I think instinctive shooting is boils down to how you assess where your arrow is pointing. There are different ways of doing this. I've seen people shoot blindfolded, so unless they are peeking (LOL) for them it'a all about memory and I am guessing they rely on the feel of where their arm is.

I have been shooting compounds and recently got tired of using my sight. I found that I was getting tense trying to hold my pin perfectly still and on the x. It got to the point that I wasn't really enjoying as much as I used to. So, off with the sight, still using the same compound but now I just try to look where my arrow is pointing. I scan the entire length of the arrow to assess its trajectory. Just looking at the tip doesn't give enough information. Right to left is easier to get right than vertical, but after while it all falls into place. I find this kind of shooting to be more relaxing. I get more shots in also because I'm not aiming nearly as long.

Honestly though, I don't know if what I am describing falls under the proper definition of instinctual.

 

I think instinctive shooting is boils down to how you assess where your arrow is pointing. There are different ways of doing this. I've seen people shoot blindfolded, so unless they are peeking (LOL) for them it'a all about memory and I am guessing they rely on the feel of where their arm is.

I have been shooting compounds and recently got tired of using my sight. I found that I was getting tense trying to hold my pin perfectly still and on the x. It got to the point that I wasn't really enjoying as much as I used to. So, off with the sight, still using the same compound but now I just try to look where my arrow is pointing. I scan the entire length of the arrow to assess its trajectory. Just looking at the tip doesn't give enough information. Right to left is easier to get right than vertical, but after while it all falls into place. I find this kind of shooting to be more relaxing. I get more shots in also because I'm not aiming nearly as long.

Honestly though, I don't know if what I am describing falls under the proper definition of instinctual.

 

I appreciate your reply and what you describe when using your sight is a form of "target panic". Have you heard of it? I believe true "Instinctive Shooting", "does not involve any aiming technique". I can't believe there is still so much confusion and misunderstanding of "Traditional Archery" and "Instinctive Shooting". Instinctive shooting uses our innate instincts and involves the right hemisphere of the brain (recognizing that a small part of the population has right & left hemisphere functions reversed). Whenever you use any aiming technique that involves cognitive thought or talking to yourself in your mind, you are using your left hemisphere--responsible for speech and logic--cognitive thought. Trying to shoot "Instinctively" and using any aiming technique cannot be done at the same time. The "Form" for instinctive shooting must be learned first and it is done with cognitive thought. Trying to "hit" instinctively, by definition, is using your instincts--right hemisphere. Practicing form and trying to shoot instinctively cannot be done at the same time. The form for instinctive shooting is very specific and requires hours of practice to learn. History tells us that some Asian disciplines taught form by tying a string to the arrow, so that it would be pulled to ground to prevent any thought of where the arrow was going to strike, while learning proper form.

 

I think "instinctive shooting" falls into the same sort of semantics as "muscle memory".

There is no such thing as 'muscle memory". Nor is there a "instinct" to shoot an arrow.

Therefore the discussion of what it is comes down to how you define the terms.



"Instinctive" seems to be a term that really comes down to "repetition to the point of acceptable results" when used in the archery world.


But I'd argue that a skill developed to a higher degree isn't "instinctive" at all. I'm only talking the semantics of the word now. Instincts are built in and happen without development. Instincts are also (I believe) 'responses'.

Someone swings a stick at your head... you move = instinct.
Pick up a bow and arrow, nock and fire the arrow (regardless of aiming system) = not instinct. So there is just no such thing as instinctive shooting, any more than there is such a thing as "muscle memory".




Keep in mind, my post is purely about the use of the words 'instinct" or "memory". I am not denying that people can develop a very good capability of hitting a target with an arrow by using no sights or equipment-based aiming techniques. Of course they can.
It's just not "instinctive".

 

I am sorry but I must disagree with you on the idea that there is no such thing as muscle memory. I have been a guitar player for over 50 years. Once I have fully internalized how to play a song, I do not have to think about how to play it anymore because I have taught the muscles in my fingers how to play that song. In fact if I tried to think my way through a song I would likely forget how to play it all together. Obviously muscles don't have a memory but our brains do train or teach our muscles how to respond to various stimuli and constantly refine those responses with practice and repetition.

I am a newbie to archery, I'm using a 40lb recurve bow for target practice. However, I have already discovered that if I point my arrow in the general direction of where I want it to go and then stare at or focus on the bulls eye instead of trying to aim the arrow at the bulls eye, my aim automatically adjusts to where I am looking and my chances of success are much greater. Not sure if that is called instinctive or not but it works for me.

 

I am familiar with target panic, but rarely does it get to the point of flinching on my shot. I pretty much overcame that tendency. The mental tension I referred to when using a sight perhaps comes from controlling the target panic.

