Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Bow Hunting => Topic started by: pianoman9701 on December 05, 2013, 06:58:52 AM

Title: Braxton's shooting - grouping and lessons learned
Post by: pianoman9701 on December 05, 2013, 06:58:52 AM: So, I've been shooting with Braxton now for over two years. He hit a wall about 4 months ago and there were several problems we had to address. Joe at Archery World found a problem with the timing. He also noticed that Braxton was displaying some target anxiety and we fixed that with blind shooting for a couple of weeks.

The biggest hurdle has been for me as an instructor/mentor in realizing that the kid needs to have positive results to stay enthusiastic about shooting. He has wanted to shoot on the 20 and 30 yard line, but has no control to group and gets really discouraged. About a month and a half ago, I started going back to the bale at 10-15 yards and he's excited again. Now, he doesn't want to shoot on the long range and bugs me for the few days before Wednesday shooting day to make sure we're going. Here's what he was doing last night:
Title: Re: Braxton's shooting - grouping and lessons learned
Post by: pianoman9701 on December 05, 2013, 07:00:26 AM: Kids just want to have fun and do something they feel they're good at. He doesn't need to shoot at 30 yards to feel that way. It was good for me to come to that realization.
Title: Re: Braxton's shooting - grouping and lessons learned
Post by: combs338 on December 05, 2013, 07:14:20 AM: Great job Pianoman!!
Title: Re: Braxton's shooting - grouping and lessons learned
Post by: pianoman9701 on December 05, 2013, 07:21:03 AM: His goal is to break arrows. Yikes!
Title: Re: Braxton's shooting - grouping and lessons learned
Post by: Special T on December 05, 2013, 07:42:02 AM: Thats a good group! I know that the 4 H program at our club uses balloons ping pong balls on a string moving and some other "fun" things to keep it interesting.
Title: Re: Braxton's shooting - grouping and lessons learned
Post by: pianoman9701 on December 05, 2013, 07:44:13 AM: Quote from: Special T on December 05, 2013, 07:42:02 AM
Thats a good group! I know that the 4 H program at our club uses balloons ping pong balls on a string moving and some other "fun" things to keep it interesting.

Good suggestions. We use balloons quite a bit. I'll have to try the ping pong balls, too. He loves the animal targets. This one is made out of canvas and has taken about 80-100 arrows every Wednesday for a couple of months. It's very sturdy.
Title: Re: Braxton's shooting - grouping and lessons learned
Post by: ELKBURGER on December 05, 2013, 08:58:13 AM: He is showing some great improvement! Keep up the great work with him. Let him know we are all rooting for him!
Title: Re: Braxton's shooting - grouping and lessons learned
Post by: pianoman9701 on December 05, 2013, 09:01:45 AM: I will let him know, Steve, thanks. I posted this pic on my FaceBook this AM and Razor Dobbs commented on it. That will absolutely stoke Braxton.
Title: Re: Braxton's shooting - grouping and lessons learned
Post by: ELKBURGER on December 05, 2013, 03:14:20 PM: That is great! The smile on his face is priceless!