Target Shooting - Observations

[heavuser]

I thought I'd share this over here as huntingny was the first site to get me into hunting in general. I also feel like our Bow section over here is starving for more posts

Backstory: I'm a relatively new shooter, got into the sport last year. I was fitted with a Bowtech Carbon Zion 60#, had a lot of fun with that bow and killed my first doe with it. In total I have practiced with it for about a dozen shooting session last year. This year I decided to upgrade and went with a decked out RX7 Ultra 70#. It's been tuned, shooting bullet holes at 3 yrds. When I would take it out to practice though I wasn't very happy with my groupings. Another important fact, I switch from a trigger release to a thumb release(stan onnex t).

This morning I decided to really take my time with my shots. Quite a few posts on here suggest shooting out to 30-40yards to improve your 20yrd grouping. So today I decided to start at 30.

This was my first 30yrd grouping of the day.

My first shot made it right into the center, my second shot was about an inch and a half to the right of the first. When I took my third shot I instantly felt that the shot was going to be bad. It's hard to explain but my grip was off and my release just wasn't right. It almost felt like I squeezed the release in anticipation of taking the shot.

I decided to take some shots at 40yrds just to see what would happen. I have never shot that far before.

My first shot was almost dead center, the shot felt great, I knew when I activated the release it was going to be a good shot. Both the second and third shots both had that strange feeling I had previously at 30yrds. I knew they were bad shots before they even hit the target. At this point I was starting to understand that I could tell the difference between what I knew would be a solid release and what I knew would be off.

I decided to take 3 more shots at 40yrds.

I could feel each shot was a good shot. The difference here with my shots was I would draw the bow down and regroup myself if I felt the shot was going to be bad. Before I would take the shots knowing something was wrong. I was extremely satisfied with myself as I felt I had figured this whole thing out.

Moved up to 30yrds.

Again, each shot felt perfect. If I felt my draw was off I would again draw the bow down and regroup mentally.

Finally moved up to 20yrds.

This is what I had been looking for since day one.

Lessons Learned: For starters I now understand that if I feel like my draw isn't right, draw back down instead of releasing. Strangely enough I found that when I anchor the string to the side of my mouth it's easier for me to leave my mouth open just a little and breath through my mouth instead of my nose, I can keep the bow steadier breathing threw my partially open mouth. And lastly I have learned to gently squeeze my thumb release instead of just pressing it down. One of the biggest improvements to my grouping has been just letting my body relax, release then tension, going threw the motions from draw to release as smoothly as possible.

I'm very much excited to try 50-60yrds out next time out. No idea if this post will help others, I hope it does in some small way. Opinions, experiences, criticisms welcome.

[BizCT]

You got huge nuts or fat wallet to shoot 6 arrows at the same target at 20 yards. Try that next time and I bet your break one haha

[heavuser]

Medium sized nuts with a fat wallet, good sir. 

It's hard to tell from the photo but I did indeed destroy an arrow in that 20yrd grouping. I smashed into a nock and split part of the carbon it attaches to. I have now learned, never again. 

[BizCT]

15 minutes ago, heavuser said:

Medium sized nuts with a fat wallet, good sir. 

It's hard to tell from the photo but I did indeed destroy an arrow in that 20yrd grouping. I smashed into a nock and split part of the carbon it attaches to. I have now learned, never again. 

and always flex those arrows before shooting.

[Jeremy K]

34 minutes ago, BizCT said:

You got huge nuts or fat wallet to shoot 6 arrows at the same target at 20 yards. Try that next time and I bet your break one haha

We just went over this lesson at the academy for the opener, how to group arrows at 20 with out breaking any. Just aim next to the previous arrow, it's an advanced technique but even a beginner like yourself could benefit from.

[mowin]

I just aim at the nock... Guaranteed not to hit it. Lol

[BizCT]

We just went over this lesson at the academy for the opener, how to group arrows at 20 with out breaking any. Just aim next to the previous arrow, it's an advanced technique but even a beginner like yourself could benefit from.

Seems like bad habits can be formed aiming like that. Deer don’t walk around with arrows in them. Just walk the 20yds down and back and shoot again. Or pick a totally different spot


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Jeremy K]

1 hour ago, BizCT said:

Seems like bad habits can be formed aiming like that. Deer don’t walk around with arrows in them. Just walk the 20yds down and back and shoot again. Or pick a totally different spot


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 

Jokes biz ,jokes.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Jeremy K

[The_Real_TCIII]

Seems like bad habits can be formed aiming like that. Deer don’t walk around with arrows in them. Just walk the 20yds down and back and shoot again. Or pick a totally different spot


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Someone hasnt hunted the Southern tier...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[The_Real_TCIII]

Great post heavuser!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Versatile_Hunter]

I learned that lesson early 

 

[grampy]

18 hours ago, heavuser said:

I thought I'd share this over here as huntingny was the first site to get me into hunting in general. I also feel like our Bow section over here is starving for more posts

Backstory: I'm a relatively new shooter, got into the sport last year. I was fitted with a Bowtech Carbon Zion 60#, had a lot of fun with that bow and killed my first doe with it. In total I have practiced with it for about a dozen shooting session last year. This year I decided to upgrade and went with a decked out RX7 Ultra 70#. It's been tuned, shooting bullet holes at 3 yrds. When I would take it out to practice though I wasn't very happy with my groupings. Another important fact, I switch from a trigger release to a thumb release(stan onnex t).

This morning I decided to really take my time with my shots. Quite a few posts on here suggest shooting out to 30-40yards to improve your 20yrd grouping. So today I decided to start at 30.

This was my first 30yrd grouping of the day.

My first shot made it right into the center, my second shot was about an inch and a half to the right of the first. When I took my third shot I instantly felt that the shot was going to be bad. It's hard to explain but my grip was off and my release just wasn't right. It almost felt like I squeezed the release in anticipation of taking the shot.

I decided to take some shots at 40yrds just to see what would happen. I have never shot that far before.

My first shot was almost dead center, the shot felt great, I knew when I activated the release it was going to be a good shot. Both the second and third shots both had that strange feeling I had previously at 30yrds. I knew they were bad shots before they even hit the target. At this point I was starting to understand that I could tell the difference between what I knew would be a solid release and what I knew would be off.

I decided to take 3 more shots at 40yrds.

I could feel each shot was a good shot. The difference here with my shots was I would draw the bow down and regroup myself if I felt the shot was going to be bad. Before I would take the shots knowing something was wrong. I was extremely satisfied with myself as I felt I had figured this whole thing out.

Moved up to 30yrds.

Again, each shot felt perfect. If I felt my draw was off I would again draw the bow down and regroup mentally.

Finally moved up to 20yrds.

This is what I had been looking for since day one.

Lessons Learned: For starters I now understand that if I feel like my draw isn't right, draw back down instead of releasing. Strangely enough I found that when I anchor the string to the side of my mouth it's easier for me to leave my mouth open just a little and breath through my mouth instead of my nose, I can keep the bow steadier breathing threw my partially open mouth. And lastly I have learned to gently squeeze my thumb release instead of just pressing it down. One of the biggest improvements to my grouping has been just letting my body relax, release then tension, going threw the motions from draw to release as smoothly as possible.

I'm very much excited to try 50-60yrds out next time out. No idea if this post will help others, I hope it does in some small way. Opinions, experiences, criticisms welcome.

Keep doing what you're doing!!!

It's working well for ya!!!