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What did you do today???

46K views 834 replies 102 participants last post by  slimshady2 
#1 ·
Thought it would be interesting to have a spot where people could post what they are working on everyday or week. Got this idea reading where people were talking about wanting to hear what works for them to fix an issue rather than a cookie cutter answer.

This could be a running log of sorts. And a place where maybe people can read what your doing and possibly copy or modify what you're working on to help their training.

I'll start.

This week I setup my Supra from 3D to indoors (yes, i know, I'm late). The past 2 days have been spent really dialing in my DL and form and working on shot execution. Shot about 100 arrows each day blank bail and blind bail to work on my execution. Trying to work on bleeding out some extra tension in my release hand.

What are you guys currently doing?
 
#2 ·
Good topic.

Today, So far, I have shot 30 arrows with little intent but to stretch things out since I haven't shot in three days. That's it.

Then, opened a "shooting" book written by a very good friend of mine because I've committed to re-reading it, again, in the next day or so. I found a portion in the book that somewhat explains the "relaxing" part of my shot process because I was having a hard time explaining it over on another topic. I intend to post a pic of the paragraph or two shortly on the topic.

The rest of the day will be spent talking about or researching archery. Then shoot another 30 arrows or so before bed.

On paper, pretty boring really. But it's what I do. Most days.
 
#3 ·
I'm being nice, staying inside...Shotgun deer season is in for 4 days and the wife is hunting.

Yesterday I was walking to my target bales and not 30 feet from the house were deer tracks. Our house sits in the middle south end of our 31 acres. I've taken 35 plus deer with a bow since 2000, dozen with a shotgun and 5 with a pistol. The wife has taken near a dozen with her shotguns. Productive little 31 acres.
 
#4 ·
Great idea. It will be cool if it can be followed. Of course I'm skeptical, but I'm willin to give it a shot. I think it would be beneficial to post results to your own issues as well. It would be super-great, if you could keep out the, "That won't work, do this", comments.

Here's my current issue:

The 7th end. Sometimes the 8th. Last night I went into the 7th end -2. Both were no more than 1/16" out of the baby X. The first arrow of the 7th end barely busted the ten line. I knew it wasn't there, but started the shot anyway. (BAD BAD BAD) The next arrow went out to pasture between the 9 and 10 rings because I didn't make myself shake off the previous shot and settle back in.

I settled back in after that miss and shot clean the remaining ends. I know It’s game pressure messing with my head. I know it’s not going away without learning to power through it. I am not the guy that can convince myself that I need to forget about the game. It’s just not happening. I prefer to practice like it counts, and my competition scores closely match my practice scores.

What I am going to try to work on for the next couple weeks, is to slow down and go back to basics with conquering each shot under pressure. It will involve a lot more let downs, even when I know it’s close enough to still be an X.
 
#5 ·
Great idea. It will be cool if it can be followed. Of course I'm skeptical, but I'm willin to give it a shot. I think it would be beneficial to post results to your own issuesas well. It would be super-great, if you could keep out the, "That won't work, do this", comments.

Here's my current issue:

The 7th end. Sometimes the 8th. Last night I went into the 7th end -2. Both were no more than 1/16" out of the baby X. The first arrow of the 7th end barely busted the ten line. I knew it wasn't there, but started the shot anyway. (BAD BAD BAD) The next arrow went out to pasture between the 9 and 10 rings because I didn't make myself shake off the previous shot and settle back in. I settled back in after that miss and shot clean the remaining ends. I know It’s game pressure messing with my head. I know it’s not going away without learning to power through it. I am not the guy that can convince myself that I need to forget about the game. It’s just not happening. I prefer to practice like it counts, and my tournament scores closely match my practice scores. What I am going to try to work on for the next couple weeks, is to slow down and go back to basics with conquering each shot under pressure. It will involve a lot more let downs, even when I know it’s close enough to still be an X.
That's what I'm hoping this thread turns into. I will definitely update as I progress. I know what needs to happen with my release hand, just need to figure out how to do it.
 
