I Might have to go see a sports psychologist!!!

When I am 'in the zone' it feels like the Arrow is a guided missile and it goes right where I want (give or take 3-5"). A nice feeling. Other times...not so much

I am a musician for my day job. I can be on stage or on TV in front of a frightening amount of people and start thinking about something else.

Sometimes it is the next song I have to play (I'm playing one at the moment already) or something I have to repair before the next show..or a song that I was working on before the show. Drives me crazy. Always been that way since I was a kid.

How do you stay in the zone?

When I practice archery, I only shoot one arrow at a time from a given distance. I shoot better that way. That is good news for hunting. I know I am shooting one, and I can focus on ONE.

But if I shoot 5 arrows in an end, I start seeing something out of my peripheral...or think about how much back tension I am using etc...

Any Jedi secrets to share?

Nope.. I'm in the same boat! About 4-5 arrows is my limit... Then I'm somewhere else . and it all goes to hell! I too only shoot one arrow at a target. Hunting is easier.. less distraction.

There is a fellow on TradTalk that uses the mantra "Think while practicing. When performing, turn off thinker." We perform on an instrument and a bow with the subconscious mind. I have to send my conscious one off with an errand to perform or it tries to take over the aiming and the shot. And it sucks at it.

Actually, I send mine around back with the job of monitoring my back tension, or scapular motion. If that doesn't work for you maybe you could have it monitor your follow-through, after the shot is gone.

You can think about the next song or shot during the intro or while shot planning but you have turn on and empower the subconscious when it is time to perform. Free it to do its work. - lbg

Don't think about it...just shoot.

Anytime I get on here and start reading posts about form,aiming or how to shoot my shooting goes downhill.

Adderall works very well for me, as long as I remember to take it.

I agree with MikeW...don't "think" about it. Just focus ALL of your mind on a molecule in the spot you want to hit, and I mean focus to the point that everything else is blotted out to the point at a train could be coming by and you wouldn't notice it.

IMO once you get your form down solid then everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING, is concentration. This is why you hear some instinctive shooters say that they don't see the bow or the arrow when they shoot. Of course their eyes see it (they're not blind!), but the brain blots it out because the concentration is on the spot.

If you're shooting instinctively, to shoot well requires intense concentration. Most of us have trouble concentrating that hard shot after shot after shot. That's why our groups grow instead of shrink after a couple of few arrows.

Lee Trevino always said that he only concentrated for about 5 seconds before he hit a golf ball, but it was very intense for those 5 seconds...as Phil mentions I shoot instinctively/intuitively and I find there is an optimum level of concentration and focus that works best...the imagine I want I call relaxed intense concentration...too intense is just as unproductive as too relaxed...how zen is that...and as Phil implies that really only needs to happen for a single shot...I seldom shoot more than one arrow before retrieving it...these days when I shoot mostly broadheads I never shoot more than one arrow...I am finding the First Shot threads on here to be very helpful that way...all the preparation in the world is only as good as our ability to make that single shot under pressure

DDave

John (JSD) –

Lemme ask you… How is your vision? Mine “ain’t what she used to be”, and I’m finding it to be something of an advantage, because I really have to focus my attention on a small detail if I want to see it absolutely clearly at a distance of oh, 15 yards or more. Especially if I’m wearing contacts… I see better than 20/20 with them in, and I can see MUCH better than 20/20… but only for brief periods.

So my shot sequence kinda goes like this… I keep the target in soft focus until I’m anchored, paying more attention to how everything feels within my own body than anything else. Muscles working right, settling into anchor with good back tension, etc. Then I glance down the length of my arrow to make sure that it is lined up directly under my eyeball and pointed at the vitals on the target (or a patch of target about that size).

And I think that is where most people release. If I only take it that far, I’m probably about an average shot, with my arrows grouping within 3”-5” of center about 75%-80% of the time at what I would consider normal & sensible hunting range. ‘Cuz after all, Give or Take 5” of center is a TEN INCH group… It shows you can shoot some, but nothing to be toooo proud of.

