Talk to me about your archery training schedule

[diamond10x]

Something I haven’t seen mentioned

practice shooting in your gear such as wearing your binos and rangefinder, pack as well if that’s a possible scenario. Even your hunting clothes to be positive nothing is too bulky or restrictive. You have to practice how you play, just like anything else in life.

 

[gentleman4561]

Some things that haven't been mentioned:
Practice shooting your pin gaps a ton.
Practice guessing yardage as much as possible, especially on hills.
Practice making a vocalization while at full draw to stop the animal, then sending the arrow as fast as possible

Good ideas, haven’t thought of most of those.

 

[Wilderlife]

We're lucky in that we get to hunt as much as we want here, so we don't really have an off season as such. At any given time of the year there is stuff we are hunting and we are usually shooting our bows consistently all year. In the warmer months when the days are longer we might shoot a little more frequently, but for the most part I'm always in decent shape (at least with the compound) and can pick it up and go out hunting and feel confident.

 

[fatbacks]

Thanks for all these awesome tips.

Any suggestions for training indoors in the winter? Up here in Alaska I have a while where it's only practical to shoot in my house. I can get out to about 15 yds. I've seen the blank bale drills. Any other good drills?

 

[doc holiday13]

7 eggs? Holy full belly! Excellent archery routine

Gotta have a full belly ofyou skip lunch to sit in youroffice doing mental reps and arm motions

 

[DuckDogDr]

Tagging in as well

 

[Szwampdonkey]

Training schedule???? I punish my target 10 times a year at best at 30 yards then shoot at animals around 15-25 yards, never further. This system has put game in my freezer for 3+ decades now though i did miss one last about 10 years ago or so. I do miss on average about once a decade. As long as you’re proficient at the distance you’ll shoot game you’re good. The biggest thing is staying strict on your self imposed range on animals. Fwiw, someone who says they’ve never missed with a bow just hasn’t bow hunted long enough.

 

[Szwampdonkey]

I am now adhering to the "if I am shooting good I shoot as little as possible" routine. In college and years ago I would easily shoot 75-100 arrows a day most days...and planned on it. I shot absolutely lights out. I stuck to that routine as much as possible but obviously time becomes a constraint. kids, job, house, all above including hunting any free time I get in the fall my "practice" has dropped off. The last 4-5 years I shoot when I can sometimes ZERO times in a week. I don't pickup my bow after season until spring/early summer. I'll shoot 2-10 arrows and call it good. So far this year I have less than 100 shots through my bow since I killed a buck mid Dec. 2023. Shooting lights out to 70yards. Killed an elk a few weeks ago at 40yds and moose at 28ish yards. Hit where I was aiming.

No need to overthink imo or overshoot

There is some credence to this approach actually as you only get one single shot in the field. So you need to focus on making that one single shot as close to perfect as possible.

I have a friend who goes out and takes just a single shot and puts his bow away. He does it 2-3 times a week, sometimes a little more or less. He’s a good archer too.