Mental Archery

[Stick'em]

Over the years I have read a ton of books on archery.....sometimes to my demise....... :) Last night I was reading one of my new outdoor books about surviving in extremes. Its a great book that talks about survival from the jungles of the Amazon to the oceans, to the deserts. Really neat stories.

Anywho.....what intrigued me last night was that there was a pattern to the survivors. One common thread tied them together.......a positive attitude and a deeper belief they could survive.

Ok....this is where I get deep. :) So I am sitting there thinking about the mental game of archery and start to reflect on all the threads on forums that talk about the limiting accurate distances of traditional archery. Now I start thinking......what if no one seeded my head with guidelines for traditional archery and instinctive shooting. What if my untainted belief was that I could become so proficient with instinctive shooting (traditional) that consistently shooting bulls at 50 yards (for example) was not an unatainable goal.

My point is I think we limit our own abilities with our traditional equipment because of what others tell us. They set our benchmark....not us.

[DAS]

Yea, but it wasn't always that way! It seems like the guys who pushed the envelope left on the compound bus, and the guys left have just gradually dumbed down :sbrug:

I still shoot at 50 yards regularly, and wouldn't hesitate to take a 40 yard hunting shot if circumstances were right :shooting:

[steve morley]

For years everybody accepted the fact that Recurves always outshoot Longbows, in 2000 I beat the Recurves for the first time at our National Champs, since then more and more Longbow archers are now shooting better than the Recurves.

Compounds next :)

[Papabull]

"Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they're yours", ILLUSIONS, by Richard Bach.

[swampy]

On occasion I compare that "believe" issue with the movie "the matrix" where the guy jumps from one building to the next.At first he didn,t believe and fell.....kinda like shooting .You hafta "believe" or "know" your going to put it right there!! Often it,s extremly close if it didn,t hit.

[Desert Archer]

Think about all those incredible shots Howard Hill made, both at targets and animals. He is one of the Godfathers of modern day "traditional" archery but he sure never limited himself to 17.3 yards. I'd be willing to bet he had a positive mental attitude (smiley face goes here).

Dave

[Viper]

Stick -

Without any pre-programing, or space limitations, you'd find your own comfort zone soon enough. Hopefully, you'd keep working to make that comfort zone longer and longer. When I was growing up, in my neck of the woods, the 20 (17.3) yd limit made sence, we had more indoor ranges than outdoor, and take a guess what the usual distance was?

Steve -

For years everybody accepted the fact that Recurves always outshoot Longbows, in 2000 I beat the Recurves for the first time at our National Champs, since then more and more Longbow archers are now shooting better than the Recurves.

That's not a fair statement. Years ago, most recurves could outshoot most longbows. These days, modern r/d longbows are more similar in design and materials to the best recurves than to the old Hill style longbows we were, for the most part, limited too in the 50's - 70's.

Bull -

"Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they're yours", ILLUSIONS, by Richard Bach.

Good, someone else here actually read that!

Viper out.

[steve morley]

Viper: I know what you mean with R/D Longbows have come a long way in recent years and the gap is closing between Recurve and Longbow performance, but some of the Guys I shoot with are now beating the Recurves with Hill style Longbows which is great to see. :)

[swampy]

Didn,t Hill beat recurves with a Hill style bow ?? LOL

[Viper]

Steve -

Next, you're going to tel me, it the archer, not the equipment !!!

:highfive:

Viper out.

[steve morley]

Viper; To a point it's both the archer and the equipment, but as we are talking the mental side of things what I'm trying to say is once a precieved barrier is broken (like the 4 min mile) everybody starts to beat it and a new goal is required.

Pushing the limits of equipment and ability is what makes archery so interesting and fun, if I come to a really hard shot and everybody is saying it's too hard or even impossible, I'm looking at it thinking WOW wouldn't that be a great shot to hit, guess who has a better chance of hitting it?

Mental isn't it. :)

[Viper]

Steve -

What I was saying was that when the term longbow was synonomous with Hill, the recurve outshot it, in the only way it really could, and that was speed. These days, there are probably as many carbon limbed T/D longbows as there are carbon ORs, and the speed delta is a lot smaller, if at all.

Would a full blown OR with sights, half a dozen stabs have an advantage over a straight grip longbow, sure it would. Would a typical "trad" bow like a BW, Hoyt Gamemaster, or Chek-mate? I'm not so sure anymore, my guess is not. Shooting stickbows, I really do believe the equipment, as long as it's well matched, is really a small factor. The guy shooting it, and the confience he has in it, that's another story, and that's what counts.

In another thread I made an anaology to rifle shooting. For things like bench rest or prone, the percision of the equipment has a very large impact on who gets the trophy. It really comes down to the equipment and wind doping. For offhand and rapid fire, sure percision equipment doesn't hurt, but it's far overshadowed by the skill of the shooter. There ain't no 1/4 MOA groups in offhand. I do minimal case prep for off hand and the rapid fire strings, more for the prone stages, and when I shot bench rest, was bordering on fanatical, (like everybody else was). Archery, especially the "barebow" classes are like offhand rifle shooting, the equipment "might" help, but the guy pulling the string is what matters.

When compounds first came out, a lot of the guys in my old club switched. The guts shot with out sight, canted the bows and were in the barebow class. They had less weight to hold and a slightly faster arrow. Funny thing, the same guys who won with the stickbows, won with the compounds.

Yeah, I know we're saying the same thing ...

Viper out.