What the bow does immediately after the shot it was beginning to do during the shot. That, in a nutshell, is why proper bow balance is so important. Perfect stability occurs when nothing moves during or after the shot. Though you’ll never get the limbs and cams to remain stationary, you can and should control the position and movement of the riser until the arrow is firmly in the target.

After the shot, the bow should ideally rest in your relaxed hand in exactly the same position it occupied while you were aiming. This is a good indication that the bow is well balanced and that you made no effort to manipulate the grip during the shot. In other words, you did what you were supposed to do: you let the bow shoot the arrow.

Your bow shouldn’t tip forward, back, left or right. To achieve perfect balance, the bow must either be designed that way at the factory or you need to apply the proper amount of weight in the right places. But, first you need to find out what your bow is doing during the shot.

TESTING YOUR BOW’S BALANCE

Generally, deflexed riser bows will tend to tip back toward the archer and reflexed riser bows will stand more vertical in the hand. But it pays to find out exactly what your bow does because every one is slightly different, depending on the accessories attached. Start by making a wrist sling that isn’t connected to the bow. This is the best way to let the bow move freely. Tie a piece of light rope or twine around your wrist, wrap it around the front of the grip section of the riser and then tie it back onto itself on the other side of your wrist.

Stand three feet from a blank backstop and shoot arrows while focusing on keeping your bow hand very relaxed until well after the arrow has hit the target. If you are accustomed to shooting with a tense hand it may be difficult for you to tell if your grip is relaxed. Have someone try to move your fingers while you are at full draw. They should move very easily. I can stay more relaxed during the shot by closing my eyes. If you decide to do this, ask a buddy or spouse to watch the bow and tell you which way it tips just after the arrow leaves. Make no effort to keep it upright with your wrist; just keep your hand and wrist totally relaxed and let it fall where it will.

If you will be using a bow quiver full of arrows, then be sure the quiver and arrows are attached when you’re testing your bow. As you can well imagine, the quiver will have a big affect on your bow’s overall balance.

CHANGING YOUR BOW’S BALANCE

After learning how your bow behaves during the shot you can take steps to balance it. Most of my Hoyt bows are well balanced. For example, I don’t apply any significant weight to them for hunting – just a short Sims Enhancer stabilizer to reduce vibration. But, many bows require some weighting, and regardless of bow design all will need a counterweight if you want to completely balance a bow quiver.

The easiest bow to balance is the one that tips backward during the release. You merely add conventional front-mounted stabilizer weight until the bow balances. Modular stabilizers or stabilizers with sliding or variable weights make this easier. You may also be able to perform this test in the archery shop by trying stabilizers of different weights until you find the one that keeps the bow upright.

If the bow tips forward without a stabilizer attached it becomes more difficult to achieve perfect balance. Some good archers prefer this type of balance, and I would agree it is definitely better than a bow that tips back. But personally, I want my bows to stay level. There are two ways to balance this bow: adding back weight to the riser or reducing the weight of the sight.

Some risers - those from Mathews come to mind - have a threaded hole bushing below the grip on the back of the riser - an extension of the normal stabilizer hole - where you can attach a short stabilizer for back weight. For 3-D or target shooting you can also use a V-bar system available from most stabilizer companies in conjunction with a front-mount stabilizer hole to move weight back, but they are too cumbersome for hunting. Finally, if you are using a heavy sight, a lighter model with a shorter extension bar will also help.

Many bowhunters use bow-mounted quivers but few weight their bows to counter-balance them. Unless you sight-in and practice with the quiver attached you will notice a slight change in impact point when you attach it. I don’t count this as critical, but if you are looking for perfect balance you need to counter-balance the quiver. Fill it with arrows and use an offset stabilizer bracket (most stabilizer companies offer one) or a set of balancing weights from specialty companies like Golden Key Futura.

Bow balance may be a secondary concern when setting up a bow, but when you consider that success and failure in the field and on the range often comes down to fractions of an inch, everything counts. Take the steps to balance your bow and enjoy better accuracy.

One of archery’s most persistent misconceptions is that you need to become a shooting machine with a rock steady hold in order to shoot well. In an effort to reproduce the machine’s technique, archers put too much pressure on themselves and ultimately shoot worse than they would if they were simply content to let the pin float. As long as you have solid shooting form, your pin does not have to be still for you to hit the bulls-eye. I want to dispel the notion that aiming must be a static process.

STEADY ENOUGH

I have invested a great deal of time studying this subject and have learned that you can shoot very well even if your pin is moving. Granted, the less it moves the tighter your groups will become, but in all reality, you don’t need a fist-sized group at 60 yards to make great shots at normal bowhunting ranges each season. Most bowhunters would benefit tremendously if they worried less about shot timing and more about shooting form. Here is what I mean.

As long as you put your body in the proper positions during the shot, relax fully and squeeze off a surprise release you can hardly go wrong. Your pin will float around the aiming point and, seemingly, with a mind of its own the arrow will find the center. I will cover the very important subject of body positions in an upcoming column. Here, I am going to focus on the movement of the pin and aiming.

