OK, I'm going to stir the pot.
I keep reading articles and posts on some sites claiming there is no such thing as instinctive shooting.
They are claiming that a person is still gap shooting and won't admit it.
So I'm going to tell you a little history about myself.
I got into bow fishing very heavily around 40 + years ago and that transformed into hunting snapping turtles.
I made a discovery by chance of how to find them under the mud. I happened to see a turtle pull it's head back into a hole so I shot a few inches behind the hole and; contact. The arrow was just behind the head through the neck and I had it.
So now about instinctive shooting, I was turtle hunting in the middle of the night with lanterns, I not only couldn't see My arrow but had to account for refraction.
How could you shoot at a moments notice from a moving canoe with some sort of sighting system when you couldn't see the bow or arrow?
Buy the way, after that first time I saw that hole, I would see just the hole in the mud, shoot a couple inches downstream and bingo.
It was not 100% but I would say  about 6 or 7 out of 10.

Congrates on the turales...I just shoot the way I have for the last 60 years and let others decide for themselves what it is that I do, cuz I don't really care what they Wana call it 

I agree. There truly is such a thing as instinctive shooting. Those who can't do, just don't understand or believe it can be done. No use arguing with them, however.

Those people who write those articles have protractors in their pocket and schematics in their briefcase..... In other words they are basket weavers, and have no clue about instinctive anything.

In real life they would stay in camp with the women, aka betas.

Shoot how you want, how you are comfortable, get as good at it is you can. But first.... Learn how to match the right arrow to the right bow, with the right string, with the right brace height, with the right nock placement, with a consistent anchor point and a consistent release, and practice often, shooting how you shoot.  If another archer is a better shot, don't get jealous and claim he or she is cheating somehow, just practice more and get better.   If there's an article telling you you're shooting wrong, turn the page.  Don't try to shoot like somebody else, shoot like you.   

I have been charged by 3 hogs and instinctively put all 3 down. 2 with the same witnesses and in their tracts, and one that made it 20 yards. My odds are getting slim that I'll be able to do it again unscathed, but don't think I won't stand in the gap again.  It's my nature, and it's totally instinctive.

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I want to say thanks to all the "old guards" that have texted, emailed and called me over my posting on this thread

Anyone who has ever thrown darts need not ask about 'instinctive'. That's how it's done.

I just shoot where I'm looking.

I shoot instinctively, always have. The only ones who give me crap about it are gap shooters. I don't give them crap about how they shoot, it's kind of weird.

Your eyes are useless if your mind is blind ! Just live and let live .

Quote from: Maclean on August 27, 2023, 01:05:16 AM
I shoot instinctively, always have. The only ones who give me crap about it are gap shooters. I don't give them crap about how they shoot, it's kind of weird.

Shame on them then.  We shouldn't belittle anyone for how they choose to enjoy archery.
It's because they cannot so they cannot conceive that it can be done.  It's beyond their comprehension.

As usual, some have totally missed the point of this thread.
And I will add, many years ago I taught beginning archers how to shoot and I always tried to get them to shoot full instinctive.
If that didn't work, then gap.
If that still doesn't work, then site pin.
I really don't care how anyone shoots even if it's with wheels and or X bow.
My point of this is, don't talk bad about something you obviously don't understand.

For the record I'm in no way belittling people who gap shoot..... I am, however, belittling people that have no idea what instinctive shooting is and claim that it doesn't exist.

Mike Mecredy, I love ya bro, but we aren't going down that 'identify as' road here.

"Those people who write those articles have protractors in their pocket and schematics in their briefcase..... In other words they are basket weavers, and have no clue about instinctive anything.

In real life they would stay in camp with the women, aka betas."

So true!

Well said by all that know. 

Some people are totally ridiculous and psychotic.

Quote from: Md2bintn on August 28, 2023, 04:07:08 PM
To those who say that instinctive shooting isn't a thing, and we somehow use the arrow tip..... what if you wear bifocals and literally can't see the arrow tip that close up?

I have shot at a birthday candle in complete darkness, as well as had someone hold a piece of paper just under my eye so I couldn't see the arrow. If anything, I hit better that way. Their explanation also doesn't agree with why I have shot rabbits and coyotes on the run at 40 yards. No one could ever gap shoot a hard running animal when they only have a second to do so. I've shot this way for over 60 years and never thought about gap shooting. I have a lot of respect for anyone who can gap shoot and still hit game. It always seemed to me it would mess you up as soon as you switched to broadheads from field points. I don't see any difference when I do that, which seems to be another proof of true instinctive

Here a quote from Mr. G Fed Asbell's book and my thoughts

"Instinctive shooting is shooting a bow using only the abilities of eye, body coordination and instinctive memory.
Oversimplified, it is shooting an arrow where you are looking. It is looking at a target and shooting. The ability to look at something and shoot the arrow to that spot is using the principle of hand-eye coordination."

Just like playing baseball, basketball, football, soccer, lacrosse you never aim the ball and there are always someone or something in your peripheral vision but your focus on where you want the ball to go you pay attention to them and sometimes you get the ball batted in your face. Just like the arrow that hits the branch you didn't see because you were focusing on the deers vitals. That's my two cents.

Well thier is no gap shooting in throwing or shooting a baseball,basketball or football.You don't try and see the football,basketball or baseball when you throw or shoot it.When hitting a baseball your primary focus is on the ball.Not the bat.Some guys dont like those anolygies.

I always shot instinctive.Only way I have ever tried to shoot a bow.Even when I shot a compound in the 80s.I have always shot alot of arrows almost every day year round too stay sharp and be good at it.It has paid of in hairy moments while hunting more than once.I like it personally!

Shoot how you want to shoot a bow effectively whether its instinctive or otherwise.Some are just really good at instinctive shooting  believe it or not.Some wont take a shine to it.Its all good.

The arguments on this subject are never-ending (and often as amusing as they are absurd), but one way to factually view the 'it doesn't exist' topic is to look to the U.S. military and how they tend to view it. 

In a nutshell, there are two practical ways to employ your weapon in the field, point shooting and sight shooting.  One relies primarily on the sighting (aiming) with front and rear sighting devices, the other is less device-dependent and relies primarily on practiced feel (pointing).  One is for close-range-no-time-to-waste-or-you're-probably-going-to-die' situations, the other is more tempered and calculated for times where precision is the main need and priority.  Point vs. sight, the rapid practiced feel of pointing vs. the slower precision-based advantages of aiming.  Both are real.  Both work.  Both EXIST.  Each performs better under different circumstances.

Such it is with the instinctive (call it hunting) vs. aiming (call it target) archery venues.  They are both 'real' but are not the same thing and they shouldn't be viewed (or arbitrarily defended as the 'best') unless the situation dictates that one actually makes more sense than the other.  To do otherwise is just opinionated foo foo.

Maybe it's best we stop yelling at each other, recognize the facts, work with the realities and yes...get along.  Just a thought.