A descent into madness!!
Elk
I’m leaving for my Elk hunt today. Last night I wanted to shoot one last round of various shots from 20 to 80 yards. Just like I had been doing for the past 3 months Every Day to prepare! I even went through my entire setup last two weekends making sure everything was perfect.
To my utter amazement my shot was 6 inches low at 50 yards. I’ll spare you the 3 hours of frustration of me inspecting my bow looking for anything that could have been loose, bumped whatever. I did end up adding one twist to my control cable because my cam on my Hoyt vector 32 was very slightly out of time. That was the only thing I could find.
I ended up needing to move my sight 5/16 of an inch down to bring my arrows up back on the target. I’m racking my brain thinking what I could have done to screw up so bad...Did I just psyche myself out... Was it my last workout and tired muscles...?
Anyone else ever have this?
Noting like being confident in your set up before a hunt!!!!! SWEET!!!!
Best of luck to you and the critters you shoot at, if they are 50 yards and farther. It sounds to me like if it was only at 50 yards, and not farther, it was a mental thing. When one gets anxious about their weapon, they tend to break down in form to see the arrow. Especially when tired. If it were a tuning problem, you would have noticed it beyond 50 yards, and quite likely closer. This is assuming you have done as you say and have been practicing a lot.
This is just my experience too. But, if your pins require widening at 50 yards to hit point of impact, your arrow is too light. I personally never saw that effect. But, I shot 500 plus grain arrows and minimum 70 pounds. Good luck and God Bless
You are just going to have to bring us back a story Bernie. You've been too good to us lately. Where are you going?
May not have been a good thing to take that "one last" practice round with all the built up anxiety. I assume you are going to take a little time for practice when you get there now that you moved that sight. Even if you shot quite a bit more after the adjustment and everything seemed okay, I could see the possibility of you being tired and frustrated having an effect.
I know there are times when it is better for me to not shoot, than to shoot. When I feel one of those times is upon me I just TRY to hang it up although its hard. Good luck man, we are counting on a nice bull. :^)
Bernie - Its had to tell exactly, but if you cannot find anything that has been bumped/broken/altered most likely a result of overthinking and over concentrating.
Last year I struggled to get BH and FP hitting the same POI. the closer to the season the more adjustments I made. Finally I got everything straight...
So This spring I decided that since everything was shooting fine last fall I wasn't going to touch anything - just shoot. Somedays everything was fine, others I was grouping a little looser, others my POI shifted... I also started getting more in tune with myself and everything about the shot. Those days when things were not quite right occurred les often, and when they did (normally on the first group) I was able to figure out why they were off and correct it.
Interestingly - as this season got closer - I was shooting fewer and fewer rounds at the range - my BH were right were they needed to be. I didn't touch or adjust anything on my bow this season - it was all mental.
Sometimes trying harder causes issues. I forget who told me this last year, but: When you have an elk in your sights you are not going to remember detail about your shot setup. You will remember your anchor, your level and your peep ring - then you'll take a relaxing breath and shoot. Do that at the range and everything will work out just fine.
I had something similar happen to me on an Elk Hunt. I missed a real nice bull that was a 25 yard chip shot, shot under him. bow was dialed in before I left for the hunt. I went back to camp and must have shot 100 arrows at various distances and all my pins were shooting 8" low at all distances, I could put my hand over the groups. I could find nothing wrong adjusted my sight to impact higher. When I got home from the hunt, my groups were now shooting high. I had to adjust the sight back down again. To this day I have know Idea what that was all about.
Had that happen to me and my hunting partner. Bow shop where I was getting stuff done has now lost my business. Had it in there because of issues, said it was all ready to go. Got home and bow shooting 8 inches low. Took it to a different bow shop and bow was not even paper tuned. Guy worked on my bow for an hour and got it right. Also did my partners bow the day before we left. He worked 3 hours after hours to get him going. Class act!!!!! Both of us shot an elk. But….took a block target with to shoot at when we got to our destination. I had to do some adjusting with my sights. Don't have that good of a case and feel that is why sights were off left to right. Dialed in and went hunting.
WV, That was just my first shot it ended up being off at all ranges. And I shoot a lot… everything has been perfect for a months.
Inspect that you're loop hasn't moved on the string. Been there and it's frustrating because nothing seems loose or otherwise changed, but change in nocking height might explain the low shots.
Franzen, Thanks… Going back to MT for 16 days.
I almost didn't do a thing and just packed my bow. But I just couldn't resist.
I'll be shooting when I get there.
This is why I always shoot my bow after a trip before the hunt. Got to Africa last week, both bows were dead on out to 60 in Illinois. Both now 3" to the right at 20. PH said this was normal.
HockeyDad, My BH and FP were touching at 50 just like the previous month but just low.
I’ll try to keep calm and carry on it's all I can do....
rattles33,
I have the 2 nock points tied in so the loop will not move. But I’ll take another look at it.
Had exactly that same thing happen last year just prior to my AZ hunt.
Two local shops could not figure it out. Drove to a gifted tuners home 5 hours away. D loop was slipping. Easy fix, served it in. Stays put now.
Don't know what to say. If they were all low, I'd give it a day of rest and try again before I moved anything. Good luck and God Bless
It has happened to me before. It's usually me.
You might be dropping your bow arm.
