When I made the decision to hunt as little as possible from October 3rd through this past weekend, I did so based on the “burn out” I had experienced in the past. I had hunted so hard during October in the past, I not only burnt myself out prior to the best hunting of the year, I also burnt out some of my best stands. I have faith that this approach is working the way I an anticipated, but I had no idea it would prove to be beneficial to my confidence. Then again, I had no way of knowing that my confidence would take such a staggering blow so early in the year…
I’ve long been a proponent of confidence whether it is in your equipment, your stand sets, or your own ability to shoot, judge yardage, or find deer. Confidence can get you out of bed in the morning, or it can walk you through the moment of truth when your nerves are at their worst. For the past three seasons, I have had the most confidence in my shooting in comparison to other aspects of my “game”. I’m not a professional, nor do I have any business competing in tournaments, but I can hold my own on a backyard range. I have been on autopilot for nearly 20 deer since there has been an issue and it has generated a ton of confidence in my ability to put an arrow through a deer at the moment of truth. From 13 to 51 yards and from 2004 through 2009, I’d experienced virtually flawless execution at the moment of truth. Then came the snafu with Crazy Rack on Day 4 of the 2010-2011 season…
While I don’t consider that snafu a “miss” since I was not shooting at the deer when the snafu occurred, it certainly was a miscue that rattled me to the core. The first step to recovery is admitting it right? Well, I’m here to tell you that miscue fucked me up. It seriously affected me like no other miscue in the woods has ever affected me. I passed up shots at does at 30 yards because I was actually scared to attempt a shot. I started to experience what I termed as “target acquisition panic” when I would practice. It got to the point it was so bad that I took all my pins out of my sight, stripped all my arrows, refletched them, batched them by weight, tuned a bow that was already tuned, and reset all my pins. Why? I have no idea. But after all that work, I was still having issues when it came time to settle the pin. I was watching my level bubble like a hawk at the same time I was nervously over analyzing my peep/sight housing alignment. I was shooting well in terms of arrow placement, but I was a mess during the entire process. By screwing up something I have done thousands of times, drawing and anchoring, I created a monster inside me that I feared would limit my ability to perform this year.
This weekend, I spent several hours shooting in the backyard. Part of my training was jogging from the target up a 15% grade (according to the rangefinder) to my bow, then shooting three arrows under 60 seconds. This forced me to concentrate on shot execution and less on the draw/achor/aiming process. I did this for almost two hours Sunday afternoon forcing myself to squeeze and follow through on each shot. After almost 100 arrows and some serious mental coaching, I achieved what I set out to do: I banished the demon inside me. In turn, I restored my confidence. What I was calling target acquisition panic, was merely me over thinking something that should be natural and require little to no thought. I was able to restore my confidence, but I’ll be honest when I say I’m not 100% positive that my snafu on Crazy Rack will not come back to haunt me at a later date. Once you open that door, it is a constant battle to keep it shut IMO.
I’ve been battling with this since the 28th of September and I’m finally ready to return to the woods with the confidence I feel is vital to having success as a bowhunter. Instead of visualizing that snafu when I go to anchor, I am now visualizing the last grouping of arrows from 50 yards on Sunday. I’m ready to redeem myself. Being scared, intimidated, fearful, nervous, afraid, etc. when you are shooting is not something I ever want to experience again! No more moments of weakness for this bowhunter!!!
I’ve long been a proponent of confidence whether it is in your equipment, your stand sets, or your own ability to shoot, judge yardage, or find deer. Confidence can get you out of bed in the morning, or it can walk you through the moment of truth when your nerves are at their worst. For the past three seasons, I have had the most confidence in my shooting in comparison to other aspects of my “game”. I’m not a professional, nor do I have any business competing in tournaments, but I can hold my own on a backyard range. I have been on autopilot for nearly 20 deer since there has been an issue and it has generated a ton of confidence in my ability to put an arrow through a deer at the moment of truth. From 13 to 51 yards and from 2004 through 2009, I’d experienced virtually flawless execution at the moment of truth. Then came the snafu with Crazy Rack on Day 4 of the 2010-2011 season…
While I don’t consider that snafu a “miss” since I was not shooting at the deer when the snafu occurred, it certainly was a miscue that rattled me to the core. The first step to recovery is admitting it right? Well, I’m here to tell you that miscue fucked me up. It seriously affected me like no other miscue in the woods has ever affected me. I passed up shots at does at 30 yards because I was actually scared to attempt a shot. I started to experience what I termed as “target acquisition panic” when I would practice. It got to the point it was so bad that I took all my pins out of my sight, stripped all my arrows, refletched them, batched them by weight, tuned a bow that was already tuned, and reset all my pins. Why? I have no idea. But after all that work, I was still having issues when it came time to settle the pin. I was watching my level bubble like a hawk at the same time I was nervously over analyzing my peep/sight housing alignment. I was shooting well in terms of arrow placement, but I was a mess during the entire process. By screwing up something I have done thousands of times, drawing and anchoring, I created a monster inside me that I feared would limit my ability to perform this year.
This weekend, I spent several hours shooting in the backyard. Part of my training was jogging from the target up a 15% grade (according to the rangefinder) to my bow, then shooting three arrows under 60 seconds. This forced me to concentrate on shot execution and less on the draw/achor/aiming process. I did this for almost two hours Sunday afternoon forcing myself to squeeze and follow through on each shot. After almost 100 arrows and some serious mental coaching, I achieved what I set out to do: I banished the demon inside me. In turn, I restored my confidence. What I was calling target acquisition panic, was merely me over thinking something that should be natural and require little to no thought. I was able to restore my confidence, but I’ll be honest when I say I’m not 100% positive that my snafu on Crazy Rack will not come back to haunt me at a later date. Once you open that door, it is a constant battle to keep it shut IMO.
I’ve been battling with this since the 28th of September and I’m finally ready to return to the woods with the confidence I feel is vital to having success as a bowhunter. Instead of visualizing that snafu when I go to anchor, I am now visualizing the last grouping of arrows from 50 yards on Sunday. I’m ready to redeem myself. Being scared, intimidated, fearful, nervous, afraid, etc. when you are shooting is not something I ever want to experience again! No more moments of weakness for this bowhunter!!!
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