Tips for a new bow hunter

[Muleyman27]

So I just purchased my first bow. It's a bowtech carbon knight riser. Any tips for a newbie on shooting. Posture. Anything. i dont know anything about bows other than what the pro shop helped me out with. I put about 20 arrows through it and never missed the target at least any advice would help thanks

[rtspring]

I started archery last year, I have the exact same bow..

Absolutely love it..

Get comfortable shooting it, always find the same anchor point. 

Big one!  Drawing to shoot targets does not even come close to drawing when a big animal is in front of you..  I got the shakes bad first few times.. 

Enjoy, its is very addicting.. 

[Special T]

As much as you would like to dont shoot farther than 20 yards for quite a while. it will help you  focus on form and anchor,

[Torrent50]

Read posts by Radsav.

[Redbeard]

Definitely concentrate on form.

 Make sure your draw weight is low enough for you to shoot more than a few arrows. You can increase draw weight later.

Learn to make simple repairs on your equipment yourself. You might find great satisfaction doing that

And practice, practice and practice

[mburrows]

If you can afford it, go to a pro shop and get your bow properly tuned and take a lesson. This could really help out your learning curve. I wish i would have done this earlier myself.

Dont let a big box store tune ur bow, ever. Im not all that seasoned compared to most but my buddies and i learned this the hard way.

[bhawley76]

Practice X3.

[4fletch]

Excellent comments above you tube has some very good advise on shooting form. May type in perfect bow shooting   Bad habits are hard to break so it's best to learn the correct way to begin with

[RadSav]

Probably the biggest two mistakes newbies make when taking up the bow are;

#1 - Too much draw weight.  As Redbeard said, "You can increase draw weight later!"  You have enough troubles to avoid and worry about right now.  Struggling to draw the bow just makes it harder to work on those important things.  It doesn't reflect on the way the pretty girls see you anyway, so no reason to go He-Man just yet.

#2 - Balance, balance, balance - It's almost impossible to balance with your bow at full draw unless you have the bow out over your toes and your shoulders are over your hips.  Too often newbies stand at a right angle to the target.  Then they fall back and place the shoulders over the right hip in an attempt to compensate for the bows weight extension.

Close your eyes when at full draw and concentrate on your feet.  You should feel even pressure/weight on both feet.  Weight should concentrate forward on the foot and not all on the heal.  This means you should find a comfortable position with your shoulders over the hips and your chest open to the target a bit.  At release the string should immediately leave your body and not need to travel around it.  This will also reduce the chance of hitting your arm with the string too!

[coachcw]

I tell people to find a anchor with eyes closed and practice it, open eye and peep should be right there, grip don't open hand and use your sight level . Aim small

[RadSav]

I tell people to find a anchor with eyes closed and practice it, open eye and peep should be right there, grip don't open hand and use your sight level . Aim small

Allow hand to naturally wrap around grip, but do not grab grip or open your hand.  Grip is probably responsible for more L/R errors than anything else when starting out.

Should also mention that it is ok to mess up and be wild on occasion when starting out.  Nothing wrong with that - it's all part of learning!  Just try to remember what the shot felt like and what you think you did when this occurs.  Sometimes we can learn more from what we do wrong than we can from what we do right.

[coachcw]

Like ran says let the bow settle in your hand  , pay attention  to the bubble , I found that as him on my grip leveled my bow out well. All bows are different. My bowtech respond when I settle my fingers on the from of the riser. If you stay in your shot and don't try to watch arrow it will pay off.

[theslice]

As a fellow new archer, I have a question. Where do most of you practice? I tried going to a local range, but going multiple times in one month gets expensive quick.

Also to contribute to the tips, I have found Nuts and Bolts Archery to be really helpful reading material (PDF in first post)

http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1399457

[Becky]

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,171960.0/topicseen.html

Some great information in this thread that RadSav graciously took the time to type out.

[Band]

As a fellow new archer, I have a question. Where do most of you practice? I tried going to a local range, but going multiple times in one month gets expensive quick.

Make your own archery range on the closest public land you can find where you'll be able to shoot safely without interference from unseen people walking through.  I have a range I set up about a mile away that has yardage increments marked up to 80 yards.  I load up my target and gear about 3-4 times a week to go practice at my own range.

Just yesterday I built a new range to 40 yards in the woods directly across the street from my house so when I'm practicing at shorter distances I'll only need to walk my target and bow across the street now.

You'll find that practicing several times a week year around will help build your skills and keep them sharp.