Big day at work today, so I just had a bit of a wind down session with my 55lb Blackwidow longbow. Man I was shooting terrible.
I had been shooting this bow really well, but not today. Bow was noisy, and the shots were scattered over a foot and a half wide at 25 yards. Height was fair, but the left/right was atrocious. It was a tad windy but not that bad.
I concentrated on my shot sequence to no avail, still spraying them left/right.
Bow noisy, so I made sure my hook was right, release smooth, and follow-through correct.
Still no good.
What the heck is going on?
I would have a good clean quiet shot occasionally, but I couldn't work out what I did right.
Then the lightbulb went off as I felt the string pluck the pocket flap on my shirt. I had a looser than normal fitting shirt and the so-and-so string was flicking the pocket flap on release. Ahh, problem found.
Buttoned up the flap, opened up my stance a fuzz, and lo and behold, the next couple of dozen arrows all went back into nice tidy groups in the right place, and the bow noise was back to its usual dull thud. Problem solved.
Happy man with a bow again.
Some days hey?
Best
Lex
Yep! Worth paying attention to.
I like to wear heavy flannel shirts when it's cool outside, and have ran into the same problem... Took me a minute to figure it out too!
I think we have all had instances like this. Fortunately, most of my shooting here in Georgia is warm enough that a t-shirt is all I need to wear when practicing. However, when it gets cooler and when I dress in hunting clothes, I have to deliberately concentrate on how my clothes fit. I missed a chance at a really nice buck once due to a bulky jacket.
I recall reading something from G. Fred Asbell about why he used an open bowhunters stance and one of the reasons was to prevent hitting clothing. The pocket gets me too. Or even the armpit of a sweatshirt. I worked hard on form, in line shoulders and all, but it puts the sting awfully close to my clothing. I'm slowly opening the stance by rotating towards the target just a bit an leaning my head towards the string a little more. I think that makes a better hunting stance anyhow.
Tedd
I think Charlie said it best 3x ha ha