How much practice is enough . . . ?

[LckyTylr]

Well, as I have posted on a previous thread, I separated my shoulder 5 weeks ago (class 3). Apparently a class three means complete rupture of 3 of the 4 tendons that securely holds my arm into the shoulder socket. The muscle alone will hold it in place, but not as well. The 3 tendons that were torn were supposed to be attached to my collar bone. The collar bone kept everything up and to the back as it should be. Anyway, 5 weeks after the incident, I'm feeling about 90% pain wise, but 70% strength wise. Any time I have my elbow over shoulder height, I have no strength and the pain comes back. Drawing a bow is out of the question right now, and I'm not sure when I will be able to.

Soooooo, the question. In your OPINION, how much practice is enough?

Before the injury, I was shooting on a weekly basis in a league and was shooting tournaments fairly often. I was REALLY shooting well and had loads of confidence. I killed a whistle-pig at 30 yards at my last tournament.

Assuming that I can draw my bow before the season opens, should I archery hunt this year? What if I can't shoot until a week before opener but can hit a softball every time at 40 yards like before. Idaho sells OTC tags for archery and rifle, all I have to do is specify what weapon I want to use before I buy a tag.

There's a lot of variables here, but here's my list of requirements IF I'm going to hunt.
I WILL establish an effective range based on my practice results.
I will NOT exceed that established range.
I will pass on shots if I become too shaky because I have to hold too long.

So, it's two issues that I'm sorting out, Ethics and Odds.

Ethically, is this acceptable?
Odds, will I so severely limit my chances of killing my first Elk that I should opt for a rifle?

As I have said before, I have had a LOT of opportunities to kill elk over the last several years with a Rifle, BUT . . . I'm very set on killing my first Elk with Archery equipment. It's very important to me, but I will NOT skip an elk season if it means I have to hunt with a rifle.

Thanks for any thoughts or advice.

[ctdad]

Some people with only one functional arm shoot with a mouth strap. I've never done it but I've read about it.

[LckyTylr]

Very true . . . but I would imagine that they don't hunt without practicing as much as the rest of us until they are proficient.

[buglmin]

The thing to think about here is the likely hood of doing farther damage trying to shoot your bow...me, personally cause I can, I would switch to left hand. Anything to avoid doing more damage and maybe ending my archery career...something to think about.
I see no problem hunting with a rifle, actually enjoy chasing bulls with a rifle. Elk hunting is elk hunting, doesnt matter what youre carrying. And truth be told, you wont be drawing the draw weight you were before the injury, so that will require more bow tuning, something your shoulder might not take. Why not wait and see what happens when the doc gives you the go ahead in a month or two? Why worry and stress over it now?

[bnsafe]

heres my opinion right or wrong. first I would personally buy one of the bows LIKE the edge infinite that goes from like 20-60 or something like that. then I would start with the lowest poundage and shoot whatever I could WITHOUT HURTING MY ARM FURTHER. I would work up to as much lbs as possible before elk season and as long as I could shoot at least 45 I would hunt. then I would limit my shots to whatever I could make for sure. rather it be ten yds or 20 or 60 wouldn't make a difference to me. if you can only shoot accurately to 2o yds with a light wt bow or shoot a 89 lb bow who cares. its the experience your after. for the record my daughter bow hunts and I limited her to 15 yd shots for her first couple years, my son wants to antelope hunt this year so I will limit him to 15 yd shots his first year unless he can prove he can group farther out. that's how far they could shoot accurately consistently. I would recommend you do the same. im bettin you could pick up a bow the day of season opener and shoot at 2o. so just go and enjoy.

[LckyTylr]

Thanks guys. I have actually given a lot of thought to switching to left handed shooting . . . but I JUST bought a brand new bow this year. I haven't had a new bow for 11 years. It took me a long time to upgrade and I can't justify it again this soon unfortunately. I like the suggestion about the Edge Infinite, but that's $350!!!

Soooo, I like the constructive thinking here. I don't think I'm ready to switch to left handed and I don't want to buy a $350 bow that I won't be using again after this season.

