My grandson just got his Jr Bowhunters license so it appears I have to take a course to get mine so I can take him. I've never bow hunted since I was never too good with a bow.
Sounds like fun, my oldest boy wants a bow for Christmas, we are going to wait until summer so he gets some good use at it. Even if you're not that good with a bow it will be a time he will never forget
RH Congratulations, and if you need anything just ask I have been bow hunting for 25 + years for all western animals.
You are going to have a lot of fun learning together. Put a couple of targets up in the backyard and practice, practice, practice.
He's been practicing at a friend's archery club and is getting pretty good. He's been using a 40# bow with no trouble getting a straight pull and hitting the target. I, on the other hand, have a black and blue inner elbow for my trouble. I thought the same thing about a back year practice range. Thanks for the suggests and encouragement guys
Thanks Quig. I'll see how it goes then let you know. He's showing a real interest in outdoor sports but I'm the only one he has to help him along. His mom isn't into the the same activities and his dad is a city boy whose only experience is baseball. I'm the only one he has to teach/share these things with and I take the responsibility of being a good influence very seriously. I take the little guy (oops, can't call him that any more cause he's taller than me) to the range, on wilderness weekends, fishing, and now the archery range. When his interest in his school work slides, which is a problem with this fellow, his punishment is not the loss of a video game but rather no trip to the range with Grammy. These are all the things I wanted to do with my daughter when she was that age but they didn't hold the same interest to her. This is my last chance to open this door for another human being.
Pick up a arm shield for those bruises where the string sometimes can whack your arm. Also, make it a game for him. Set up balloons, then once he is proficient with hitting them then play tic-tac-toe with balloons (with and without water). The key is to always make it fun, and always quit while they are still having fun. The guy that got me into archery and bow hunting always kept it fun. We would have contest, shoot targets at all kinds of different ranges, shoot moving targets (tires with foam in the middle) and even hunt small game in the off-season. All of this kept me interested and fired up about shooting. The topper was the bow shoots that we used to attend. That was really a lot of fun. Getting to shoot lots of different targets and competing against others. I really need to get my bow out and shoot it.
If you wack your arm take a half of step to your right with your leading foot( left foot), and to the left if shooting left handed using the right foot. It opens the shooting stance in the arms for clearance from the string.
Let me pass on two pieces of advice. 1) Work up to twenty shots per day. When you can start a session and shoot twenty arrows into the target without a major pause, your muscles are ready to become more accurate. Do no more than three sessions of twenty shots per day. 2) Get targets with multiple bulls eyes, aim at different ones each shot. I have multiple arrows that have nicks in the side where I hit an arrow before I learned this trick. The advice that Quigley Sharps gave you about foot placement is right on too. I heard it from an Olympic Gold Medalist at a seminar. Just move that foot back about half a step and keep your body in line with the target. Works great. Good luck with bow hunting.
It sounds like you're locking your elbow and/or gripping the bow with all of your fingers? If so, don't lock your elbow and try holding your pinky out (like your holding a tea cup). If you get your hand canted to about a 45 degree angle, it will rotate you arm enough to get it out of the way. Keep us updated on your progress.
How about an update RH. How is the shooting going? I recently picked my bow back up after not shooting it for years. Glad I did, I am really enjoying it and it is all coming back to me.
E.L., Thanks for updating this. I just got a bow and it's been years since I shot one. I'm going to be using the advice in here soon!
We've been practicing every chance we get. I set up targets on my property and we were trying to set some time in every week until the sub zero cold spell hit. I am getting better but my grandson far outshines me. He gives me pointers rather than the other way around. I haven't snapped my inner elbow the past several times out, thanks in large part to the suggestions here. I'm really swamped with work at the moment but as soon as I can find a few minutes, I have a funny story to share about my "hunting dog"
