I suffered from target panic. I still have it to a small degree. My own experience. It was at its worse when I was shooting a lot of arrows with poor results. My groups were terrible. My hold at full draw was nonexistent. I had to retrain myself and understand the hold and control of release was everything. I no longer have long shooting sessions. I focus on the quality of a few good shots from 10 to 30 yards.

 

First for clarity, I do not post anything for the string crawl or compound shooters. We had one around here, he quit, the rest are mostly just spit or three under shooters. A lot of people like to blast G. Fred, he was not trying to help the target crowd either he was showing what could maybe help the tree guy taking a 15' down and 15 yard out shot from a tree stand. Quite often the average guy just needs a minor adjustment. Different than Hawkeyell, I benefit from long shooting sessions, especially when i cover two or three miles with a back quiver loaded with judo points. The monotony of judging how good you are doing by gauging group size at a static close range target can lure anyone into careless shooting. I do not try to prove my fluid and near fluid shooting to a static shooter, it comes with a very specific different set of requirements that do not apply to the static target style shooting. Some people must shoot the static methods, but in my varied hunting world, it is not practical. I would rather hunt rabbits and pheasants any day other than deer. If I see a group of pheasants while I am most patiently waiting for that giant fictional Iowa buck, he is just going have to wait, i got more important things to do.

 

Nothing but respect for G Fred from me. I loved his book on hunting and learned a lot. His slow walk in the woods and stopping, scanning every nook and cranny with small Binos changed my methods for ground hunting. I was able to get up on animals and actually took a Deer on the ground in early season when the leaves were still on. Heckofahunter!
Also the 8th Dwarf Paul Brunners video called Instinctive shooting back in the nineties. Shot this way for a few years and it worked up close pretty good.

 

15' up...way too high,3' maybe. I Dont like heights...but continue, im listening.

 

One day with my Widow Maker original Sabor climbing tree stand i went up a basswood tree, all the way to the cluster of branches, about 25 feet. Back in those days I was a construction foreman and I built some very large multistory concrete and steel buildings. Height meant nothing to me. Anywho, while i was way up there, a 6 pointer came by. Almost straight down. I had to reverse cant my my 89 pound 70" Kramer Big 5 and shoot right past my foot. Guess what, I missed. Then later a group of turkeys came by, about 10 feet from the base of my tree, this time i did not reverse cant, but i put faith in my harness strap, by the waif I would have fallen out the harness strap would have killed me for certain, I leaned out canted the bow properly and guess what, I missed again. I gave my WidowMaker away to another fool monkey. Ground is good.

 

My nephew is like that...he never has learned about gravity yet. He set me up with a 35' tree stand one year on his property,I looked at it ...nope....hunted in brush pile near tree..

 

Last time I was in a tree stand, a decade or more ago, the lower part of the climber slipped down the trunk. Had i not tied it with a second strap I would have been hanging 25ft up, no harness, holding the seat until I lost grip and fell. As it was I barely got it back under me before I gave out as it was. Brother in law fell 20ft when the hang on failed. Stay safe out there boys.

 

Looks like the answer is yes, because you using more 💪. However, if your in correct form. It may not be that much of a difference.

DDD

 

Remember those Baker tree stands? when i lived south of Eu Claire, i just had to have one, alll those tree, How do I get up there? . I used a rope cinch as a hand clamp and no safety strap. One day, outside of Oseo, high up on a pope tree, a group of deer were behind me, I turned around on the Baker Bitch. I stepped to close to the trunk of the tree. I went 18 feet to 8 feet in one second. The stand caught, I did a perfect one and a Half gainer with a twist and landed on my feet. It did not look like i was hurt, but that frozen ground flattened both my arches and ended my season.

 

I remember them..

 

I went one way ,my XI impact went the other,cause I didn't want to land on it..

 

I used to think snap shooting was working for me. However, I would have streaks of inconsistency. Now that I’m shooting lighter bows and working on one piece at a time (Bow hand then bow arm then draw then anchor then release) I’m finding that being able to hold and anchor for a second or two is much more consistent for me. I know some great shooters that snap shoot but its not for me.

 

I draw slow and hold a bit.
How I practice.
The process stays the same but can be sped up once ingrained.
Still not snap shooting.

For me, after some health stuff........getting muscle memory and strength has been a problem.
My bow arm shoulder just isn't coming along like I want.

 

Shot my 42# bow a bit. Is getting easier.
Can anchor and now and then hang a finger.
Drug out the 47# rig.
Uh anchor and if I even think release its gone LOL

BH flight on 42# rigs arrows is good. So am not too horrible.

But being a realist, that rig might be going bye bye after season.
If things don't improve a bunch I'll be done w trad.
The Blackwidow would then just get boxed up for my grandson.

I used to shoot decent, put in the work.
Its not an issue of work ethic or equipment.
Body just may be done w trad.

Am not going to settle for half arsing it.

 

Best thing I ever did was get some 26# limbs for one of my ILF risers. It lets me really concentrate on each piece of the shot without much fatigue.