I know that chasing elk with a bow vs a gun is STILL chasing elk, but it's a personal thing. It's something that I have to prove to myself, that I can kill my first elk with a bow. Last year and the year before, I proved that I can easily do so with a rifle . . . but it's different to get one within 30 yards . . . or as is often the case, getting several within 30 yards to get a shot at one in particular.

Any other suggestions guys?

[easeup]

well here is another 2 cents for you........

It sounds like you are an accomplished archer. with that said your mind already knows the correct mechanics of shooting an arrow.
your bow is not damaged and all of your gear is ready to go. So you do not have to go learn how to shoot your bow or get it sighted in. You got roughly 90 days left before the truck leaves the parking lot.
so dont panic.
There is more time remaining to your hunt than what you have already been through. I mean you have partially healed in 5 weeks and there are 12 weeks to go. Just saying ...there are easily 8 more good weeks to stay away from the bow under heavy draw; but still do all of the PT excercises for range of motion and strength. Each day is better than the last when you eat right and sleep good.

then when the time is right according to the rehab plan ( lets say..early August) start drawing the bow just a little.
You have got to believe that you can focus your mind to shoot pretty good in just several days of practice. The real issue is getting sufficient strength back through the PT program. State your goal. List out the steps necessary to make that goal happen. Then fit the steps in order on your calender. Work each step as you say and keep the faith. Worry only drains your energy, it never does anything good for you and will certainly make you a doubter and unbeliever.

[FemoralArchery]

Tyler, there is also a late archery hunt OTC right out your back door, that gives you an extra 3 months to recover.

[mtnmutt]

I switched from RH to LH 1 years ago because I am left eye dominate. 3 yrs ago, I was a stubborn right handed person when I bought my RH bow (too chicken to shoot LH). The first day shooting my LH bow I shot my drywall. The peep was misaligned, so I missed a bit. I only shot the drywall once. It's scary to switch, but if I can do it, anyone can. I still shoot my RH to keep muscles balanced.

As for your injury. It sounds far worse than my injury so take this with a grain of salt.

Around January 1st, I increased my bow a quarter turn to make it to 50#. I promptly tore the tendons in the front of the rotator cuff bow arm (right shoulder) that keep the bigger muscles from jamming your shoulder up into the rotator cuff. I was at pain level of 7-8. I was in severe pain whenever I tried to reached for anything horizontally or vertically with my right arm. My right arm's muscles stayed contracted and would never loosen. Drawing my first 2-3 arrows was painful. Initially, I wasn't smart enough to figure out that aggressively warming up my arm would keep the pain down when drawing. I had to drop my DW to 47#. Some weeks, I only shot 5-10 arrows one day/wk.

Because I believe injuries heal themselves in time (ie I am stubborn) and I was working 10-12 hr/days, I did not seek medical attention until 2.5 months later. Than another 5 weeks of waiting to see an orthopedic person. It wasn't until early April that I went off to Physical Therapy twice a week. I had never been to PT before. I generally have a lopsided negative view of medical treatments stemming from experience with poor medical professionals. Plus, I have an extremely high deducible. I got a recommendation of a PT way before I went to PT.

Within 3.5 weeks of PT, I regained about 50% of my range of motion and I was only at a 4-5 pain level unless I overdid it with using my arm. I was able to reach with my arm. I am now a PT convert.

The PT told me that I would heal faster if I stopped shooting my bow. Remember, I am stubborn so that was a no can do. I limited my shooting to once a week for one month and only shooting 10-20 arrows over the course of 2-4 hours on that day. I listened to my body and avoided overdoing it except for a tournament shoot that I had no business doing. The pain was so bad, I kept dropping my bow arm during the entire shoot.

6 weeks after starting PT, most days I am at a 2-3 pain level. I can reach with my arm and I can shot more arrows at 50# than I did on January 1st. Orthopedic person is still concerned I am not at 100%. I feel I am at 75% which is great IMHO because in March I did not think I would recover and would need surgery. He is giving me another 6 weeks before he does an MRI. Tear hasn't healed all the way. However, they no longer say that I shouldn't shoot my bow.

