Realistic mental training?

[wesfromky]

Some great advice here, I will try to add to it as well. It sounds like you have two things going on - one is lack of opportunities for shooting at bucks, and two is closing the deal on the ones you do get.

There is a ton of material out there on how to improve the first - hunting public youtube might be a place to start. For the other, buck fever is a real thing for a lot of people, myself included. And not just bucks - I used to start shaking around does even. First buck I shot with a gun, I had the shakes for a solid 10 minutes after. And a couple years ago, I had to come off the scope while getting ready to shoot a doe to take a few deep breaths and relax, as I was shaking too much to shoot. It was better this year, so I still think trying to kill more animals, even squirrels and does would be helpful. It seems to have helped me - no real shakes this year.

The other thing I would recommend is to get one of those big ass 3D buck targets with the huge rack and shoot it from elevated positions. The body position from a stand can be tricky sometimes. Gotta bend at the hips, not drop the arms.

 

[Billy Goat]

IDK why a person wants to shoot stressed. I never feel mentally stressed while hunting and even during close encounters with screaming bulls I’ve never felt overwhelmed. I always go in thinking I’m going to kill them am hyper focused on putting myself in the right place and doing the correct things to make that happen. Normally I’m so focused on the actually things leading up to the shot that the shots just come easy.

I’ve never taken a shot while totally rattled at an elk. I’ve done it a couple times on deer though and on an antelope. I get more rattled sitting a stand and watching them come in for a long time than actually hunting them. Even then I just focus on the shot and have had great success.

I haven't had but 1 time that I was able to get rattled shooting at an elk. Herd bull was around me for an hour and half. He was pretty big too.



Deer, well I usually know they are there and it builds before I even get a shot.

I'll agree that you don't want to shoot stressed, but it happens. Knowing how to do it only helps.


I'm not big on the physical exertion before a shot, that doesn't help me. It's the mental, or as I like to call it, monkey in my head beating cymbals that gets me.
Just need to build mental stress in your shooting.

Find a way to beat your personal best. Only way I replicate it. I put a lot of pressure on myself tho.

I think the op just needs to get over the mountain he has set for himself.

Once he does that, things will fall in line.

 

[Jpsmith1]

IDK why a person wants to shoot stressed. I never feel mentally stressed while hunting and even during close encounters with screaming bulls I’ve never felt overwhelmed. I always go in thinking I’m going to kill them am hyper focused on putting myself in the right place and doing the correct things to make that happen. Normally I’m so focused on the actually things leading up to the shot that the shots just come easy.

I have so many things that I want to say, but I'll limit them to "Good for you. Your comment isn't helpful. Have a nice day"

Some great advice here, I will try to add to it as well. It sounds like you have two things going on - one is lack of opportunities for shooting at bucks, and two is closing the deal on the ones you do get.

There is a ton of material out there on how to improve the first - hunting public youtube might be a place to start. For the other, buck fever is a real thing for a lot of people, myself included. And not just bucks - I used to start shaking around does even. First buck I shot with a gun, I had the shakes for a solid 10 minutes after. And a couple years ago, I had to come off the scope while getting ready to shoot a doe to take a few deep breaths and relax, as I was shaking too much to shoot. It was better this year, so I still think trying to kill more animals, even squirrels and does would be helpful. It seems to have helped me - no real shakes this year.

The other thing I would recommend is to get one of those big ass 3D buck targets with the huge rack and shoot it from elevated positions. The body position from a stand can be tricky sometimes. Gotta bend at the hips, not drop the arms.

I had more bucks in front of me this year than ever before. More bucks than does in fact. Only 2 were legal bucks and only the one presented a viable shot opportunity. Had a bunch of forked Horns and a few little spikes wander by and one little forkie decided he wanted to hang out and bedded about 30 yards behind me.

Compared with over 20 years of not seeing a buck, this past season was a smashing success in that respect. I'm not exactly upset about the opportunities.

Also, I took my first deer from the ground with a bow. It was a 30 yard shot on a button buck. Watched it come in from 85 yards when it cleared the woods, ranged it several times as it fed down the side of a clearing. As it fed across within range, I made my draw as it had its head down and broke the shot.

It's hunting. It's not supposed to be easy. If it weren't heart-pounding, leg shaking thrilling, then it wouldn't be as enjoyable I don't think.

I'm just so hung up on antlers. I know why and I know it's a mental problem for me

 

[10ringer]

The adrenaline rush and the feeling of teetering on the edge of loosing your “crap” is why we all love hunting with bows! Your experiences and emotions are normal.