Some archers try to ascribe a figure eight pattern with their pin - the center of the eight being the aiming point. Others try to circle the aiming point very slowly with the pin. Still others do not use a specific system; they just let the pin select its own pattern. All of these methods will work. Seemingly, the only system that will not work well is the one that most archers choose: consciously trying to hold the pin rock steady.

You don’t really try to move the bow physically. It will move on its own. Here is a very interesting experiment that illustrates this concept. Hang a paper clip at the end of four or five inches of string with you holding it out at arms length like a sight. Rather than trying to move it, simply visualize the paper clip moving through a small pattern. It will soon be following the pattern. Now stop the clip and choose a new pattern. It will quickly follow that one too.

While you are at full draw aiming, visualize the pin moving through a tight pattern around the aiming point in whatever pattern you like - and it will soon be doing it. You do not have to force it to happen.

If you are punching the release trigger, the floating pin won’t work. In the first place, you’ll never be able to let it float. That will drive you crazy.

A surprise release is the key. I think a surprise release works so well because humans have an innate centering tendency. We are always subconsciously trying to center things. Archers work the pin toward the center without even trying, and when the shot occurs on its own, the arrow naturally moves in that direction.

CONTROLING THE SIGHT PICTURE

You can aim with both eyes open, one eye closed or one eye squinted. All three methods have tradeoffs.

Both eyes open: Aiming with both eyes open produces the greatest possible field of view, an advantage while hunting. But, unless your aiming eye is clearly dominant, this will also produce visual conflict. Further, under low light, the restriction of your peep sight slightly diminishes the acuity of your aiming eye. It is very common for the non-aiming eye to try to seize control of the sight picture. When that happens you’ll miss by a mile. You can learn a lot about visual acuity and dominance by practicing under low light conditions for a couple of evenings.

Closing one eye: During competition we shoot many arrows. I typically aim longer on each arrow than I would in a hunting situation. Often times my left (non-dominant) eye tries to take over the aiming process. I wear a blinder a few inches in front of my left eye to prevent this from happening. I may look like a character from a pirate film, but that is a minor issue. If it improved my shooting, I would wear the sword too. My goal is to eliminate all possible variables from the sight picture. By blocking my non-aiming eye while shooting, I remove several. Sure, I give up some field of view, but I focus so hard on the pin and the target that I really do not want anything on the periphery of my sight picture distracting me anyway. I do not consider the lost field of view to be a negative.

You can accomplish nearly the same thing by closing one eye while shooting.

(While hunting however, I shoot with both eyes open and no blinder for obvious reasons. I’m shooting very few shots and aiming for only a short time so cross dominance is not a big problem.)

Squinting one eye: Some archers have found a compromise by squinting their non-aiming eye. This permits a fuller field of view while greatly reducing the acuity and possible cross-dominance of this eye. A possible lack of consistency is my only concern with this style of aiming. At tournaments, I’ve seen shooters whose aiming style changes as they get tired or pressed. Your accuracy will change when your sight picture changes – and not for the better.

(Unfortunately, studies have shown that closing or squinting one eye actually decreases the visual acuity of the other eye so you have to determine if the tradeoff is worth it.)

CONCLUSION

My choice of aiming is but one of the many styles I see used successfully at tournaments and in hunting situations. In the final analysis, consistency is the key to all aspects of archery and aiming is no different. After you have experimented to find the best aiming style for you, keep it the same on every shot

Consistent shooting requires regular evaluation and fine-tuning. Even the best shooters run into problems caused by the slow deterioration of their equipment or technique. Small changes have a way of turning into big problems if they’re not dealt with as soon as they come up. Don’t get caught sleeping as your accuracy heads south. Eventually it will cost you a trophy. Here are five things you should watch for this hunting season.

STRING & HARNESS STRETCH

If your string and harness stretch continuously, upgrade to one of the modern synthetics: BCY’s Dyneema Formula 8125 or Dyneema/vectran blended 450 Plus and 452 or Brownell’s Dyneema D-75 Thin and blended Ultra Cam. BCY’s Bob Destin recommends pure Dyneema for the string and blends for the cables. If you need to upgrade, find a good custom string maker or contact your local archery dealer for suggestions.

Even if your strings and harnesses are state of the art, you still need to monitor their length closely. This can be done two ways. First, keep an eye on your cam position when the bow is at brace (not drawn). Many bow manufacturers now inscribe tuning marks on their cams that provide a quick way to check rotation. If your bow doesn’t offer these, you should mark your cam position in relationship to the limb to see if it is changing with time.

Your nock point is the second important checkpoint. As your string stretches, your nock point usually moves up on a two-cam bow and down on a single-cam bow. After tuning and sighting in your bow, measure the nock point position very precisely using a T-Square (use the cushion plunger hole as your reference point) and check it often during the fall to assure that nothing has changed.

Two-cam bows are affected by another kind of stretch – harness stretch. If one harness of a two-cam bow stretches more than the other the bow will go out of synchronization – one cam will hit full draw before the other. Even a slight change in synchronization will affect arrow flight and accuracy. If you shoot a two-cam bow you need to check your synchronization periodically to assure that it hasn’t changed.