#7 ·
Worked on 10yd drills. My focus is on a perfectly repeatable full draw position.

With all the mention of soft hands and hard hands I played with drawing with relaxed hands. Draw cycle is smoothed out with relaxed hands with the side effect of blowing it out the top. Keeping some tension in the back of my draw hand sends it down the middle with a longer shot break time and more energy used. Finding the right balance along with understanding why shots end up 1-2 shafts high is paramount for me.
 
#8 ·
Just recently discovered this site. Coming from hunting,3d, target has to me seems like, a lot of money spent for reasonable results. A common demonator seems like the shot/release is the main technique to work on, universal maintenance, for me still researching release sequence and repeatablility is a constant journey for me. Have been shooting the same new to me ringer release(4 months) and finally gotten to the point that I have different firing engines to explore. So much fun!
 
#9 ·
Working on release execution, been working on shooting a hinge for the last 8 months. Some days are awesome others I can't seem to relax my release hand and will just pull till I am blue in the face and have to let down.

Today was productive maybe 80 arrows from 30 yards on the 15 to 30 field face. Hand full of misses, but I was able to identify what went wrong with the shot. Also was getting my honey 3 speed set, just got it back from carter, all new guts for 27$ , what a deal.
 
#11 ·
Working on release execution, been working on shooting a hinge for the last 8 months. Some days are awesome others I can't seem to relax my release hand and will just pull till I am blue in the face and have to let down.
I like the "pull till I am blue in the face" comment. Sounds like exactly what I am going thru. Many, many blank bale shots and working on forcing myself to let down. Letting down when required is probably my biggest hurtle. But, I am slowly getting over the "Letting down is a sign of weakness mentality" I seem to have started out with.
 
#10 ·
I frustrated myself on the blank/blind bale for about an hour this morning. I'm working on developing a "one shot" execution but can't seem to find the sweet spot. With my eyes open I can't seem to get the same feel as with them closed and visa versa. I think this may be a confidence issue. I've also never really had a specific "one shot". While my basic form is always close, my actual execution varies, sometimes from shot to shot. As a result, sometimes I shoot very well and sometimes I don't. The venue doesn't seem to matter, nor does it seem to matter if it is competition or practice. I'd love to blame my age but the truth is that this demon has always been with me.
 
#12 ·
What I found when I was pulling til I was blue in the face was that I was pulling with my arm and not my back. If your're pulling properly with your back your elbow will rotate around and the release will fire (with a hinge), unless you're death gripping the release with your index finger and no pressure on the middle and ring fingers.
 
#14 ·
Sorry, forgot to post about today. I am fighting a sinus infection with terrible allergies so practice is out of the question. Headache, stuffy nose, coughing so practice shots would not be the best therefore no need to practice bad shots, I do enough of those already.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for all the advice. I am figuring it out, really enjoy shooting the hinge. The good shots feel so good. Then there are those days where I struggle. Had definitely taught me to let down when the shot is deteriorating.

Got the speed on the honey 3 dialed in. I feel like I am kind of cheating the back tension purpose if I set the speed to hot.
 
#16 ·
I changed anchor points about a week ago and finally felt confident enough to go shoot a 300 rd and did ok. I had been anchoring behind my ear but seemed to always get a lot of right and lefts. I now hit my jaw bone. Just a lot more practice and getting comfortable with a new engine. After the 300 rd I know im going to have to speed up my hinge because as I get tired it seems like im pulling till I run out of air then let down. practice, practice practice but if the first round is any indication the new anchor took care of some right and lefts.
 
