By Rod Jenkins
Want to pick up 6-12 FPS at the same weight your currently drawing, without buying a new bow? Want to become much more consistent with your shooting? It’s easy – learn to never stop pulling!
By far, the biggest form flaw I see with a majority of traditional archers is they “stop pulling”!
Don’t’ believe that? Break out the video cam and shoot some footage of yourself, as well as your pals. Playback in slow-mo and at the moment of release, you’ll see the draw hand come forward, often losing 1-2” of draw before the fingers clear the
string, and often the fingers are getting scrubbed by string in the process. This explains why guys are buying thicker gloves and tabs too!
Pulling in an archery shot is a 3 phase affair.
(1) Excessive pulling to anchor.
(2) Balanced pulling at anchor.
(3) Increased pulling (expansion) to shot conclusion.
No doubt it’s a little more work to never stop pulling, but the dividends are well worth the effort, and face it ” guys shooting longbows and recurves weren’t looking for the easiest way to begin with”!
OK, John has been practicing hard for opening day of bow season and has been really working on form and shot sequence and things are going great. He’s taking his time and really executing well put together shots and confidence is high! Then opening morning all the pre-season scouting pays off and here comes the buck of a lifetime down the trail! John excitingly thinks, “I’ve got to get him, before he gets away”. He draws his bow and flings an arrow over his back, clanking into the woods. Disgusted, John thinks, “how could I have missed such an easy shot? I make much tougher shots all the time in practice… I just don’t get it!”
What happened was our fictitious pal John, totally moved his subconscious out of its “safe zone” by changing priorities. All summer his priority was executing the shot as he practiced in the backyard. He had a performance based mindset. Then, in the woods, the conscious mind made harvesting the buck much more important than the shot. The subconscious was prepared to shoot a good shot, but all that changed when the conscious mind changed priorities, leaving the subconscious out of sync and confused.
Moral of the story? Put together the best shot sequence you possible can and when that buck walks into range… DO NOT change your priority! Simply trust and shoot the shot that you have made countless times in the backyard.