I bought a hoyt excel a few years ago in an attempt to get into trad shooting. Never could get consistent enough groups to know if it was tuned or not. Life eventually got in the way, and I hadn't picked up that bow in at least a year or two. Shot my compound a few times this last bow season, but not much else.
Decided to pull it out today because I was bored and disappointed in myself for not shooting it.
Again, I couldn't shoot consistently. Then on one shot, everything clicked and I figured it all out. Problem 1...I was trying to hard to aim. I was trying to find a spot to put the tip of my arrow. I always had to aim really low, and couldn't shoot with any degree of vertical accuracy. Problem 2... My release. I'm shooting with a tab, which I like. 3 under. That one shot where it clicked the release just felt clean. Most of my shots had been veering left. I was plucking on the release.
I sat down at 20 yards, took some deep breaths not even looking at the target. I looked up, focused on the spot I wanted to hit... But without aiming. I just felt for it. Instinctual shooting I guess. I talked myself through keeping my bow arm slightly bent. I talked myself through not dropping the bow arm and remembering to follow through. I talked myself through focusing on a clean release. I hit my target.
I did it again. And again. I felt the joy of shooting a bow again. I've always been a shooter and shooting has always been so mechanical for me. I wasn't used to feeling a shot. I could stack arrows with a compound at 50 yards all day as long as the pin was supposed to be when i pulled the trigger on my release. Compound got boring. There was no challenge in it anymore.
Anyway, I've rediscovered my love for traditional shooting. My arrows flew nicely, and I think I'm tuned up. With some warm-up, I'd be comfortable shooting live deer out to 20 yards. Gonna have to work on that first shot though.
Decided to pull it out today because I was bored and disappointed in myself for not shooting it.
Again, I couldn't shoot consistently. Then on one shot, everything clicked and I figured it all out. Problem 1...I was trying to hard to aim. I was trying to find a spot to put the tip of my arrow. I always had to aim really low, and couldn't shoot with any degree of vertical accuracy. Problem 2... My release. I'm shooting with a tab, which I like. 3 under. That one shot where it clicked the release just felt clean. Most of my shots had been veering left. I was plucking on the release.
I sat down at 20 yards, took some deep breaths not even looking at the target. I looked up, focused on the spot I wanted to hit... But without aiming. I just felt for it. Instinctual shooting I guess. I talked myself through keeping my bow arm slightly bent. I talked myself through not dropping the bow arm and remembering to follow through. I talked myself through focusing on a clean release. I hit my target.
I did it again. And again. I felt the joy of shooting a bow again. I've always been a shooter and shooting has always been so mechanical for me. I wasn't used to feeling a shot. I could stack arrows with a compound at 50 yards all day as long as the pin was supposed to be when i pulled the trigger on my release. Compound got boring. There was no challenge in it anymore.
Anyway, I've rediscovered my love for traditional shooting. My arrows flew nicely, and I think I'm tuned up. With some warm-up, I'd be comfortable shooting live deer out to 20 yards. Gonna have to work on that first shot though.
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