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Target Panic?

As an active duty Marine my schedule is never consistent or very pleasing. I returned from Afghanistan about ten days prior to the season opener here in NC(originally from NY, returning in two weeks!!) and began shooting my tail off and getting ready to hunt. I seem to have lost my touch and am becoming very frustrated with myself. My 30 yard groups are looking like my 50 yard groups when I was 16 years old... I have done some research and fear I might have caught the Target Panic bug. My problem is holding my bow arm up or moving my pin up to the target point. While attempting to settle my pin, my bow arm slowly drops and it feels like my body completely locks up and will not allow me to raise my arm getting my pin on target. The result is me pulling my bow up and jerking the trigger. I have tried raising my sight above target and slowly lowering on to my target point but I feel like I am just rushing my shot when doing this. Does anyone have experience with this?

Make sure your not pulling too much poundage.Maybe put a little bend in your arm open your stance up.Don't spend too much time aiming.Hold your pin on the target until you hear the arrow hit.Just relax and it will all come back.As long as the first arrow you shoot is on I would not worry too much.I set up so most shots are 20yds.and under.Good luck

Been there done that. What has helped me is don't shoot! Keep your finger away from the trigger, get the pin on target but don't shoot...just lower the bow. Keep doing this until you can "float" the pin on target. Only after you can do this should you go back to pulling the trigger. May take awhile but it works for me.

#1 - If you have to strain to draw...you have too much poundage on the bow and you should let it down to a level where it can be drawn back without too much strain. Now #2 - Aim at a target at say 10 yards, get the pin centered, take a deep breath, release your breath and close your eyes...Yup! close em. Then release and follow through. Here is the most important point! .... LISTEN for the impact. keep doing this out to 15-20 yards (if its safe). Once your comfortable start opening up your eyes and remember to draw, breath, release, follow through and LISTEN for the impact rather than watching it. It works!!

upstatearcher I had the same problem as you. I was ready to give up bow hunting all together back in 2006. My brother told me to try a back tension release and I was able to shoot well again. I hunt with a back tension release and I have been able to kill a few deer with it. I use a Carter Solution 2.5 They no longer make that model but there are many other back tension releases that you can use. This year I tried shooting my friends trigger release and I seemed to shoot ok with it. I might try shooting a trigger release next year, but for now I still hunt with my back tension release. Good luck and please give the back tension release a try.

Best thing I ever did was take a 1 hour archery lesson because of the exact thing you are describing. The instructor watch me shoot and then had me stand 6 feet in front of the target and CLOSE MY EYES. He walked me through the act of drawing, picturing the target and shooting. It's all mechanics. He had me do this for 1 week. 20 arrows a day. I didn't open my eyes for a week. The first time I shot with my eyes open I discovered that my peep was not positioned where it should be and I had it changed. Basically, I re-trained myself to go through the steps of properly shooting a bow.

-grip the bow with pointer finger and thumb. other three finger are tucked into your palm. (can grip and torque the bow) -CLOSE YOUR EYES -with finger behind the trigger and draw the bow -get a comfortable anchor position -back elbow up and level -move finger to trigger and FEEL THE TRIGGER -get a sight picture (in your mind) and squeeze (don't punch) the trigger -follow through -open eyes and go pull your arrow and repeat.

Thanks guys! This is all great advice. I am going to take the morning off from hunting and pull the bow out to try some of your tips. I ordered a new release which has a heavier trigger on it so I am hoping I can focus more on my back tension. The release I had been using was very touchy. I know that wont fix my problem with raising my bow arm but I think it will slow me down mentally. I dropped my poundage to 60 and went back to a single pin sight. Unfortunately I won't be able to try shooting with my eyes closed until I return to NY in two weeks. All I have here in NC is a small target with no backstop. Thanks again and good luck out there.

Try using a rubber band (workout type) from a sporting goods store to exercise and strengthen your back muscles. After shoulder surgery I purchased a Bow Fit. its a band designed by an orthopedic who had should issues and it has worked great for me. Look up Bow Fit on-line .. I highly recommend it.

Will do. Thanks

Cant say enough about getting a good teacher, even if its just for a couple lessons. I read Bernie Pellerite's book (Idiot Proof Archery). It fixed me very nicely, but I realized after it all, that if I just had a few lessons from a grey haired tournament winner, I could have "got there in WAAAAY less time.

PM- ing you now...

X2 bow shot. I was having issues last season and I spent a good part of the winter working on form per that book. It worked wonders!

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