Missing

[Deertick]

For those who have not read my pronghorn report, let me say that I spent some time missing easy shots this weekend.

I\'m putting this on the \"Elk\" page, though, because it could influence my elk season, and -- let\'s face it -- there\'s more traffic here. I\'m needing to post this just to \"get rid of it\".

Missing is a part of hunting -- just not a very big part for me. I\'m NOT a great shot, but I am a good shot and I generally am very picky about my shots, waiting for the \"green light\" to go off when everything is perfect.

I did talk to Cnelk, and he asked if it was target panic, or maybe canting the bow in the blind. I spent quite a bit of time yesterday afternoon thinking of other explanations ... maybe I\'m not a good shot, or maybe my gear isn\'t dialed-in like it should be. Maybe there\'s something loose on my sight, or my D-loop. Blah, blah, blah.

I couldn\'t come up with any explanation that really felt right.

In the end, I just missed. Simple as that.

Then, last night, I thought, for some reason about football analogies. I thought of old Peyton Manning and his last superbowl performance. Doesn\'t mean he\'s not a good QB. Heck, I\'m from Nebraska ... and Nebraska football is known for peeing down their legs ... but, more often than not, they do actually get the job done. The thing is, if there\'s still time on the clock, it doesn\'t really matter what happened, it matters what is going to happen.

So ... I\'m putting it down here so that I\'m accountable: I\'m done with having that in my head. I\'m going to commit to daily 1-shot groups (except for this weekend, when I won\'t have time) using broadheads until elk season. And, hopefully, I\'ll find time to sneak back out to my pronghorn blind and put one down on the ground.

 

[cnelk]

John
Like we talked, missing is all part of the game.
At least you\'re shooting!

We arent talking about bad shots here, that is a whole other ball game.
I mentioned in Barry\'s posts that when a miss happens its usually quite a bit.
So there has to be a factor for that.

Wrong pin?
Dropping your bow arm too soon?
Miss judging yardage?
Canting your bow?
Torquing your bow?
Confidence?
Excitement?

These are common factors that only the shooter can come to terms with.
And it sounds like you are on your way of doing just that

 

[mtnmutt]

Thanks for sharing.

I have no doubt you did all your prep work before your hunt unlike me for my first season. You reviewed the miss and adjusted your practice to minimize the same issue for the next shot opportunity. I bet the next animal will be in your freezer soon.

5 years ago for my one and only shot on an elk at 16 yards broadside, I missed. Aimed too high on vitals and he ducked. Elk can duck by a huge amount.

What I did wrong was: I never practiced on 3D targets, did not practice shooting from sitting position and I did not study the elk anatomy as detailed as I have now. All newbie mistakes. I am grateful that I did not wound that elk.

In speaking with seasoned hunters, I discovered that misses happen to them even when they thought they had controlled all the variables within their control. That surprised me.

Lately, my issue is one from Brad\'s list: dropping my bow arm. The tendon tears in my bow shoulder cause my arm to fatigue easily. Even after 1 year of shoulder exercises, I still can\'t get my bow arm to keep the bow\'s weight up for very long. Using my bow arm to carry my bow through the woods makes it worse, so I carry my bow using my shooting arm. For longer distances, I use a bow sling.

 

[Deertick]

Wrong pin?
Dropping your bow arm too soon?
Miss judging yardage?
Canting your bow?
Torquing your bow?
Confidence?
Excitement?

I think it was a concentration issue ... I was lackadaisical about whether or not to shoot either animal ... the buck posed for 20 minutes and I finally thought \"What the heck?\" ... the doe I wanted to shoot so that I could pack up and go home and help Wife with other projects.

My thinking is that if you aren\'t in \"killer\"-mode, your arrow isn\'t likely to end up in the right place.

I\'m doing some imagery training ... and it starts with getting that wolf-like stare, or feeling like a barn cat looking at a sparrow. If it doesn\'t start that way, it ends just how it did.

 

[timberland]

My thinking is that if you aren\'t in \"killer\"-mode, your arrow isn\'t likely to end up in the right place.

I\'m doing some imagery training ... and it starts with getting that wolf-like stare, or feeling like a barn cat looking at a sparrow. If it doesn\'t start that way, it ends just how it did.

I do the same, get real sneaky to psych myself up for the shot

 

[WW]

[

 

[bowhunter]

John
Like we talked, missing is all part of the game.
At least you\'re shooting!

We arent talking about bad shots here, that is a whole other ball game.
I mentioned in Barry\'s posts that when a miss happens its usually quite a bit.
So there has to be a factor for that.

Wrong pin?
Dropping your bow arm too soon?
Miss judging yardage?
Canting your bow?
Torquing your bow?
Confidence?
Excitement?