SERVING SLIP

If I had a dollar for every loose or separated serving I’ve seen in bowhunting camps I’d have a good start towards a stone sheep hunt. This is not just a problem for bowhunters who attach their release aids directly to the string. Though it is less prevalent, even loops can create serving slip. Replace your serving as soon as you notice the first bit of separation.

Everyone should be particular about his or her serving. I re-serve my strings just as soon as I’ve got the bow broken in – 200 to 300 shots. I use two layers of multifilament serving or one layer of Halo to assure that nothing slips or separates. When I double serve, the nocks fit tight at first, but they soon groove the serving and fit normally. The initial tight fit won’t harm your accuracy.

It’s important to break in your bow before re-serving it so you can account for any string stretch first. Twist the string before serving it and then serve in the direction of the twists. This helps to make the serving draw tighter and hold its position better.

LOOSE ACCESSORIES

Today’s accessories are very well made, but they can still wear out or rattle loose if not properly maintained. When doing final setup work on your hunting bow always lock your screws and bolts in place with Lok-Tite. If you use a drop-away rest that attaches to your harness, serve over the attachment to assure it doesn’t slip.

Brass nock sets (if you use them) should be tight, and you should use two of them above the arrow for an extra measure of security. (I prefer tied-on nocking points.) If you use a rubber tube to align your peep sight, be sure to replace it before the season and midway through so it doesn’t crack and break at a bad time.

ADDING CLOTHES

You shoot all summer in a light shirt and then as the season starts you wear a thin jacket. No big deal. But as November rolls around and the weather gets cold you start adding layers and bulky insulated jackets. Depending on your form, there will come a point where the string starts to hit your jacket sleeve causing you to miss to the left.

Practice with heavy clothing both before and during the season. Make sure you’re comfortable drawing and shooting with the heaviest jacket you’re likely to wear. Shooting with a slightly bent bow arm will also help to keep the string away from your chest and upper sleeve. It is also good shooting form.

TRIGGER PUNCHING

A couple of my hunting buddies get a summer-long lecture from me on the importance of squeezing off the shot slow and smooth. They get good at it by August, yet when we gather to shoot midway through the season, or right after it, they are punching the trigger again. Trigger punching can creep into your form quickly if you reduce your practice time or if you don’t take the sessions seriously. In-season practice is critical to maintaining proper shooting technique. As you practice, pay particular attention to squeezing off the shot so target panic never finds a toehold in your shooting form.

By putting up a watchful defense against these five accuracy wreckers you can head them off before they become a problem that ultimately derails your hunting season.

A wrist sling to an archer is like a tight choke tube to a turkey hunter – it keeps the shot pattern small. Though the sling is often overlooked it is actually one of the most important accessories on your bow. A wrist sling allows you to use perfect form because the bow becomes part of your hand after the shot. Without a sling you will have to use a less-than-ideal grip or you will quickly start snapping your hand closed in anticipation of every shot. That’s no way to reach your potential.

If you use proper release technique while at the same time keeping your bow hand and all five fingers totally relaxed you’ll drop your bow to the ground every time if you don’t use a wrist sling. Without a properly adjusted wrist sling you will force yourself to grab the bow thereby learning and reinforcing bad habits every time you shoot. Rather than getting better this summer you may very well get worse.

HOW TIGHT?

Most wrist slings I see on bowhunters’ bows are completely worthless. They are so loose that should the archer not close his hand on release the bow would still jump out. To create the very best environment for developing perfect shooting form, there should be no chance that you can drop your bow no matter how relaxed your hand remains during and after the shot.

The sling has to be snug. Ideally, your sling should be tight enough that you feel it is holding your hand in the grip. That will create the confidence you need to completely relax your bow hand.

When hunting, some compromises will need to be made; how and where you hunt will dictate how you set up a wrist sling. For example, if you sit in tree stands where you are likely to be surprised by rapidly approaching game you might want your sling just a touch looser than normal. Resist the temptation to open the sling wide. If you do that you might just as well take it off altogether.

It takes only a second or two to work your hand into a bow sling, but there are times when that is more than you can spare. A buck surprised me three years ago while I was sitting in an Indiana tree stand. He moved fast, grunting as he came. Without taking the time to get my hand in the sling, I grabbed the bow, hauled the string back and settled in for the trigger squeeze. You could say the outcome was perfect: the arrow centered his heart. Or you could say it was a mess: I launched the bow. I didn’t even notice that the bow was gone until it was nearly on the ground.

My host on that hunt was Al Collins and he hangs his stands high. There was a sick feeling in my stomach when my favorite bow thumped heavily on the ground 30 feet below. Surprisingly, it pulled through just fine and I learned a valuable lesson: wrist slings can sometimes be tough to use when game approaches fast. I still recommend that you set your sling up properly and practice with it the way it was meant to function: snug around the wrist. It might be wise to take a few shots without the sling just so you know what slight alterations you have to make to assure that you won’t launch your bow 30 feet from a tree if you ever have to take a quick shot.

SLING STYLES

When practicing for the hunting season and when competing, I tie myself into the bow with a rope sling. The sling itself is like a lasso with a small hook on the non-looped end. You slip your wrist through the loop and snug it tight. With the rope extending across the back of your hand, you route it between your index and middle fingers and wrap it around the front of the bow’s grip section. Finally, hook it back onto the loop at the inside of your wrist.