Obviously, your injuries are more severe than mine, so maybe you do have to take time off from shooting. It will heal faster that way and maybe it is only a one month break from shooting.

If you want to keep shooting, drop your DW. Rubberband exercises for warmup before shoot. I use the Heavy and Safari Bow Fit bands. Listen to your body. Shoot once a week as little as one arrow. Yes, one arrow. I have never killed an elk, but I hear it only takes one arrow and sometimes you may have a second arrow opportunity. If needed, take 2 weeks off at a time from shooting. I recently took 10 days off from shooting because my shoulder unexpectedly flared up on me. I had hit a plateau for my recovery, so my PT exercises called for an increase in weights which likely led to the flare up.

The more I use my arm during the day, the more sore it gets. If I want to shoot that day, I avoid using my bow arm for other things. I even switched my personal computer to a left handed mouse to avoid reaching with my right arm. I try to shoot in the morning before its starts to get inflamed. I warmup before shooting. I stretch before and after shooting. I ice after shooting.

This injury has taught me a lot and now I have a set of tools (exercises, stretches) that will likely help prevent future shoulder injuries.

Good Luck!

[bnsafe]

you might be able to find a edge on archerytalk for a lot cheaper than that. also remember you can resale it and get some of that money back. but I agree not sure I would drop the money either. when I hunted whitetails I knew the shots would be 20 yds or less. frankly I practiced the week before season an did fine. if your new bow is sighted in you wont have any trouble killing an elk out to 20-25 yds with only a weeks practice. just limit yourself to whatever you can reasonably do and go for it. you will be fine.

[LckyTylr]

Thanks everyone, these are really helpful.

Mtnmutt, I'm not sure that my injury is worse than yours . . . or at least not the recovery. I had/have the same pains as you, reaching out in front or to the side. I think my recovery, at the moment, is going quicker than yours.

I think I'm going to give it another month before I even pick up my bow, there is plenty of leg conditioning that I can concentrate on.

Any idea of where I can purchase the stretchy bands for rehab? i know I can get them online, but I want to try a few out to make sure I get the right resistance before I buy them.

I don't think I'm missing anything or not giving adequate consideration to any of the aspects of killing an elk with a bow. I know what is required of the shooter and I know what's required of the equipment (energy delivered by the arrow). I'm sure I can make this happen assuming that my recovery continues at the current pace.

[>>>---WW---->]

Looks like everyone has pretty much covered all the options for you. So here is my two cents worth.

Switching to lefty isn't all that hard. You may find that you actually shoot better that way. And with your bum shoulder I'm sure you will. So if you think you might want to give that a try, hit the weekend yard sales. I picked up a left hand Herters bow for $25 a month or so ago. And if you are not all that particular, you can find those fiberglass bows that you can shoot off of either side of the riser for $3-$5 bucks.

The worse thing about switching to lefty is that it just feels awkward. Once you get over that, you have it made. So you don't need to buy an expensive new bow to try it out. Heck, a little 25# kids bow wil work just to see if you can do it or not.

And like someone else mentioned, you still have almost 90 days to heal up. So give that a chance. Pay attention to what your PT says and you'll be good as new. Well almost good as new. LOL!

[wawhitey]

not sure what the idaho regs are on it, but in washington you can get a permit to use a crossbow for medical reasons like youre describing. if your shoulder is jacked up and needs time to heal, and if id allows it, why not?

[mtnmutt]

Any idea of where I can purchase the stretchy bands for rehab? i know I can get them online, but I want to try a few out to make sure I get the right resistance before I buy them.

Dick's, Target, Walmart, medical supply stores, etc. Look in the place they have yoga mats and light hand weighs. They will either be tubing or band style. They are called exercise bands.

Lancaster Archery also has some under Shooting and Training -> Stretchbands & Exercisers.

Gander Mtn, Cabelas and Bass Pro also sells the Bow Fit bands. Even though I shoot the low weight of 50#, I like the bow fit safari version because it does a much better job of warming up my muscles than the lower Heavy weight version. Each Bow Fit has a weight range per version.

