How do you practice?

[Willie makit]

Am always looking to try new stuff and was just wondering if anyone has any unique archery practice techniques or regimens. Ive never shot 3d or even in a club, only at home with my 2 block targets. These are my 3 regimens usually in 8 shot groups, I also try to always draw my bow straight back or from the down position up to shooting position, draw and shoot with the minimum movement.

A. Straight up concentrate on everything, form, draw, level, anchor points, aim, release then follow up shooting for maximum accuracy.

B. Shoot from odd positions, kneeling, and bent over, feet in jacked up positions, even sitting from a chair.

C. Rapid fire, pick up bow, load, draw and shoot as fast as I can try to hit as accurately as possible. When you do this one at 60 yards plus you learn real quickly to "hurry up and don’t miss", cause you get plenty of time to go over what you do wrong while you are looking for your arrows. My thinking on this is focus on the target, everything else should be automatic.

[Broken arrow]

Two of my favorites are knock the nock (played with a buddy) and run, climb, shoot, and repeat.
1st knock the nock: one person shoots and then the other guy tries to shoot your arrow. This is great practice but when you get good at it it can get expensive.
The second is run/jog a mile throw on a pack (weight in proximity to what you hunt with) walk up and down stairs till your legs are burning then take (ONE) shot at undetermined distance with obstruction in front of you. But make sure you have your pack,calls, binos, etc make it as real and worst case scenario you can think of. Then repeat.

[Toby]

I usually shoot 1 arrow, then go and retrieve it. Let's me think the shot over and keeps me from just flinging arrows.

[otcWill]

I don't have any real secrets, just shoot constantly. I shoot 3-4 times a week at the 3D range taking about 100-200 shots in a session. Shooting 3D is an ablolute game changer and made me a FAR better marksman than I'd been before. If you aren't shooting 3D, you are leaving a stone unturned

[G Posik]

It all boils down to one shot. Cold. After that is just practice. If you are at at range, club, field or back yard does not matter. For this you only need a target, arrow and bow. No warm up, No range finder nothing. Have a pre-determined spot that you plan to hit. Use an unknown distance set up, draw and shoot. Either you hit your spot or not. You can then start shooting groups, shoot one arrow and the retrieve or what ever you choose to do. When you get the shot on the mountain you will not be warmed up and ready so why practice the one shot when warmed up and ready. After the shot then you can work on form for hours and 100's of shots. I will always end a session with a little blank bale.

Glenn

[quarbles]

outside of simply shooting reps trying to practice/ repeat form and release (usually a quiverful then cogitation) from both standing and kneeling, i like to have fun with a 'dress rehersal' (full getup and weighted pack).... akward angled single shots through trees without ranging and using trick pin. usually after sneeking. i have a little gymboss pocket timer and set it somewhat randomly, sneek, and shoot where i'm at when it goes off. basically just a good excuse to creep around the woods with a bow.... periodic shots throughout conditioning work like sprints, burpees, sandbag work (a takeaway from when i did subscribe to the train to hunt program online). at night every so often inside i'll practice holding on something for a maximal amount of time, let down, rest and do it again two more times. i don't even time it, i just hold and control my breathing, try and center myself. i need to work more on drawing smooth and letting down smooth, especially when my shoulders start fatiguing...... now that i've got a dovetail that is 3rd axis levelable i want to get way more familiar with steeeeeeeeeeep up and down shots.

[ishy]

3D shoots have been my biggest help. The another help was to not shoot so many arrows. Like above it's only that first arrow that counts. I thought if I was flinging arrows I was improving=false. If you aren't focused you can be regressing or cementing bad habits into your muscle memory.

[Bullnuts]

Not nearly enough, but 3D is my favorite. I like the different angles, kneeling, standing, leaning, or up on my tip toes. These shots build tons of confidence, plus I always bring my range finder so I can confirm distances. I don't compete anymore (for those of you who are ready to call me a cheater!) but I love to just wander the course and shoot.

[Trophyhill]

Going along with shooting 3D's, learn to hunt/shoot without relying on your range finder. So many times an encounter unfolds so fast, you simply don't have time to use it. It is nice to be able to range a known distance and have elk come in where you want them to but this isn't always the case and you'll need to be able to accurately judge distance.

[Swede]

I start off my routine like toby does. After that I continue to shoot at my back yard target to build or maintain strength. I will start again in early May and continue into the hunting season. On occasion I shoot somewhere away from home at varied distances.

[Moose-head]

I usually shoot 1 arrow, then go and retrieve it. Let's me think the shot over and keeps me from just flinging arrows.

I like that. Good tip

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

I generally shoot only two arrows at a time. And they are usually broadheads. The first one is the only one that counts. The second one is just to make sure the first one wasn't an accident. LOL!

My tip to offer would be to go to some 3-D shoots and take your range finder. Guess the yardage and take your shoot. After the shot, go ahead and range the target to see how close your estimated guess was. Actually, you don't even have to shoot. Just guess the yardage and then range it. Do this enough and you'll get pretty good at it.

[Lefty]

What Ive done is 3,4,5, arrows walk back to the first 2nd or third thing in the yard to put the arrows on, lawn mower, apricot tree , trampoline, fence post, shot at different parts of the target, then retrieve then shoot again
, I do that 2-3 times a day,.. Im still trying to work up the draw weight. I work on proper drawing and shooting techniques