I've been shooting as little as twice a week, to just about daily for several months now. A month ago I opened up my range from 20 and 30 yards to lengths as much as 40 and 50 yards and was grouping tight from 40 and 50 yards out. Now, a few weeks later, I can't consistently hit the target from 50. And my shots at even ten yards are inconsistent. No I haven't tweeked the bow at all (pins, poundage etc.), and I'm trying to slow every shot down- working the fundamentals. I know this archery shooting is something like a golf swing, or a baseball swing, in where a bad habbit can get in there and screw you up. Any advice from some of you experienced archers?
Man that can be a tough one to figure out without seeing it. If you have a camcorder video yourself and try to analize what your doing, maybe that will help. Also, dont try too hard or beat yourself up over it...even the top pros have slumps and remember...we do this because it is fun!
How old is your string? Does anything seem different with the bow. Has anything moved? I have had sights come loose and a rest that moved what kind do you have?
This may sound stupid, but I was having trouble grouping anything at 30 yards out and something didn't seem right. After a few shots, I was getting frustrated with myself so I decided before I make any adjustments to the bow I needed to take a break. When I was taking my release off, I noticed the majority of the wear on the strap was on the 4th hole. For some reason or another that afternoon I had put it on the 3rd hole. I guess that slight length increase was throwing my shots off a bit. Just something to think about.
i remember posting something not too long ago about modifying my release to be the kind u hold with fingers/ not with the wrist support... i was determined to get my draw length to be 30". so after trying this out, i mentally thought it worked and i was all happy with it, 15 shots later i couldnt pull the bow back without feeling my arm quiver like crazy. so i put the strap back on and left it really loose ( actually prefer it now ) and i always adjust the strap tight with my thumb pressing against the trigger. the same draw length,longer release, and it felt kinda close to holding with fingers, but after 15~shots, my arm/aim/strain makes me pack the bow in. im back to 29.5 inches with the same release setup, and i can shoot 30-40 times without fatigue. my aim is back to normal, and my groups at 40+ yards is back to normal
So am I reading this correctly that you are pretty new to archery? With me when I first started out (not that I'm a veteran now) I shot great for a while. Probably about the same amount of time, I would say for the first few months. Then I started to develop a form of target panic. The more I practiced the worse it got. For me, I was flinching my entire right arm in anticipation of the shot, not releasing the arrow when this happened but maybe a few times. But I would have to start my shot sequence all over. Being also a competative rifle shooter I did this once while training with my rifle, this was not going to happen again. I changed my archery release from a wrist strap with a trigger to a back tension hinge style release before shooting again. It has been a year since this change and I have never had so much as a single flinch since, bow or rifle.