These are NOT reasons for missing. They are excuses for missing. I have to agree with Still Hunter on another thread. Don\'t shoot unless you are 100% sure you can make the shot.

The post on the other thread from Still Hunter is a reply to my post on threading the needle. Even a clear shot can go wrong just like what happened for Deertick. Cnelk mentioned some causes that could happen even though the shot was clear and the shooter felt 100%, like Torquing your bow and Excitement.

I practiced at 50,75,and 100yds last year with GREAT groups with my muzzleloader. 2\" groups at 50. I had a cow come in on day one at 45 and I missed her clean. Yep I admit it. You might wonder how. Me too. I can only assume that because the shot was over my left shoulder, uphill and slightly behind me while I was sitting with my back to a tree. I was steady. Not excited and sure I would kill that elk. It didn\'t happen. I believe it was the muscle control or form of that position I was in when shooting. Just like shooting fro a treestand. You must bend at your waist. If you just point the bow down you will not hit the target.


We practice all kinds of imaginable shots to prepare but you never know what you will be presented with in the field. We can talk about it here and hopefully learn from our mistakes or the mistakes of others and hopefully become better hunter. That is what this site is all about. IMHO

 

[timberland]

Best quote is from a friends grandma who grew up in the depression and shells were hard to come by. He told her he missed a buck she said \"Missed, well, you might has well turned around and shot in the other direction.\"

 

[Swede]

Focus on the exact point you want to hit when shooting at an animal. The more things you do right instinctively, from practice, the less you need to think about when the moment of truth comes. Eliminate as much of the chance factor(s) as you can.

 

[F M]

John don\'t know what kind of blind you are using and how big the windows are but I have missed two turkeys and hit a doe low one time because I was looking at my pins and not my arrow. Shot through the blind You would have thought I would have learned after the first time.

 

[Deertick]

John don\'t know what kind of blind you are using and how big the windows are but I have missed two turkeys and hit a doe low one time because I was looking at my pins and not my arrow. Shot through the blind You would have thought I would have learned after the first time.

I\'ve done that, too, and I\'m wondering if that fact played with my shooting.

 

[cnelk]

The biggest difference between \'reasons\' and \'excuses\' is that you can fix \'reasons\' by accepting the responsibility to adjust

 

[Deertick]

The biggest difference between \'reasons\' and \'excuses\' is that you can fix \'reasons\' by accepting the responsibility to adjust

Love it.

I really think I was just unsure of whether I really wanted to shoot either of them, and that translated to my shot. Won\'t be the same next time around, and I sure wish I could go back next weekend, but Wife has me booked. The season lasts a month, though. Maybe my elk will come by early, and I can spend the rest of that time hanging out on the prairie.

 

[cohunter14]

I\'m doing some imagery training ... and it starts with getting that wolf-like stare, or feeling like a barn cat looking at a sparrow. If it doesn\'t start that way, it ends just how it did.

John, one thing I would tell you in regards to this is that instead of trying to \'focus\' super hard on something, simply have a routine that you practice or go through. Something that will occupy your mind the entire time so you are not scatter brained. If you have a routine in your head that you go through when shooting, it will occupy your mind and not allow you to think about anything else.

Example: if you don\'t have any sort of routine, you draw your bow and while you are lining up your pin, you are thinking about ending your day, how happy you are going to be, how happy someone else is going to be, etc. But if you line up and have your routine, maybe it is \'draw the bow, pick the pin, find your spot, breath...one, two, three.\' I could be way off on thoughts, but something like that where you are constantly thinking of something. Just remember, if you aren\'t thinking of something in particular, you can think of anything.

 

[Deertick]

John, one thing I would tell you in regards to this is that instead of trying to \'focus\' super hard on something, simply have a routine that you practice or go through. Something that will occupy your mind the entire time so you are not scatter brained. If you have a routine in your head that you go through when shooting, it will occupy your mind and not allow you to think about anything else.

Good point ... and I should\'ve said it better above. I guess what I was trying to say was that I wasn\'t \"focusing\" ... and you are correct, the focus should be on form and consistency ... routines are there for a reason -- they work! \"Focus super hard on something\" isn\'t really how I meant that.

 

[Eyeeyecaptain]

Sorry to hear that, I know your pain. Has come down to range and not calming down for me in the past. A lot of good advice on this thread. Don\'t let it get to you and keep up the practice. Confidence is crucial, you will connect perfect on your next shot!

 

[elky McElkerson]

Did you make marks on the bow ? I use a carpenter pencil to mark my cams and a grey sharpie to mark my peep and loop.

I know if something moved.


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