I like this style because it feels most secure to me. Above all else, a wrist sling needs to give the feeling that the bow is attached to your hand. There should be no possible way you can drop the bow no matter how hard you try. That will encourage you to make a surprise release with no subconscious attempt to anticipate when the shot will occur.

For hunting, I use a simple sling made of braided cord that attaches at the stabilizer hole and wraps around my wrist. I generally wear light gloves so I can slip into the sling easily without fear of causing undue delays when the shot occurs fast.

Try a snug fitting bowsling and you may be surprised at how much more secure you feel. This peace of mind will translate into better shooting habits, and better habits translate into tighter groups and improved accuracy in the field.

The ram was bedded 52 yards below me on a ledge – looking the other way. A hard 30 mph crosswind carried my scent away but complicated the shot. I knew I couldn’t rush through the shot of a lifetime so I forced myself to think despite the excitement. I couldn’t just place my 50-yard pin a couple of inches high and let the arrow go. In that event, the distance the arrow would miss the ram could well be measured in feet.

It had already been a grueling two-week hunt for a Dall Sheep. I was staring down the mountain at what was likely to be the last opportunity of the hunt and probably my lifetime to shoot a Alaska sheep and it was coming down to one mind-bending shot.

First things first. The elevation change was the easy part - just a bit of high school geometry. I pulled three arrows from my quiver to fashion a crude transit – one pointing at the ram (the hypotenuse) and the other two shafts creating the vertical and horizontal legs of the right triangle. A minute later I had figured out the true horizontal distance to the ram. I came up with 38 yards. By the way, a new tilt adjusted rangefinder from Opti-Logic (931)-454-0897 does these calculations for you.

Then came the hard part; how far would my arrow drift in this wind? There was nothing I had learned in high school that was going to help me now. I had to pull from years of experience and long hours spent practicing in similar conditions. In this type of wind I knew my arrow would drift roughly 10 inches at 30 yards. That meant at 52 yards it would drift 16 to 18 inches (allowing for more drift as the arrow slowed down). After double and triple checking my math and logic, I was committed to the shot.

I felt funny holding my 40 yard pin a couple of inches low and a foot and a half upwind of the ram’s chest, but I trusted what I knew was going to happen. I took careful aim and squeezed off the shot. The arrow hit the ram perfectly and one of my most hard won trophies was down.

While you may never hunt Dall Sheep Alaska, if you hunt open country you will eventually face a tough shot in the wind. And if you hunt in varied terrain you will also face a shot with a drastic elevation change some day. Knowing how to make the adjustments is the key to making a good shot when simply aiming for the vitals would cause you to miss by a mile.

ADJUSTING FOR ELEVATION CHANGES

Whether your shot is uphill or downhill you will overshoot your target if you don’t account for the fact that your true horizontal distance is less than your line of sight distance. True horizontal distance is horizontal leg of the right triangle made between you and your target. It is what really determines how far your arrow will drop. If you are shooting 50 yards up a 30-degree slope the arrow will drop as if the shot were only 43 yards. Similarly, if the shot angle increases to 40 degrees the true distance decreases to 38 yards. The math is fairly simple: cosine of the shot angle multiplied by the line of sight distance.

At typical bowhunting ranges, you don’t need to consider true horizontal distance until the shot angle (up or down) exceeds roughly 20 degrees (the angle you have when taking a 20 yard shot from tree stand that’s 20 feet high). You can either become good at estimating shot angle, you can carry a crude clinometer (some Coues deer hunters in Arizona actually do this) or you can buy the new rangefinder from Opti-Logic mentioned before. How you come up with the true shot range isn’t as important as the fact that you realize this step is necessary in the first place.

COMPENSATING FOR THE WIND

Most bowhunters don’t make enough allowance for wind drift when using the large fletchings and broadheads typical of hunting arrows. The only way you can know for sure how far your arrows will drift is to get out and practice under a variety of wind conditions. Find the wind speed given in your local forecast (there are websites that tell this) before every practice session so you gain a sense of what each velocity feels like. Pay attention to the angle of the wind; the more you are shooting into or with the wind the less drift it will cause.

If you know you’ll be shooting in the wind a lot you may want to invest in a handheld wind speed indicator. Brunton makes one called the Sherpa Altimeter that costs about $150. With this unit you can create a list of drift distances corresponding to specific wind speeds while practicing and then refer to the indicator and the list at regular intervals throughout the day or before every shot when stalking. Or you can just learn to estimate wind speed.

Wind and elevation changes are often overlooked but they can have a tremendous affect on your accuracy when hunting. Spend some time this summer learning how much you have to compensate for various slopes and wind speeds. The information could pay tremendous dividends this fall.

Knowing the range of the shot is one of the biggest challenges you are likely to face when taking shots at game. Even though you should always carry a laser rangefinder (they’ve gotten quite affordable), there will still be times when you have to rely on your depth perception. When that happens you need to be prepared for everything.

During the last decade, some excellent techniques for estimating range have been devised by 3-D shooters and bowhunters. Despite this evolution, these systems break down when certain visual cues are no longer available. I’ve identified five situations that are the most confounding. If you can overcome these shot killers, you’ll be prepared to make the toughest shots.