You clearly love hunting and have a passion for antlered deer. Others on here have given lots of good advice that will help you work towards success.

High pressure shooting has its place but this is after lots of reps to build your confidence. This is where you have to be honest with the amount of arrows you put down range and the type of archery training you do.

You’ve heard the term “perfect practice makes perfect.” This is what you need. You need to build a foundation of confidence in your shooting so when high pressure hunting situations arrive, you fall back on your fundamentals. You need to know your shot will be great and now all your focus is on the animal in front of you. You are in control and now your only job is making the decision of when and where you want your arrow to land.


Try 5 arrows a day Mon-Fri. For a month. Start close 20-25 yards. You want tight groups every time. This is similar to free throw drills in basketball. It’s tempting to go further, but that’s not the point, your point is to drill perfection at shorter distances. You could also do blank bail shooting for this process. The important thing to do is shoot low volume frequently to burn perfect release repetition into your muscle memory. Remember, perfect practice makes perfect. Start today!

1)Find a a good archery training program and put in honest effort

2)Read the book “Zen in the art of archery “

3) Take Joel Turners shot IQ course.

SHOT IQ | Solve Target Panic

Learn the science and application of target panic & Become a More Accurate Shooter.

www.shotiq.com

 

[nphunter]

I have so many things that I want to say, but I'll limit them to "Good for you. Your comment isn't helpful. Have a nice day"

I’m not trying to be a jerk. It’s just that I see all this train to hunt run and gun stuff and IMO it isn’t realistic to actually hunting. Nobody is chasing down deer and elk to get a shot off.

I’ve always been focusing so much on the actual hunt or stalk that come time to shoot my mind doesn’t get hung up on trying to make a good shot. I have had huge adrenaline dumps after an intense encounter but during the encounter I’m so focused on getting into shot position that I’m not getting wound up. Maybe it’s because I know only 10% or less of my encounters lead to an actual shot that just go in figuring I’m most likely not sending an arrow anyway.


If you have an issue with antlers then maybe find something else to focus on. Personally i think it just comes down to experience in those situations. Have a process you follow every time you take a shot to take your mind off of the animal and focus on the shot. Maybe loud self talk, I know when I start having target panic I can normally get back into a good shot routine by talking myself through the shot process. Sometimes I even talk out-loud if I find myself getting into a rut.

Having confidence is a major thing that most consistently successful hunters have in common. Shoot enough that you know that animal is dead if it crosses your path. If your not confident in your shot then it’s going to make you worry about the shot more and messing it up during the moment of truth.

I shoot my bow almost daily year round and come season I am 100% confident if an animal gets within 60 yards of me he is dead. Sure I’ve missed and put one in the shoulder before but it wasn’t due to lack of ability but poor focus. I’ve also made some good follow up shots after telling myself to focus on the shot and follow through. Most of my poor shots have been at close range, they were from not taking them serious because they seem like a chip shot and I don’t have the same level of focus as I would on a longer shot.

Your original post is asking for ways to incorporate mental stress into the shot. IMO you should be looking for ways to mitigate your stress in the first place. What makes you stressed, why is it such a big deal to not make the shot, why do you feel like you’re going to mess up? Address those things, I personally work a stress filled job and go to the woods each fall to get rid of stress.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Here is an easy way to introduce distraction, or mental “noise”. Go out where you can walk and shoot. Take a Rhinehart 18-1 target or something you can throw.

Toss it out there to an unknown distance.

Stand on one leg while you range it, draw, and execute a perfect shot sequence.

Don’t give yourself ANY outs. No good enough BS. You hit or you didn’t, and if you didn’t WHY NOT.

Break it down and figure out what went wrong. Wash, rinse, repeat.

When you can repeatedly do this at intermediate ranges (10-20 yds) stretch it out and now shoot on both legs but work in a timed shot. Make sure you are hitting all of the points in your shot sequence, and again hold yourself to perfection.

 

[Jpsmith1]

Here is an easy way to introduce distraction, or mental “noise”. Go out where you can walk and shoot. Take a Rhinehart 18-1 target or something you can throw.

Toss it out there to an unknown distance.

Stand on one leg while you range it, draw, and execute a perfect shot sequence.

Don’t give yourself ANY outs. No good enough BS. You hit or you didn’t, and if you didn’t WHY NOT.

Break it down and figure out what went wrong. Wash, rinse, repeat.

