The Think Tank

First off, I have been lax the last few days about sending in these practice reports, so I’m writing this five days later.  Naturally, I can’t remember everything that happened, but I do remember a few things so I will mention those.

I picked Shannon up after work and headed straight out to Sylvan.  I shot one end at 70 yards for practice (two liner 5’s at 9 o’clock and two inside out X’s), then went straight to the lower course again.  I had shot on that course the other day and wanted to compare.

I had shot a 270 that day, and I really felt I could get into the mid 270’s this time out.  That was my goal.

I did not start out as well as I had the previous time I shot this course.  I dropped 8 points in the first 9 targets.  I felt I was shooting pretty well most of the time, but I was a little surprised by a couple of the misses (especially the 80 yarder, which I thought I nailed but in fact missed by about an inch at 2 o’clock), but more or less I knew what I had done to miss the ones I that missed.  My groups were wider than they were tall, which made me think I was probably gripping the bow a little bit.  That reminded me that I had been trying to put the edge of the handle down the middle of my life line the other day, which is more palm than I have historically used, but seemed to work well the the other day.  I tried to pay closer attention to that.

Heading into the uphill 55 yard target (A23) which had given me so many problems the last few days, I was a little distraught.  I felt like I was really trying and shooting pretty well, but I was a little frustrated because I was doing worse at this point in the game.  Mindful of the difference in my grip, I paid special attention to that, tried to clear my mind, and pulled up for the first shot at the up hill.  I really wanted to clean it.

My first shot was nicely executed and it hit dead center.  The next shot was pretty good, but it was 6 o’clock 5/4 line when it fired, and it missed by about half an inch low.  Second shot was a another X.  I struggled through the 4th shot, letting it down twice, before finally executing a shitty, weak shot which hit several inches low.   I was disappointed because I’d really wanted the 20, but still it was an 18 which was better than I had done on my last two attempts at this particular target.

The next target is uphill as well and had given me some trouble the last time I shot.  I really wanted to stay clean from this point, since I wanted to stay in the 270’s, so I was pretty careful with these shots.  I let down twice, and one of the shots was sitting at 3 o’clock when it went off, but it still stayed in the spot.  As it turned out, my first shot was dead center, but it looked low so I adjusted my sight and put the last two side by side on the X line at 12.  One was in and one was out.  Still, they were all 5’s so I called it good.

The next target is a 35 fan, which shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but I had 18’d it the last two times because it is a heavy sidehill and I kept forgetting to watch my bubble.  I was mindful of that, and again I was careful and did not try to force anything that felt slightly off.  I let down three times on this target, but in the end I shot good shots and scored a 20.  Only 1 X though.  All three 5’s were out to the left, in the direction of the slant.

The next two are a 20 yarder and a birdie, so I wasn’t worried about them.  I shot X’s all the way, and then it was onto the last target, a nice and flat 65 yarder.  I dropped two on this one the last time I shot it, and I really wanted to clean it this time.

I was a little nervous.  I knew I was down 9, so a 20 would put me at 271 which was better than the last time, though not as good as I wanted to do.  I decided to play my little game in my head, telling myself that a 20 would win and a 19 or worse would lose.

I pulled up, held well and shot a nice shot on the first arrow.  I thought it would be an X, but it turned out to be just out of the X at 1 o’clock.  The next arrow was a little scary as I bobbled left when it went off, but it stayed solidly in the five.  The third arrow was a little shakey on the aim, but well executed.  I was disappointed to to see that it was a mid-five at 7 o’clock instead of the X that I wanted, but at least it was a five.

Then it was the moment of truth, the last arrow.  I knew I wasn’t going to miss the four, so I had a 270 at least, but I really wanted to clean out the end of the course, and I REALLY wanted to hit my last arrow.  The only thing I hate worse than missing my last arrow is missing my very first arrow.

I decided it was time to be extra careful.  What I mean by that is that I wasn’t going to force anything…  if I held too long, if I wobbled too much, if anything was wrong at all I wasn’t going to shoot it.  Normally when I hold a second too long, or wobble out of the spot a little bit, I might try to pull it out.  But not this shot.  It was going to be perfect or nothing.

My first try I pulled up, held rock solid in the 5, but could not get the shot to go off.  Undoubtedly it was because I was nervous.  I let it down.  Second time up, I did not hold very well and gave up on it quickly, letting it down again.   Third try was like the first, though I held it just a bit longer trying to get it to go.  I let down for a third time.

Shannon asked if something was wrong, and I said I was just nervous.  I shook out my shoulder, looked at the target, saw the arrow hitting the X in my mind, then I played my training game again.  “X you win, 5 you lose,” I told myself.  I let that sit in my head for a moment, then I said “Alright.  Now, just shoot your form.”

I pulled up, held solid, felt where my release hand was going to be after the shot, pushed forward with my bow arm just a bit and Blam! The shot went off.  The last time I had seen the dot in my scope, it was right in the middle.  The arrow sailed down range, dropped slightly along its arc and landed almost silently.  Even before I pulled out my glasses, I knew it was a win.  The X ring was torn out.  No paper sound meant an X, and a quick look through binoculars confirmed it: Inside out X, on the edge of the upper-right leg.

That felt really good.  Not only did I lay down a new best since my return to shooting, but I also fought through some nervousness and in order to do it, I had to clean some targets which had been giving me trouble.  I was very proud of that.

I did feel that I was still getting some excessive left and right movement in my groups, but all in all I happy with how I shot, and especially how I finished.

Additional information: —————————————

Start date: Apr 22, 2011 5:51 PM Target: NFAA/IFAA Field Total score: 271 28 X’s

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