Shots from a tree stand feel different (they are different) from those you take on the ground. It doesn’t matter how well you’ve shot on the flat land all summer, you need to put in a few hours of practice time from trees before you nock your first arrow with killer intent. Here are the things to keep in mind as you prepare for the season.

MAINTAIN YOUR POSTURE

Failure to keep the proper body angles is the number one mistake most bowhunters make when shooting from a stand. The tendency is to drop the bow arm and tip the head forward when making a downward shot. This changes all the important relationships between your bow arm, torso, bow and eye that you’ve worked so hard all summer to perfect. I’m convinced that next to buck fever, this is the number one reason bowhunters miss from a stand.

Bend fully from the waist and keep your bow arm at a 90-degree angle to your torso. It is also important to maintain these same angles if you will be shooting while seated. Lean your upper body in the seat. Again, don’t fall into the bad habit of simply dropping your bow arm. It’s an accuracy killer.

If you aren’t used to bending at the waist, it can feel very awkward. That’s why you need plenty of practice time from a tree stand before you start hunting. Until good form feels comfortable, you won’t do it properly during the excitement of a real shot at game. Instead, you will revert to what you know best. Make sure that what you know best is the right stuff.

GET THE RIGHT RANGE

Every stand hunter must consider two distances when choosing a pin. The first is the distance from the base of the tree to the animal. This is the true horizontal distance and is the one that will affect your arrow’s trajectory. The second is the line of sight distance straight from your rangefinder to the animal’s vitals. Unless you are shooting a fast arrow, using the wrong distance can affect your accuracy.

Regardless of which distance you use while hunting, you must be consistent and use the same strategy while practicing. If you will be getting your range readings from stand height using a rangefinder, and then using the corresponding pin, you should sight in the same way even though it is not the right distance horizontally. The reason is simple. If you ever have to range an animal directly you won’t have to do any mental juggling to come up with the right pin.

On the other hand, if you are pacing off distances around your stand you should use this same true horizontal distance when sighting in and practicing too. Stay consistent and you won’t have any trouble.

AIM LOW ON POSSIBLE STRING JUMPERS

Read the animal before taking the shot. If it appears nervous it will almost certainly drop as it attempts to bolt. It is amazing how far some deer can move from the time it hears the string to when the arrow arrives. This distance depends on the quickness of the deer, your arrow speed and the range of the shot. Of the three, the quickness of the deer and the range are the biggest factors. If you are unsure how the deer in your area react, ask an experienced bowhunter who hunts the same general area.

As a starting point, if the animal appears nervous, always aim low. You should aim right at the bottom of the vitals just above the brisket so if the animal does not drop you will make a clean heart shot.

USE A PEEP SIGHT

When shooting from a tree stand you will find yourself in a variety of positions that you have never practiced. There will be times when you are leaning to shoot around the trunk or dipping to shoot under a branch. When this happens, you need help to find your normal anchor point and to establish the proper relationship between your eye and the pins. If you are not using a peep sight you are leaving this critical part of shooting form to chance.

STOP THEM BEFORE THE SHOT

There is plenty of debate about how best to handle a walking buck. It would be a cop-out if I simply recommended that you stop every animal, because there is a downside. They can sure get spooky fast and then you have a string jumper on your hands. On short shots when the animal is moving at a leisurely pace, most bowhunters will do just fine leading the intended impact point of the arrow a few inches and then pulling the trigger. However, beyond 15 yards it is in your best interest to make a sound with your voice after reaching full draw. Be ready to shoot right away.

Do not let the fact that most shots at whitetails are short lull you into a false sense of assurance. Short does not necessarily mean easy. Tree stand shots at deer take just as much preparation and attention to proper shooting form as longer shots at mule deer or elk.

A hitting coach can tell more by watching the baseball than he can by focusing on the movement of the bat. Top golfers also study their ball flight to suggest changes in form. In all sports involving a projectile, it benefits the performer to understand the cause and effect relationship between results and the actions that cause them. The same can be said of archery. When faults invade your technique, there is no better way to get rid of them fast than to understand what causes the most common misses.

THE LOW MISS

At a 3-D tournament several years ago another competitor and I were tied after regulation. The shoot-off was staged in front of a crowd – everything was on the line. It wasn’t a tricky shot to judge so we both pretty well knew the distance. I was up first and hit the 10-ring. It wasn’t a perfect shot, leaving my competitor with a chance to score a 12 and beat me right then and there. He shot an index finger release, and in the excitement he punched the trigger. His arrow zipped harmlessly under the target. My friend’s unfortunate miss serves to highlight a very common problem: when you punch the trigger rather than squeezing it you will often shoot low.

The low miss has a number of other causes; foremost among them is the tendency of the archer to drop his bow arm to “peek”, desperately trying to see the arrow in flight. If you are prone to peek, practice with the arrows that you can’t see; use dark fletching and dark nocks. Consider practicing early and late in the day when the light is reduced. Learn to keep your eyes locked on the target rather than coming out of the shot to watch the arrow.

