone was right.  Maybe I was "Old School" and needed to learn the "Modern Way."  It ended up being the year I changed they way I diagnosed missed shots in the field.  Prior to that year most long shots that went high and short shots that went low were thought to be form related issues.  And in the years prior to 2002 they largely were.  High shots at known yardage were putting too much heal into the grip, punching the release or dropping the draw arm elbow.  Low shots at known distances were collapse of back tension, watching the arrow and lack of follow-thru.  That year taught me that everything was changing.  And that the "Modern Way" wasn't necessary a good thing!!!

For the most part prior to 2002 our peep sights were small.  We looked through them and not at them. Our pin guards were rectangle in shape.  When we shot - the appropriate pin was our center of focus, our minds could be at rest, our focus could be uncluttered, and our bodies could be allowed to simply do what was natural human nature.  When we made a shot we allowed our minds instinctive nature to center things on it's own.  Our only focus was on the pin and our peripheral focus was on knowing where on the target that pin was floating.  The only un-natural thing about the shot was concentrating on the pin rather than the target.  For those who chose to focus on the target it still had little effect on our ability to hit high and low.

Note: Modern technology has changed where our point of focus is to some degree.  Lighted and fiber pins have really opened the door to allowing us to focus on the target more and less on the pin.  There is really no set-in-stone point of focus anymore.   Military and competition rifle shooters will likely perform best focused on the pin while most new bowhunters likely do better focusing on the target. I have found with these new pins I focus more and more on the target since my vision and depth of field isn't what it used to be!  That was tough thing to accept after being trained to shoot by an old marine sniper.  Either way, don't worry about it too much.  Just take a little time and find what works best for you.

I have never been a premier target shooter like so many of my friends.  But for some odd reason those guys, who were obviously better shots than I, had started to struggle more and more in hunting situations.  There was some little thing that I possessed that swung the odds in my favor while hunting.  We always assumed it was that I never get very excited prior to a shot.  Maybe it was that I had spent so much time in the presence of wildlife I was just able to shoot at relaxed animals where they didn't always have that luxury.  Or maybe, as was the common consensus, that I just had a knack for knowing when to shoot and when not to.  

It is my honest and deepest belief that in that 2006 season, after my failure to kill that bull, we finally broke the code and figured it out.  It ended up being such a simple little thing that my 3-D friends refused to believe it could make a difference.  But one by one I talked most into giving my theory a try.  As success rose some still refused to believe it was my theory of human nature.  Instead giving credit to advances in equipment.  Either way, I'm just glad we can sit around a fire these days and share success stories instead of the wounded ones that got away stories!

[RadSav]

Why do I shoot Low at close range and High at long range?  #2 of 2


Though I like to call this little thing "Human Nature - The Theory of Success" to make it sound important enough for reluctant target shooters to actually try it.  In all seriousness it is really nothing more than "Center the Pin"!


We as human beings have certain things that come natural.  Things we don't have to think about like breathing, pulling our hand away from a hot plate and smiling when we are happy.  Similarly our minds naturally track the simplicity of a straight line better than one curved.  We instinctively centers things in a circle.  And, we naturally fall back on instinct when startled, panicked or stressed.  These are the most basic laws of human nature.  To do otherwise takes conscious thought, discipline and dexterity.  We know these things to be true.  And our day to day lives benefit greatly by our instinctive nature.

We also know it to be true that when shooting a bow - tension and tightness robs accuracy.  When our form is perfect we need almost no tension to keep our balance.  We need no tightness in our shoulders, arms, wrists or hips.  We are more solid, more stable and actions are more repeatable when we are in a relaxed state.  Only keeping the minimum amount of tightness needed to draw, hold anchor, keep back tension, adjust for sight location and trigger the release.

So why is it we feel that adding stress to the brain is beneficial?  Somehow the modern method of sighting has decided that we can no longer shoot consistent by allowing our natural tendencies to center things in a circle and follow a straight line.  We try to focus on a peep sight close to our eye, line up that blurry image with another blurry circle, then bend our focus to an out of center pin, then bend focus one more time to line that off center pin with another distant blurry target.  All of it unnatural, all of it causing mental distress, all of it creating a virtual tension in the mind.  How can this tension be beneficial?  And most importantly, how can this be repeatable and reliable in moments of situational stress and panic?

We practice this process of ignoring human nature.  It gets easier and easier as time goes by.  We practice on the range under controlled conditions and find success with it under the controlled stress of competition.  And we succeed in this environment and believe it is better.  Our over-analytical behavior thinking "more is better!"  We fall into a trap of thinking we can consciously look at this while looking at that, while bending thought and vision to that, while lining all of this up with a further bending of that.  All because more points of reference, consciously manipulated, has got to be better than two?  For many on the target line that might actually be a resemblance of a truth.

