Getting ready for an upcoming hunt,and I have been shooting pretty well. Then I go out and shoot yesterday,and its like I've never shot a bow before. Maybe I should take a day off

You can let it bother you, or just take a day off and you will be fine. Been there many times and a day or two off does help.

Concentrate on form, not accuracy. Of course, when this is done, accuracy follows.

Don't let it bother you. I've noticed that when I get there and bring out the Judo, I shoot better than I shot all year.

I think it's a focus thing. When your pracitcing you focus on archery for the length of the practice session, then it's on to daily living. Once you start a hunt, the daily living focus changes. If I had an animal standing there, I'd kill it, over there ...etc. There's a different tone to shooting.

Bowmania

The next thing you know is you'll start to second guessing yourself and your equipment, just stop it!!

Your human! The more you work at something, hopefully you become more consistent at it. Even at that, everybody still has a bad day now and then. The hope is with lots of practice you keep the bad days to a minimum.

MP

LOL...what Jim said. If you worry about it happening again, it will happen again. I've shot great one day, and the next I couldn't hit the ground I was standing on. I learned to take a couple days off and let myself forget my bad habits and "VOILA"...it's okay again.

Go stump shooting. Start pretty close and then just have fun. Sometimes I get so many things going on in my head that I have a melt down. A day shooting stumps and having fun helps bring me back.

Take a day off but do Not overthink it when you start back. Let today go.

It's all mental. You're psyching yourself out and don't realize it.

My opinion- It is all about shot process and form. Forget about shooting tight groups and where your arrows is hitting. Work on developing a consistent shot process, every shot, and the tight groups will be there.

All good recommendations above. The law of opposition demands that since you’ve had good days of shooting, you must have bad ones too. It’s natural, enjoy the day off and go shooting tomorrow. I’ve had days where I wonder if I’ll ever shoot well again. We all have the bad shooting day.

I end up with that all the time especially when I'm getting tired. I guess I work on form when this happens as I quit shooting for accuracy like stated above, and finish my shooting session close (8 yards or so) at a spot. When I do this, I concentrate on form and my shot sequence.

That was me a couple days ago. Had been shooting really well then Friday evening I might as well have been shooting left handed. I was spraying arrows all over the place. Including quite a few complete misses of my deer target. The harder I tried the worse it got. I shot too long and was tired besides.

Quit shooting and put my bow away for a couple days and when I shot again I did not think about the crap night I had a few days earlier. Started close, made sure my form was good and everything returned to normal.

Not the first time for this experience and I'm sure it won't be the last.

Too hot right now.

I too go out with judo. It seems for me to bring everything back. I kinda thought I was the only one that had a bad day off and on. LoL

Mr. Murphy law.

Never heard of such a thing. Have off days but nothing like that.

I learn more about my shooting walking around shooting a dandelions with judo points than I do trying to shoot groups at my target. At my target, "Oh my, what if someone sees an arrow 3 inches outside of the pack?" Shooting a loaded milkweed husk with a judo, "Milkweeds are good for butterflies, I like butterflies, we need more milkweeds." Stress is a killer, of form, our bodies, fun and concentration.

Why is it because this game is mental and now you have your head screwed up that you did to yourself. Just the fact that you are asking questions about it tells that you may have put some things in your head that don't belong there maybe. Now you need to reverse that and do a refresh. How do we refresh its back to square one sometimes to form again.

Did you check your brace on bow. Is your string oK? Take a little break then go back on form again if nothing has changed with your bow then its you and broken form. work on form again. If I know that i was shooting good getting ready to hunt I certainly don't go shooting and out anything in my head than I am shooting good.

Sometimes its the sily things we wonder about that causes the greatest trouble.

Stop telling the negative and start telling yourself the good the best and the deadliest shot this side of paradise and you just may get back on track.

Shooting groups is nothing more than looking at the same spot time and time again such as your nock.LOL

Don't put any pressure on yourself it increases TP. You get frustrated and that tenses up body and can cause you to grab bow harder and a tendency to pus the arrow as well. Stress has runnied many a from.

Go back to working on form and see if that helps to relax you close to target maybe. Visualize the shot sequence in your head no got to hit the mark attitude.

Soon as you stop letting it bother you so much you will be fine. LOL.

A day off to let muscles recuperate is a good thing.

Take a break. A rest does wonders for your focus. In all sports, the toughest distance to master is 6 inches...between the ears.

Another rather offbeat example is...I'm learning to play bagpipes, a little over a year in, and I've been on pipes for 7 months and can play about 8 tunes. It's the hardest thing I've ever undertaken.

I practice both on the practice chanter and the pipes every day, a few hours per day in the 5 months I've been retired. An on line fellow piper friend in Scotland gave me a valuable tip...on the occasions I can't do anything right, put em down and walk away for a couple days. He says the brain needs time to process and learn, and after a rest you'll play better than ever. He's right! It works.

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