When you can repeatedly do this at intermediate ranges (10-20 yds) stretch it out and now shoot on both legs but work in a timed shot. Make sure you are hitting all of the points in your shot sequence, and again hold yourself to perfection.

This is an actionable plan. Thank you.

 

[Jason Snyder]

This is an actionable plan. Thank you.

You’re welcome.

You are building a series of motor programs and you must be a stickler on perfection. This will show the holes in your pre shot and shot sequence and you will need to go back and address those.

 

[Beendare]

@Jason Snyder 's timed shot thing is important on game IMO.

I shoot 3D with guys that take forever to shoot. I think thats training to fail. They fidget around getting their anchor right...or take forever to aim and shoot...sometimes even letting down.

Typically animals give us a short window for the shot- we have to train to be ready to execute that shot quickly.

Thankfully for me- grin....Most times we don't have to be pinpoint accurate...decent accuracy is enough.

 

[Marble]

I'm not sure. I've been shooting pretty regularly since I got back into archery in 2010. I've improved, but I've definitely 'plateaued' the past couple years.

I'm a solid 270-275 on a 3D course maybe a 260ish if I'm carrying a heavy ruck (40-60#) which I'll do a few times a year.

Thing is, competition, while it's fun, isn't what matters, right? What matters is when that animal is in front of me, and THAT is where the wheels fall off and I fall apart. If I miss foam or miss an X, there's another arrow, another end, another shoot next week, next month or whatever. I think that's why I don't care about competition. I don't, or maybe I won't bet money to raise the mental stakes because I know everyone else is better than I am, so I'll just lose.

I *MAYBE* get one opportunity at a buck every year with a bow and I have yet to connect in any real way. I've missed clean, I've clipped hair, I've made brisket shots that earned me a fat smeared arrow and a broken heart and I've made decent, killing shots that I failed to recover due to poor fieldcraft.

What I'm trying to find or to figure out is a way to induce a level of stress similar to that of a deer coming into the red zone so that I can practice mentally coping with that stress and be better at making that shot when it does happen

Your answer may be branching out your hunting into other animals. Whatever you can hunt with your bow, do it. Turkeys and predators seem to be something fairly difficult to do. Rabbits are fun. You can shoot at squirls.

The experience you need should mimic as close as possible what you are trying to perfect. You may not be excited to shoot a rabbit, but if you have the mind set is a deer, it may push the right direction.

It's not what you are capable of doing. It's what you are willing to do. Few people tap into their true potential.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[ddowning]

I personally had a lot of problems closing the deal until I started filling piles of antlerless tags. I understand that isn't an option for everyone. I was also pretty young, in my low to middle teens.

Shooting a bow well under pressure is only half the battle, or maybe less. You have to read the animals body language, pick the opportune time to draw to not get caught and not have to hold forever, have the animal present a shot, interpret the body position correctly, choose an aiming point correctly based on that body position, and execute the shot.

After the shot, you need to watch for the animals reaction, watch for the arrow hit, know where the animal was standing, know where they went, and know where you last saw them.

That creates a significantly longer, more complex process to create success than just shooting a bow. Also, the process is fluid with the next decision dependent on the reaction to the last action. It is a flow chart, not a 12 step process.

If you want to get good at killing animals with a bow and recovering them, you have to practice killing and recovering with a bow. Antler only changes the criteria for deciding if it is shoot or watch situation. Once the decision is made, the process it identical.

People trying to turn it into a 12 step shot process are trying to oversimplify it. Some people just have good instincts and can react. Those same people get better with experience and become very good, or they just never try to get better because their performance is "good enough."

My old hunting partner had the same issues as you for a long time. Once he started killing deer, he was good at it. When I got him into predator calling the issues came back. The process had to happen faster and was a lot more chaotic. He never really worked it out at that pace before we stopped hunting together.

If you want to be a good bowhunter, you have to break down the process into steps (shooting in your yard), but you also have to scrimmage, (hunt and kill things that aren't antlered deer in sufficient number to get truly good at it), and you have to show up for game day ready to win. Sometimes you will lose. If the losses make you go harder, you will begin to win a lot.

You are at a crossroads. You are not satisfied with your current performance. You are asking for advice. Don't wait until you feel like you have been given the magic bullet. If you want to succeed, take the advice you think will work and take action. Some things will work, others won't. You need to practice aggressive patience. You need to take action like you want results tomorrow, and realize that even with that level of action, it will take some time to reach the desired result.

