As I have decided up to shot n. 400 I will only be doing instinctive shooting at 20m the posts will be more about the lessons learnt in pursuing this instinctive shooting, keeping in mind the interim goals:
- 100% hits of 8” radius target at 20m – This would mean I might actually also hit the overall goal of 40% hits on the 4” target (after 1000 shots) – keep in mind a 4” circle inside an 8” circle occupies 25% of the area. So a 100% hits on the 8” target would mean approximately 25% hits on the smaller inner circle. So still a ways to go to achieve the 40% hits on the 4” target.
- Interim goal option 2 – 80-90% hits on 8” target 20m – This would then mean going after either 80% hits at a 6” target, or, going back up to 50m and see where I am with the main objective of 70% hits at that distance. I am undecided as of now if I get this which option to go for. I am probably leaning towards going for the 80% hits at 6”.
Currently on a set of 6 I can do pretty much 100% on target if I just instinctively shoot, however, accuracy is limited to the full box, which is probably close to 18”.
I did experiment with a bit of a hybrid aiming/instinctive way of shooting, but it doesn’t rely on using the riser as any kind of aiming mechanism, rather changing my posture so that the bow is just that much more vertical (I shoot vertical either way but this way it is a few degrees closer to, or actually fully vertical instead of a slight can’t to the right to keep the arrow in place on the shelf. In this respect I can then get about 4/6 within 8” which is getting close to 70% accuracy for 8”, so I know it’s doable to get to option 2 above.
Lessons learnt:
- Shooting with the glove is really sort of necessary. After about two shots without, the “burn” on the fingertips is real enough to make me screw up the next shot. BUT… I do also believe it is more accurate to fire without a glove. It might not be a HUGE difference but it is perceptible. If I were ever to hunt with a bow, considering your first shot should pretty much be your only shot, I would likely not use a glove.
- I need to be more consistent with how I do my instinctive shooting. Eventually, instinctive shooting will mean you can be decent from any firing position, but it’s good to get a solid baseline before trying to alter it.
- The blend of more formal position/aimed shot, the bowstring more or less dissecting my right eye’s field of vision, combined with more consistent welding of my drawing hand to somewhere on my face, definitely improves accuracy overall, even though there is no actual aiming mechanism or sight as such.
The wife continues to enjoy her shooting too, which is nice.
This post was originally published on my Substack. Link here