[LckyTylr]

Thanks all.

I guess switching to left hand or a crossbow is a last resort in my mind. I can't fathom buying a new bow right now, I just spent $1,100 in January on my current setup as a graduation gift to myself. I'm young enough and active enough that I really doubt that I won't recover fully enough to shoot my current bow eventually. My only concern is whether it will be this season or next. Of course, there is always a chance that I won't regain strength, but I doubt it based on how I'm already feeling. If I can't recover quickly enough this year for archery hunting, I won't hesitate to go kill my first Elk with a rifle . . . but I know I will feel like I let myself down a little.

I don't have a PT, I have the internet and am very determined. My range of motion is almost 100%. I'm fortunate that my neighborhood has a pool and that's excellent PT . . . or so I have read.

I'm feeling very encouraged . . . I'm going to go buy some stretchy exercise bands right now.

Sometimes I feel like switching to left-handed would be fun and I like challenges . . . but then again, I'm VERY Right-eye dominant. I think if I'm going to switch things up at all, I'll build a long bow or a recurve . . . but with this injury, that dream might be out the window, not sure I'll ever get the strength to pull back enough weight to feel like I'm shooting a heavy-enough and fast-enough arrow.

[FemoralArchery]

Like I said, there is a late archery hunt in Nov, which would give you 2 extra months.

Sometimes I shoot my RH bow left handed. It gives me an edge when we play PIG and trick shots are necessary.

[LckyTylr]

Late archery hunt in Nov . . . hmmmm. Very true. Last year I could have killed a set of rag horns during the rifle season. I snuck up to within 30 yards of the two bulls and there were 7 or 8 cows/calves around 30-50 yards away. It was very open terrain, old burn, so there was nothing to hide behind. I just slowly lurched my way into shooting range (bow), just to see if I could do it. I was also able to sneak all the way back out over the ridge undetected. It was neat, I was really considering getting as close as I possibly could, but I figured there's no point in spooking them and making them waste energy right before winter. SOOOOO, I suppose that there are some elk that haven't been too pressured to be killed by a bow after rifle season. It's a good thing for those bulls that Idaho makes you pick archery or rifle and then will only allow you to shoot spikes with the other weapon choice. I'll have to do some more research on late season hunting. I know that the bulls are still bugling (some) in late oct and early nov . . . but I would imagine that you can't call them to you then. . . ?

[FemoralArchery]

You could also use your bow during rifle season, is you chose to.

The late hunt doesn't get a lot of success, but I would imagine alot of people drive around and wait for lots of snow to push the elk down to the roads. That's how most people hunt around Boise anyway. Alot of people that hunt the late deer hunt see a lot of elk.

I know the last couple years, in the area where I used to rifle hunt, the bulls have been bugling their fool heads off in mid October on the opener.

Anyway, its just another option. I know how bad you want to kill one with your bow, and that would be another opportunity for you to get it done (with your bow).

[LckyTylr]

Well, if I had any doubts about whether or not I'd be able to hunt with a bow this year, they are gone now. This was my 2nd night of shooting post-injury. I bought a 30 day pass at the indoor range to work on strength, form and tuning. That should get me right up to when it's time to get my broad heads tuned up.

[LckyTylr]

And . . . My FIRST EVER Robinhood!

It's odd to me that I have been shooting a bow every single year and have always had pretty tight groups, but this year was my first ever Robinhood, after 11 years of archery hunting.

[bnsafe]

good job lucky, very cool.

[planebow]

Good to see that you will make it this season. Those robin hoods get exspensive.

[LckyTylr]

Yeah, Separate Dots from now on.

[WapitiTalk1]

I think the elk are in trouble in September. Glad you're feeling better.

[elkmtngear]

Wow Tyler...you're doin' just fine!

[LckyTylr]

Shot again today, was hitting dots 2 outta 3 for my 3-shot bursts. It feels good to be shooting so well, I wasn't shooting this well during my winter league.