To be honest, at this point in my life with kids, work, business, and other hobbies, I could not give the dedication to bowhunting required to develop the skills I did in my late teens and early 20's. Sometimes with hobbies, it is important to place the correct priorities and expectations on them so they continue to be fun and not disappointing and frustrating. I love to call coyotes, but live in a low density area. I don't want to take from other areas of life to scout like I did when I was young. The numbers I put up every winter are about 10% of 15 years ago, but it is still fun when I get the chance to go play.

Hopefully this is helpful in determining a direction and line of thinking to help you resolve the situation for yourself.

 

[Jpsmith1]

I personally had a lot of problems closing the deal until I started filling piles of antlerless tags. I understand that isn't an option for everyone. I was also pretty young, in my low to middle teens.

Shooting a bow well under pressure is only half the battle, or maybe less. You have to read the animals body language, pick the opportune time to draw to not get caught and not have to hold forever, have the animal present a shot, interpret the body position correctly, choose an aiming point correctly based on that body position, and execute the shot.

After the shot, you need to watch for the animals reaction, watch for the arrow hit, know where the animal was standing, know where they went, and know where you last saw them.

That creates a significantly longer, more complex process to create success than just shooting a bow. Also, the process is fluid with the next decision dependent on the reaction to the last action. It is a flow chart, not a 12 step process.

If you want to get good at killing animals with a bow and recovering them, you have to practice killing and recovering with a bow. Antler only changes the criteria for deciding if it is shoot or watch situation. Once the decision is made, the process it identical.

People trying to turn it into a 12 step shot process are trying to oversimplify it. Some people just have good instincts and can react. Those same people get better with experience and become very good, or they just never try to get better because their performance is "good enough."

My old hunting partner had the same issues as you for a long time. Once he started killing deer, he was good at it. When I got him into predator calling the issues came back. The process had to happen faster and was a lot more chaotic. He never really worked it out at that pace before we stopped hunting together.

If you want to be a good bowhunter, you have to break down the process into steps (shooting in your yard), but you also have to scrimmage, (hunt and kill things that aren't antlered deer in sufficient number to get truly good at it), and you have to show up for game day ready to win. Sometimes you will lose. If the losses make you go harder, you will begin to win a lot.

You are at a crossroads. You are not satisfied with your current performance. You are asking for advice. Don't wait until you feel like you have been given the magic bullet. If you want to succeed, take the advice you think will work and take action. Some things will work, others won't. You need to practice aggressive patience. You need to take action like you want results tomorrow, and realize that even with that level of action, it will take some time to reach the desired result.

To be honest, at this point in my life with kids, work, business, and other hobbies, I could not give the dedication to bowhunting required to develop the skills I did in my late teens and early 20's. Sometimes with hobbies, it is important to place the correct priorities and expectations on them so they continue to be fun and not disappointing and frustrating. I love to call coyotes, but live in a low density area. I don't want to take from other areas of life to scout like I did when I was young. The numbers I put up every winter are about 10% of 15 years ago, but it is still fun when I get the chance to go play.

Hopefully this is helpful in determining a direction and line of thinking to help you resolve the situation for yourself.

I'm already taking steps to implement the advice I've been given in this thread.

I definitely feel the time thing. I laid my bow down around the time I got married because kids came soon after and, well, kids and wives and homes and being a young husband and a young tradesman building a skill set are all time consuming things that I was doing all at the same time. I hunted. A little. With a rifle. My success showed that lack of dedication. I understand that.

Now, my children are adults, my career is well established, my skills are solid and are being passed down and my wife doesn't like me all that much (joking) and I have the time and some spare money to dedicate to what I want to do and that's hunt.


I've never been afraid to work my ass off to get what I want and to get where I want to be. This is a little different because it's a physical skill (shooting the bow) blended with the mental aspect, and I'm very much having a difficult time putting the two together.

 

[Beendare]

I'm already taking steps to implement the advice I've been given in this thread.

I definitely feel the time thing. I laid my bow down around the time I got married because kids came soon after and, well, kids and wives and homes and being a young husband and a young tradesman building a skill set are all time consuming things that I was doing all at the same time. I hunted. A little. With a rifle. My success showed that lack of dedication. I understand that.

Now, my children are adults, my career is well established, my skills are solid and are being passed down and my wife doesn't like me all that much (joking) and I have the time and some spare money to dedicate to what I want to do and that's hunt.


I've never been afraid to work my ass off to get what I want and to get where I want to be. This is a little different because it's a physical skill (shooting the bow) blended with the mental aspect, and I'm very much having a difficult time putting the two together.

You are a worker and realize nuthin’s free…you will be fine