New to Field archery

[bearded bowyer]

Hi everyone.
My son (9 years old) and I (wrong side of 40) Have just Joined Avalon field archery club.
We have had a brilliant coaching course from a very, very experienced coach and have been let loose on the course.
As a longbow bowyer I am (despite advice against) determined to shoot only longbows. My son shoots barebow.
I have no problem with the shorter ranges (most of the time!) but I'm really struggling with anything over 40 yards.

My son thrashes me every time we shoot ( he beat me again by 70 points today)
As a reasonable father who is well adjusted and kindly.......I HAVE TO BEAT HIM!........

Any advice for a newbie.
I usually shoot longbow in the garden anything up to 30 yards.

Does it come down to, practice, practice, practice. Innate skill, or do I need to cheat

Ta.
Matt

 

[Insanity-Rocks]

Welcome to the madness of field archery! What organisation do you shoot under? GNAS(ArcheryGB), NFAS, IFAA?

Also, what poundage bow are you shooting and where you anchor? And do you gap shoot, shoot instinctively or anything else?
If you've a low poundage bow and/or are anchoring with three fingers under the arrow and at the corner of your mouth your short range will be easy but longer ranges more difficult, it might be as easy as anchoring under the chin or shooting split fingered to make distance shooting easyer.

If you give us a bit more info we can point out where you may be going wrong

 

[Deleted member 7654]

I'd say find an anchor that gives you a point on range somewhere near the average ranges you meet. Then it's getting good at that range and the V short (say 10 yard) range. The hard thing is judging if it's beyond that range or closer.
Anyhow that's what I do, too many reference points just gets confusing. The guys with compounds and their fancy sight marks are no better off than you if they can't judge the distance (ignoring their flatter trajectory which is an obvious advantage).

There are various tricks supposed to get you better at judging range.
Like constantly guessing how far it is to the whatever and pacing it. But to be honest pacing to the frozen food section in Sainsburys isn't really applicable (Inner kill on the frozen chicken at 30 yards over the deli counter! )
That's the joy of field, some of those across the valley shots, or down a narrow wooded ravine fool everyone at first.
Shoot shoot and shoot even more, let your eye and body learn it for you. If you can get good at 'point on' and 10 yards, the rest will fall into place.
A lot is confidence... If I walk up to a target and think "great, this is just about the range I shoot into my garage" I'm relaxed and confident... If you are thinking "Blimey I have no idea how far this is" you are lost before you start. Always think positive, decide that the target and range you like least is actually your favourite!

Don't worry about missing.
Last 3D I shot low on one target, moved to the next peg, stuck the second arrow right next to the first, repeated it for the third arrow... was I aggrieved?
No! That's obviously how far the target appeared to me ... they weren't "bad" shots, I'd simply misjudged the distance (plenty of excuses for this phenomenon are available). Glancing your first arrow off a tree and into the kill... that's a "bad" shot (lucky... but bad!)

Last advice try to treat every shot with the same tempo and rhythm, loosen up after the tea and nosh stops, try to get an even pace without tiring at the end, and don't worry about the running score.
How many rounds have been ruined by thinking "I only need 3 tens on the next three targets for a PB" ?
Del
BTW. Fear not there will come a time when he will pity you and let you win ... when he's about 40!

 

[Deleted member 7654]

Oh, me Sir me Sir! I've got one more!
Target Management!
On the 'easy' shots go for the kill, or the inner kill.
On the long range shot maybe consider the 'lucky leg' shot! I'll explain
We never miss left or right (or shouldn't 'cos that's the easy bit!)... but at an unknown range it's easy to be high or low.
So, if there is a standing deer at range...
With the kill near the front of the chest. A bit low and you are under the belly, a bit high and you are over the back.
What if you aim a bit further towards the head...?
A bit low, you have a 'lucky leg', a bit high, maybe shoulder or neck!
Maximize the vertical target area!
Sometimes the hind quarters are a 'safer' shot.