UPHILL AND DOWNHILL

Early in my mule deer hunting career I missed some difficult uphill and downhill shots that left me humbled and searching. As a result, I dedicated myself to practicing these angles until I better understood my natural tendencies. Most bowhunters and competitive shooters have the same inclination that I did: whether uphill or downhill they overestimate the distance and shoot high. I found that I was prone to err by as much as 25%! If the animal or target were 40 yards away on a 45-degree slope, my estimate would be closer to 50 yards. The problem became less pronounced as the slope flattened out. On a 20-degree slope, I tended to overcook the estimate by about 10%, that’s still 4 yards on a 40-yard shot – enough to cause a miss on medium-sized targets.

Practice is the key. Carry a rangefinder whenever you visit rough terrain, even if it’s just an outing with the family. Pick out targets and estimate the range first by eye before checking it with the rangefinder. Soon your estimates will automatically adjust for angle.

Uphill and downhill shooting errors are compounded by the fact that arrow trajectory is also flatter. The horizontal distance to the target (the distance that is effected by gravity) is less than the line of sight distance. This means you’ll tend to shoot high even when you have the correct distance, but doubly so if you’ve overestimated it.

LOW LIGHT, DRIZZLE, FOG AND SNOW

Whenever visibility is poor, it’s easy to grossly overestimate distance. Part of the natural range estimation process takes its cues from the visual detail of the target. When the target appears hazy or fuzzy it is easy to be tricked into thinking it is farther away than it really is. You can learn your tendencies by spending several late afternoons at the range. As the sun goes down you’ll also learn whether or not your sighting system is still visible until the end of legal shooting time.

SHADE VS. SUNSHINE

The last leg of the 1996 IBO Triple Crown was being shot at Nelsonville, Ohio. I was in the lead until I reached a standing black bear target late in the final round. Deep in the shadows of a riverbank, the bear was black on black and I couldn’t clearly make him out. Finally, I decided he was 48 yards and carefully delivered a perfect shot… right to the middle of his neck. The arrow hit several inches above the 10-ring, and that five point shot cost me the tournament. After it was all over I started comparing notes with fellow competitor, Derek Phillips. Derek had shot the bear for 42 yards and scored a 10. I just had to know how he had figured out the puzzle of this tough target only to find out that he had shot the course 3 hours before me when the bear was in full sunlight.!

That experience serves to illustrate another tough range estimation scenario. When targets or game are located in the shade, they always tend to look at least 10% farther away than they really are. Try it on the range and you’ll see what I mean.

SHOOTING ACROSS A CANYON

Most archers tend to look at the ground for intermediate range references when deciding on the distance to a target. This works fine until the ground falls away and leaves you looking across a chasm. Under these conditions, you’ll see much more ground than you are used to seeing and will almost always tend to overestimate the range. I’ve found that when the depression between the target and me is slight, the error is minimal. But, when the dip turns into a gorge and I’m looking across open air, my estimate tends to be long by 6 to 8 percent.

ANIMAL SIZE

I was hunting Alaska several ago when I learned firsthand that a moose is a lot bigger than an elk. I also learned that when estimating distance to animals that are larger than those you are used to hunting, you tend to underestimate the range. The bull looked to be 30 yards away as I took aim and released the string. I watched in shock as the arrow began dropping as it approached the bull. It’s a good thing moose are such big animals because the broadhead caught the very bottom of his vitals even though he was actually 42 yards away.

Anytime you hunt an animal that is dramatically different in size from what you are used to shooting you are very likely to misjudge the distance: overestimating smaller animals and underestimating larger animals.

You need all the help you can get when forced to judge distance without a rangefinder. Regardless of the system you choose, you will still need to compensate for difficult situations. Your ability to recognize these traps and adjust to them will ultimately determine your success.

Caption: The author was lucky to bag this big bull after underestimating the distance of the shot by several yards. Whenever you hunt an animal that is either much larger or much smaller than those you are used to hunting, you are prone to misjudge the distance.

Arrow rests that drop when the string is released are not new, but they have evolved in recent years to better fit the needs of modern bowhunters. A year ago I would have been classified as a skeptic but not anymore. Here’s how I became a believer.

It started this past spring. I was scheduled to compete in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games in a contest that featured moving targets and the need to reload and shoot quickly. If you want to have any chance of winning in this format you have to be able to shoot two arrows accurately in 13 seconds. It is a single-elimination event and I wasn’t too excited about the prospect of traveling all the way to Lake Placid only to be sidelined after only five arrows. I looked into anything that could possibly help me shoot faster.

One of the solutions I tested was a drop-away rest that lifted against spring tension as the string was drawn. I could hastily toss the arrow onto the bow’s shelf and then with a specially designed launcher lift it into place perfectly as I drew the string. It worked great. I ended up finishing fourth at the Games. Beyond that, the most positive thing that came from the experience was a new appreciation for modern drop-away arrow rests. Coming back from New York I vowed to see if one of these rests could improve a few weaknesses in my hunting rig.

