Hi quick question. Ad a new person to shooting a bow. What would be the recommended time for shooting the bow before attempting to try bow hunting? I want to be proficient at shooting the bow before hunting with it as I want to avoid injuring the deer and not being able to locate it or worse shoot the deer with a horrible placement shot and have the deer suffer. My thinking is shoot for a year then attempt bow hunting. Thank you.
With today's bows it shouldn't take you a year to be a good enough shot to bow hunt... with the right training and tips from your local pro shop I'd say with in just a couple weeks you'll be shooting good enough at 20 and in months you'll e good enough out to 40 yards bud... I picked up trad shooting aka traditional shooting with a recurve in just a short couple months and killed my first hog with my recurve in only 3 weeks of shooting so with enough practice it's very possible...
When you feel confident enough in your own shooting abilities. If you don't feel good about your shooting, it's definitely not time to hit the woods. When I got into archery 3-4 years ago, I started shooting in the spring and felt I was ready to be on the deer stand come that fall.
I'm basically a new bowhunter myself and a much more experienced mentor noticed how I was awesome my first four shots and then fatigue set in by shot twelve (during a friendly competition in his yard). He put me on a regimen of twelve shots every other day just to build muscle memory and stamina, concentrating on form (elbow, follow through, kisser button, etc). It has helped tremendously. He said because we hunt in the heat for much of the season, we deal with fatigue in the stand, and the extra practice will pay off. I am now shooting tight groups for all twelve shots after a mere month. I gotta say I enjoy archery practice and bowhunting more than I ever imagined possible. I cannot wait until it is legal to use our doe tags. It is beyond invigorating to see deer and have them not see me at 12 yards! Gracious.
when you can group 3 arrows in a six inch circle consistently then that distance can be added to your hunting yardage + what has been posted above
Thanks again for all advice! I am looking forward to getting out hunting with my bow for the first time.
I started after about 4 weeks of getting comfortable with my bow. The first week was nothing but 20 yard shots. 2nd Week, i moved to 30, 3rd to 30 and 4th to 40. I'm talking about 100-200 total shots at least. At the end of the 4th week, i was shooting between the 4 distances to make sure i truly was ready. On a side note, unless you're completely comfortable at shooting a deer at 30-40 yards, please don't. The last thing we want to do is harm a deer that we can't harvest.
Just practice in realistic scenario. Such as practice from an elevated position, practice shooting while sitting and standing. Once you feel comfortable making different shots, go for it. Trust me, Buck Fever will ALWAYS be lurking!! Just breathe, pick a SPOT on the deer and shoot.
