Ok I know this is gonna sound crazy but I'm out of ideas and actually getting frustrated with it. Me and my brother have been shooting daily in preparation for out west in a few weeks and while shooting about two weeks ago he noticed he was having some really bad wear on his string so he had a new string put on and once replaced he has been shooting at an indoor range and is deadly out to 60 yards. We went outside to shoot and for some reason at every distance his arrows are hitting 4" left of center then we go back inside and he is dead on. We have filmed his form and watched in slow mo and tightened his bow at any point there could be vibrations. We have spent two days tuning and trying to figure this out and I swear its something mental he is doing to himself, yet he is convinced something else is wrong and is loosing confidence in himself and his gear and that is the last thing he needs before going out west. Like I said I know its crazy but Im not sure what else to do/tell him.
Definitely sounds like it is a problem with him. Does he shoot both eyes open or one closed? It's possible outside in the brightness he is using is non-dominate eye. If he is squinting in the sun it can happen.
He shoots both eyes open, he also wears glasses and we even thought it could be a reflection on the glasses so he switched to contacts and had the same issue. He said tonight he is going to his local pro shop and not leaving till he is dead on so hopefully the pro can help him out.
If I was a betting guy. I'd say its a mental issue as well. I shoot fantastic indoors as well. I've improved dramatically this year but previously I would get frustrated because I couldn't shoot the same outdoors. I think part of my issue as the target panic I was dealing with. One thing that helped me was by shooting at 5-10 yards. That way in my head I wasn't thinking about missing the target completely. Hope he gets it figured out cuz I know it can be very frustrating.
When I go to my indoor range My arrows are usually off by about an inch. My pro shop says its the lighting that makes the difference. Then when i go back outside its dead on. look at his peep sight and how he uses his peep sight to shoot. For instance, if he uses the peep to go around the housing of the sight, he can be shooting off when he gets outside. Outside there is more glare and he may think he is lined up with his peep and sight house when in reality he isn't. That is just my two cents and what I have been though Hope it gets all worked out! Good luck
So here is what I am dealing with, with myself and it sounds similar. The indoor range I shoot at frequently goes out to 40 yards. I shoot great at that indoor range all the way out to that. I go home and shoot in my back yard and I shoot great up to 25 yards. Anything past 25 and up to 40 (as far as I can shoot in my yard), I fall apart. After really paying attention to myself when shooting outside, I realized I had developed some target panic outside only because I have this fear of missing the target and loosing an arrow. If I were to "miss" indoors, my arrow won't be lost. I would literally punch the release almost as soon as my pin was on the target, regardless of where. Over the last few weeks, I have forced myself to get the pin on my spot on my target and hold on that spot for a while, then let down. I'd repeat this 10 times and only let the arrow fly once in that 10 times and that was only if i was feeling comfortable. It is starting to help as I am now just focusing on holding on a spot instead of loosing an arrow.
Exactly. I felt the same way when I would shoot at my little block target versus using the big bails at the range at our park. I'm no were near as bad as what I use to be but it definitely was an issue in the past. CJ. How big is the target he is shooting at outside? Might be something similar