#17 ·
Today? Seriously? I spent a good part of the day hammering the FedEx tracking site, watching as my new-to-me Hoyt Pro Comp elite XL slowly matriculated through all the FX centers between Abilene, TX and here. When I wasn't face down in my laptop, I was working the BowTrainer as part of my program to reinforce my shooting platform. What else? Hmm, spent some time trying to develop a firing sequence using my old bow and the new Stan MoreX hinge release that I can reproduce consistently. After more than a few bug eyed grunting, efforts to get the bloody thing to go off during which I discovered every possible way to "punch" a back-tension release , I think I now understand what you guys have been saying about relaxing the release hand while taking up the slack that creates with back tension. The motion is so subtle I had to set the release really slow to exaggerate the motion enough to recognize clear what I was doing. Doing that made all the difference between understanding how this hinge release works amd "pulling 'til I'm blue in the face". It feels like letting the tension out of my drawing forearm while simultaneously building tension between my shoulder blades. Or at least that the best description I can give for what sets the release off reliably in a way that just feels right. There's a lot more to be sorted out, but I feel like this is a good thing.

Other that that, I've been watching the rain, the glorious rain coming down here in NorCal where it's been so dry for so long.
 
#19 ·
I love this idea for a thread :thumbs_up

cbrunson - Its interesting that you have the mid-shoot hang-ups. Maybe we can help each other as I'm struggling with the beginning/end. It's the middle where I'm strongest.

I haven't shot in a few days (shooting 2x week right now), but will be getting more into daily training starting next week. I'm running a marathon tomorrow - hoping to qualify for the Boston marathon. After that, all eyes are on indoors and indoors only.
 
#21 ·
I'm thinking it's all a brain thing for me. Possibly that I am relaxing too much and letting laziness habits creep in because the game is going good. Then after a miss, I go back to focussing hard and shoot well. I tend to shoot better with the pressure on. Or, I am sub-consciously telling myself I need to miss one, so I can relax the rest of the game. Either way, I need to get my head right, knowing I usually struggle through those shots.

Even when I shoot a 300 (Vegas), my missed Xs are usually concentated in the 5th to eighth ends. If I can get to the ninth end clean, I know I'll get that 29-30x game. Tiny battles, right?

I'm going to pay close attention to what I'm thinking about while I'm shooting over the next week.
 
#20 ·
A little late, but from Sunday
Short range drills 8 yards
Trying out Sugru mod, adjusted side stab up, sped up release (just for position, still using same click)
Shot much better....but I still have to learn to make the call to let down sooner....the miss on the 2nd target, I KNEW was not right, and I decided to let down....JUST as I decided that, it fired ruining the target LOL!

Before 11/15(7 yards 30 arrows)

Electronics Technology Electronic device Finger Animation



After 11/29 (8 yards 30 arrows)

 

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#23 ·
I have had a layoff from shooting for almost 3 weeks so I went in last night and got in a good 50 or so shots and shot better than I expected, I did have a couple misses but I had a good mental approach to the night and didn't let it bother me. After those 50 shots I twisted my bow string and reduced my draw length over a quarter inch, it had stretched over the past few months and I had been needing to fix it. I did feel much better after shortening.


Tonight I am going to continue getting in some volume shooting because I just don't feel right yet, I hate coming off of peeking and having awesome shooting and then having a multi week break because I loose that edge that I had where my feel is just spot on and I can just relax and bang x's.
 
#25 ·
Today RI-Mike and I took a ride up to X-Spot Archery in North Attleboro, MA and shot for about an hour. While I didn't shoot for score I was very pleased with my shooting today. I've opened my stance from neutral and switched to a ST-360 release. Mush improved hold and arrow placement.
 
#26 ·
Last night I was stuck at the in-laws so I didn't get to shoot and tonight I had my son so we were doing the whole Christmas tree thing, but I did sneak in one shot when I went to shut the garage. I'll take it...

Games Curling Darts Recreation Indoor games and sports
 
#27 ·
Not got a couple dozen arrows down range today. It takes me a couple dozen to warm up and get my left right dialed. Any one else have that issue, left and right vary by 1-3 inches each time you shoot? I group great just need to give and take some clicks each new day, some days no change.
 
#28 ·
Well, if I ain't doing archery I'm thinking archery. Wife still hunting so I thinking archery. Thinking about draw length; different cams, twist string, d-loop, longer draw mods. Thought about shooting in garage, but I don't want to shoot 7 yards or 8 or 9 or 10 yards (door open).

