Can you hunt with a back tension release?

[StringJumper]

I feel like I should be at an Alcoholic's Anoyomous meeting...Hi, my name is Danny and I have target panic.

I have fought this dreaded affliction for most of my archery life. But in the last 2-3 years it has become much worse. Sometimes it is so bad that I am afraid to practice in my backyard for fear that I will launch an arrow through my neigbor's siding. Sometimes I literally cannot control my arrow release and I punch the trigger when the sights are two feet over the target, or 3 feet short of it. From 20 yards. I missed the only deer I shot at last year, the arrow sailed harmlessly over her back when I inadvertantly punched the release. Wish I could blame it on buck fever...but that was not the problem.

As long as we are confessing I have to say that last year I seriously considered giving up the sport. Until now I have told no one about those thoughts and my personal friends would be shocked to hear me say that; bowhunting has been a passion of mine for nearly 40 years. I was 14 years old when I first shot at a deer with an old Bear recurve (which I still have BTW). From that very first shot I was hooked.

Anyway, returning to the back tension release, I have heard they are pretty effective at curing target panic. They don't have a trigger to punch and it reduces flinching because you don't exactly know when to flinch. But can you effectively hunt with them?

I tried other cures. Once I went out each day for 6 weeks and shot point-blank at a target with my eyes closed. You should try that sometime. You really develop a feel for the bow and release. But when I started practicing again it had no effect on my TP. I have shortened my draw length. I changed the position of the release trigger and made the pull shorter. And then made it longer. No luck at all.

Has anyone else overcome TP? Think the back tension release would work? Looking for feedback, dialog, and suggestions...thanks.

[Hink]

Have you been to the eye doctor lately for a check-up. Something suddenly cropping up "in the last 3 or 4 years" could be something that doesn't have anything to do with proper form, release, etc.

I've never used a back tension release and have no idea how it would work under hunting conditions. I just don't have any knowledge of them.

[swamp]

target panic -- what kind of release aid do you use and how much travel and /or creep does the trigger have or does it break like glass?

[ncboman]

Sounds like a mental condition to me. Might wanna get yourself checked in at the looney farm. :D

I doan think the back tension release is made for hunting.

ncboman

[Greywolf]

I sure don't have the answere but
Try Here:

http://www.bowhuntingworld.com/ArticleContent.aspx?id=1257

just a coincedence
good luck

[StringJumper]

Sounds like a mental condition to me. Might wanna get yourself checked in at the looney farm. :D

I doan think the back tension release is made for hunting.

ncboman


Yes, it's totally mental. I can aim at a spot for hours if my finger is not on the release trigger. But the second I get ready to shoot.....:mad:

It's kind of like trying to hold two ends of a magnet together.

[StringJumper]

I sure don't have the answere but
Try Here:

http://www.bowhuntingworld.com/ArticleContent.aspx?id=1257

just a coincedence
good luck

Man, this article perfectly describes my condition.

[StringJumper]

target panic -- what kind of release aid do you use and how much travel and /or creep does the trigger have or does it break like glass?

It's a Scott's caliper release. Not fancy but not cheap either. But the way I punch the trigger it would not matter how crisp the break.

[Twanger]

I also get target panic from time to time, and went through the whole thing shooting with the back-tension release, but it's pretty cumbersome for hunting... I wouldn't do it.
I don't think there are any easy answers, but the key thing is to not take the shot the same way every time, or you'll build into the feed-back loop that's causing you to flinch. Bring the pin in from the top, side, or bottom. Hold for 4 seconds this time, 8 seconds next time with pin on target before the release.

I kill a truckload (or two) of deer every year with a bow and still deal with target panic some times, so clearly you can be successful... you just have to work through it and find out what works for you. I'd suggest buying some books on it. It's a common archery affliction.

Good luck!

[GF.]

The tidbit from the article that rings truest to me is the bit about shooting at a piece of newspaper, but trying to read the words as you do it.

The dead-on shots that I make, I know I've made before I know I've let the arrow go. To do that, I have to focus on something really, really small. I 've been talking lately about sticking an old shaft in the ground in front of my target and shooting at the nock of it. And the other night, when I pounded that nock into my backstop from 38 yards out, I wasn't even entirely sure that I could see the damn thing at all, but the bow shot itself just as I was able to make it out....

Lucky? Hard to say...