I agree instinctual shooting is much more a right brain, felt sense than a cognitive process. The difference between the 2 can get blurry though. I've heard instinctual shooting is more like throwing a ball. When we learn to throw a ball there is a process of sensing what we did when we miss, like letting the ball go too soon resulting in a high miss. As I practice more, assessing where my arrow is pointing has become less about looking at the arrow and the target and more about just knowing. I think of it like paying a violin. Playing a note correctly on an instrument like the violin or the trombone where there isn't frets or valves, muscle memory places the fingers exactly where they need to go, 1/100 of an inch off and you are noticeably sharp or flat. At first there is some thinking about it and "trying" after awhile it is automatic.

That's just my sense of it as someone who is perhaps just creating my own idea of what it means to shoot instinctively. Just using the term in its literal sense, kind of defies the process of learning. Instincts are not learned but perhaps they are honed?

@ Archanon, We were writing at the same time, so I'm adding this edit. I agree completely, and never liked the term "Instinctive" when it comes to archery. I prefer "bare bow" to describe what I am doing. However, "bare bow" doesn't clarify the difference between lining up specific visual points, vs the more wholistic process we are referring to with "instinctual".

 

Your perspective is very thought provoking. I would agree that picking up a bow and nocking the arrow arrow is not instinctive, but intentional. To support your position, perhaps the "form" is not instinctive. However, I think there comes a point in a true instinctive shot that is totally without use of logic or cognitive thought or logical thought. I would say that we still have an instinct to hunt and that at the moment of truth, we have an instinct to kill (probably not politically correct in today's world, but I believe it). If we try to imagine our early ancestors "when bows were first invented", I don't think they were string-walking or using the point of their arrow to aim. I think our instincts to hunt and kill are built into our DNA by those ancestors. I think "buck fever" happens when, at the moment a human is about to take an animal's life, they fight their "instincts" and try to apply logic to what they are about to do. For me, I completely abandon any conscious thought and just let my instincts take over. I think there is a part of our brain that has this ability, but I don't think you can explain it verbally. I think it happens in the right hemisphere and speech is centered in the left hemisphere. When someone asks you "why do you hunt" and you stumble over your words, it is because you are trying to explain something verbally, with logic, that you actually do because it is instinctual.

 

It is my belief that all aspects of form must be practiced to the extent that they do not require conscious thought. For my shooting, a true instinctive shot has 100% concentration on the target and none on any aspect of executing the shot. I don't think form can be practiced at the same time you are trying to hit a target. The moment I realize I was thinking about some deficiency in my form as I was trying to hit the target, I stop trying to hit the target and go back to form practice to correct the deficiency.

 

Generally, when introduce instinctive shooting to young people, I ask them if they've every thrown a baseball or a rock. Most - if not all - raise their hand. I continue by telling them that throwing a spear was the same, you look at a target and throw the spear at that point. Eventually, you practice and get better. So no, someone invented this "machine" called a bow. It did the throwing for you. Your first job is to establish a repeatable foundation to shoot from with the same form - like golf. After you get good at that, you adjust your from for the distance. But, the upper body always remains the same. Did you ever throw a ball at a farther distance? You bend at the waist, yes? Same with archery. The platform from the waste up stays the same. Don't raise your bow arm because it affects the tenstion on the arrow and string.

 

When I was young I use to bowfish. Since my bow was so strong and my range so close, I looked down the shaft.

 

I like the golfing analogy. You can't get much more instinctive than golf.

 

That is the best analogy yet. There is no way to aim a golf ball

 

Another approach that helped my daughter's golf is to imagine the arc, trajectory, or path to reach your target. It isn't a straight line. And so, by maintaining your form and releasing your arrow just as you'd see your ball or arrow fly, It will become so with practice. I asked her to do this at the driving range and her drive improved.

 

I like to recommend a book all of you might appreciate. The title is "With Winning in Mind" by Lanny Bassham. The author is a rifle shooter but I've used his methodology on golf with my daughter. A separate lesson I've learned from another rifle shooter is that your command to shoot and add pressure is not seeing your sights line up and then you tell yourself to press the trigger. Instead, the ideal sign picture commands your finger to add pressure. And so, if your sight picture changes, you stop adding pressure to the trigger.

 

Split Finger instinctive, in my case, involves repeating the same exact form over and over. Doing this will result in the same shot over and over as seen in my practice rounds. In just a few months since switching to split finger, I have 6 rounds going 20 yards and grouping 4 of the six within an inch of each other and the other two just a couple inches outside of that group. All kill shots. When the form is correct the shot is effortless. When I feel slightly off, the arrow is off. I love that I do not aim but rather guide the arrow where it needs to go. Should I get fatigued, all the shots are off.

 

Another instinctive shooter who could have won Lancaster. Where are these guys hiding?