How do you bounce back?

[cody21peterson]

Phil just posted this great video. I ended last season on a bad note missing multiple shots. I’m curious to hear how you guys mentally bounce back after a bad shot whether it be a clean miss or wounding an animal.


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[5MilesBack]

Bounce back? I just try to make sure I don't make the same mistake again that caused the first miss. I've made two mistakes with bow shooting.......range estimation errors, and unseen twigs deflecting arrows. It's hard to fix that second one when I don't see them in the first place.

 

[Fatcamp]

A wounded deer in 2019 caused me some massive anxiety. Never loosed an arrow in 2020 over it.

Pretty sure I'm better now. Just needed some time.

 

[beachbunny]

i think when you can finally laugh about it, the bounce is complete!
(but you gotta learn from the screwup)
wounding is a tuff one though,that just takes time and realizing it truly does not go to waste, something ate it and survived another day

 

[5MilesBack]

Oh, I forgot......hmmmm I must be almost over it since I forgot about this one. In 2013 I had the biggest bull of my hunting life at 17 yards right in front of me. That was in the middle of those heavy monsoon rains we were having that year. Pouring rain and this bull is on the other side of an evergreen, destroying it in front of me in a dog hair aspen field. Every time I tried to get an angle on him, he'd stop......tilt his head......and that big brown eye was locked onto me. Then he'd go back to thrashing and I'd start moving again. He'd stop.......and we did that dance about 5 or 6 times before I decided to just wait him out. For a minute I stared at those long beams, 18+ inch 6th points with a hump in the middle, huge sword points rising well above him, and long ski tip fronts poking through the branches.

Finally, with arrow nocked and release locked onto my loop, the bull turns to my right and takes two steps clearing away from that evergreen and is very slightly quartering to me. I draw and look through my peep. All I see is tan fur.......that's it. My mind is screaming at me "with this rain, just don't gut shoot him"! So I move my sight forward until I see the tree his head and neck is behind and then move back just a bit and........release. He takes off quickly and then disappears out of sight.......rain still pouring. I'm thinking I hammered him, but also that the rain is going to wash any blood trail away. So I get on it quickly and can't find any blood trail. Are you kidding me? I hammered him.

All I've got to go off of is his hoof prints in the mud, which was alright given how deep they were in the mud and easy to follow. About 150 yards into the trail, I find my arrow laying alongside his path. No blood on the arrow, and a mangled BH on the front. Ughhhh.......pretty sure I hit the shoulder knuckle dead on. 2" to the left and he wouldn't have gone 50 yards. I found him with about a dozen cows a week later......that rack was embedded in my mind. Got within 75 yards of him and the cows but he stayed on the other side of them and I never did get another shot at him. That one stung......for awhile.

And then in 2016 I shot a bull in a very similar position slightly quartering to me at 30 yards, and actually missed the knuckle by about an inch and a half inside it......and that bull went down in 37 yards. That's the bull in my avatar. Still didn't make my previous screw-up any easier.

 

[Danny Hoey]

Two years in a row.....I haven't "bounced" back. They haunt me still.

 

[gelton]

How do you bounce back? Sell your bow and buy another.

At least for me, I didn't want to ever shoot that thing again after missing a nice one year before last.

 

[4rcgoat]

Only a fool trips on whats behind him..
...

 

[*zap*]

Find problem, fix and start anew.

 

[406unltd]

Bounce back? I just try to make sure I don't make the same mistake again that caused the first miss. I've made two mistakes with bow shooting.......range estimation errors, and unseen twigs deflecting arrows. It's hard to fix that second one when I don't see them in the first place.

I agree 100%. Every single instance I can recall was one of those two things. But even then I go totally off feel of the moment and that’s all I can do. If I know I can make the shot I take it. Second guessing wastes time we often don’t have. Make a decisions and stick with it. Sometimes it doesn’t work out because I made a bad range estimation, and the other times I was in heavy timber and clip a snag hanging down or whatever. All I know is I’ll go home empty if I don’t try. I’m still very aware of the animals that got away but I’m also certain I’d take the shot again. The main reason is because for yardage all I can do is guess anyhow if they move and I can’t range again. As for hitting branches, sometimes you see em sometimes you don’t. Especially in that moment and the obstacle is far enough away from you but between you and him. I look for these things but can’t catch them all.

step back and realize that you will get another shot and you will put yourself into position once again. You will pack another animal off the mountain. Those ones that sting are supposed to. If you give a shit enough those experiences make you better and help fix those deficiencies. Doesn’t mean you’ll completely get rid of any chance of making a mistake but you’ll have made a better adjustment than last time.

 

[fatlander]

Let it go. Laugh about it. Let your buddies give you a bunch of shit. Fix the problem.

You’re only as good as your next arrow. You can’t get the last one back.


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[Beendare]

Del

 

[bracer40]

I committed to doing everything in my control to never let it happen again!Next year killed my elk. Next year had one on my face at 7 steps, full draw, but jack pine between....had to let him walk. Next year killed again.
I continue to strive for constant improvement. I feel the animal deserves at least that much.

 

[Coveyleader]

It sucks, problem is I don't "miss". Clean misses have never been a luxury I've had to deal with. I've had two great seasons in a row, ending on two lowest of low notes. Sucks.