An inconsistent pressure point between the grip and your hand can also produce a low hit (or a high hit for that matter). If you vary the pressure point up or down from one shot to the next you will cause the bow to shoot differently. When you sight-in using a low pressure point, for example, and then shoot later using a higher pressure point you will shoot low.

Incidentally, the ideal pressure point totally eliminates tension in the bow hand. It is a spot that lines up with the two bones of your forearm. Try this: bend your left wrist and push the index finger of your right hand into your left palm at various locations. There is only one spot (located right below the pad of your thumb on your lifeline) where the force won’t cause any movement in your bow hand. That is your ideal pressure point.

When a two-cam bow goes out of time the impact point of the arrows will change. The bow will shoot either high or low depending upon which cam gets ahead. The results can be significant even when shooting field points, but especially so when shooting broadheads.

THE HIGH MISS

I see a lot of vertical misses by bowhunters that don’t use a peep sight. Unless you have a really firm anchor point that you can rely on 100% of the time (few bowhunters qualify) a peep sight should be standard equipment.

People are also prone to shoot high on uphill shots. It is natural to assume that an arrow drops more when shot uphill, but just the opposite is actually true. Find some broken terrain for one of your next practice sessions and prove this to yourself.

MISSING LEFT AND RIGHT

Leaning the bow (called canting) is a very common cause of left and right misses. If you tip the bow to the left you will shoot left and if you tip the bow to the right you will shoot right. Ideally you should hold the bow straight up and down on every shot. Placing a bubble level in your sight will immediately help.

When your draw length is too long you will also suffer from left and right misses. You shouldn’t feel like you are stretching at full draw. When you’ve achieved the proper draw length the forearm of your release arm will point straight away from the target – not to one side or the other.

Tension in your body – especially your bow arm and hand – will create torque at full draw causing the bow to turn, changing the relationship between your arrow and the sight. It is a major reason for left and right misses.

EQUIPMENT

Bent or damaged arrows are the number one equipment problem followed closely by string stretch. You can easily determine if you have an arrow problem by numbering the shafts. If you have damaged arrows you will see patterns developing after only a few rounds.

Some of the strings supplied with bows will stretch for several hundred shots. Then, at various times afterwards the string may make additional unexpected shifts. Mark your cams to assure that the string or buss cables don’t stretch without your knowledge.

Ideally, to best evaluate your shooting you should use a shooting coach, but when a coach isn’t available you still have to be able to get back on track. Patterns in your shooting can dictate the changes needed for improvement.

An accumulation of little things is all that separates the great participants of any sport from the average ones. Often these “little things” only seem little in retrospect. They are not so obvious when looking forward because they are gained only from years of practice, training and experience – often by pioneers in the field. But fortunately, archery has been around for a long time. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The “little things” in archery are well understood and can be learned the easy way, through the repetition of proper technique. By focusing on solid fundamentals, one summer is all the time you need to totally revamp your shooting ability. Make this your summer.

This month I’m going to focus on the grip. The seemingly insignificant act of placing your hand on the bow is an example of one of those “little things” that is so critical to reaching your potential as an archer and bowhunter.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A RELAXED HAND

If you shoot with a release aid, your bow hand is the only part of your body that should touch the bow. It is the central point of control and the bottleneck for all the feedback you receive during the shot. For most archers, the grip is never even considered, but it should be just the opposite. More attention should be given to your bow hand than almost any other aspect of shooting form.

A proper grip starts with a relaxed hand. You’ll never shoot to your ability if your bow hand is tense. This tension will creep into your aiming and it will become very difficult to make a natural follow-through without trying to “help” the arrow. The bow will do just fine by itself, you don’t have to help it.

Focus on your bow hand as you aim. Think of it as nothing more than a lifeless cradle at the end of your bow arm. It should do nothing (be completely dead) before, during and after the shot. Let your fingers hang naturally. Trying to force your hand to stay open will only increase tension.

CONSISTENT HAND POSITION

How you place your hand on the grip is just as important. You can introduce torque by inconsistent hand placement. As you experiment with several grip positions, strive to find the one that allows you to feel the force of the bow being pulled straight back against a small point in your hand. You shouldn’t feel even the slightest bit of stretching in the skin of your hand.

Eventually you won’t have to look at your bow hand to know that you’re lined up properly - you’ll be able to instantly feel any small change in hand position. Raising your level of awareness regarding your bow hand is important in developing this sense. This is also where getting used to a specific bow has its advantages.

After you place your hand carefully on the grip, don’t change the position of either your hand or your wrist until after the arrow is in the target. I see many archers bow their wrists and even slide their hands around on the grip as they draw the bow. This may put them in a more powerful position for drawing the bow, but it does little for consistent shooting. You’ll never be consistent if you move your hand or wrist at any point after you place it on the bow. Once your hand and wrist are set in place, leave them alone. If you can’t do that, you’re shooting too much weight. Turn your poundage down until your wrists get stronger.

