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.

 

[Zak406]

I shoot 2 times a week starting in April. I shoot one tac event, 1 benefit event, and 3-4 local events throughout summer.

This has always worked for me. I go and shoot for .5-1 hour at varying distances.

60, 50, 40, 30, 20. Then. 20, 30, 40, 50 , 60 again.

3-4 arrows each.

I find anymore than that I get sloppy from holding back.

 

[The Fat Coyote]

I do an hour before work, hit the range, bring my block target to the practice range. My block target has duct tape on it that makes a +, I start at 20, when I hit dead center i walk back to 30, hit center, walk back, all the way to 90 yards. at 90 I start to get a little worried im gonna miss the block entirely, but if I can hit it and not bust up my arrows, i will walk it back to 100. I do this to make sure my sight marks are dead on the horizontal tape line and to make sure my left and rights are even on the vertical tape line. I only adjust my sight left and right at 30 yards and under, adjust the arrow rest at 60+ to keep the left and rights.

 

[aMurderOfCrows]

I don’t think anything helps form and shooting consistency more than indoor leagues.

Than 3D in the summer.

Shoot your bow at least every other day even if it’s just back yard or blank bale somewhere at home. Just a few solid shots focusing on form and release. You’ll be dialed in.

 

[nphunter]

The last arrow that left my bow was the one that killed my bull in Sept. Once hunting season gets here I'm pretty busy from Aug - Nov and then after that is the Holidays so I don't get much shooting in. I shoot a lot once spring gets here and it's nice out and I try to shoot a few times a week throughout the summer. Most of my shooting is at 80 or 100 yards, making the close shots easy. The only time I shoot up close is to verify pins.

I try to make it to a couple 3D shoots during the summer and enjoy them. I don't think there is anything that a person can do to simulate hunting or at least killing an animal, that just takes killing. Killing is much different putting an arrow in a target, hunting shooting a moving animal, knowing when to draw, when to shoot and how to keep your composure just comes with experience.

A lot of times while out hunting I will draw back on a small buck or bull that I call in just for the practice, doing so has helped my confidence quite a bit, I normally draw back on 4 or 5 bulls each fall while holding out for a big bull. I feel like it's kind of like a dry fire drill with a rifle, it has taught me when to draw and when to hold still. Drawing on smaller animals has cost me a big bull once or twice over the years because I've ended up shooting a smaller bull than I wanted, they all look pretty big at under 10 yards.

 

[Nick Muche]

I used to shoot a lot, this past year (Jan 1 - 31 Dec) I shot 16 total arrows, 6 were practice, 10 were into the lungs of big game.