Part 2 Presence and Consciousness Archery and Bowhunting
I want to continue this blog because it not only helps me to explore and learn about my shooting mindset in each archery practice session and also each hunting situation. My hope is that makes some connection with just a few archers to help or simply understand why certain things are happening as you progress in bowhunting or life. Guess this is where bowhunting translates into a lifestyle and not just a hobby.
I left off after explaining a situation other than ideal. When the shot you were attempting was less than ideal. A flood of emotions and visualizations were presented and it’s almost as if your arrow missed the mark before you shot. This may also be the cause of target panic and or the development of poor habits. I’d like to explore poor shooting habits first.
Poor shooting habits
How do we know they are poor unless someone teaches us or we discover them on our own. Well, if we understand first how I think our habits are formed, we may be able to discover and correct them for ourselves without a coach! (if you have access to a coach – go for it) The work “Poor” is also you or someone else’s opinion most of the time. If you are accomplishing your goals – then what does “poor” mean to you. A discussion for another day.
MY Story – I wanted to shoot archery and go hunting, it was our lifestyle growing up. I started out with beginner bows and that eventually lead up to a hunting bow. I practiced in my backyard, shooting arrow after arrow. I loved and hated how well I could hit the center of target shot after shot as I practiced often many days all year round. My focus was definitely hitting the center of the target and eventually grouping all my arrows into that 3” dot in the center. My mind was focused on this as I progressed through different bows from the ages of 5-12…and I was ready to hunt! My local 3D tournament scores were good and in my mind, I was a decent shot. Really, I was out to 25-30 yards. I had put the time in and practiced to develop muscle memory to shoot very well. I was certainly ready to expand my skills as an archer into the bowhunting world!
From what I have learned and experienced over my years of shooting archery, the mind and body are very in tune with your senses when you are first learning to do something. For example, as I was practicing in my backyard, I would aim with my eyes and put my sight pins on the target where I wanted to hit and release. If I hit the mark, I would see this and my mind would record that good feeling with the physical sequence of events that had just happened and the muscle memory programming began. If I missed my mark, I also had the experience and feeling programmed in and avoided this for future shots. My shot sequence was being programmed with each practice session! My mind and body were connecting in new ways to perform to the ability I wanted to hit in my head. When I accomplished what I was looking to do, it was just a matter of repeating this to reconfirm I was a good hunter each year. As far as I knew, I had no “poor” shooting habits. Each good shot and each bad shot developed my physical and mental shot sequence.
Poor habits in my head are really just your own idea of what might be holding you back mind or body to get you’re your own perceived next level.
Then let the new learning begin once you realize you want something to change. When you decide your 3D score needs to be improved or you want to extend your effective range out bowhunting, you begin to practice for this. Maybe it is just extending the target out farther and getting more reps. If this does not prove effective then maybe it is looking to other archers are successful at further ranges and analyzing their equipment and then it usually comes down to the form, technique and shooting style changes. Eventually, your mind and body become comfortable with the new challenge you have put before it.
SO, is the idea of “poor” shooting habits just a name we have placed on ourselves or an excuse for not putting the time and energy into achieving our perceived next level as archers?
I have to think about this more…
