While shooting last night, I decided it'd would be nice to share a little bit of this adventure in archery. I certainly don't claim to be an expert, no where close, seriously, I still have a ways to go. So here's some background, where I am now, and some tips I picked up along the way!
I remember when I first started archery, I got discouraged very easily. My husband is one of those types who can pick up any sport like he's done it his whole life, and archery was no exception. I, on the other hand, had to work at it twice as hard. I got frustrated when I couldn't get a group smaller than 10 inches while he was robin hooding. I'd go days and weeks without shooting because I would get so discouraged. Social media didn't help either. Seeing girls pulling 60lbs and shooting groups the size of a bottle cap is not good for your ego when you're lucky to hit the target. So why did I keep doing it? Because it's one of the most addicting, enjoyable, challenging things I've ever done. I'm dying to hear that thwack from shooting my first animal, and I know if I quit, I'll never forgive myself.
Maybe my frustration came from the fact that I'm not good at taking criticism. Just ask my husband! For every tip he'd try to give me, there was 20 minutes of me getting defensive. The first thing I learned was to learn to take criticism. It's not easy. I mainly still shoot alone to prevent any disagreements, but sometimes its necessary for someone to judge you. How can you tell your form is terrible? How do you know your anchor points without someone pointing your anchors are different every time? Criticism is key. Taking my bow to be tuned for the first time was one of those experiences. There was only bow place around that we knew of, and everyone went to him, so that's where we went, too. Dude was a jerk. Condescending, rude, and belittling, I knew it was going to end badly. My husband was set up perfectly, but I needed my peep placement done. Which meant shooting in front of someone other than my husband. Which meant I was a nervous wreck. As soon at my final arrow flew, that guy flatly asked, "Have you done this before?" I knew it was all down hill from there. The next five minutes he told me everything I had done wrong. One thing that stuck was "well one reason why you're all over the place; your anchor points are terrible. Work on that." What the heck is an anchor point?! I remembered that and feeling like I was two inches tall. After leaving, we vowed never to go back. We found another tech who is amazing, with a great facility and a love for getting people introduced to archery. We fit much better there. But can I tell you the God's honest truth? There's not a time I shoot without thinking about that day. My anchor points are fabulous now, thank you very much.
The second thing I learned was stop comparing yourself to others. Some people have hours upon hours to practice. Some people are just natural athletes (like my husband). Some people have been doing this their whole life. You're not those people, you are you. Your situation is most likely completely unique to the person shooting next to you. Not shooting perfect score? Don't sweat it, at least you're shooting. Stop staring at others on social media. Stop worrying because you've never robin hooded like that person you saw on Facebook. Stop degrading yourself because you're not capable of shooting 50 yards yet. It will all come to you one day, just keep challenging yourself every way you can and next thing you know, you'll be shooting 50 with ease.
Number three, and the most game changing thing for me, know your dominant eye. Sounds elementary, right? Yeah well I guess I was a little ignorant. Years ago, I'm talking at age 14, I was on my high school's JROTC Rifle Team. What did we do on our first day? Learned our dominant eye. I am right handed, but left eye dominant. It's called cross dominance, and it's very common. I have always taught myself to shoot with both eyes open. Pistol, shotgun, rifle, or bow, I always kept both eyes open. Well, I forgot about the whole cross dominance thing. My groups were never consistent. I'd never shot anything flying. I was horrendous with a handgun. Anything with open sights I would avoid because I was just that bad. For years, I always just blamed it on myself and my lack of abilities. Brandon would try to teach me, but nothing changed. Finally one evening not so long ago, I was racking my brain as to why my consistency was awful. Am I pulling? Am I rushing? What can I do different? Something from way, way, in the back of my mind said, "hey dummy, you're left eye dominant." Would that matter? Is this my holy grail? So I stood up, drew, and settled my on my pins. I closed my left eye. My pin moved around 6 inches to the left. Now I shoot great groups, nice and consistent. I shot my first bird while flying a couple nights after that. Hard to believe something so simple could make it that much harder. So, make sure you do the test and find your dominant eye!
Don't worry about your draw weight. If your just starting out, and you can only pull 25, then pull 25. I started at around 30. I know that doesn't sound like much, but you're working a group of muscles you've never really used before. It takes time for the muscle memory to form and get stronger, so don't injure yourself trying to pull 40 when you should be pulling 30. Once your comfortable, bump it up a little at a time. Don't jack it up 15 pounds. I usually did 3 pounds, shoot for a week or two, then add three more. I'm at 50 now, and I'm about to turn it up a little more. I would really like to be pulling 60, considering my draw length is only 24 inches.
Most of all, take breaks and end on a good note. I learned a lot of things training horses that I use in every day life. My favorite; always end on a good note. If you feel yourself getting tired, and you know its time to take a break, stop. Don't push yourself to get that extra round in but in turn end badly. Id rather shoot 20 great rounds than 25 rounds with the last five all over the place. Personally, when I feel that fatigue setting in, I shoot one more group and put it up. I've had days where I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, and I just put it up for the day and took a break. The next time I would shoot, I'd feel rested and ready to go. Ending on a good note gives that confidence boost we all need, so when you pick up your bow again, you feel good about shooting.
Like I said before, I'm not an expert. I've never shot competitions, but we are joining a club very soon. Before, I was never confident enough to want to join a club. I'm still a little unsure shooting in front of others, but it's getting better as I'm getting better. If you get frustrated, you're not alone. I'm sure everyone who shoots was frustrated at some point in time. Some of us just take a little more work to get to where we want to be, and there's nothing wrong with that. So just enjoy yourself, its a learning experience, soak it all in and have fun. Things will be confusing. Some things will sound like Spanish to you, like anchor points sounded like French to me, but it will all come to light soon enough. Hopefully this post gave you some reassurance that your not the only one, or at least some wonderful memories of when you first started. I mean, we've all been there, right? Keep shooting!
