John's Journal...

Click to enlarge"HOW TO SHOOT YOUR BOW BETTER"

Check Your Equipment before You Hunt, and Line Up Your Peep Sight for All Types of Shooting

EDITOR'S NOTE: Allen Conners of Gadsden, Alabama, the winner of the title of World Champion Target Archer numerous times, the Archery Shooters Association Shooter of the Year award, the Cabela’s Championship and the Buckmasters World Championship, Conners also loves to bowhunt. He originally became a target archer to improve his bowhunting skills and shoots target archery when he can't go bowhunting, his first and foremost priority. Hunting with a bow requires a great amount of precision. To make an accurate bow shot, you have to have your bow, arrows, broadheads and shooting skills all finely-tuned, as Click to enlargeJohn Stiff mentioned yesterday. Conners says that over the years he’s learned that the little things, the forgotten or overlooked aspects of bowhunting, often cause archers to miss their shots when they have bucks in front of their broadheads.

Check Your Equipment Before You Hunt:

Before every hunt, make sure your cables and strings are in good condition. Keep your strings and cables waxed, and look for breaks in them. If you have an abrasion on your cables or your string, more than likely you'll have trouble in the field. If you have one Click to enlargeor two strands of your bowstrings broken, your peep sight may not line up properly with your pinsight when you draw back the bow to shoot. If your cable has abrasions on it, your bow may be out of timing, causing the arrow not to hit at the same point of impact it hit when you left your home. Two or three small strings broken or roughed-up on your cables or strings may make you to miss a buck of a lifetime.

Line Up Your Peep Sight:

The peep sight causes the bowhunter to have a consistent anchor to help aim and line up his shot. If you don't have your peep sight adjusted properly, and you twist and/or turn to shoot, and have to move your head to see through your peep as you shoot, then your peep sight actually can cause you to miss the deer.

When lining up your peep sight, look through the peep sight as you aim straight ahead on Click to enlargelevel ground. But also make sure you have the same anchor point when you shoot down and away from your tree, up and away from your tree and twist to take a shot on the left and/or on the right. If you have to move your head to see through your peep sight in any one of these positions, then you'll change your anchor points, and you won't shoot accurately. Always adjust your peep sight so that regardless of how you have to turn your body to make a shot, you still look through the peep sight the same way each time. This small detail can make a big difference when you have a buck in front of you. Practice shooting from awkward positions, and remain conscious of your anchor point's location.

TOMORROW: PRACTICE JUDGING YARDAGE, DON'T JUST SHOOT DOTS, AND LEARN TO SHOOT UNDER PRESSURE


Check back each day this week for more about "HOW TO SHOOT YOUR BOW BETTER"

Day 1: How to Tune Your Bow
Day 2: Shoot Short and Light, and Choose Quality Accessories with Allen Conners
Day 3: Check Your Equipment before You Hunt, and Line Up Your Peep Sight for All Types of Shooting
Day 4: Practice Judging Yardage, Don’t Just Shoot Dots, and Learn to Shoot Under Pressure
Day 5: Use Carbon Arrows, Keep Your Bow at Arm’s Length, and Don’t Let Your Ego Cause You to Miss Deer

 

 

Entry 316, Day 3