THE TRANSITION TO HUNTING

I recently lost an opportunity at a giant elk when my arrow fell off the rest and the bull heard the sound. Ever since then I have been on the lookout for rests that have a deep cradle that hold the arrow securely at full draw. There are conventional rests that work fine with large diameter aluminum arrows that permit you to spread the rest supports wide for good fletching clearance. But, these rests didn’t work with the small diameter ACC arrows that I favor.

I was excited to find that the drop-away rest not only held my carbon shafts securely at full draw, it cleared the fletching path completely permitting me to use a very high degree of helical offset with no fletching contact. I’ve now stopped worrying about nock alignment - cock feather up or cock feather down, it makes no difference.

SETTING UP THE REST

I’m using the Golden Premier Fall-Away from Golden Key Futura, but I also like the Trophy Taker rest. Both models feature a launcher that is pulled up by your choice of a cord or rubber tubing that is attached to one of your cables. The launcher rises as the bow is drawn. Both systems permit the archer to quickly and easily adjust the rest’s timing by changing the length of the cord or tube.

It made the most sense for my rest to reach its full height as late in the draw as possible. In this way, the rest loses contact with the arrow shortly after the string is released permitting the arrow to travel forward without any influence from the bow. In addition, I was using a short overdraw and needed to get the rest down quicker to clear the fletching. To accomplish this I had to use the cord instead of the rubber tubing. Though this setup makes the bow as accurate as possible, it won’t work with every bow.

With nothing to support the arrow after the string is released, the arrow’s tail may be steered offline as the string speeds forward. With two-cam bows you can change your cam timing to eliminate tail high and tail low tears, but with a single-cam bow all you can do is move your nock point. In some cases, that didn’t provide a perfect arrow hole through paper. I also found mysterious nock left and nock right paper tears that couldn’t be eliminated by moving the rest. I tried the drop-away rest on several different bows with mixed results before settling on the Hoyt UltraTec. It shot a perfect bullet hole right out of the box.

Even if you don’t have a pile of bows to test fire like I did, you can still benefit from a drop-away rest. Rick Bohl, General Manager of Golden Key Futura, advises most archers to set up their rests so they offer the shaft some guidance before falling. “Most bows don’t have perfect nock travel so they need a little help from the rest,” he said. “Use the rubber tubing and set the length so the rest reaches its final position when the bowstring is five to eight inches short of full draw. The rest falls more gradually offering enough guidance to smooth out most nock travel problems.”

Steve Johnson, inventor of the Spot Hogg shooting machine, has tested drop-away rests on his machines using a high-speed camera. Steve has concluded that the rubber tubing is indeed the most forgiving and that the greatest accuracy occurs for most bows when the rest supports the arrow for as long as possible before falling in time to clear the fletching. He recommends that each archer determine this point for himself by adjusting the tubing length in small increments.

Drop-away rests permit you to shoot arrows with more helical offset without creating a tuning problem. This produces greater accuracy when broadhead tipped hunting arrows are the ammunition of choice. If you are having a problem with fletching contact with your hunting rig, give these new rests a try.

It’s well understood among the best athletes that in order to improve you have to find ways to stretch yourself. A young John Havlicek dribbled a basketball out the door of a car as it was being driven up and down neighborhood streets. Sure, he’d never need that exact skill when he helped fuel the Celtics to NBA dominance in the early 70’s, but his form of extreme practice allowed him to stretch his skills so that normal activities of his sport seemed a lot easier. He was also quoted as stating that his form of drilling gave him extra confidence because he knew that he was going a step beyond the competition.

Tiger Woods is another classic example of radical preparation. For years his father tormented Tiger during rounds that they played together. Earl Woods looked for any means to distract his son and get into his head. Gamesmanship is fairly common in golf, but nothing could rival the blatant tricks his father played. Soon Tiger’s focus hardened and sharpened until it became legendary.

Every sport offers opportunities to stretch one’s abilities by going to extremes during practice sessions. Archery is no different. If you want to become a better shot and a better bowhunter, there’s still time to improve before the bulk of the season arrives. Here are two ways you can stretch your abilities. Maybe you won’t become the Tiger Woods or John Havlicek of bowhunting and 3-D shooting, but I guarantee you’ll improve your skills dramatically.

LONG-RANGE PRACTICE

The most obvious way to stretch your shooting skills and increase your confidence is through long-range practice. Don’t hobble yourself by practicing only at 20 yards. You’ll never increase your maximum range or your ability to compete in tournaments by making your practice sessions easy. At any range beyond 20 yards you may be gripped by the fear that comes from attempting something that is outside of your comfort zone. Raise your standards. If you want to become a good shot out to 30 yards then do most of your practicing at 40 yards or even 50 yards. Some of the top archers in the country routinely practice at ranges approaching 100 yards! Do you think they’re intimidated by 40 or 50 yard shots in a tournament? It’s all a matter of perspective.

After only a few days spent practicing at 40 or 50 yards, psychologically, the 30-yard shot you once feared suddenly seems like an old friend. Stretching your comfort zone is the first step in extending your maximum range. There’s no better way to do that than long-range practice.

Mix in a little short-range practice too, just to retain the feel for the sight picture on these more common shots. If you use a peep sight, your anchor point will feel different on long and short shots, and it’s important to get comfortable with that sensation before hunting or competing.

