I'm not exactly sure how to phrase this so bear with me. Do you embrace or detest(or land somewhere in between) the nature of bow hunting and the shot not always being a done deal? What do you do besides "practicing" to help you approach making the shot as near 100% as you can? Or do you just not worry that much about it and accept missing as a large part of bow hunting?
I practice and then practice some more. I shoot 3-Ds and theN practice some more. and its not that I worry about a clean miss. I don't want to wound an animal. i try to practice any concievable shot I might have on a deer. From the tree or from the ground and at different angles.
I feel it's largely mental. Once I've shot enough to know I'm accurate with my equipment - I think it's just as important to "practice" shots over and over in your head: When to draw, solid form, wait for clear shot, pick a spot, ease the trigger...stay confident.
After a bad shot early in my career. I'm very cognisant of making sure the elements of the shot are correct. I've passed up many shots just because of the wounding factor. (a miss wouldn't really bother me like a "near miss" would). I had a once in a lifetime piebald 8 pt at 42 yards 2 seasons ago. At 42 yards I'm convinced I could hit my mark, a small twig between me and him, on what I envisioned as the arrows path, kept my arrow on the rest. I realize in the best scenerio things can go wrong. So I insure I have the best scenerio prior to the shot. Any limiting factors prior to the shot and the chance of a bad hit go up exponentially. It's part of our game, sure, but we don't need to complicate matters.
Ryan, I think that a whiff is going to happen at some point to someone... However, I don't think that it needs to be taken lightly either. IMO, focus, judgement and awareness (or lack there of) are the things that often times "make" people miss. The physical aspect of shooting isn't nearly as difficult (IMO) as the mental parts that go along with it. If you're aware of what's going on around you, you use good judgement as to which shots to take (as well as judging yardage) and you focus on a spot and not on a deer... The odds are in your favor. The difference between being a good shooter and great shooter (IMO) is a difference in the mental aspects.
I practice from different positions: Examples -Sitting on the ground, legs out straight/to the side/body twisted. Sitting in a chair facing target, facing away, etc. Standing facing away from target, body twisted around in different positions. That is practicing, technically, but it gets me mentally prepared in that I can still make a good shot if my body "doesn't feel right". I also restrict my shots to ones that I DO need to be comfortable making. I had an extremely nice buck at 35 down to 3 yards for about 15 minutes and never had a shot I was comfortable with. I keep my deer hunting max range at 25 yards.
I practice a fair amount. But, I think the biggest thing for me is the mental preparedness I go through while sitting in a stand. I think about the types of shot opportunities that might happen so that when they do I will be ready. Other than the very first shot I ever took at a deer 15 years ago...I have never completely missed… but have had some less than perfect shots like anyone else (I've never lost an animal though but I'm sure it will happen eventually). I don't take shots beyond 30 yards since that is my comfortable range. The majority of my kills have been under 20 yards.
I've wounded one animal In 23 years of bowhunting and I credit that to the type of shots I take and also to the way I practice. When I practice, I put myself In a hunting situation. Preparation Is huge In hunting bow or gun.
True...animals can definitely move before the arrow get's there. This is especially the case on very long shots. On whitetails I aim low on the chest (about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom) in case they hunch down during the shot. But I have never found string jumping to be a big deal if you are using a reasonably quiet bow and shooting at relatively relaxed animals.
practice never hurts, but confidence IMHO goes a lot further when the moment of truth arrives... if you are not confident you pause, you second guess yourself, you over think things... this leads to missed shots, poor placement etc...
I accept the fact that I have missed and will miss in the future. I have no problem with that, after all its hunting.
I like practicing from random spots. Most people sight in at 15,20,25,30,40 yards.I do that to but once I have my pins set then I just shot from random spots. I also shoot from tree stands in differant types of conditions. Most of all just practice.
I beat myself up over misses and wounded animals but those shortcomings motivate me to not make the same mistakes again.
??? Missing is not an option. If the thought even crosses my mind then I know it's a shot that shouldn't be taken, and it isn't taken. That's not to say that I haven't missed though, "stuff" happens, but that can be said of anything, not just bowhunting. One thing I can be sure of though is that if stuff does happen, the one thing it wasn't was lack of confidence or ability to make the shot. To gain that confidence you have to be familiar with the shot you're about to take and you get there by practicing a lot of shots under a lot of conditions.
Like others have stated, practice is a given. I believe that many misses/bad shots are due to mind set, not your shooting capability. One thing I've learned about myself is that ice flows through my veins with a doe or small buck in my sights. Of course my adrenaline still rushes, but it's not even close to the experience of having a certifiable wall-hanger meandering straight to your stand. So along with shot practicing (this includes all angles, positions, distance judging, etc..), I like to take advantage of any tense situations I come across in life, and especially the woods, to see how well I can control my nerves. Keeping your cool is a major part of the equation. p.s.- To answer you question, Ryan, I embrace it. It's a critical aspect of bowhunting; it's the challenge we all love! and btw, great thread!!
I don't like to miss, but I accept it. I had one bad miss last year on a mature doe. To make a long story short, I woke up at 4am to hunt and sat in the woods the entire day in the freezing rain. I finally had deer within range the last 40 minutes before dark, and after a long duel with the doe she eventually gave me a beautiful shot at 7 yards. I shot right over her back. I knew she was tense but did not adjust and blew it. I wouldn't have it any other way! The challenge of it all keeps bringing me back for more.
Thats true Jeff. It is technically a much worse shot. That said I'll sleep better with a clean miss than I will with a bad hit.
Great responses guys. As for me... I detest missing. And it's probably the #1 reason I haven't made the full transition over to trad gear yet. I missed a ton of deer starting out, but slowly I whittled down the reasons why and tried not to repeat them. I will inevitably miss a few more shots before my career is through, but it's something I really don't like to "accept".
Well we will argue symantics here but I would bet most misses, have little to actually do with the shot(form, function,repeatability, execution) I wager, it most often would be caused by miscalculated yardages. A perfectly executed shot at 20 yards form the best archer in the world, will not kill an animal at 30 yards.