So to cut the groups down to that next increment… After I’ve sighted down the arrow (and as I’m doing it, really) my focus is shrinking to a smaller and smaller spot on the target, whether that’s an X, a hole left by an earlier arrow, the nock of an arrow belonging to anyone who has been razzing me about my shooting that day….. ;)

And it’s in that instant when that fine detail leaps into super-sharp focus… THAT is when the arrow is on its way. I can’t hold that level of visual focus for more than a few tenths or maybe even hundredths of a second, so I just don’t even try to get there until I’m 100% ready to release or maybe even already beginning to loosen my hook. You try to be in max focus too soon, and it’s like a middle-distance runner saving nothing for the kick…

I think I’m basically doing exactly the same thing as CamoDave with the Zen Thing and LBG with sending the brain out on an errand for a minute, I just think it through differently.

Now, the big advantage we have in a hunting scenario is adrenaline; just that pure, predatory rush will hop up your body & mind in a way that Ritalin/Adderall/etc. can’t begin to approximate (and unfortunately, I think the drugs may even interfere with the natural response). So that’s why we practice a solid, repeatable shot sequence Over and Over and Over and Over…so that when the Rush hits, we can ignore all of the technical detail and trust the neural circuits to perform according to the build spec. And under the influence of the adrenaline, we can hold that hyper-focus for a lot longer period so that we have time to get a clean shot off.

I don’t believe that a truly Poor shot will become Howard Hill just because a deer walks by, but for those who have built a solid shot sequence, I think the predatory response lets us tap into a level of concentration that many of us can only achieve for a dozen shots or so in a typical practice session….

Anyway… First thing to do to improve your shooting is to get your eyes checked. You wouldn’t sight in a rifle at 200 yards with a variable scope set to its lowest magnification, would you? And once you know you can see like Aspirin Buster (if only for a few milliseconds at a crack), then you’ve got what you need to improve your fine precision…

Kinda hard to develop hair-splitting accuracy if you can’t see the hair in the first place…

I agree with DDave - in the morning I always take one and only one shot. I do this with no warming up or anything.

To add further to that I determine my effective range for the day from the result of that single shot...sometimes it is only 10 yards...sometimes it is 25...I have even been known to switch the bow I take according to the result of that shot...and btw here is the First Shot scenario I chose to set up this morning...not a shot I would ever attempt on a live animal but fun to do on foam (and hard plastic which is apparently where my arrow ended up since I heard it hit and found it on the ground in front of the target)

DDave

The long road to re-learning how to do one thing at a time..

May sound crazy, but for me, that started with eating breakfast and NOT reading, watching TV, surfing the web, whatever. Just doing one thing, and actually being able to taste the food.

Remember years back, looking around and realizing that life had gotten real busy, nothing but go,go,go. And it was goin by me in a blur. At that point, it was time to slow down and smell the roses. Learn how to listen, not just talk.. Sit still and focus on where I was, instead of being so focused on getting to where ever I was heading that I missed everything around me.

This from a long haul trucker. ( At the time, these days I live on an island, roads just are,nt that long around here..)

Hey Cameron...do you suppose those Zwickey's you sold me would be the right broadhead for that arrow...sometimes having too much stuff is worse than not having enough

DDave

JSD -

There's really no magic about it.

You develop a shot sequence that's specific to you and then repeat it on every shot, regardless whether it's paper, foam or fur. You won't make ever shot perfect, but most will be pretty darn close what you want.

BTW - one of the reasons we DO shoot groups is to re-enforce that shot sequence. As you develop, some parts will go into auto-pilot mode and new ones take there place on the conscious list.

Viper out.

What GF and Viper said.

This is all really helpful. Thanks for the input

I can't "burn a hole in the target" like some people talk about what works for me is trying not to think about anything look at the target and let it be, not force it to be the most prominent thing in my field of vision. If I try to force myself to concentrate it almost always detracts from some other aspect of the shot.

I'm wired that way too. Shooting one arrow at a time definitely helps. Also, taking a full, deep breath (or 2, or 3 ) before the shot helps a lot. If I do shoot a few arrow set, I often add taking taking my eyes off the target, and moving around few steps between shots.

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