Making the shot

[jtwalsh62]

Who worries about making the shot. I hunt alot  and it always the same. lots of hours practicing planning just getting ready for the one shot.
Now here we are, money put out many hours training ,planning.reading everything we can ,just for that one chance to close the deal. I know everyone misses but how do we train for that ONE SHOT

[Jake Diebolt]

Do your best to clear your mind of expectations.

Last year I shot at a deer, and I had buck fever bad. I missed badly because of it. This year I had a shot at a caribou. I went into that shot with no expectations of either killing, wounding or missing the animal. THe only thing I thought about was the shot itself - if you can call it 'thinking'. That calmed me down quite a bit. I'm a natural worrier so this is difficult for me.

Anyway, the caribou moved before the arrow got there anyway, and I missed, but the shot itself was one of the best I ever made, and I felt very good about it afterward. There was nothing else I could have personally done to make the shot better, and my shakes were to a minimum. I really think the best thing to do is to not think of what happens after the arrow is away. Mentally, try and make it as much like a 'normal' shot as possible.

I'm not the most experienced hunter out there but I think this has worked well for me.

[MikeP in WV]

Once I decide that I'm gonna take the shot I stop looking at the deer's face and head altogether. I make a conscious decision to find a spot on his/her kill zone and wait for the opportune time.  I've found that if you keep looking at their head or face it makes the buckfever and anxiety worse and harder to focus on the spot you need to hit.

[Terry Green]

You can't make a shot.... by trying not to miss.

You can't make a shot.....by worrying you are going to miss.

You can't make a shot.....by thinking your are going to miss.

Read that again.

[oldgrouch]

That says it all Terry.

Great first name btw.

[OBXarcher]

Terry speaks the gospel. You gotta believe it's gonna hit where you are looking.

[NBK]

An honest assessment of your effective range takes away any fears of a miss.  By "effective range" I'm talking the distance at which even your shanks, collapses, brain farts, whatever are still in the kill zone.  Example:  I THINK that at 30 yards if I make a good shot, I'll make a good hit.  BUT, that's not my effective range.  An animal gets to within 20 yards, my effective range on deer sized game, I KNOW I will make the shot because in the backyard even the bad shots are still within a whitetails kill zone.
Doesn't mean I've never missed, heck that's part of hunting, but I don't sweat making the shot at under 20.

[TSP]

"I know everyone misses but how do we train for that ONE SHOT"

One way is to be familiar with the basics of good form, which are not complicated.  The next way is to use an uncomplicated shooting style.  That doesn't mean to practice undisciplined shooting.  It means keeping your approach as simple as you can while staying within basic form.  

Hunting and target shooting are quite different with regard to their goals.  For the latter the goal is precision shooting for competitive entertainment, usually under controlled conditions.  A fussy, methodical approach can work well.  When hunting you are trying to humanely take the life of an animal that you highly respect, yet feel an instinctive urge to successfully kill and consume, all under unforeseen and ever-changing circumstances of distance, weather, shot angle and readiness.  Not the same thing at all.  

The predatory rushes and pressures of a hunting situation, and even that tiny lurking instant of subconcious regret, are easier to control and perform effectively if there is no mechanical assistance or 'calculating' needed to direct the arrow to it's purpose.  And I might add, it makes success much sweeter/more rewarding.