# Lesson Learned



## snw_brdr10 (May 20, 2014)

Well I have been spending a few nights this week working on tightening up my groups at longer distances. I was taught a lesson last night while shooting at 60 yards. That lesson: *DON'T SHOOT AT LONG DISTANCES WHEN YOUR ARM GETS TIRED!*

I could tell my arm was getting tired, but I had some good shots last night and wanted to keep going. Well... it got to the point where I missed the target completely on 3 of my last 5 shots. Each of those 3 arrows hit a rock and shattered. Lesson learned.

What lessons have you learned along the way?


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## nelsonccc (Jul 8, 2014)

When I'm practicing, I'll get set up and then take one shot at 60 yards first and I always try to do it from a kneeling position or turned funny or something awkward. Trying to train myself to be able to take longer shots and make the first one count. There were a lot of times, initially, where I would flat out miss the 10x10 paper target taped to my target bag. I also do the same thing when I'm done. I wait for 10-15 minutes to rest and then I go back to 60 and take the quickest walking to draw to release shot that I can to see how I do when I'm tired and in a rush. Lost a few arrows that way....


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## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

I learned that I'm terrible at archery.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

nelsonccc makes a good point. Make your first shot count.
I've learned arrows are expensive and 60 yards is still a long ways to shoot.
Every shot should be practice of a good shot. If you are getting tired and keep shooting all you're doing is starting to reinforce bad habits.


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## bow_dude (Aug 20, 2009)

One of the lessons I have learned is that you do not have to practice long shots to be good at long shots. Let me explain. If you learn to hit the half inch dot at 20 yards every shot, you are learning to concentrate and aim "finely". Using the same principle, you aim "finely" and concentrate on the target at long distances and you hit the target. The lesson to learn is not how to hit the target at long distances but to hold steady enough to hit the target at long distances. The old saying, aim small hit small, certainly applies. One of the ways to hold steady is learning how to relax and not tense up. I practiced martial arts for well over 25 years. You practice kicking, punching and blocking many hundreds of thousands of times. When you do many many sets of basics in a single practice, you tire and become fatigued. When you fatigue, you begin to relax and do the technique without putting any muscle into it and then the technique starts to become practiced correctly (relaxed). That is when true form and correctness is learned. I have learned that correct form can be learned in archery when you finally relax and begin to let form work rather than "muscle" the bow into position. The trick is getting to that proper practice form and concentration then learning when to quit before bad habits are learned. Like martial arts, archery is mostly mental and proper form. The two arts have many similarities and can complement each other. Ever heard of "Zen and the Art of Archery"?


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

Archery IS a martial art.


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