GRIP DESIGN

You’ll shoot most accurately when you reduce the total area of contact between your grip and your hand. A wide grip, for example, gives you plenty of leverage for turning the bow. The handle will turn just as much as your hand turns. Conversely, when you use a narrow grip, contact more closely resembles a single point or a line. Now as you turn your hand, the bow doesn’t react as much. The difference in your accuracy will be noticeable.

A grip’s design can affect accuracy in other ways, as well. I’ve owned bows that were difficult for me to tune and shoot accurately. It often came down to the way the grip felt in my hand. I could tune these bows, but only when I gripped them in a very uncomfortable manner. I’m sure if I’d shot those bows a lot I would eventually have gotten used to gripping them in the method required for good arrow flight, but what’s the point. I’d rather shoot the ones that feel good.

This brings up another point. The comfort of the grip is one of the most important single aspects to consider when choosing a bow. When it comes down to selecting between two different bows that both fit you, always pick the one that feels the best in your hand. With a comfortable grip you’ll be able to relax your hand and shoot properly.

By focusing on your bow hand, you can take the steps needed to eliminate torque and improve consistency. As a result, you’ll be much effective on the 3-D course this summer and in the field this fall.

You don’t shoot the arrow, you shoot the bow, and the bow shoots the arrow. This may sound like a strange distinction to make, but it is critical. You don’t have to do anything but hold the bow relatively steady and squeeze the trigger. You don’t have to guide the arrow or flip it toward the bulls-eye with a twitch of your wrist or time the release. Just aim and squeeze, if your body positions are correct, the bow will do everything else.

Shooting with a flexed bow arm is one of the most important steps you can take toward allowing the bow to shoot the arrow properly without any interference from you.

A locked bow arm can be a source of tension that may lead to spastic aiming and built-in torque. When you release the string, a tense bow arm and bow hand (or if you are trying to shoot a bow with a draw length that is too long) will cause the bow to jump to the side rather than straight forward. Your bow should jump straight toward the target (after it has pushed back against your hand).

If the bow does anything but jump straight at the target, you have applied torque to the handle and reduced your accuracy. You have to eliminate this torque or you will never shoot to your potential. Torque-free accuracy is the result of a relaxed hand and a relaxed bow arm. The best way to soften your bow arm is to unlock the elbow and shorten your draw length slightly. There are also other reasons to shorten your draw length. In this month’s column, I’ll tell you how to fine-tune your draw length for better accuracy.

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU BEND YOUR ELBOW?

Some archery teachers urge their students to bend their bow arms several inches and then aggressively push the bow forward as they pull through the shot with their back muscles controlling their release arm. They advocate squeezing the trigger to create an abrupt and dramatic explosion of the upper body on release. This style of shooting is called the push-pull method.

With all due respect to these instructors, I don’t recommend the push-pull method for the majority of archers shooting release aids. I agree that you must squeeze the trigger to produce a surprise release, but the push-pull style is too easy to get wrong and when you do it wrong, you create tension. As I’ve already mentioned, tension destroys accuracy.

Simply unlock your elbow at full draw; that’s all the bend you need. This simple action will shorten your draw length by roughly 1/2 inch, at the most. You’ll feel the difference in your shooting immediately. As soon as you unlock your elbow, your arm will relax and will act like a shock absorber.

CLOTHING CONSIDERATIONS

Hunting clothing can get in the way of your bowstring if you stretch out and try to achieve an artificially long draw length. I know many people who have missed big animals because their bowstring snagged a chest pocket or a loose fold of fabric on their sleeve. This is an even bigger problem when hunting in the late season when clothing is bulkier.

For this reason, I like to shorten my draw length an additional half inch so it is easier to hit full draw without stretching. In other words, my draw length is actually a full inch shorter than it would be if I locked my bow arm and at least 1 1/2 inches shorter than it would be if I also stretched my upper body to its maximum.

Shortening your draw length in this way permits you to keep your bow arm and shoulder away from the path of the string. You will still likely need something to compress the insulation in the forearm of your winter jacket, but you will reduce the risk of catching the sleeve farther up your arm.

BETTER TOO SHORT THAN TOO LONG

It is much easier to shoot a bow accurately that has a draw length that is two inches too short than one that is even a half inch too long. This is why I tell bowhunters that if they are going to err they should err on the side of being too short. The ideal draw length for you is the one that permits you to anchor in a comfortable location (typically at the back of your jawbone) with your bow arm unlocked and your release arm elbow and forearm pointing straight away from the target. If your elbow points left or right, your draw length is too long or too short.

CONCLUSION

There are tradeoffs when you shorten your draw length. You won’t store as much energy in the bow and therefore your arrow speed and penetration energy will decrease. However, with today’s sophisticated bows and carbon arrows you probably have some speed and energy to give. It is much better to shoot a bow that is set up for accuracy, with the correct draw length for practical hunting accuracy, than to shoot one that is set up primarily for speed with a draw length that is too long.

