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hickslawns

hickslawns

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brock ratcliff said:
Phil, if you think you have room to improve and want to, remember that after a person learns the basics, it's all mental. As an example, you see that Mason can drive nails at 40 yards. He dropped that one shot a couple of inches, but a deer would never know the difference. However, when he stepped back to 50 tonight, he fell apart. 30 feet does NOT make much difference, but tonight, in his mind it did. Mathematically, if his mind allowed him, his group at 50 would have been very similar. If a person shoots 2" groups consistently at 20 yards, making the exact same shots at 40 should result in 4" groups. No greater skill needed, but our minds fool us into thinking otherwise sometimes.
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Again, great input. Here is another issue for me: I am at 40 or 50yds and my pin is bigger than the dot I am shooting at. I think I might need to change pins to smaller sizes for the further distances. For now, I am happy to see the groups shrinking. I'm not changing crap until I am tagged out. The sight is NOT getting sent for replacement pins less than 2 weeks til season starts. haha

40yds was a mental hurdle for me in the past. It hasn't been since my focus has changed. Going to keep working the fundamentals. Going to keep practicing at 40-50-60yds. The further distances have been highlighting when I make an error. I like that. Makes me think about what I did wrong.
 
Dustinb80

Dustinb80

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hickslawns said:
Again, great input. Here is another issue for me: I am at 40 or 50yds and my pin is bigger than the dot I am shooting at. I think I might need to change pins to smaller sizes for the further distances. For now, I am happy to see the groups shrinking. I'm not changing crap until I am tagged out. The sight is NOT getting sent for replacement pins less than 2 weeks til season starts. haha

40yds was a mental hurdle for me in the past. It hasn't been since my focus has changed. Going to keep working the fundamentals. Going to keep practicing at 40-50-60yds. The further distances have been highlighting when I make an error. I like that. Makes me think about what I did wrong.
Click to expand...

Im in the same boat. Im thinking that I will either replace the pins, if possible, next year, or buy a whole new sight. Id like to keep what I have as there is nothing wrong with it, just that the pins are TOO big.
 
rsmith

rsmith

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That is some great shooting Brock! You are so right about shooting being all mental. Its just being mentally confident in your ability to perfectly place a arrow that is the problem with most. One or two bad arrows and all of a sudden people, including myself, start to fall apart and start shooting more sparatic and the groips just get worse and worse. It's about knowing when to say enough is enough and put down the bow for a couple minutes, hours, or even a day or two and coming back and trying again. I found that me switching from a 4 pin dovetail sight with .019 pins to a Montana black gold target sight base extended all the way with a .019 HHA mechanical reheostat scope so I can adjust my pin brightness by either exposing or hiding pin fiber has helped my shooting immensely. I feel a single pin is the way to go since you can dial to exact yardage and you also have a much less cluttered sight and not having to worry about all kinds of colored pins and just having to worry about dialing to the yardage and shooting.

 
Bigslam51

Bigslam51

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Shot 40 yards right off the rip. First 3 arrows is my first group, the 4 arrows is my second group with the one buried nock deep on the bottom left tipped with a rocket fixed blade head.
 
hickslawns

hickslawns

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My first three shots were at 50yds today. They looked like the group in your top pic Chad. I am feeling good. Then I adjusted my pin to bring it down. Went the wrong way. Had to adjust back the other direction. Doh! Shot at 20yds. One arrow at each dot. They were all on the money. Backed up to 30yds. Same as 20yds, on the money. Then it started to rain and I came in to watch football! I'm going to keep shooting and tightening up the groups. Fewer arrows per practice session. Just want to keep my skills sharp going into the season. Don't want to overthink things or shoot myself into a problem that doesn't exist. I've done that before.
 
hickslawns

hickslawns

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I always put more emphasis on my first shot than any other. It is the closest thing to shooting out of the tree stand that I will get. I could not be any less warmed up. Today, first shot at 40yds.



Next I shot around at 50yds, 30yds, 20 yds, then did a group at 40yds. Between shots I briskly walked the lawn picking up sticks, weeding the garden, etc. I wanted time between shots and NOT a resting heart rate. BPM weren't elevated like I was jogging, but not as t a rest. Here is the 40yd group.



I have been tracking which arrows shoot most true. I am now putting broad heads on my best flying arrows. They will be verified to fly true and stuffed in the quiver until needed.
 
CJD3

CJD3

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You number the arrows, right?
It looks like a "3" on the one. It seems like I always grab #3 when in a tree stand.
 
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hickslawns

hickslawns

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Thank you guys. Not for the compliments (although they are appreciated). Thank you for all the input from the start of this thread. These are not Jesse groups. They are not Mason groups and the little stinker is 1/3 my age. lol They have tightened up though and it is due to the input here and there you have all offered. Love this site! I just hope others have gained some input from this thread as well.
 
hickslawns

hickslawns

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I'm ready. First 5 arrows were shot cold from 60yds tonight. The 60yd 5 arrow group was tighter than my 40yd groups were a month ago. You guys are awesome! Just need to continue shooting a few days a week or more throughout the season. Or. . . .Tag a deer Saturday and say screw it until next year. lol
 
Acewaynes

Acewaynes

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I used to be 3" diameter and out to 50 yards, but now the site pins look a little blurry and I currently out to 40 yards. In a week or two I will be back to 50 yards. Over the 35+ years of deer hunting, I have never taken a bow shot over 38 yards. The areas I hunt are very thick.
 
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