HH bug got me ... Part One!

[David Yukon]

Good shooting!

[Brianlocal3]

Great job!!!

[Rossco7002]

Nice! I'm out for my last whitetail hunt of the season tomorrow and we've just had another foot of snow - hopefully I'll have some luck too!

[Brianlocal3]

Well I got home from KY to find a 60" box on the table. Funny thing is I'm expecting a 68" Jerry Hill. So I think,"maye it was a takedown and te seller just didn't say so" I open the box and inside awaits me......... A 58" RECURVE.!?!?!? I contacted the seller and they said they still have the JHill there so off to the PO tomorow to mail them the Recurve and I shall wait again for the jHill  :(

[Rick Butler]

Nicely done Eric!  

[canopyboy]

My new blind is full of deer prints this morning. My wife has been saying the deer are mocking me. I'm starting to believe her.

 

[khardrunner]

Im hopin to go out in the snow tomorrow. Hopefully ill be able to see where they are traveling

[David Mitchell]

Brianlocal3, to paraphrase our buddy Mudd--"How UNcool is that?  Way I'm saying."

[Brianlocal3]

David you are so right!! I'm off to the PO in an hour to ship

[Rossco7002]

Brr... Heeded out in an hour or so and the thermometer says -13C (8F).  No danger of dozing off in my ground blind then, maybe Granpa and I will see some end of season luck....

[Rossco7002]

Sorry to hear about your bow mix up Brian.

[nineworlds9]

Ok so I've been shooting Hill style bows for a little over a month now.  In love with my Old Tom, briefly owned a Big5 and sold it back to original owner, and now have a Redman also to shoot along with the Old Tom.  

I posted about my experience switching over to a deer 3d target from only shooting at my bag, that was an ENLIGHTENING experience to say the least.  

Since I got back into trad I've become a full blown Toxophile and I have built myself a respectable little bow collection.  The Hill bug is the latest thing and I've been trying to dedicate myself to learning the bow style.

I tried my first "stump shooting" session or 'faux' stump shooting session yesterday on the property where I live, which involved kicking around a 10" foam ball that I spray painted bright red for visibility.  I spent over 3 hours kicking it all over the place and having it land uphill, downhill, flat ground and then shooting at it wherever it landed.  After pacing them out later, most of my shots ended up being 20-25 yds, and some 30 yds or so, which I'm finding seems like a pretty comfortable distance.  Here are pics of a couple of my best attempts...I would kick the ball, then where ever it landed loose a bunch of arrows at it...walk up, pull arrows, kick the ball again somewhere different and a different distance and repeat.

   

 

 

Let me just say, I really find shooting the Hill bows to be challenging, which is good, but it definitely is way different than shooting one of my bows that's got a locator style or recurve style grip and closer to centershot.  By the end of the day I was starting to get the grip adjusted in way that seemed to yield repeatable results and that pic of the 30ish yard shots was a result of that, that arrow that's in the ball was the first shot.  That shot was beautiful...everything worked, it was a 100% instinctive shot that somehow I just got right..crappy thing is I tried repeating it with the subsequent arrows and it wasn't easy, they all just skimmed over the top of the ball and around it nicking it.  Heeling the grip like everyone says seems key.  I ended up having the grip wedged real good in the crook of my thumb and the rear portion of my hand lower than my fingers up front, my thumb oriented quite a bit lower than my index/ring finger.  That seemed to yield the most accurate targeting.  Also, shooting these bows, they really DO like split finger.  I like to shoot 3under and it always works well for me on my close to centershot/ r/d/locator type longbows but let me tell you, on the Old Tom and Redman I experimented and they LOVE split finger, I just was soo much more accurate using that style with them.

I discovered pure instinctive a few months ago by trial and error and it is not easy to learn, my post on using the 3D deer target illustrated that.  I had the idea for the red foam ball as a good object to REALLY focus on, seemed to work and was a definite improvement over my bag target as far as teaching focus.  

One crazy thing I discovered shooting yesterday was that I ended up shooting BETTER if I quickened up my shot rhythm..I'm not talking 'snap shooting' per se, but more like just really trying to be fluid and fast nocking, half drawing, aiming and loosing.  Seems like it prevented my mind from getting distracted or something, I just tried to zero on the ball, nock, zero on the ball, half draw, full draw BAM!  Howard talked about the faster rhythm H.the Hway, I guess he knew what he was talking about         Crazy.  

The fact that I could get the arrows all very close to the ball, often skimming it just barely if not hitting it was confidence inspiring, I figure on a larger target area it would equal a decent hit.  Just gotta practice practice practice!!

[Rossco7002]

Nice shooting! For what it's worth I find there is a lot of talk about how to grip a Hill bow but when I switched over I just got an idea for the basics by looking at some pictures online and then shot the things like crazy without thinking to much about it - things just settled in to where they wanna be naturally after that.

.... Must be nice to still have green grass visible in your yard. If I was shooting in mine right now I'd be loosing arrows under 3 feet of snow.... Lol ;-)

[nineworlds9]

Yeah, winter weather in NW FL is whacko.  We've had muggy warm days before cold fronts, followed by rain, then bitter cold.  No snow of course, so yeah, things stay green.  Yesterday was in the 50's all day.  

Yeah, I've been studying pics of Howard and others and it certainly helps.  After yesterdays session I'm getting a good feel for what works.  I feel like I'm making progress, but the competitive spirit inside me wants ALL the arrows to hit the ball, I mean it's respectable that I can get them all at least skimming the ball or near a 10" ball like that at those distances right?  LOL.  I'm really the only trad hunting guy I know in my area and it's hard being your own coach all the time, I can't wait to make it to one of the upcoming FL shoots cause I just need somebody there for a change to let me know when I'm doing it wrong, or right, haha.  I'm confident in my progress and abilities for the most part, but there were a few moments yesterday where I was a little frustrated, wondering about all the fellas out there who could probably stack em in that ball target at those distances...but hey, they've probably been at it WAAAY longer so I just gotta keep the faith and keep practicing like a fiend, haha.

[Mudd]

nineworlds9 ~ I have a suggestion/thought.

Shooting at the ball could be compared to shooting at the "deer".

I know if I shoot at the "deer" and miss, it'd be a total miss whereas if I shoot at a hair on the "deer", I might miss the hair I wanted to hit but still take the "deer".

Maybe a spot of the ball would yield tighter groups and more hits.

Just a suggestion....

God bless,Mudd

[nineworlds9]

Thanks Mudd, I will try that tomorrow.  Will try focusing on one of the white marks on the ball or maybe even spray painting a dot of another bright color on the ball to work on that point.

[Brianlocal3]

Mudd makes a great point. I shoot at a foam /rubber soccer ball and the black squares forces my attention to a smaller spot. GREAT job shooting though!!! It is really fun to just have some releax shooting.

Swamp thing has some pretty strong opinions on the "proper" way to shoot these straight sticks and although we don't see eye to eye on everything he does have some REALLY good points and making it simple is one of them.

[Rossco7002]

Spot on the ball is a great idea! I shoot at old coffee cups when I'm at the cottage. If I aim at the writing on the cup - BAMO! If I aim at the cup as a whole I will miss slightly high quite a bit.

[Mudd]

I sure don't make these shots all the time but they do make me concentrate more.




God bless,Mudd

[SportHunter]

What type/brand of bow is that Mudd?