I was hunting mule deer in Arizona with a couple of my friends many years back. After we separated, I found a nice buck chasing a doe. He was focused on her and never noticed that I was stalking him. I had to work around the doe a few times, but over the course of the day I was able to get in on that buck five different times. I started the day with a quiver full of arrows, but when I got back to the vehicle my bow was a whole lot lighter and I still had the tag in my pocket. My friends roared at me when I told them why my quiver was empty. I immediately began thinking about getting new friends.

I missed that buck five times, and as I walked back to the rendezvous I was able to justify each miss in a way that made it a little easier to swallow. I had hit branches, misjudged distance and been hammered by the wind. Surely, those factors were beyond my control; or were they?

MENTAL SHOOTING SLUMPS

Call it a one day shooting slump. I had found every possible way to miss a mule deer. After spending some time thinking about it, I didn’t feel any better that the errors had been mental instead of physical. The result was the same: unfilled tag, lots of ribbing from the buds. I realized that it is just as easy to get lazy mentally and let opportunities slip away as it is for your shooting form to get out of whack. I decided I had to change my pre-shot routine to include new decision points.

Spend some time thinking about the steps you take from the time you first see an animal you want to shoot until the arrow is in the air. If you rush through the sequence with little thought - quickly guessing the range, pulling the string and triggering the release - you’ll spend the rest of your life cursed by small errors.

A good routine has decision points leading up the shot for everything that has a bearing on its outcome. For example, at what point do you check for branches above the sight line that might interfere with your arrow flight? When do you assess the strength of the wind and how much it will make your arrow drift? Under what conditions do you stop a walking animal for the shot and when do you take him on the move? At what distance can you no longer trust your ability to judge range, forcing you to rely on a rangefinder? These decisions are crucial and they should be built into the preparation for each shot you take while hunting.

Pressure is another factor that can cause you to shoot poorly. We aren’t born with the ability to shoot well under pressure; it is something that has to be learned. Early in my shooting career I had trouble focusing under pressure. To overcome it, I mentally worked up high-pressure situations on the range and then shot only one arrow. My friends and I also got together to improve our performance in this regard. We made a game of trying to get each other to falter. We could do anything we wanted to distract the shooter short of actually touching him. Soon we were able to concentrate much better under pressure.

A lapse in confidence can also send you into a slump. Many bowhunters get dry mouth when a big buck approaches because they are afraid they’ll screw it up. Bad experiences in the past continue to haunt them. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy; what they fear will happen is what does happen. If your confidence is low when shooting at game, no amount of backyard practice will completely cure the problem.

Success breeds success. Grab some antlerless tags or hunt small game during the off-season. In other words, get plenty of success under your belt. You’ll quickly forget about the problems you’ve had in the past.

PHYSICAL SHOOTING SLUMPS

I’ve never had a deep slump, but I have strung together tournaments where I didn’t place as well as I thought I should. When that happens I take a step backward and focus on the fundamentals of shooting form: standing tall, bow shoulder low, torso perpendicular to arms at full draw, surprise release, etc. I put form over hold. If I do everything else well, the pin will be solid without my having to worry about it. In other words, I focus on the process and don’t try to force the results. I don’t try to force the arrow hit the spot hoping to find some kind of magic on the range that day. Instead, I go back to the basics.

I also spend time checking my bow and arrows to make sure my shooting problems aren’t caused by problems with equipment. I check the alignment of the bow’s limbs, the straightness of its axles and the condition of my arrows. I lock everything down on the bow to make sure nothing has slipped or moved.

If your shooting problems are mental, change your pre-shot routine or put yourself in situations where you can learn to manage pressure. If your misses are caused by poor execution, don’t start grasping for straws; go back to the basics. Soon you’ll be shooting like a champ again.