I was just practicing in the yard and stumbled on a useful training aid. Now I'm sure some of you have done this some may have not. I was shooting a multidot bag target and my groups weren't what I thought they should be. I noticed a tennis ball behind the target and decide to pu that on a broken shaft about a yard ahead of the target. My groups tighten up to the size of a softball! curious I put a empty shotgun shell on the stick my groups shrunk to baseball size. all the shots were at 20yards same bow same everything. So I figure I was distracted by the multidots, Hope it helps ya'll

At a local shoot they always have a multidot bag target for warmup.The guys watching me shoot it must be thinking.."And that guy hunts with that thing?"    

I hate those multi dot bags,but I'm sure if you practice with them they probably could improve your focus on a spot.Maybe.  

If the multi spot bags is a challenge.  Work at focusing on a frayed edge of a spot.  Once you conquer the bag anything else should be a easy to pick a spot on.

Good topic nc.  

My strategy is to focus on the bottom of the dot I am looking at.  If I look at the dot I shoot high.  If I burn a hole at the 6 o'clock position of the dot I am focused on, I make a good shot.

Works for me.

Billy

Aim small HIT small! Much more positive mental picture and the minds picture drives accuracy

Well said Ben.

i've done the same thing and noticed a tighter group. Except i was using apples. I tend to lose focus when shooting at a bag. Anything to make the shot more interesting usually creates better groups

I put a small 2" X 2" picture of my mother-in-law in front of my target.

Tight groups!

lmao thats good matt!

i used to shoot at golf tees, that makes ya focus !! at 20 yrds . bright ones work the best ofcource.  

I  cut a 1/2 square off the orange flagging (aka engineer tape) and then use a nail to hold it in my foam target... the smaller the object to focus on the tighter the groups...

on a multi dot target take a Sharpie pen and put a small dot in the middle of the circle just big enough to see at twenty yards....it really helps me...

my favorite is shooting with a friend a n aiming for his nocs.      

I never aim at one of the dots, nothing like that on the game I hunt. As said above by Ragnarok Forge I pick a a thread or hole in the area around the dots. Also makes target last longer.Also I have used brown spray paint on the bags.that seems to help my shooting. TERM

I have a bag with multiple dots for mostly warmups and short range stuff.  The target I use for serious groups at decent distances I covered with burlap (from walmart sewing dept) and I put 1 or 2 small spots on it with black or orange duct tape.

I cant shoot those multi dots either,  Mike

I have never been able to shoot a multidot target so I cut out a 5" diameter corrugated dot and mark a 1" dot dead center. It has tightened up my shots,     and helps my focus.  

I am not good at focusing on creases or threads on the target for long.  Maybe my first couple or three arrows.  After that my eyes get a little lazy.

And the dots I just don't care for.

Usually, I just grab a leaf and wedge it into the layers of my targets.  Then I shoot at the leaf.

At the public range they just have hay bales.  But they also have a trap range.  So I grab a 20 guage shell and wedge that into the bale and use that as my target.  It's small and bright yellow and I group much better than when shooting at paper or burlap.

Great topic,I cannot shoot at dots or spots,or anything that is not on game,it just messes me up when I shoot animal targets.When I shoot at the range I pick out a nose,ear tail,something different every shot,its like calling you're pocket in pool.I do get some looks like Iam shooting all over the place.But what ever works.Alot of good post in these forums.

I use a bag with one tennis ball size orange dot on one side and a quarter size on the other, marking paint works great. In the field I pick out a crease, wrinkle or even a tuft of hair.

I have always spray painted my multidot targets brown, and then like mentioned above, pic a spot within that target, it really helps come hunting. When I started hunting many years ago, the first season or so I shot one of those old time multi-colored round targets, with a yellow 10 ring, come that first hunting season, the few shots I did get a chance on with whitetail I didn't even come close, lucky for me I didn't wound an animal, after that in talking to other archerys they told me to just shoot at something brown, and it made me a much better shot while hunting game animals.