Experiment by shortening your draw length a little at a time until you reach the point where your bow arm is unlocked and your aim is solid. The bow should also jump straight toward the target when you release the string. This is your perfect draw length for hunting accuracy.

The margin for error when shooting a bow is extremely small. For example, if you torque the bow even a small amount, the glitch may translate into a miss of more than 6 inches at 40 yards. Even a small twist of the handle at the moment of release can result in a missed shot and a blown opportunity. That’s why I focus on forgiveness when I choose my hunting bows.

Rarely will shots at game permit you the luxury of using the perfect form that you practiced all summer. I’ve had some pretty awkward shots through the years. An elk I shot a few seasons back quickly comes to mind. He was fighting with another bull and I knew the action wouldn’t last long. The run I had to make to get close was just long enough to have me breathing hard when I came to a stop very near the pair. They had just separated and the bull I wanted was heading toward an opening 30 yards in front of me. I got into position and drew the bow. Just before he stepped clear the other bull bugled and my bull turned and headed back to reconfirm that he was the king. I was pinned down.

When their encounter ended some three minutes later I was still at full draw, now shaking badly from the excitement and the strain, and still fighting to control my ragged breathing. This time my bull left by a different route, nearly 180 degrees behind me. I didn’t dare move my feet for fear of being seen as I slowly swiveled my body as far to the left as possible and put the 30 yard pin on his chest. I was more than a little relieved and elated when the arrow blew through, just behind his shoulder. As with so many similar episodes, I couldn’t have cared less how fast my arrow was traveling as long as it had the energy to do its job. When the season comes down to one arrow, what I really want above all else is a bow that’s forgiving.

I’ve spent years thinking about the elements that make one bow more accurate than another. That’s why my current bow, a Hoyt UltraTec, as well as all my recent hunting bows, share four common characteristics.

BRACE HEIGHT

Bows with long brace heights are the most forgiving. The arrow gets off the string quickly offering less time for a rough release to spoil the shot. But, more importantly, the riser geometry itself is simply more stable. Here’s what I mean. As the push point (back of the grip) moves away from the string the riser design itself becomes more stable. Any torque applied by the bow hand tends to be opposed by a greater stabilizing force that acts through the drawn string.

There are always tradeoffs. As a bow’s brace height goes up, its ability to store energy goes down and so does its arrow speed. My goal every time I choose a hunting bow is to find one that strikes what I feel is the proper balance between speed and forgiveness. Consequently, I prefer bows with brace heights in the 7 ½ inch range, but anything over 7 inches is acceptable.

CAM DESIGN

Few bowhunters realize how cam design affects a bow’s accuracy. Highly aggressive cams accelerate an arrow more violently than the soft cams and round wheel bows of the past. When an arrow receives that much energy in such a short burst, any interference or bauble at the moment of release will tend to destabilize the arrow. That’s one variable I don’t want to mess with. I still shoot moderate cams, what many would call a soft cam.

Letoff also affects a bows level of forgiveness. When it comes to splitting hairs, low letoff bows are more accurate than high letoff bows. The increased holding weight of a low letoff bow results in solid, positive body positions while aiming and a release that is crisp. I prefer 60 to 65% letoff.

AXLE-TO-AXLE LENGTH

Short bows have their place in the field, but unless you’re faced with cramped quarters, I recommend a longer bow for hunting. I’ve found that I shoot best with a bow that measures 39 to 40 inches between the axles. Anything shorter becomes slightly more critical, while anything longer is generally too slow and usually requires long limbs that are more prone to twist adding an extra, unwanted variable.

MASS WEIGHT

To a degree, the more a bow weighs, the more stable and forgiving it is. However, being primarily a western hunter, I’m willing to trade a little forgiveness for reduced weight. Last season I hunted for 25 days in the mountains of the Nevada for a desert bighorn ram. Shaving a couple of pounds off the bow I got it down to 5 pounds which proved to be a definite advantage on stalks that were measured in hours and thousands of vertical feet. However, if I only hunted from tree stands I’d carry a bow weighing six to seven pounds. And I’d use a 10 to 12 inch stabilizer to further improve forgiveness.

When preparing for the hunting season I spend most of my time shooting at 50 and 60 yards, but when the shot comes it is almost always much closer. In fact, I rarely encounter shots over 35 yards. I’m prepared for longer shots, mind you, but they just don’t happen very often. I like to be very confident of a one shot kill, so I try to get as close as possible before shooting. Given the fact that most of my shots are close, and I have a laser rangefinder to handle the longer ones, I see little need for an extremely high-speed arrow. However, the need for a forgiving and accurate bow is never diminished.

When you set up your next bow, focus on forgiveness first and your success in the field will improve.