 

[Valkyrie]

Get back at it and take away a lesson.

there’s no archer in the world who hasn’t made a bad shot or missed. Your not special. We mess up. There are variables we cannot control and being a military aviator, I can tell you that we screw up even the best situations where we control much of the equation. Learn from it and move on. Yeah, you wounded an animal and did your best to track it but it wandered off to suffer and die. It’s not wasted. It will be recycled back into the ecosystem the same as if you processed it at home. Don’t let pride get into your head. This is the oldest game. There are no winners or losers. Just players.

 

[actiongeoff]

My first year bow hunting I didn't know how the shot angle would affect my arrow flight and had a large buck walk right up to my stand I missed and then hit too low (I somehow got two shot opportunities). I wasn't certain it was a good hit, but it was early in the season and warm so I was concerned if the deer expired the meat would spoil. There were also a load of coyotes in the area making all kinds of noise I didn't want to get my deer. So, I tracked him after 30 minutes instead of waiting a couple hours and trailed him for two hours before the trail vanished. There were multiple large pools of blood where the deer clearly laid down and with enough time may have expired, but I rushed the tracking and lost the deer. I was devastated because I blew the shot, got a second and didn't get a swift kill and then blew the blood trailing. That same year I shot a doe I didn't recover for similar reasons. I hunted three years without drawing my bow back because every shot opportunity "wasn't good enough" or "I didn't want to trail at night again and lose a deer". It's hard to bounce back when you know the mistakes you make can wound an animal or scar your pride.

TL;DR:
What worked for me was to visualize the hunting scenarios I would encounter from the setups I put together after the season ended. I'd get in the tree in March to set up, May and June to see how the growth is affecting my shooting lanes and prune where possible and in August to make sure I'm ready for opening day. While I was in the tree, I'd visualize scenarios and shot angles and what could go wrong etc. By the time I was in the tree during the season and had a deer in my sights, it felt like I had done it before.

Also, practice all year and from your stand if possible. Get comfortable with your shooting lanes and memorize the ranges based on objects that will be there in the Fall and Winter like trees, boulders and such. Getting familiar with your hunting areas will help a lot to build back confidence after a disappointing hunt.

 

[cody21peterson]

I just got back from an elk hunt. Yesterday morning I was walking through some quakes and I look over and see a spike staring at me. I guessed him to be about 40 yards. I didn’t want to range him cause I thought he would bust with all that movement so I just drew back slow and shot for 40. I barely grazed his belly. I found my arrow and ranged where he was standing and it was 56 yards from where I shot. I’m really regretting selling my Garmin xero at the end of last year. Another failed attempt on my 8 year bowhunting resume. Sometimes I feel like a horse chasing the carrot on a stick. I’m so close to success but I can’t quite catch it! Such is bowhunting. The excitement keeps me coming back but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to sell the bow and buy a rifle.


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[Foggy Mountain]

Fellas I always teach after form mastered archery is mainly mental. When you know you can do it you can. It oughta be an incredulous moment when you miss.
Last arrow was last arrow, last year, season, etc even more removed. If it has any bearing on your next shot is because you let it. Think about that. Any anxiety, excitement, worry can’t make the shot better. Think about target panic. Where’s that come from? Your head. Same thing here. It’s your brain causing issues. Just shoot like you always do and don’t even think about last shot, don’t let it affect this shot. If you need to talk yourself through the shot and concentrate on form so be it. It’ll help.
Stance, bow hand position, draw hand position, raise bow and predraw, draw, anchor, make sure your hand is flush, aiming, back tension, release in a rearward motion (back tension), keep aiming or figure to reaim but stay with shot until it hits target. Feel your string hand on your shoulder.
If your thinking bout execution your mind is too full to worry. Hope that gives you food for thought.

 

[Anglo-American]

Phil just posted this great video. I ended last season on a bad note missing multiple shots. I’m curious to hear how you guys mentally bounce back after a bad shot whether it be a clean miss or wounding an animal.


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There is only onwards.

 

[LongWayAround]

I feel like I came back to life Sunday after arrowing a smaller five point bull.

In 2019, I shot a large mule deer at twenty-some yards. He was feeding towards me and below me. I had been standing behind a rock thirty yards from his bed for three and a half hours waiting for him to move out of the sun. And when he did, I rushed the shot. I'm pretty sure he was closer than his bed and between that and the downhill angle, I hit back from where I aimed. He bedded in some aspens after the shot. Right before dark, I talked myself into going in there for the recovery but I pushed him and never saw him again. It was day eight of my hunt and I wanted to pack out my buck and go home. For months I did not feel like myself, my girlfriend even heard my heart thumping one night as I played it over in my mind.

Last year in 2020, I elk hunted something like sixteen days in September. After several close encounters with bulls I had gotten in front on a herd coming down a ridge to feed in the bottoms. The bull was in a little cut fifty-ish yards ahead of me as his cows passed me in the timber thirty yards downhill. He screamed at his challenger and I thought it was going to be perfect... But the bull didn't follow the cows, he came right at me never offering a chance to draw. At a distance of feet, I pulled back on him and he spooked, then stopped. I guessed him at fifty and heard the arrow impact. The next morning, I followed his blood a hundred yards or so, then tracks for another hundred, then nothing... He would easily have been my biggest bull.

Now, after remembering how to not suck, I'm itching to head back out for my deer and bear tags.