Break in the action ;) My ATV is fixed. Blown side case gasket, but no big deal other than the engine has to be pulled. Scary time, cracked carburetor bowl. It's been this way, but pulling the engine got it to leaking. You don't buy bowls separate from the main body of the carburetor. $420.00! Can't weld, can't seal with J&B weld, mechanic says nothing works when gas is present. Call Wiz Kid, my brother. "I got just what you need." Ultra Bond. Nobody has it and asks, what is it. NAPA doesn't have a clue. Two packs of it brought in from Missouri, $42.00. Tad bit of grinding to get depth in crack. Apply Ultra Bond. Two days. Mechanic take ATV out for a test hop. I tell him not to baby it. "Man, your ATV screams." No leaks, completely dry. The stuff works! Mechanic and Kaw Dealer go nuts! Buys the second pack and orders more. Whew! Pick up Monday after shotgun season.

Back to thinking about archery. Tim Gillingham is always good for something. Facebook, (gloom). On Dial Up you get to hating Facebook. Tim is playing with d-loops, 1/16" at a time. From picture, he leaves no stone unturned.

You have to follow Tim, so not all is here, but a good start of understanding.
Tim; Take off d-loop and measure and make different lengths until you find what fits you the best. The release length will fit into the equation. You may have to raise or lower your peep slightly, but when you find perfect then use a draw board to duplicate it on every bow you have.
Well, I read this from John Dudley's articles years back - so Tim was memory shaker. I've done this with my prior bows with d-loops, shortened some, stretched others, made other when too short.

450/44X says Tim is on track. Doesn't look it, but I ain't questioning the big guy.
 

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#29 ·
You do NOT need to remove the d-loop and make another one 1/16" longer and reinstall!!!
You can lengthen the d-loop right on the bow in increments smaller than 1/16", up to a point, that is. All you have to do is measure the d-loop opening with a set of calipers (take 3 measurements and toss out the ringer), and then, using your d-loop pliers stretch the d-loop a nudge, and re-measure it, normally you can get up to about 1/8" or a nudge more by doing this, assuming that you haven't already stretched your d-loop too tightly the first time. Even then, however getting 1/16" more length right on the bow is pretty easy!
Once you have the d-loop opening set, then you need to measure that opening with a set of calipers and write it down. It is also wise to make sure you make up several pre-measured lengths of d-loop material to match what you now have on the bow, too. I'd wager that most shooters don't even know the "starting length" of the d-loop rope before they install it on the string...let alone what the measurement of the opening is...and thus, they mess up their anchor point something terrible when they have to install a new loop!
Then, when you reinstall a new d-loop, you simply cinch it up until the caliper measurement matches what was written down before you changed the d-loop! 0.001" isn't a big deal...but when you are talking 0.100 or more, then it IS serious! All too many people just cinch 'er down and haven't a clue what the length of that opening was before they just tore things apart... and then wonder why the bow "feels" differently or their anchor doesn't feel right...>DAH!
I always know where that d-loop belongs, both on the bow string and the size of that opening down to the nearest 0.001"!
field14 (Tom D.)
 
#30 ·
Swapped my upper left for lower right and resighted in changed things quite a bit.took 30 shots to get it back close but still tuning at least the last 5 were good x's . Coach changed my release form and it is obviously playing havoc with things. Head still needs to focus on the release form. This makes aiming suffer a lot for now then back to automatic.
 
#31 ·
Spot on, field14!! That's exactly what I do and can tell the difference when I move it 0.05". I'm sure most will think that's BS, but it's true. I've spent way too much time and money messing with loop lengths. It's one of the most overlooked things....
 
#32 ·
Still battling a sinus infection, stuffy, coughing etc but I finally managed enough to get out and shoot some. Thirty arrows at 8 yards, nine at 20 and then finished up with 20 just blank baling. Reinforcing my shot and the hinge firing process. I think the last 20 were the best practice in terms of what I was gaining during practice today.
 
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