The thing about a back tension release, though.... As I understand it, they go off when you're shooting more like an instinctive shooter does, or like a target archer using a clicker--drawing all the way through your anchor 'point'. That maintains your back tension, and I think you're less likely to have a spastic kind of muscle contraction using your whole back (as it works against the load of a full-draw recurve or the back wall on a compound) than with just the trigger finger....

And one other trick from the tradshooters' book....

Take the damn sight off of your bow, drop a cotton ball on the ground about 5 feet away, and shoot at it 'til you start hitting it. Then start backing off, bit by bit.


I have to do things that make me focus in the target instead of the trigger.

I learned to shoot my .22 well when I started shooting metallic silhouette 'swingers'. Once I got the thing swinging, I could ding it over and over and over, because it didn't just sit there begging me to shoot at it. If it's moving, you can't shoot when the target picture looks 'right', or you'll miss, because the target won't be where it was when the bullet actually gets there... But you know you can't consciously figure out the frequency of the swinging target vs. the range vs. the velocity of the bullet, because you'd miss every damn time if you tried. A lot like wingshooting, I'd say, except that I'm such a truly rotten shot with a scattergun :o Oddly enough, though, (with the recurve) I used to kick a tennis ball across the yard and shoot at it on-the-fly as it bounced along like a cottontail gettin' outta dodge. And usually, I'd hit it when it toook a last-second hop that I hadn't anticipated.

One other thing I've been doing for years (when I'm shooting the recurve), is that when I find I've kinda 'settled in' at my anchor point, I deliberately bob my bow hand up and down a couple inches, and shoot while it feels like the hand is still in motion. Kinda gets you focused, ( ;) ) but at sort of a subconscious level where your brain can't screw with you...

'Cuz ultimately, if you're thinking about when to slap the trigger, the trouble is that unless you're sandbagged into a solid bench, you can't think 'Now!' and get the message out to the trigger fast enough to be right. So you either get the shot off too late, or you end up anticipating when you ought to shoot and you end up going off too early.


Hmmmmm..... Have you tried thinking about baseball stats instead?

[dave-t.]

If it was me, I'd go out for a practice session, and with the bow at full draw, aim, and let down. Repeat.

End the session with 1-5 shots at 10yds at a big bullseye. If you hit the bull x-on with the first real shot, call it a day. After a few sessions, stretch the distance, shrink the bullseye, adding more shots, and less practice "aims". Be slow to add distance and shrink the bullseye, and don't be afraid to just aim and let down.

It may help if you could get a friend to make the call for you whether you shoot or let down. That way there is no pressure of having to shoot every draw, you won't know what is comming, just that you need to get comfortable in the hold and acquire a good sight picture.

[swamp]

Danny, when the trigger breaks it needs to be a surprize just as in shooting a rifle... Carter Enterprizes makes a tension release check it out

[ncboman]

I'll be the asswipe here and state I doan believe a new release or other equipt/device will help at all because it's a mental thingy.

imho, a good shooter can use two methods of release and should be aware of and practice both.

Punch shooting.
Fine shooting.

Deer often doan give time to go thru a set routine shooting them. A good bowhunter should easily be able to punch shoot accurately enough to kill deer at ~20yds and less.

Target panic is simply making something difficult out of something easy. The only thing that moves is the index finger. It ain't that hard. Think about moving only that finger instead of where the pin is. If you are comfortable at full draw, the pin will be where it should be ... or close enough it won't matter.

Comfort at full draw and confidence are the keys. Comfort can be bought. Confidence can be built.

ncboman

[swamp]

Danny worth looking at...

http://www.carterenterprises.com/products/squeezeme.htm

[Twanger]

One thing that helps me a bit is focusing on the target behind the pin vs. focusing on the pin and trying to hold it on the target.

[ncboman]

Twanger, haven't you shot some with a bt?

I tried one a couple of times and both times ... :eek:

One got away from me in an inside range. Everbody started backin up when I tried again. :D

ncboman

[Twanger]

Yes, I was going to 'commit' to fixing my target-panic and I shot quite a bit with a Spot Hogg BT release, and even shot an entire round in the archery leagues with it - exactly once. I shot a rafter in the indoor range down near the target when I tried to 'punch' the shot off. I think that one night's round kept me out of first place that year. :(

With enough practice the BT release will work, but it will take you a few months to get good with one.