The Think Tank

I havent been shooting much (prior to this week) and i have been struggling compared to how i was shooting prior to halloween.

At the end of summer I started recognizing a trick that really improved my shooting: instead of pulling with my release arm, I tried to keep myself at full draw by pushing with my left shoulder. I sort of thought of it as using my left arm to maintain the pressure on my release fingers. This seemed to greatly help prevent my left shoulder from rolling when I was tired, sore, or especially nervous.

However there was more to it than just that. Over the last few weeks of September I started noticing that I was also doing something different with my release hand: I was flattening put my fingers and wrist as well, so that it feels like there is no angle deviation between my arm and hand. This has the added benefit of making the knuckle on my index finger a sharper point against my jaw bone when I’m anchored.

When I do that I seem to hold better and mr release is much easier. My release hand pops automatically back onto my shoulder like it is supposed to and, when coupled with a focus keeping my bow arm extended after the shot, resulted is hyper accurate groups and good scores.

I was just starting to get that system worked out when I moved indoors. But due to holiday preparation I’ve only been shooting once a week for a couple months, and I’ve been forgetting exactly what everything feels like, and my scores (and confidence) have been suffering.

I shot at broken arrow last night in their Thursday night league, and realized that while I have been focusing a lot on my bow arm lately, the reason I haven’t felt right with the pressure on my release fingers thing Is because I had my fingers and wrist in the wrong position. I flattened them out around the 4th end last night and shot the first arrows that felt “right” in several weeks. Almost immediately my groups tightened up, I started hitting inside out x’s and I began to have that (fleeting) feeling that so long as I get my shot setup right I can’t hardly miss. Which is how I felt in early October.

I still think that I need shorten my d loop by about 1/8 of an inch or so, because I feel a little over extended, especially when my shoulder gets tired.

Also: when my shoulder starts to burn that means I am rolling it over. These shots almost always miss in the middle of the nine between 11 and 1 o’clock. These shots NEED to be let down.

If time does not allow a let down, you have to over exaggerate pushing your bow hand straight at the target face.

I also noticed a couple times that I had my bow fingers tensed when I was struggling somewhere else. I have to make sure to relax that hand/arm/shoulder before every shot. Especially when I am nervous.