There’s something I do every year just before the hunting season. It’s not a visit to the sweat lodge or a call to FTD to send my wife a bouquet. (Although that might not be a bad idea.) Rather, I have a system that I use going into every season that produces the required number of perfect hunting arrows.

If you haven’t gone to extremes to prepare your ammo, you’ll be surprised by how much variation there can be in a dozen broadhead tipped arrows. You’ll also be surprised by how much better you’ll shoot when you do take some time to fine tune your arrows.

Rather than try to test each component of every arrow separately, I test the entire finished product as a whole, arrow-by-arrow. Here’s how you can be sure your quiver is filled with perfect arrows.

NUMBER YOUR ARROWS

Start with at least a dozen arrows. Ideally, they will be brand new, but if you can’t afford to buy a fresh dozen, at least spring for six new shafts. First we need to find out which ones are the team players and which ones are the rebels. You do this by numbering each arrow so you can determine which ones are fit to hunt with and which ones should stay home.

Start with a clean target and shoot all of your arrows (with field tips installed) at what you consider to be your maximum accurate range. Don’t pay any attention to the numbers on the arrows before you shoot them. In fact, make a conscious effort not to look at them so you won’t unintentionally bias the test. When you go to pull the arrows, write the corresponding number next to each hole.

Shoot every arrow at least six times and then take a look at the target to see what patterns are forming. You will likely have several arrows that are consistently flying wide of the mark to the same side each time.

TURN YOUR NOCKS

Take the arrows that were not grouping well and work on the nocks. If any show signs of damage from arrow impact replace them. As mentioned, nocks can also be misaligned when installed. Turn the nocks on all your rogue arrows 1/3 around (assuming you use a 3 fletch pattern) to re-seat and hopefully re-align them more perfectly with the shaft.

Go back and shoot these arrows again. Use a clean target and record the numbers next to each hole. After shooting each arrow six more times you should be able to determine which arrows are acting better and which ones are destined for detention.

ALIGN YOUR BROADHEADS

The culling isn’t finished yet. All your arrows will have to make it past another cut before they are good enough for your quiver.

If a broadhead does not line up perfectly with the shaft it will steer the arrow off-line. This causes frustration because the degree of variation between otherwise identical shafts can sometimes be very dramatic. By first making sure every head is properly aligned you won’t have to face this problem on the range.

Install broadheads on each arrow and spin-test them with the point resting on your palm. The perfect arrow will produce absolutely no vibration in your hand – not even the smallest amount. You can get away with a little vibration (and the accompanying misalignment that it indicates) when shooting at ranges out to 20 yards, but even slight vibration will cause poor accuracy on longer shots.

There are four things you can do to better align crooked heads. First, try two or three different broadheads on that arrow. If it acts the same with all of them you can rule out the head. Next, heat the insert and turn it slowly two or three revolutions before the hot melt glue begins setting up. Third, you can remove your inserts and replace them with another. And finally, you can fine-tune the way the head centers inside the insert. Some center very well, while others need to be tweaked to assure that they seat square and straight.

SHOOT YOUR BROADHEADS

It’s finally time to shoot all your best hunting arrows with broadheads installed. Again, rely on the numbers to determine which arrows are the best. Keep only those that hit close to the center of the group – which by now should be nearly all of them.

Don’t worry if the center of your broadhead group is slightly off from the center of your field point group. That’s a small point. The important thing is whether or not the arrows group together. If they do, and your bow is pretty well tuned, simply move your sight to bring the group to the center. You’re ready for action.

Starting with a dozen shafts, by this point you have probably whittled your supply down to 9 or 10 that are perfect. Put your best arrow in the handiest slot in the quiver - that’s the one you want to grab first. You will know when you draw it back that it will go exactly where it’s aimed – and that, my friends, makes all the work worthwhile.

Feel is an important part of performing well under pressure. Whether shooting a free throw to win the NCAA Championships or a 30-yard shot to anchor a giant whitetail, you shouldn’t have to think about the step-by-step mechanics of the shot. Well-ingrained feel for the perfect shot is the one thing that will permit you to place your focus where it is most needed - on the animal. When your feel is fine-tuned you can reproduce the perfect shot without having to think about it.

As you become more attuned to the way a shot is supposed to feel it will flow into every part of your nervous system. You will begin to sense the proper feel before you ever draw the string. The feel of a perfect shot will become a big part of the pleasure you derive from archery. When that starts to happen consistently, great shooting under pressure will be much easier to achieve.

WHAT YOU SHOULD FEEL

As you practice, focus on the feel of each aspect of your form. One of the most important steps is to ingrain the feel of a torque-free grip. Take great pains to place your hand on the grip exactly the same way every time. Soon you won’t have to look at your hand to know when it is off by the tiniest of margins. This kind of feedback is critical to consistent shooting.

Next, focus on your anchor point. Feel the light force of the release hand nestled into its customary location. There should be one point of contact that you can count on every time. Once you feel it you know you are properly anchored. Learn to feel when your body is perfectly aligned. You may have to get some help from a friend or shooting coach until you get it right, but once this feel is ingrained your body will naturally seek this position every time you hit full draw.