PRACTICE UNCONVENTIONAL SHOTS

Another way to increase your confidence while stretching your skills is to practice difficult shots. Most shots that you take in the field and on the 3-D course will necessitate something other than perfect shooting form. Rarely can you stand bolt upright and use the same form that most bowhunters practice during the entire off-season. Working on form in a friendly backyard range setting is valuable, but it shouldn’t be the only kind of practice that you do.

Practice from a sitting position. You’ll find that the bow will seem harder to draw and hold at first. Practice while kneeling. Again, you’ll feel differences in the way your body naturally establishes equilibrium. It takes practice to get good with these types of shots. Practice while crouching as if to shoot under a branch and while leaning to the left and right as if shooting around an obstacle.

You’ll find that anytime you deviate from your typical practice range form your accuracy diminishes - at first. But as you practice shooting from all these positions you will quickly grow comfortable and the distraction won’t affect your ability to focus or relax as you aim. Again, your confidence will soon skyrocket.

An excellent way to force yourself to practice difficult hunting shots is to get together with a couple of friends and buy a 3-D target. Find a place in the woods where you can set it out and simulate hunting conditions. Don’t settle for easy shots. Take turns picking the shot and make sure to test everyone in the group. If you come home with all your arrows, and they’re all still straight, you haven’t made the shots tough enough. When you combine tough shots with friendly competition you will quickly gain a new perspective on those “difficult” 20-yard leaners from your tree stand. Even common shots at game will seem easy compared to the tough shots you’ve practiced.

To summarize, the only time practice should be easy is when you are working on specific elements of your form or working on your equipment – then take every distraction out of the equation so you can focus on fixing that one thing. Otherwise, if you are serious about improving, most of your practice should be as demanding as you can make it – much harder than the challenges you will typically face. The hardest shots you take every year should never be in the field while hunting or at a tournament. Tough practice will stretch your comfort zone and make the real thing seem a lot easier.

If you can become proficient enough to shoot game at 40 yards you would increase your odds for success considerably. For example, suppose you spot a mule deer bedded next to a small tree – not a lot of other cover around. There’s some question about how close you will be able to get before the jig is up. By simply extending your maximum range from 30 to 40 yards you increase the odds of getting a shot in this situation by 33%. Or maybe you’re in a tree stand hunting whitetails. You can’t move, so the farther you can shoot the more area you cover, and in theory, the more shots you’ll get. This level of improvement (30 yards to 40 yards) increases your total area of coverage by a remarkable 78%.

After you’ve done everything else in your power to be in the right place at the right time, stretching your maximum range is the one remaining achievement that really has something to offer. But reaching this goal takes a lot more commitment than most bowhunters realize. I’ve spent my entire career as a competitive archer learning to be as proficient as possible at long range. Even after all those years of practice 40 yards is still a long shot for me under real hunting conditions.

I’m not trying to discourage you from improving your skills. I just want you to have a realistic understanding of the limitations of a bow and arrow. But, if you’re serious about turning yourself into a 40-yard bowhunter, here are several tips that will shorten your learning curve and get you there faster.

ESTABLISHING A YARDSTICK

What we really need is a suitable test of shooting skill to determine a legitimate known-distance maximum range. Bear in mind that I’m not factoring in range estimation errors. This is pure shooting skill. Before a bowhunter should consider taking 40 yard shots in the field, he must first be able to shoot six-inch groups at this distance on the range.

Don’t base your ability on your best groups from days when you’re really on your game. Rather, base them on your worst groups on days when you’re struggling. Put another way, if you shoot every day for a week, you should never put an arrow outside of this six-inch circle. Suddenly, 40 yards seems like a long distance. I offer this restrictive yardstick because most bowhunters’ shooting skills decrease under real hunting situations. Accuracy, given less than ideal form and facing a real animal, tends to be about half as good as when you’re merely punching paper. The six-inch group on the range becomes more like a 10 or 12-inch group in the real world.

IMPROVING YOUR TECHNIQUE

The first step toward better shooting at 40 yards is to stretch your idea of “long-range”. If 40 yards seems like a mile, you’ll never be able to relax and shoot with confidence. Even if it means a few lost arrows at first, do most of your practicing at ranges well beyond your comfort zone. In other words, when it’s all said and done, you want 40 yards to feel like a chip shot. If it doesn’t, you aren’t ready.

Practice in your hunting clothes. The addition of a glove on your bow hand, for example, will have an effect on your impact point until you get comfortable with it. And bulky clothing makes drawing and holding more difficult, not to mention the effect a knit facemask and a thick pair of gloves will have on your anchor point. Maybe your sleeve will even snag your bowstring forcing you to wear an arm guard. Work out all these bugs before the season or a 40 yard shot is just a pipe dream.

Two aspects of shooting form are critical as you try to increase your maximum range. First, focus on alignment. When at full draw, if your arm doesn’t line up with your arrow you will suffer from left and right misses. Have someone watch you from the back to provide feedback as you master this fundamental element of the shot.

Second, the follow-through has to be rock solid. At 20 yards bowhunters can get away with some bad habits - like dropping their bow arm right at the shot, or grabbing the grip – and still produce a reasonable group. But, at longer distances these problems really begin to degrade accuracy. Concentrate on keeping your bow arm and bow hand completely relaxed and motionless until the arrow hits the target. In other words, stay with the shot until impact.

