I posted this in the "Introduction" thread, but thought I'd throw it out here...sure some of you others go through this mess? Never really heard of it but I knew something was bad wrong and I could barely hit the broad side of a barn! Got out today shooting my bow again finally. I've been having some issues when I was shooting...I would draw on the target, and as soon as I would hit my anchor point. Never aiming really. One of the guys at the shop today watched me and explained it as Target Panic. Never really heard of it before. Made me feel like a COMPLETE idiot while I was with my buddy at the techno hunt today. I got my new z7 last year, about oh...May maybe. Wanted to get back into it and thought it was going to be great! Had all these grand ideas of arrowing my first, yes, first, hunted for years but never killed one with a bow, and being all excited. Paired up with a buddy and shot at lunch a few days at the local Gander Mountain. Not sure when I noticed it, but it started getting worse. My shooting was terrible. So, she got put in the case and was pretty much left there until now. Called a buddy up lately and wanted to go shoot again. Local shop has a technohunt league going on, so I thought that would be good. The closer I got to this afternoon the more anxious I was feeling, almost to the point of calling him to say hey, let's just wait til another time. Of course, he would have jerked my mancard so I went ahead and lead me to meeting the guy that started helping me get over it. Felt GREAT once he talked me through it all, made me shoot with my eyes closed and helped me start getting through it. I think I'm a long way from "cured" but I know I'll be up at daylight in the morning, standing about 5 feet from my morel bag, drawing, centering and "squeezing" my release instead of jerking it. Never really knew a bow pull gets done with the shoulders and back, not finger!!! Really looking forward to in the morning now!!!
For recurve bows they teach using your back muscles, in order to be consistent on draw length before release. For compound bows, this is not an issue, since you do not get any more pull out of stretching your draw once you have reached the anchor point. And if you are using a release then it would be on a compound not recurve. The main thing with a compound is to aim carefully and smoothly release while continuing to aim after the arrow begins its flight. That works for me. Good luck, and good hunting.
Sounds like you've gotten some good advice already, but I'll add one more idea that I've found has worked for me in the past. If you're using trigger style release, try using your middle finger or middle with index finger. It was explained to me there is a lot of nerve tissue in the index finger, especially the tip and less in some of the other digits or further up the digits toward the hand. I have never run the physiology question past my sister, a doctor, but this was the justification the person gave for thumb releases. Since the middle finger is longer than the index, for most, the second segment of the middle finger becomes the point of contact with the trigger. So here is the DIY science lab test...>gently< scratch the tip of your index finger, now the second segment of the middle finger/thumb...which was least sensitive? Cheers!
Along with the blank bail practice he showed you, use some aiming drills as well. Draw your bow and allow the pin to float in the spot without firing. Let down and repeat several times. This will allow you to relax when the pin gets on the spot. Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
This is all great advice and they have all worked for me in the past. I had a spell this past season that I went through mid season!! I have bowhunted about 8 years and killed plenty of animals. During that 8 year stretch I had only missed one animal which I was extremely proud of.....well that went out the door this past season. I missed 3 deer this past season due to target panic. I always become flooded with adrenaline just before I draw...usually though after I draw I settle down and make the shot shot. Well this spell I went through started that same way with adrenaline but it continued into my shot which was a rushed one. It was almost like as soon as I saw the deer in my peep window i fired without even aiming. After the 1st miss I was like that was just a rushed shot. After the 2nd miss I said whoaaaa....something is not right. So I went home and did some blank bale shooting and the next time I hunted I had the same feeling again. Well after that I blank bale shot with my eyes closed for several days in a row and I winded up smoking two deer to close out the season. It is just like the shanks in golf. It just shows up....I don't consider myself an elite shooter but I thought I was pretty good and then bam.....target panic sets in...It is a terrible feeling man so I hope you can get rid of it......
It's terrible! The guy I was shooting with yesterday was laughing about it, but I was about to have a come apart. I would draw on the animal, with both eyes open watch the target and as soon as I looked through the peep it was gone. No aiming, nothing. Used to, I would get my pin in sight, start just below the belly of the animal, slowly bring my pin up and slap the trigger. I think this will help me correct that too. I'm working on the blank bale shots. I think I can get that down with a little practice and hopefully shake this... I was cracking up thinking about Tin Cup..."take all your change out of your left pocket, Now tie your left shoe in a double knot..." Hopefully some of this will work. Thanks guys. With all this, I'm wanting to do something to help strengthen my draw motion. What do you guys do to help that out? I know shooting often helps, but I wondered if there was something in addition to that I can do.
