Attention Archers

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THR Archers,

My Dad started me shooting at age 4 with a Bear Panda, back then we used to go to 3-D shoots in West Virginia throughout the summer...then I discovered airguns. Fast forward all these years later and finally I got bit by the bug again and recently purchased a Bear Instinct with all the accessories. Archery technology has really evolved!

My question for you is: What do you consider good groups at 20 yards? We have an indoor range in my area and in my first practice session I was able to shoot five shot groups in the 2-3" range nearly every single time. Every now and then I had a five shot group that was 5-6". I don't ever remember being able to shoot that well when I was young! Is this level of accuracy acceptable at this distance? Of course, I know that it will do the job on the deer but I'd still like to get a benchmark.
 
Daniel,
Remember this thread about the Koreans?
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=222983

I'm still minute of paper plate on a good day at 15 - 20 yds using Bear Montana Longbow 55#rh. Gave my old Browning compound to BIL (who never ever uses it).

Always wanted to do the Comanche/Attila the Hun thing being able to shoot from a galloping horse while hanging on (for dear life) while hitting whatever it is that needed shooting... but then, I day dream a lot.

Here's what Olympians shoot for...
http://www.archeryweb.com/archery/olympics.htm
 
I believe that is a good group....especially if you are consistent.

Beyond this I believe you would go to the Olympics.

Also for your intrests. Go to quackenbush air rifles.....nice!
 
I also started shooting archery at about age 4.

I haven't shot my Bear recurve in a few years, but I had no problem hitting 5" targets at 25 yards. When I used to shoot in a hunter's league, we had a fun night where we played poker with cards set up on the backstop at 27 yards- it was too hard to do with a recurve, it wasn't the easiest with a compound either. We also had a target called the 'iron bear' which was an iron bear silhouette with about a 4-5" circle cut out in the center of where its vitals would be. It takes a bit of nerve to shoot it- you hit the cutout, your ok, if you miss, you just destroyed a $10 arrow. The guys shooting compounds were banging carbon off the iron like there's no tomorow, I put on a good show and put 3 arrows in a row in the hole, and bounced the fourth off the metal- I didn't have the nerve to shoot it after that.

With my compound, 71lb draw weight Martin Phantom and shooting carbon arrows, I have no problems hitting a paper plate at 60 yards, so long as there is no wind. I usually practice at this distance or longer- any flaws such as bad releases or bad form is greatly magnified.

As far as attainable accuracy goes, I have a friend that I shoot with who is an archery fanatic. He shoots in leagues that he calls 'dot leagues' where the targets are rows of dots about the size of a penny shot at 20 yards- 1 arrow per dot. He has 3 or 4 stabilizers on his bow that are 2-4' in length and uses a pistol scope. Its sort of archery's version of benchrest rifle.
 
Thanks for the input everyone! I'm glad to hear that my current level of accuracy is decent but not earth-shattering. My groups will probably open up as I move back, this weekend I'll be sighting in my 30-50 yard pins. One thing is for sure- I'm hooked!

As a side note, when shooting traditional, do you guys "shoot the gap" or use an instinctive technique?
 
Purely instinctive here . . . I look at where I want to hit as I step into the bow & draw & and the marvelous computer that is the mind does the rest. I did gap when I shot barebow recurve, 20-yard indoor competion light years ago, but never with my hunting bows. Practice, practice, practice . . .
 
There's certainly nothing wrong with accuracy like you're getting, Dan. A compound bow with sights, properly set up, can be accurate enough to endanger the first arrow in the target when you loose the second. If I primarily shot targets, that's the way I'd be going, but I shoot a longbow because I am primarily a hunter.

I guess I'm just not capable of consciously judging distance accurately and carrying a rangefinder and using it before the shot didn't seem to work out for me, either. When I went back to a longbow, shooting instinctively, I had much better success, I guess because, as koja48 said, the subconscious mental computer just knows how to make the arrow and the target come together. I just look at the spot I want to hit and shoot. You do have to believe you can do it and you have to practice enough at varying ranges for your on-board computer to store all the trajectory tables. AND, you really have to focus your mind on a specific spot to hit, which is the hardest part for me. When I shoot at a deer at 15 yards, I don't dare even THINK about the rack or the arrow will likely fly right through the tines!

Steve
 
I agree with Steve499, I used to be an archery instuctor, and spent my off time in the summers working on it, it is called instinct shooting I believe. It is my perfered means of shooting.

I have found that instinct shooting plus a bare, recurve bow, with no means of mechanical release is by far the most satisfying means of shooting. Nothing will give you greater satisfaction then being able to know exactly where that arrow is going, with out any sighting device. Just your bow and your arrows, and the most powerful sighting device, your brain.

For practice try lashing a tripod approximately 10 feet tall. Tye a replacement target center (about a 1 foot across peice of foam using in replacing the centers of target butts when they get shot out, you can find them in archery shops) in the middle so it is about 4 or 5 feet off the ground. Just walk away, don't mark the exact range, just mark where you stand. shoot for a while from that spot, concentrate on hitting it while its stationary, then while its moving. Once you get good at this then try it from a longer then a shorter distance. The goal is that you can walk any random distance and hit it. Don't worry about grouping, get that out of your head, grouping is for beginners, for advanced shooters hitting the target with that first arrow is imporant, not grouping. Only Mr. foam target butt stays still long enough for you to get multiple shots.

The ultimate test is if you can walk a short, medium, then long distance and only take 3-4 seconds to aim while hitting the target with the entire quiver of arrows.
 
Im not an archer...

and have no claim to be able to shoot an apple off of a swiss boy's head, but I do like to take my bow out and toss arrows around.

Having admitted that I am not great shot with a bow, I have to tell you about a lady I saw in Bear Creek Archery one day...

She was an elderly lady, had to be about 70 and she was on the line with a VERY nice compound target bow. As I was setting up, I watched her shoot. Her first shot... thunk, dead center.. I thought, nice shooting. Second shot, another part of the target... dead center....

I picked my jaw up off the floor and kept watching. She never missed the bullseye, ever. Not once while I shot, not once the entire time I was there. My arrow patterns resembled a pattern from a shotgun with turrets.... hers looked like 5 perfectly placed holes.

After she left, I asked one of the counter monkeys who she was and was told she was an olympic archer from WAYYYY back and had won a world tournament every decade of her 80 yrs or so. She was impressive.
 
"...minute of paper plate on a good day at 15 - 20 yds..." That's good enough if you can do it consistently. A 9" paper plate is a good "yard stick". If you can hit it every time, at a given distance, you're all set for hunting as long as you keep your shots within that range.
Set up 'shooting lanes' around your stand and put in range marks. A stick pounded into the ground will do nicely. Bambi is used to sticks.
 
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