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That's funny right there, I always say instinctive works best between 10 and 25 yards where the gap is about the same......

Not saying it can't be done, but I sure do shoot better with a reference and consistent form.

I've seen some mighty fine shooters that claimed to shoot instinctive. I always thought they were gappers and either didn't know it or wouldn't admit it.

I would think that instinctive shooters might be better served by turning the bow on it's side and drawing it back down low to their waistline or mid chest. Then there wouldn't be anyone thinking that they were actually looking at the arrow.

Drawing the nock back to your face right below your eyes makes it seem like you are looking, pointing, (aiming) at where you want the arrow to go.

I have shot drawn to the chest many times frog hunting or goofing around and it worked just fine. We were emulating how we thought Indians may have shot at close range off of horseback. Out to ten yards you can do pretty good.

I wouldn't hunt whitetails that way, even at ten yards. I would draw back to my face so I could see where the arrow was pointed. Even if I imagined that it was invisible.

This!

Not This!

I'm both of those CRS - which seems to really be a crazy thought. Shooting targets to help shoot accurately when bowhunting. Seems very logical to me, but for some reason taking the wheels off and shooting targets is taboo.

I told you what I enjoy. Again I ask why do you think you can't be both a hunter and archer?

Those two posts were just expressing my passion. Absolutely you can be both. I choose to be a bowhunter.

If I couldn't bowhunt, I would not pick up a bow.

I sincerely respect your ability, I simply do not have the natural ability to be a great archer.

I would love to shoot some arrows with you, hopefully it would be in a hunting camp though.

My friend, I would love to share a bowhunting camp with you. You do have the ability to be a great archer. I just believe you have been sold the lie that it comes naturally. People with some physical attributes seem to learn a bit faster, but if you are coordinated enough to walk and chew gum at the same time, you can learn archery.

There are a lot of things that handicap new archers that more experienced archers can point out and greatly accelerate the learning curve just like someone who knows how to hunt can teach a new hunter. Saying you don't have the natural ability to be a great archer is like me saying I don't have the natural ability to be a bowhunter. there some that will excel at either or both but the drive to want to and willingness to learn is probably the most important thing.

R H,
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I will keep working at, no doubt.

I have always struggled with the longer shots (>30 yards), limited by my method probably. I think gap shooting would really help in that aspect.

Find your point on distance, the distance at which you can put your point at exactly six o'clock,with your anchor the same. All that will do is eliminate the sight picture error from the equation. Then you can work on the other elements of the shot. Shooting at distance will really show any errors in form or release. It will also show errors in tuning. When you think you are getting good, try shooting a group of fletched and bare shafts at 40 yards. If your bow is tuned and your form is perfect, they will all group in the same group.

Have you ever bare shaft tuned at 10-20 yards?

Bare shaft tuning is useless chooser the 25 yards. Arrow isn't out of paradox at the shorter distances.

I agree that "fine" tuning a bareshaft is useless at shorter distance. But I've seen guys shooting carbons so far out of spine that they couldn't even hit a 4'X 4' soft target at 15 yards. The arrow would slap the target sideways if at all. Starting to tune by selecting different shafts, cutting, or adding weight certainly made a world of difference for them at 15 yards. They went from missing the target to hitting a small spot on it just by getting the correct spine bareshaft. I wouldn't call that useless. I've done this with new trad shooters dozens of times.

I have done a bunch of bare shaft tuning. Not going to get into that discussion right now, as my approach is a little out of the ordinary.

Point taken. I've never been that far off in spin selection where a 15 yard target was hard to hit with an arrow.

Bill, I don't think it is likely to be as bad today. This was mostly around 7 years ago dealing with trad guys just starting to shoot carbons. There is a much greater wealth of knowledge regarding selection of carbon shafts today, floating around the net.

I completely agree that bareshafting is best done at greater distance, but you also have to factor in how well a guy can shoot. Until someone can shoot a good group, they are mostly chasing their tail trying to really fine tune bareshafts at farther than 20-25 yards.

For anyone interested I have listed my Bighorn recurve in the classifieds for sale. May not be for someone just starting out as it pulls 65#.

I would agree whole-hearted with that statement. I would add that a walk in the woods stump shooting, up, down, and at different distances is the best way to sharpen your shooting skills.

I agree, but I think a fellow should work on both at the same time. Hopefully the deer will be within range of one or the other.