But what happens in the field, in the heat of the moment, is so often different than on the target line.  We find ourselves startled, panicked, stressed in that situational moment of truth.  We find ourselves in a shooters version of "fight or flight".  And in that situation so many great target line shooters lose conscious focus and revert to the mind and bodies natural nature.  If at that moment your bow is sighted in using the convoluted, focus bending, mind over instinct aiming method...you only have one single pin sighted in correctly.  That being the one in the center!

When your instinctive nature over rides the mental chaos of the modern aiming process your short yardage pin gets centered in the peep and your long yardage pin gets centered in the peep.  Actually the whole dang lot of pins are going to be centered in the peep if they are the ones being used to aim.  When this happens the pins located above center will shoot low and the pins located below center will shoot high.  The further the pins are located from your sights center the larger the margin of error will be.

Single pin sliders are no more accurate than multiple pin sights.  However, the pin is always sighted in as the center pin regardless of yardage.  So even though you may have sighted in the bow using the mental chaos method and end up shooting in an instinctive nature you are still on target.  Thusly, if you have a three pin sight with the middle pin centered the margin of error between the two is less and shots can be much more effective than that of a five or seven pin model.

Good news is you do not need a different sight to handle those in field stress filled moments of excitement.  Just simply sight the bow in using the method that follows the body and minds natural nature...Center the Pin!  All you need to do is know you are looking through the peep and not the gaps above and below it, focus on the pin you need for that distance and let that pin float on the intended target while you execute the perfect shot.

This little thing might not help you tear up the target circuit.  But if you are like me and care more about putting meat in the freezer and horns on the wall it just might be your answer to shooting Low at close range and High at long range while hunting.  I, myself, will never center a sight guard ever again on a hunting bow!!

[bowtechian]

Warm Up Blind:

Most new bowhunters struggle with accuracy in the field even though the claims of pie plate sized groups at 100 yards in common amongst internet sites.  While much of those claims are "Once In Awhile" groups and not every day groups the fact remains that new bowhunters struggle shooting animals with that one and only chance.  Give them an opportunity to warm up and most are more than adequate shooters.  In my opinion this is because most new archers have not yet developed consistent repeatable mechanics.  Without proper development of shot mechanics shooters must warm into a rhythm as their shooting sessions progress.  A luxury we don't get in the field.

Your shot execution and form needs to become ingrained into the subconscious.  From the point you draw the bow to the point at which the arrow leaves the bow needs to become second nature.  Once a bowhunter is able to reach this point then that first shot no longer needs to be forced.  Rather the execution can be allowed to just happen and all your conscious mind needs to worry about is using the right pin, picking a spot and allowing that pin to float in the zone until the arrow is on it's way.

The problem with trying to develop this during regular visits to the range is that we enjoy shooting.  Since we enjoy it so much we tend to over indulge and shoot long after our muscles and mind can be consistent.  So the mind starts off confused, then picks up on the successes of the middle session and then that positive feedback is largely lost with the mistakes we make during the fatigue filled final moments of our shooting session.  How can the mind understand what is good mechanics input and what is bad mechanics input?  It can't!  And so we continue to develop a confused subconscious that must constantly adjust over time.

Luckily, if we eliminate visual distractions, we can tell our brain when to choose the most relevant input.  Warming Up Blind can seem like such a little thing, but it really does make a big difference in how the brain receives shot mechanics input.  It's sort of like putting a large fluorescent file at the front of the subconscious drawer.  Makes all the good stuff easiest to find and reference!

For me Warming Up Blind means shooting my first dozen arrows of the day with my eyes closed.  I stand only a few yards away from the target and execute each shot from finding my anchor through proper form, proper back tension, proper release and proper follow through.  All executed with my eyes closed.  No worrying about aiming.  No worrying about groups.  Everything revolves around performing the perfect progression of shot mechanics. 

One of the most important things is to take your time!!  You won't get extra credit for speed.  So your only concern should be to break all the elements of a shot down one by one.  And when you know you have executed the perfect shot...keep your eyes closed and just relish in the after glow for a few long moments.  In those moments of ecstasy the mind knows you done good.  It knows that is an experience it wants to repeat.  Allow it to fully sink in so your subconscious mind becomes addicted to the euphoria of the well executed shot.  After a while it will want to make sure that is the way shot #1 and shot #100 should feel.  No more confusion, no more need to find a rhythm and no more need to validate the little mistakes we make later on during open practice.