If you miss with the first arrow, make sure you hit with the second.
If you can average a 10 (second arrow wound) on every target you are doing ok. On the hopefully rare ocassions you get to the 3rd arrow, try to make it count, maintain focus don't throw it away.
As they often say "aim small, miss small" meaning on the huge easy Elk at 20 yards aim for a tiny spot, don't get lured into false confidence and miss.
Del

 

[Simon Banks]

Hi bearded, for a start you can't compare ELB scores with BB it's so much easier and more forgiving than ELB. Secondly it's about form so if you get that right and you can group arrows then longer ranges will be easier.

 

[Toxophilus_Archer]

Hi everyone.
My son (9 years old) and I (wrong side of 40) Have just Joined Avalon field archery club.
We have had a brilliant coaching course from a very, very experienced coach and have been let loose on the course.
As a longbow bowyer I am (despite advice against) determined to shoot only longbows. My son shoots barebow.
I have no problem with the shorter ranges (most of the time!) but I'm really struggling with anything over 40 yards.

My son thrashes me every time we shoot ( he beat me again by 70 points today)
As a reasonable father who is well adjusted and kindly.......I HAVE TO BEAT HIM!........

Any advice for a newbie.
I usually shoot longbow in the garden anything up to 30 yards.

Does it come down to, practice, practice, practice. Innate skill, or do I need to cheat

Ta.
Matt

As a bearded person myself I would say the best way would be to cheat when the 9 year old blighter is not looking. LOL

 

[bearded bowyer]

I will definitely be taking an occasional liberty with the scoring, as its me that always scores and he never checks

My arrows generally are on the right trajectory, but fall short....then of I over compensate....
My field bow is 54lbs@28. I anchor index finger at the corner of my mouth. arrow between first and second finger. I have been shooting 80lbs @ 28 ( this was my normal bow) but was told it was way too powerful, so I made a 'normal one'.
The club is NFAS
I shoot instinctively....ie I look at the bulls eye and hopefully my brain does the rest. I don't have a 1st knuckle at 80 yards thing as this seems to put me off.
The beard is definitely a help.

I find consistent grouping a problem. 4-5 out of 6 shots good... but never all of them.....BUT that depends on what you mean by a good group.
all 6 arrows in a tight inch group from 20M I cant do, but I can do a dinner plate from 20M, I could smash it every time.
I think consistency may be a big problem for me.....

 

[Simon Banks]

Hi breaded, sounds like you need a few tips from a fellow archer/coach can get you on the right track..
If you have a smartphone or camera which is video capable you can always record yourself shooting and critique you own form..
Other than that lots of practice is the normal way of improving consistancy..

 

[steve Morley]

Instinct is the easiest method to learn but the hardest to master, first you have to identify your problem areas, Tune, Form or Aim, any one is off it will impact on scores.

If you have some experience then lets assume you have average experience, this should help you identify what areas you need to work on to improve scores, most novices have no clue what their weak areas are.

One of my favorite practice methods which works well for both Instinct and Gap is the "Walkback" start at 5 yards take a shot and move back 2 yards and do this until you see the groups open out, as you improve you can make the target smaller and the walkbacks every 5 yards. What I tend to do is play a game to see how far I can get back on a 40cm Indoor face without missing, when I miss I go back half the distance and try again. What this does is maintain a higher level of focus (not just flinging arrows), each time you walk back you're getting feedback on arrow trajectory and building a mental picture of aiming and a feel for different distances, sometimes I mix it up by doing Walkforward or just finding a weak distance and working on that distance till confidence has improved.

Of course for aim/groups to improve Form has to be good, find a coach/mentor to check your Form (I do 3-4 times a year), I also video my shooting to identify Form errors myself, it's amazing the times I felt everything was good only to see the truth on video. Kinovera is a good free software that allows you to covert to slow motion and frame by frame this makes finding faults easier.

Kinovea

hope this helps.

 

[Riceburner]

Can't really add much to the above apart from "Keep enjoying it!" If you find that you're not enjoying yourself then there's a mental block to improvement.