1 Archery Mistake that causes Target Panic & How To Fix It

Good afternoon or morning, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to do a fun video today. I try to do one or two of these videos every year. I'm just talking about like big form things, big shooting things that kind of just have noticed throughout the year. And we do these videos and you guys really seem to like them. So this is going to be kind of two big things that have come up kind of in these past couple months I've talked with people with. And then we'll just kind of run through them. But the first thing I've done this before, I did this in one of the earlier form videos, but we're going to retouch on it and kind of maybe touch on a couple of new things. But it's drawing back. I feel like it's such a simple thing, but it's such a foundational part of your shot. And it really is, can be a make or break on your shot. It also can be like longevity of shooting. It could, it could potentially cut your time short because you're just hurting yourself. So drawing back correctly is very, very important. So what I'm going to do is going to run through correctly how to do it. And then I'll show kind of some, some no-nos or some, some bad, some bad things and tendencies that people do. So one drawing bow back, I mean, it's quite a bit of weight. I mean, some people, you know, 60, 70, 80 pounds drawing back. It's a lot of weight. It's, it's not like an easy feat and it's, it's amazing. You'll see big Jack guys shooting for the first time and they can't shoot 70 pounds because it's just totally new muscles. It's a different way. It's like a different technique of using those muscles. And a lot of it is not necessarily how strong you are. It's about how you draw back in the technique of it. So that's kind of why, honestly, why I can shoot some higher poundage. I'm not a giant dude, but I can shoot some higher poundage because of technique and stuff. So first thing when drawing back, it sounds dumb, but it's your, it's your stance. I'm wearing Crocs. That's the number one important thing to state here, but we are, we're about shoulder width apart and you do want your left foot. If you want to be slightly lower and kicked out, that kind of opens up your shoulders a little bit, but having them straight, having them about shoulder width apart is the most important thing. You don't want to be tight. You don't want to be dumb like this. You don't want to be back or anything like that. You just want to be about shoulder width apart. And what I like to do is just kick this leg out and over a little bit. And it just opens up your stance a little bit, helps prevent to hit your arm, helps essentially create the triangle in this window right here that we're all trying to do. So that's step number one to drawing a bow back. You want to have a good foundation. Step number two is we're using leverage when drawing a bow back. It's not just sheer strength, it's leverage and technique. So first thing you're going to do is you're going to set your bow hand correctly. We won't dive too deep into that, but then you're going to raise your bow up. Most important thing is you get your bow slightly above your head. So many guys when they're shooting, which this is definitely situational, but when they're hunting, they're like, I want to point right at my target and I want to draw straight back. That's putting so much stress on your muscles and so much, you know, your body is so out of line to how you're supposed to draw your bow back. Situational, like I said, maybe it's, you know, a deer's looking at you and you got to be stealthy and you got to do it one time, but over and over again, pointing directly at the target, drawing straight back puts an immense amount of strain on your muscles. So what we're going to do, we're going to lift slightly above. We're not sky drawing. We're just slightly above my front arm is straight out. You can see my elbow is up and then we're just going to leverage and draw back. You can kind of see that motion as the bow drops, it almost opens up. So it's as the bow drops, it opens up. What I'm not doing is this, this is sky drawing. It's totally different from using leverage to drop down. It's all leverage thing. As we drop down, as we expand, it just, it's literally, this is all this motion is using your back muscles and you're just using that overall leverage to open you up compared to some bad things. I kind of already touched on one with like pointing directly at the target and pulling back. So that'll, that would look like something like this. You know, you can do it, but over and over again, if that was your program, aiming right at it, it just, it's definitely harder. Like just right off the bat, it's harder for me. Another thing, this is probably the most distinguishable bad mistake. And it's people feel like they have to use different muscles and use different things to get this poundage back, but it's a drawing against your chest. This right here, honestly, that was hard for me even to get back, but pulling down like this, I don't know why people think that this is like different muscles, but it's harder for me. Like I almost can't even get that back, but drawing against your chest, it's popping your shoulder up. It's exposing tendons in there. It's a ton of movement. So while you're hunting, drawing down and then having to readjust is so much movement. If you're up in the stand or out West or whatever, and over and over and time and time again, it's going to destroy your back shoulder. So that's the number one thing you see guys in the range, guys at Total Archery Challenge pulling down and across. Definitely is going to have long-term effects. It's actually not the better way to maximize your strength, maximize the amount of poundage you can draw back. It's honestly probably hurting you. So that is definitely a big no-no. There's all sorts of different random no-no's, but those are honestly the two main things. Drawing straight forcefully, trying to hold the bow still, and just drawing straight back, and then drawing down across your chest. Not to mention drawing across your chest if you're using a thumb button and you have some extra clothing. I've seen so many times accidentally people draw and