Hey All, I'm back with more rookie questions.
I'm starting over again in trad archery. I did nothing but blind bale shooting for about a month and a half. I'm now doing a combination of blind bale and target practice (12-15 shots of each).
On my target practice I started out at 5yds then 7yds and now 10yds.
My question is as a reborn trad archer would it be best to stick with a single yardage and progress back to a certain point just shooting at that specific distance each session, or shoot variable yardages back to my max confidence distance for each target sessoion?
Starting out (or restarting) I would say stick to one distance until you get consistant. You have enough to worry about.
The moving about will get the trajactory implanted in your brain, but you have to be consistant before that will help. You'd just frustrate yourself by hopping around.
I like to take one shot and move, or even come back after doing something else around the house or yard. That's to get me making the one shot count. But I've been at this a while.
I practice the first/Kill shot, I do this shot at different yardage. Then work on form. I only do this with 1 arrow first and when working on form I'll use NO more then 3 arrows.
The reason is I have broken more arrows working on form or groups then when hunting.. I would at times start close and work My way back.. 3 bulls I move to the next yardage 5,10,15,20,25 and 30 yards.
Mixing up different yardage and angles helps when out in the field hunting.. Now this is what I do and there are others that do thing differently..
Stick to a distance until that shot becomes natural and consistent, then change. Everyone has a different opinion on this, but if you can't consistently hit your target at a known 15 yards with repeated shots, why would someone expect to make it on their first shot with unknown distances. That is just one more variable for your brain to try and compute. After you have your brain programmed through controlled and deliberate repetition, at that point random shots and unknown distances become invaluable for the super important hunting accuracy (one shot/one kill).
Thanks for the feedback guys! I did forget to mention the I'm shooting strickly instinctive. I've found that if I even see the arrow I'm no where near as consistant.
I think the most important thing is to develop good form. The next most important thing is to shoot a lot of quality shots. Underlying both is maintaining a high level of interest and enthusiasm, so you will shoot every day, if possible, because you want to.
Given that list of priorities, my advice is to do what you feel like doing. If you feel like shooting all your shots at 20 yards, or 5 yards, do that. If you feel like mixing up the distances, do that. I think you will progress further that way than by sticking to a preconceived plan.
A lot of good advice here. I agree with Stumpkiller. Moving to soon may frustrate you and cause you to lose focus. Now on the other hand if you are comfortable with your form and your consistency, by all means move and shoot one arrow and on to the next target. This will train your brain to make the adjustments automatically. Good luck. You will get a lot of input but you have to decide when you can move forward in your shooting. I've been shooting for almost 39 years and I still practice the basics.