The bow hand comes next. It should be completely relaxed without a hint of tension. Feel the force of the bow’s grip as it is directed through the hand, straight up the forearm and into your shoulder joint. Imagine that the bow hand is a padded cradle at the end of a post that extends from your side. When aiming, move the bow left, right, up and down with your torso not your bow arm. The bow arm should feel unlocked and the elbow should feel like it is pointing more down than out.

FEELING THE RELEASE

Rather than trying to explain the feel of the perfect release, I have a simple exercise that will do a much better job. Have someone else trigger the release aid while you aim. The shot will feel like a sudden explosion – like the string was cut. Maybe for the first time ever you’ll understand the true purpose of a bow sling.

Hold the bow straight at the target while using your back muscles to pull the elbow of your release arm straight away from it. Focus on staying completely relaxed as the bow fires. This is a critical feeling to ingrain into your subconscious mind. When you get used to this new feeling you will come to enjoy it.

Your muscles should already feel relaxed; keep them that way during the follow-through. You shouldn’t feel like you’re trying to hold the bow up or keep the pin on the target because the effort will create tension and require timing – two things you should be working hard to eliminate. Do this exercise over and over until the release no longer scares you.

Now that you know how the perfect shot is supposed to feel, it’s time to learn to achieve the same sensation without any help. Step close to the backstop and close your eyes as you draw and shoot the bow. Take the time necessary to feel every aspect of the shot: the grip, the dead bow arm and bow hand, anchor point, perfect alignment, push/pull while aiming, the sweet sensation of a complete surprise release and the continuation of relaxation into the follow-through. Do this drill for at a least a portion of every practice session until the feel of the entire sequence becomes completely ingrained. It may take a thousand shots, but after that your technique will be pressure proof.

EQUIPMENT AFFECTS FEEL

Most archers shoot best when they don’t have to contend with dramatic shock. Today’s low recoil bows take advantage of breakthroughs in geometry to make them more stable in the hand. Excessive vibration is also a problem when it’s transmitted from the grip straight into your hand. It will make the act of shooting less comfortable and more like work than pleasure.

I experimented with several bows and accessories in an effort to eliminate shock and vibration before settling on a Hoyt UltraTec completely decked out with Sims Vibration Labs products. You should also try several bows until you find the magical one that has a great feeling grip, balances well at full draw and doesn’t rattle your fillings loose when you release the string.

Focus on the feel of the shot while you’re practicing. When the pressure is on you won’t have to worry about your ability to pull off the shot. The proper mechanics will be preprogrammed leaving you free to watch the arrow hit exactly where you’re aiming

I love feathers. Dating back to my boyhood, birds in flight were a source of wonder. As I’ve grown older my fascination with feathers has never diminished. Now, as a bowhunter I appreciate them even more. Feathers have properties so perfectly suited to archery that one might believe they were designed for the back of an arrow rather than for the wing of a bird. Maybe this is so. If domestic turkeys no longer fly, then why do they still need feathers? Why haven’t they lost them like Darwin said they would? To my one-track mind the reason is clear: they exist because archers still need them.

I studied the anatomy of the feather while in veterinary school. I was amazed by the simplicity of its design that was starkly contrasted by the complexity of its structure. Every flight feather has two vanes, one on either side of the main stem. Each vane consists of many barbs in a parallel row. Each of these barbs has several hooks on the front and a rounded flange on the back. The hooks on the front of one barb hook onto the flange on the back of the adjacent barb, locking them together. If they are unhooked they can be reattached simply by stroking the feather. Birds do it every time they preen.

This interlocking system gives the feathers tremendous lateral strength. Push sideways on a feather and you’ll see what I mean. This lateral stability is the primary reason that feathers correct poor arrow flight so quickly. The feather provides stiff resistance as the arrow fishtails or porpoises. Plastic vanes, on the other hand, have very little lateral strength. They fold over easily providing little resistance to the side pressures encountered when an arrow is not launched perfectly. If you’ve ever watched the slow motion arrow flight video that Easton put out several years ago you can appreciate how much vanes flutter as the arrow accelerates. The tail of the arrow bears some resemblance to a goose flapping its wings as it runs across the water trying to take flight.

While feathers resist crushing along one plane they seem to shy away from it on another. Much to the archer’s benefit, feathers have almost no linear support. Push down on a feather fletching and it flattens right out. If a feather encounters an obstacle while in flight (such as the arrow rest) it simply folds down, creating very little flight disturbance. A plastic vane, on the other hand, has too much linear support. If it crashes into the rest it wreaks havoc on the arrow’s flight.