IMPROVING YOUR TACKLE

A few minor equipment changes can also make a big difference. First, to assure better arrow stability and greater consistency with broadheads, use as much helical offset as you can apply to your arrows. I use an absurd amount – as much as I can get on a carbon arrow using four-inch feathers (I recommend five-inch fletching for aluminum arrows). I like feathers because they tolerate some contact with the rest and still stabilize the arrow quickly.

Always use a rangefinder. As you try to extend your range, errors in distance estimation will become more and more significant. Make it a rule never to attempt a shot past 30 yards without first taking an accurate reading to the animal.

Use a peep sight. You wouldn’t shoot a rifle without a rear sight would you? Why would you shoot a bow without one? It doesn’t matter how big the peep is – the bigger the better – because your eye will automatically center the pin even if the peep opening is large.

True 40-yard accuracy under hunting conditions is not easy to achieve. In your efforts to reach this goal you may fall short, but you will also improve dramatically. There’s nothing wrong with being a great 30 or 35-yard bowhunter. In the final summation, you still have to know your limitations and stay within them. That is the definition of ethical bowhunting.

Elsewhere in this issue you’ll find a feature I wrote about tips for stalking big game. One of the points I stress in that article is the importance of not getting too close to the animal when completing a stalk. While this is great for keeping the animal unalarmed and eventually producing a calm, deliberate, stationary shot, it does mean the shots you get will possibly be longer than you are accustomed to- especially if you are primarily a whitetail hunter.

To get the most out of any trip out west (or any longer-range opportunity back home, for that matter) you should spend the final month before the season getting comfortable with slightly longer shots. In this column I offer tips that will help you increase your maximum range by 10 yards.

IMPROVE YOUR RELEASE

At 20 yards you can get away with some trigger punching and still hit an 8-inch diameter circle most of the time. But, at 40 yards that kind of form just won’t cut it. And beyond 40 yards, you’ll be lucky not to miss the target completely and shoot the neighbor’s dog. You have to learn to squeeze the trigger if you ever hope to extend your shooting range. If the shot doesn’t take you by surprise when it goes off you aren’t doing it right.

No matter how much I preach about its importance, I realize that not everyone will follow my advice. At the very least you should learn to pull the trigger smoothly rather than punching it. You have to be able to rest your finger on the trigger before pulling it. I’ve seen a number of archers who hold their finger out in front of the trigger and then slam it home when the pin wavers across the target. Boy, does that ever make me cringe. These archers are going to suffer a living hell of target panic some day if it hasn’t already got them securely in its claws.

Without improving your release technique you shouldn’t expect to be accurate enough to shoot at game past 25 to 30 yards – even under the best of conditions.

ELIMINATE TENSION

If there’s any tension in your body it will be transmitted straight to the bow and make the pin hop around on the target like a pin ball. Ideally, the pin moves very slowly around the tiny aiming point you’ve picked as you patiently squeeze.

Start with your legs and work up, focusing on each body part to assure that it is tension-free while you shoot. The bow hand and bow arm are most important. Strength (or a drop in draw weight) will help steady your bow arm, and so will a slight bend in the elbow. If your bow hand is not totally relaxed you’ll never shoot really well.

USE A PEEP SIGHT

Other than using a release aid, there is no equipment change you can make that will help you extend your range more easily than a peep sight. I’ve never heard a single defense for not using a peep sight that I can buy into. There are alternatives to the peep that also work to varying degrees, but I like the simplicity of these small accessories. Even the large diameter peeps that many bowhunters favor because of their improved visibility will greatly improve your long-range accuracy.

CHANGE YOUR PRACTICE

If you are already a deadly shot at 20 yards but are afraid to shoot farther at game, you may have a confidence problem that can be solved with a different type of practice. Adding ten yards to extend your comfortable maximum range to 30 yards will really pay dividends this fall and is a lot easier than you think. There is no quicker way to get there than to shoot a bunch of practice arrows at 40 yards. Even if you never shoot well enough at 40 yards to consider shots of this range while hunting, you will accelerate your form improvement and stretch your comfort zone. When you move up to the 30-yard mark you’ll feel a lot more confident and shoot much better than you expected.

INCREASE ARROW SPEED

When you don’t have time to use a rangefinder, a faster arrow may help you shoot better at distances past 25 yards. The faster arrow will fly on a flatter arc to compensate for slight errors in range estimation. If you currently shoot a heavy arrow, switching to a lighter arrow is the quickest and easiest way to shoot faster. With dozens of shaft options on the market you should be able to find one that’s properly sized for your draw weight and draw length but is lighter than the one you’re currently shooting.

Lightweight options include internal component carbon arrows from a number of manufacturers (an example is the Beman ICS) and aluminum/carbon composite arrows such as the Easton ACC’s that I prefer.

By adding 10 yards to your maximum range you give yourself the important luxury of being able to stop a stalk before you get so close that you risk spooking the animal. And, by merely extending your maximum range from 25 to 35 yards you double the amount of area you can cover from your tree stand. Both are goals worthy of a month of hard practice.