Once those proper fundamentals become second nature you can get good shots off faster too!  You no longer need to think about how to make the shot.  Simply find the right pin, find a small spot to aim at, float the pin in that zone and let the rest just happen.  For me there is no better feeling in the world than experiencing life in slow motion during a perfectly executed shot.  It's as if the world stops spinning for just a moment and everything around you just falls into place.  After what seems like minutes the arrow hits and time races forward to catch up to reality.  Once you experience it you will never forget the feeling.  It's truly wonderful!

Thanks for putting this up wow! Some light put on a few more of the why's. I used to always read some terry Wunderle in north american whitetail mag to get me back on track I'll have to incorporate this with my bare bale shooting. Thank you once again rad   

[Jonathan_S]

Rad, do you recommend those of us who are sticking to multiple pins focus on centering the pin?

[RadSav]

Rad, do you recommend those of us who are sticking to multiple pins focus on centering the pin?

Think of it as friendly urging.  No real reason to change if you are shooting a single pin.   

Nice think about it for us aging bowhunters is the fact we can go back to shooting smaller peep sights too!  Not only does a 1/8, 5/32 or 3/16" aperture peep make it easier for our peripheral focus to find center...it also improves our depth of field.  An often over looked benefit of smaller peep apertures. I moved from the 7/32" aperture I'd used from 2000-2006 to the 5/32" on most bows.  Large enough to gather light and still still see my bubble - small enough to help see detail on a distant target.  Only bow I currently shoot that is different is the super short A2A Bear Assault where I shoot a 3/16" aperture.  The steeper string angle puts the peep further from my eye and the sight picture is about the same as my longer bows with the 5/32". 

Note:  The Bear Attack is the only bow I currently use with a five pin sight too.  My draw length is 28.5"

[RadSav]

After the wife's multiple eye surgeries she switched from a 1/4" aperture to a 3/16" peep.  She is shooting really well! 

She told me last week she wanted to try shooting with a 5/32" to see if it would improve her vision even further.  With her limited low light vision we will need to do some tall timber/low light practice to see at which point the smaller apertures begin to limit her already limited daylight hours.

[Jonathan_S]

Makes sense really  so far my checklist goes like this...

1)  Draw/anchor
2)  Level
3)  Center Peep on Sight
4)  Aim
5)  Squeeze

#3 could be rolled together with #4 and cut down time-wise if I'm looking through a smaller hole.  Does a smaller hole get more difficult in low light conditions?  Not that I'd EVER shoot an animal in low light conditions  but you know, hypothetically.

[RadSav]

Does a smaller hole get more difficult in low light conditions? 

For myself - My eyes, my draw length, my anchor point...I have not noticed a difference with 5/32" or larger.  I did notice some with 1/8", but only in the darkest of timber in final minutes of legal light.

This brings up something I do during practice.  Part of my, "Expect the worst/Hope for the best" preparation.  When I shot my first bear my peep tubing broke as I pulled my bow up into my stand.  Didn't notice until I was ready to shoot   Luckily I was shooting fingers back then and just shot him instinctively.  Could have been much worse had I only practiced looking through the peep.

Peep tubing breaks, tubing posts break, strings rotate and debris finds it's way into aperture holes.  When you least expect problems Murphy always seems to pay a visit.  I now practice shooting both eyes open with a blacked out peep.  If I reach full draw and realize I can not look through my peep...no problem.  I know I can allow the left eye to take over and simply adjust my left right for the less dominant eye shot.  I'm not likely to take a long shot this way.  But I've practiced enough that shots 40 yards and under I feel very confident I can kill whatever big game animal I'm shooting at this way.

[Jonathan_S]

Sweet    I don't even use peep tubing.  Too many horror stories.  I know I'll have a string rotate eventually when a shooter is in range so I guess it's six of one and half a dozen t'other

[lamrith]

Wow,
Such a great amount of info, specially these last few pages!

 

[RadSav]

Sweet    I don't even use peep tubing.  Too many horror stories.  I know I'll have a string rotate eventually when a shooter is in range so I guess it's six of one and half a dozen t'other

For every tubing story I usually hear five "my peep rotated" stories.  And most tubing stories end with the admittance of old tubing.  For $0.75 I think I'd replace my tubing before hunting season .  Only benefits to non-tubing peeps IMO are less glare and less noise.  BIG benefits for sure, but not the end of the world scenario most who have never used a tubing peep make it sound.

Here is my approach...set your tubing peep without tubing first.  Then if tubing breaks unexpectedly you are left with just another non-tubing peep.  Some impact height changes at long distance, but nothing that's going to end a hunt.

[lamrith]

I currently shoot with only one eye open.  Any tips or tricks I can try to help work on both eyes open?  Soon as I open the off eye I loose the sight picture.

[coachcw]

It sounds like your off eye might be dominant , I know mine is so i just close it .

[stromdiddily]

Rad, it's mind boggling, the wealth of knowledge you possess and come here to share...really appreciate it.