On average, plastic vanes weigh four times as much as feathers. Big deal you say? If arrow speed is a concern it is a big deal. Hunting arrows do the best job of combining stability with a flat trajectory when they have a balance point that is 10% or greater forward of center. Every grain of weight you can remove from the back of the arrow allows you to remove a corresponding amount from the front of the arrow without significantly changing its balance point. Forward of Center (FOC) balance point is a little understood concept that is critical to good arrow flight and your ability to manage it with a light arrow improves when you use feathers.

For example, if you replace four-inch vanes with four-inch feathers you remove 25 grains from the back of the arrow. You can now remove 25 grains from the front of the arrow without significantly changing the balance point. The arrow is now fifty grains lighter and correspondingly faster. Removing weight from the ends of the arrow has the added benefit of also making it act stiffer. In my experience, a stiffer acting arrow usually flies more consistently and groups better, at least for the release shooter.

Once I’ve tuned my bow and arrows, almost nothing will tighten my groups like feathers. Put a set of four or five-inch helical feathers on your hunting arrows and watch your groups shrink.

LOOKING AT THE GLASS HALF EMPTY

I hate feathers. I’ve tried repeatedly to quit them. I believe I can quit at any time if I really want to, but I guess just saying that confirms my hopeless addiction. Even deep denial can’t change the fact that, though reluctantly at times, I’m a feather-aholic. Yet, despite my proclivity toward using them, there are plenty of reasons to hate feathers.

They’re noisy. They’re noisy in the quiver and they’re noisy in flight. Noise is a bowhunter’s bane. Feathers collapse when they get wet. They lose their ability to steer the arrow. The broadhead takes over the controls and there’s no telling where the Nolan Ryan knuckle ball will end up. Granted, there are now reasonably satisfactory ways to waterproof feathers, but when you face tough weather day after day they can still be a problem.

Feathers are fragile. Shoot feather fletched arrows into a bale of straw and push them back through; the feathers look like they’ve been through a paper shredder. You’ll replace your feathers three times for every time you replace your vanes.

I try to force myself to use plastic vanes every couple of years, but the experiment is always short-lived. Each time I prove to myself once again that the problems feathers create are inconsequential when compared to the problems they solve. None of man’s fabrications will ever adequately replace this marvel of nature.

One could make a strong argument that a bowhunter’s eyesight is his most important physical attribute. My own experience from last winter is proof. When my buddy Greg Krough started spotting mulies in country I had just glassed I realized something was seriously wrong. I had always been good at separating antlers from sage brush and being outdone so handily needed an explanation.

When I got home I immediately scheduled an appointment with my optometrist. Even though my eyesight was acceptable for most activities (they checked out slightly worse than 20/20) there were signs that it was starting to degrade. As important as my eyes are to my hunting and competitive shooting, I decided to do something about it before things got out of hand. If the doctor could get me to my best corrected vision (which had always been 20/10 with glasses) laser eye surgery seemed to offer the best answer.

Let’s just say it didn’t turn out that way. After surgery my eyes were noticeably worse. My uncorrected eyesight went from 20/20 to 20/40 or even 20/50. With 20/40 vision a person can see the same degree of detail at 20 feet that someone with normal eyesight can see at 40 feet. On my next hunt I had trouble even seeing game and my shooting began to deteriorate.

Most people lose the keenness of their eyesight slowly and don’t notice the changes. I got to learn overnight the differences between 20/20 and 20/40 when it comes to hunting and shooting.

AFFECT OF EYESIGHT ON SHOOTING ABILITY

Prior to the laser surgery I had signed up for the Vegas indoor tournament. It was fully six weeks after the surgery date and I had no worries about my ability to prepare in that amount of time. But with the low quality of my new (and supposedly improved) vision I couldn’t hold groups. If I’d shot the tournament I would have gotten my rear end kicked. Instead, I went to the shoot and watched the action from behind the line. My group size was at least 50% larger after the surgery than before.

For example, at 30 yards with poorer 20/40 vision my groups were about the same size as those I’d shot at 40 to 50 yards with my best 20/10 corrected vision. That’s a big difference whether hunting or competing. Just being able to clearly see the spot improves accuracy more than most bowhunters realize.

I know a lot of guys that hunt and compete with less than 20/20 vision. If you are unsure about your eyesight, or if it’s been a few years since your last exam, go see an optometrist and get checked out. Needless to say, I’m scheduled to go back under the beam in the very near future. I won’t be happy until I can once again glass my friend Greg into the dirt.

PEEP SIGHT DIAMETER AFFECTS VISION

The size of your peep sight also affects the way you see the target and thus your ability to hit a small aiming point. Bigger is not always better. Small peeps (1/8 inch or less) produce greater depth of field (more of what you see is in focus). This makes it possible for archers to see both the target and the pin more clearly. Also, a small peep makes it easier to precisely center your pin while aiming. Under optimum target shooting conditions, the small peep is definitely the way to go. However, for the bowhunter there is another side to the argument. A large peep improves visibility under low light conditions and makes it easier to pick the right sight pin at a glance.