Like others have said.... tighten your wrist strap if that your style trigger and move the trigger to the second joint in your finger. Draw your bow, slowly take aim, and when you get to the point of wanting to pull the trigger.... let down! DO it about 5 more times. Then start over.... when you get to the point of wanting to shoot move your finger into place as if you would be making the kill, settle the pin again, and let down! When you do start letting arrows fly aim at different spots, dont shoot animals yet. Aim small, miss small! Allowing yourself to aim at dots rather than a kill zone will help define your target panic
Again a statement that is absolutely incorrect. 1. People can and do use releases with traditional bows. not all but some do. 2. when shooting any bow it is all about your back tension relase. that is why some people use a back tension release for shooting. Once you have reached your full draw you should settle in on your target and then continue to pull thru your draw until your release goes off. The only way you can do that is by is by using your back musles and pulling them together. peakrut is going thru that also and I would definetly take his advice on w2hat he is doing to fix that problem right now. Good luck
I had it once and the thought of even replying to this thread scared me because I didn't want to get it back in my head again. Glad to hear you got it cleared up.
I’m going through it right now too. When I was “on” (several years ago) it was almost like the pin and the target were magnets attracted to each other. I could hold on target and have a nice release and proper follow-through. With target panic it seems as if the pin and target are the same two magnets but one of the poles is reversed. I can’t seem to hold on target at all so as soon as I get the pin there I have to punch the release. Sometimes I know I’ll never be able to get the pin to the bulls-eye so I end up “flinching” the pin at the bull as I release. I put my bow away for years (partially out of frustration) and when I got it back out the problem was still there. I Googled it and found out it was “target panic.” It was such a relief to know that I was not the only one with this problem and that you can beat it with enough work. I’ve been blank bale shooting, aiming without releasing, and practicing my release with just a string loop (good practice when you’re just sitting around watching the ball game). I have more work to do and some days are better than others but I have seen and felt great improvement. When I get this beat (hopefully soon), I’m going to reward myself with a new bow!!! Keep us posted on your progress! -D
What exactly are you doing going through this? I see started a couple weeks back and think hmmmm... I have a morel Yellow jacket bag target that I can shoot at home. It has the 5 bullseyes on it. Is that what you're talking about for "blank bale" shooting or do I need something else? I'm new to this but I have to get it corrected, so I'm looking for a precise easy to understand help.
Try putting just a couple sheets of blank paper over your target. Then start at 10 yards and just shot. Don't think about it at all just draw with your eyes closed get your anchor point settled in. Then open your eyes acquire the target not a spy on it. And slowly release the arrow. You really just need to go back to your basics Sent from my LG-E739 using Tapatalk 2
For blank bale shooting you want zero bulls-eyes on your target. I have a roll of that cheap painters masking paper that’s about the width of my bag. I cut a sheet of that to length and tape it over my target so I have nothing to aim at. At first I’d only shoot one arrow at a time because I found myself trying to aim at the arrows already in the bag which kind of defeats the purpose of the blank bale. Now that I’ve been doing it for a while I can shot three without wanting to aim at the previous shoots. You don’t want to aim. You are only working on your release and follow through. -D
It's actually very important, even with compound bows, to use your back muscles. It's referred to as back tension. While you can shoot a modified version of back tension with a trigger release like most use for hunting, to get the full benefit, most use a hand held hinge style release (triggerless). The idea is the pull and hold the bow at full draw with your back muscles. I liken it to trying to pinch a pencil between your shoulder blades, while slowly squeezing your shoulder blades together even more, until the shot goes off. The shot should be a complete surprise. There's more to it, but that is the gist of it. Using your back muscles does several things. One, you can shoot longer and hold better because the muscles in your back are far stronger than your arm and shoulder muscles. Secondly, it forces you to shoot hard off the wall. Finally, because of this, you won't have the tendency to creep forward on your shot. As for the target panic. We've all been there. No embarrassment necessary. If you shoot a bow long enough, it'll eventually happen. The problem is, some forms of target panic are hard to detect in the first place. My type was. I was struggling with being able to hold the pin on the bullseye of a target. It wanted to always float at the top. No matter what I did, that pin always went high. My shot execution was great however and I still shot decent scores. But it bothered me, mentally. I then set out to kill it and hopefully improve even farther. Blank bale shooting was the first step. Take your sight off the bow and start focusing on shot execution only. I did this for about a month. I then started drawing on the target, anchoring, placing my pin on the bullseye, holding it for a good 20 seconds, then letting down. I repeated this over and over without ever shooting an arrow. I then progressed to drawing and letting down three times, like mentioned above and on the fourth arrow, I shot it. Then repeated the entire process. In the end, it helped tremendously. I was able to get the pin down in the red on the target and hold it there, leaving it float as it should. I still, to this day go back and do blank bale and the holding and letting down technique routinely. It helps me focus better and keeps the demons at bay. I also picked up several points on my average Vegas round.
MUZZYMAN88 I really think SHOOBEE must live in the area of california where pot is legal. I have read almost everyone of his posts and most of them completely contradict what we all know and have learned as hunters. one perfect example is when he made a post about most states do not allow hunting during the rut.
I sure hope you get back into good shooting form before season opens. We will need your help to get us a repeat in the winner's circle. GO TEAM 27 :D
You have a ton of good advise here. Rembmer it's mental. Sometimes it requires training, sometimes you can simply take a few minutes break and get back to normal shooting. I have a back tension release I'll post up if you are interested.