then bump their button against their chest, or against clothing, or they have a beard against their beard. So many variables there doing that. So big no-no, try to avoid that. Correctly use leverage, hold the bow slightly above your head, drop the bow down, and about when you get on target, and this is going to get to my next tip, about when you get on target is going to be your full draw. Then you anchor and aim and you're right there. So that's out of all those, that's definitely the most easiest way to draw a bow back. I need to catch my breath. I'm like talking faster than I'm breathing. The next tip, and someone asked me this and it's like, you know what, it's like I don't 100% know, but I know why I don't know, because I do it completely different. This is again a George Riles tip. George Riles at Archery Learning Center. He was an early on coach of mine, really got me to the next level of shooting. You can look up his stuff on YouTube and all over the place. He's got all sorts of stuff. But it's how to, or how do you acquire the target? What I mean by that is where, once you're at full draw, where does your pin come into the target? Do you come down, left, right, up, down? And the honest question is none of the above, and it really shouldn't be any of the above. To mitigate a creep of target panic, to mitigate the amount of time it takes to get on target, what George has always taught me and all the students and everything is we're going to go through a draw cycle process. This is also why it's important to do it correctly. When you get here at this stage, I'm not anchored yet. I'm not, you know, ready to shoot. But what I can see are my pins. Now, when you're in this stage, what I do is I move my pins on the target. So, my pins are on the center of the bag right now. And then I anchor. And then I'm there. I'm already within, you know, a foot or so. I'm right there on my target. So, when you draw back, hit the back wall, pins on target. And then you anchor. And then you look through your peep site and you're there. You're already there. There's no need to, like, anchor down low and then come up or anchor high or come down. Because all that is going to do is slowly creep that target panic in, that anxiousness, because you are like, oh, I'm almost there. Or, you know, coming from the down, oh, I'm almost there. And then you slowly and slowly start shooting a little bit before you get in the middle. And then a lot before you get in the middle. And then eventually that anxiety is going to be so high that you're going to have a hard time aiming at all. So, big tip. This is, I think, not a lot of people talk about this, but drawing back, pins in the middle, anchor. And I'm already in the middle. Like, sometimes I'm already so in the middle. It's like, oh, wow, yeah, I'm already right there. And you don't even have to aim. So, kind of an underrated tip. I haven't really talked about that before, but George stresses that so much. And what that also does is it makes sure that your body is in a line and on target before you anchor. Because imagine this. Imagine if you draw back and you, like, anchor and you look through your peep sight and then you're like, oh, my target's over here. All you could do is move your arm. See what that does? If you just move your front arm around, it moves your body instead of moving your body all around. So, drawing back, getting your shoulders in line, putting your pins on your target, and then looking through your peep sight. Just make sure that your body is aligned, you're not worried about aiming. It just sets you up for success. So, those two things kind of tie in together. First, drawing back correctly, setting up your shot so that you can put your pins in the middle of the target and then bring your peep sight in place. So, it's kind of like one full shot cycle tip broken down into two. So, I hope that helps. What I am also going to talk about, it kind of ties into being prepared and set up, is having your equipment always at the ready. So, I just switched over. I'm running the Sika harness, but I have my release always, regardless of your setup. If you have a vinyl harness or if you're whitetail hunting and you have pockets or whatever, always have your release in a spot that is easily grabbable when you're not unzipping something, grabbing it or whatever. Always super important that your range finder is super handy, either in a pouch or around your neck. I really don't even like keeping it in a pocket. I've seen a lot of guys keep the range finder in a pocket, like on their bibs or somewhere when they're whitetail hunting and they're fumbling for it and trying to grab it. Always important to keep that handy. Also, I'm getting ready to go elk hunting and I have a little randomness. I have a pen, a lighter, range finder, Blistex for chapped lips, an extra range finder battery, a wind checker. So, just a couple neat little things right here. And I think the most important thing on all this is that you keep your release in a handy spot. And on top of that, you keep a backup extra handy. I have a backup button right here in this front pocket. I don't have the barrel on because it sticks out too far. I have the barrel inside here. But if I'm in a pinch and let's say just like a branch comes up as I'm walking in and just button's gone. And then I go and it's like, okay, time to shoot. I'm like, where's my button? I can very easily reach in here. And if I'm in a pinch, I can shoot this thing just off of the bar here. But if I have time, I'll just grab my Allen wrench, grab that, put it back together, and I'm back rolling. And then on top of that, I have another one in my backpack because I feel like releases are something that you just could lose in a scramble. So, I can put you in a bad spot. So, hope you guys enjoyed these tips. Three tips, I guess, as we're preparing for archery season. A lot of archery seasons out west, even in Kentucky are started. So, if you guys are having a success, we're repping out going elk hunting. Then we're coming back. We'll do some mule deer and some white tail stuff. So, I'm super pumped that season's finally here. And I hope you guys have a super successful season. We will catch you guys in the next one. See you. Bye.