Blind Bale Practice

I'm 70 and have been an archery hunter since i was a kid. I am getting ready for an elk hunt and need to shoot good groups at 40 and hopefully 50 yards. A good archery shop owner introduced me to blind bale practicing and I tried it and believe it will help me a lot. I am requesting your advice and comments about how I can best maximize my improvement from the process.I can do this in my shop and have a range set up there so I can do it every day.
Thanks
J-T-B

For me when I have a shot at an animal I have to focus and concentrate ,I still get buck fever.

Thanks 264.....The adrenaline rush of close contact with game animals is part of what makes us hunt. When thats gone we have lost a part of the fun.I'm not talking about buck fever but target panic. Its not really panic its not being able to control our thought process. We for one reason or another either release the arrow a millisecond before we are ready or move the bow before the arrow has cleared the string and arrow rest. We often would see no difference at 20 yards but the o.k. shot at 20 is a poor shot at 40.
I am looking to shoot acceptable groups at 40 and hopefully 50 yards,
J_T_B

JTB- start with developing proper form and make sure your equipment is perfectly tuned. Next step is to shoot as much as possible using that perfect form. Stretch the practice distance as far as possible and you will be surprised how the 30-40 yd shots will become easy. Shoot, shoot, shoot, and shoot some more.

You will be developing muscle memory that should kick in when your brain goes to $hit right before the shot at an animal.

This is of course just one mans opinion on the archery game. I love to shoot my bow, there is just something about chasing that perfect arrow leaving my bow.

Good luck

>JTB- start with developing proper form
>and make sure your equipment
>is perfectly tuned. Next step
>is to shoot as much
>as possible using that perfect
>form. Stretch the practice distance
>as far as possible and
>you will be surprised how
>the 30-40 yd shots will
>become easy. Shoot, shoot, shoot,
>and shoot some more.
>
>You will be developing muscle memory
>that should kick in when
>your brain goes to $hit
>right before the shot at
>an animal.
>
>This is of course just one
>mans opinion on the archery
>game. I love to shoot
>my bow, there is just
>something about chasing that perfect
>arrow leaving my bow.
>
>Good luck
+1

I just had a bowstring break on me and now i have target panic like you wouldn't believe. I am going to try some blind bale practice to see if it can help me get over it because this sucks!!! I've tried just shooting and shooting and see if I can shoot it out of me but it isn't working. Again, THIS SUCKS!

Blind bale practice is a great way to develop your shot routine and build muscle memory so that in the heat of the moment you can completely redline and still have your steps just happen.

On a side note, aiming is part of that process. You must build into that sequence acquiring the target and selecting your pin as part of that routine. Building the complete shot routine, step by step is critical to having it "just happen" when it counts.

My shot sequence for hunting with my compound bow creates a tunnel vision something like this.

- align peep to eye
- center the sight housing in the peep
- place the correct pin on the target
- bring the focus to the target
- shot goes off right about then

This sequence is always looking forward to the next step. It never dwells on any point. You're not saying aim aim aim or any of the things that can cause panic when it doesn't look right.

The key is to learn to enjoy the doing of the steps more than the result of those steps. Whenever we concentrate on the outcome rather than the road, we are training our mind to look to the outcome during the steps rather than just relaxing in the heat of the moment and enjoying how amazing shooting of and in itself can be.

Target panic is 100% fear of the outcome manifesting itself into the shot routine. Solving target panic in one's own mind is 100% achieved by finding the beauty of achieving a perfect execution regardless of the outcome. You can not effect the outcome, but by perfecting and believing in your procedure.

Judge your performance by how well you preform your steps rather than by the score or accuracy of the shot that you can only see after the fact. It's an amazing freedom in your shooting to make judgement only of the doing rather than the result and in the end of the day when you can truly shoot just for the joy of slinging arrows, will the results after the fact start to shine.

Just my $0.02 after shooting all over the world counting up scores and making judgements of the day by the sum there of.

Cheers,
Pete

2 separate drills I think are very helpful.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/2015/07/bow-hyperaccuracy-levi-morgans-two-key-drills

The aiming drill makes the most sense for me as far as getting over target panic.

Breaking down the process makes a lot of sense too however my process is:

-range
-dial in sight to rabge
-draw
-align peep with sight housing
-align pin with target
-bring focus back to pin
-squeeze off the shot

Good info. I'm definitely going to give it a try and see how it does.

>The aiming drill makes the most
>sense for me as far
>as getting over target panic.
>
>
>Breaking down the process makes a
>lot of sense too however
>my process is:
>
>-range
>-dial in sight to rabge
>-draw
>-align peep with sight housing
>-align pin with target
>-bring focus back to pin
>-squeeze off the shot

I should add that I am now shooting a single pin. We're finding that the extra step of dialing in the pin, as well as only having to focus on 1 pin, has helped us calm things down, and focus better on the shot.

Gentlemen
Thanks for weighing in.....I am going to use your suggestions in my practice routine. I am making slow progress ....always something to distract me!
J_T_B