I’ve been accused of being fastidious to the point of eccentricity when competing in a big tournament. I want every possible advantage. To get both precision and visibility I use an adjustable peep called the Super Peep. Using a small tool I can change the inserts that thread into the housing making it a two-minute job to change the size of the orifice. I use the smallest diameter insert the conditions will permit for the greatest degree of precision on every single shot.

For hunting this approach is cumbersome at best. Instead, I use fixed orifice peeps made by Fletcher. I take a Tru-Peep and drill it out until the orifice is roughly ¼ inch in diameter. I find that under hunting conditions the improved low light visibility and the slightly wider field of view these large peeps afford offset the negatives. Your eye has a natural centering tendency and will do a good enough job of instinctively positioning the pin the peep for normal bowhunting situations. If the shot is at the limit of your comfortable range you may have to take an extra second to make sure that the pin is properly centered.

Don’t take your eyesight for granted. In bowhunting, you are only as good as your eyes. You can’t hit what you can’t see.

It is unrealistic to think you will get a fifteen-yard shot on a mule deer that you’re stalking across a high plains moonscape. Forget about trying to ease within 20 yards of a resting bighorn sheep or a grazing band of antelope. Veteran western hunters know they have to be good at 40 and 50 yards if they are to have any chance at using their knife for more than camp chores. In Michigan or Pennsylvania, you will get a room full of glares if you admit to shooting a deer at 40 yards. Out west, it is the rule, not the exception.

Western hunters also face a wide range of steep uphill and downhill shots. In order to avoid a high miss, they must quickly tally the true horizontal distance. Additionally, a problem often occurs when you attempt long shots uphill or downhill with a bubble level. If the level isn’t perfectly perpendicular to the path of the bowstring, the bubble will move to one side as you tip the bow to make steep shots, throwing off your aim. This will result in all kinds of right and left misses.

This column is about choosing a bow sight that helps you solve all of these challenges.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A BOWSIGHT

I’ve started using the Sure-Loc Lethal Weapon Max, and I feel like I have finally found the perfect sight for western big game hunting. There are certainly other sights on the market with some of the same set of features. Here is what I looked for. First, I wanted a sight with five fiber optic pins that I could set for each of my yardages. Second, I wanted the entire five-pin head mounted on a slider so I could adjust it to the exact range of the shot whenever I had the time. When game was moving or things were happening fast, I left the sight at its neutral setting and used the pins. However, if I was presented with a stationary animal at an off yardage, say 54 yards, I could move my slider and aim right on.

A recent Stone sheep hunt presents the perfect example of how this process works. A band of rams lined out along the mountain, and I could tell they would pass along a trail below me. My rangefinder said it was 45 yards line of sight, and my crude clinometer reported the angle at 35 degrees. A quick calculation told me I had to aim as if the shot were actually 36 yards. I was ready. Since the rams were moving sporadically, I didn’t adjust my moveable sight to 36 yards. Instead, I chose to aim slightly low with my 40-yard pin.

When the rams got below me, they shuffled and came by two abreast. I held my finger off the trigger, breathless as a lesser ram separated me from the one I wanted. As they got farther away, I continued to hold the string and estimate their distance until finally a shot opened up to the big ram. When he stopped for a moment, I planted the 50-yard pin just low of his vitals and pulled the trigger. The arrow hit where I was aiming.

The ram had actually been 55 yards away but the steep angle made it shoot as if it was 45 yards. I didn’t have to guess where to hold the pin because I never moved it. However, had the ram been standing in one place feeding I would have set the sight so my bottom pin registered 55 yards and aimed dead-on. Having both precision and flexibility is a great attribute of a bowsight. Whenever, I’m in doubt, I leave the sight at its neutral setting and use the five pins as if it were a fixed-pin sight.

A great western sight must also have a third axis adjustment. This adjustment allows you to turn the sight head toward you or away from you so it is perfectly square to the path of the bowstring. Let’s assume that the sight head points slightly back toward you. This means the bubble level also points back toward you. That’s fine when you are shooting on level ground, but if you aim sharply downward the end of the level is now higher than the base and the bubble moves even though you haven’t canted the bow. Obviously, the act of bringing the bubble back to the center will throw off your aim and you’ll miss to the left. It would be the opposite if the sight head is skewed slightly away from you.

I first learned about this problem as a member of the U S Archery Team at the FITA World Championships in Norway in 1990. We were shooting in the fjords and there was no such thing as a level shot. During the practice tournament, I was way off on my lefts and rights. After thinking things through for a day, I realized the problem, fixed it and went on to win the individual gold medal. The lesson has stuck with me ever since and now I would never hunt rugged terrain without a sight having this important third axis adjustment.

Choosing a sight for mountain hunting is not the same as choosing a sight for tree stand hunting. If you aspire to be a western game specialist, you need a sight that solves the challenges western hunters face. In your quest for something rugged, don’t overlook other important features such as flexibility and third axis adjustment.