I have personally been bowhunting for around 14 years. My girlfriend has recently expressed an interest in bowhunting so I bought her a bow for her birthdays. While I consider myself to be a good shot I am having trouble with teaching her how to shoot. Her biggest problem is with consistency. Any tips on how I can help her improve her shooting?
Went through your exact scenario a few years back. Biggest problem with my wife's consistency was rushing. Rushing your shot goes hand in hand with bad mechanics. Another big, big aspect of archery is confidence, which is pretty hard for her to build when she is watching you split arrows and she is spraying. Work slow and really critique her form but not so much to push her away from it. Watch the little things.. Is her wrist cocked, is she following through etc. Biggest thing that got my wife on point was we shot from 15 yards for days until she started grouping. It was a lonnnng process but in the end I have to say that it was worth it. Keep at it and it will come to her.
Shoot often. It will come. Watch others and observe their form. Inspect her rig, arrows, and release .. if shooting a compound bow. If she wants it bad enough.. it will happen. Watch pro shooters.
To add to the confidence statement above, start her off shooting close. Shoot at maybe 10 or 15 yards and focus on the mechanics. Most of all make it FUN. Shoot balloons or something to start off with and once she gets really interested in it she will focus more and really want to succeed.
I assume you're using compound bows. As a traditional shooter who shoots instinctively I've always read the best way to start learning how to aim the bow is literally 5 feet from the target and moving back a foot and building the distance over time. You don't move back until you can group your shots at a specific spot on the target consistently. If you're likely using sights on the bow surely there's a way to adjust them a 5 foot distance and then build on it. I haven't shot my longbow for about a month and a half because of moving, but before that I was shooting everyday. My daily shooting routine was to start 5 feet from the target and then move back a total of about 20 yards marked with all sorts of different angles to keep things interesting. The farther I shot from the target the more likely I was to lose and break expensive arrows, hence my personal lack of embarassment in saying start at 5 feet and then move back. Shooting instinctively every day to be able to get to 20 yards and at least reliably hit the target took me about 5-6 monhs. If I hadn't stopped shooting by now I could probably start grouping my shots at 20 yard on a 12 inch plate. Don't forget she's still new to the bow compound or traditional, so she hasn't learned the behavior of the bow yet... Have fun!
