Practice for shooting instinctive

[tmattson]

Wondering what or if others do for practice, besides shooting at a target or 3D deer at known distances.
The other night my son and I grabbed a tennis ball and just tossed it at random distances out on the grass, try to hit it.
Got me thinking, going to order a bunch of multi-colored ping-ponk balls, randomly lay them out all over anywhere from 5 -25 yards, start shooting.
what do you all do, any cool new ideas?

 

[Allegheny Tom]

Wondering what or if others do for practice, besides shooting at a target or 3D deer at known distances.
The other night my son and I grabbed a tennis ball and just tossed it at random distances out on the grass, try to hit it.
Got me thinking, going to order a bunch of multi-colored ping-ponk balls, randomly lay them out all over anywhere from 5 -25 yards, start shooting.
what do you all do, any cool new ideas?

Stump shooting with judo points. Walk around and shoot in areas with cover. You'll learn just how much of a "hole" your arrow needs for clean flight. In some cases, you will realize you can't clear obstructions at the top of your arc, and on the other hand you'll find that you can arc OVER obstructions and drop the arrow right on target. You can't really learn that when you shoot in wide open spaces.

Shooting groundhogs is great practice, too. I get a pretty good adrenaline jolt when I put a sneak on groundhogs. And if you can kill groundhogs, deer should be no problem. Its about as close to real life simulation as possible.

 

[Red Beard]

@GCTerpfan taught me to do the same thing with a partially deflated basketball. Kick it out into the yard and shoot it with rubber bludgeon tips. Great fun. Hit it square in the middle and they'll come straight back at you!

The plus to this is that a basketball is roughly the size of a whitetail ribcage.

 

[GCTerpfan]

@GCTerpfan taught me to do the same thing with a partially deflated basketball. Kick it out into the yard and shoot it with rubber bludgeon tips. Great fun. Hit it square in the middle and they'll come straight back at you!

The plus to this is that a basketball is roughly the size of a whitetail ribcage.

That's only because I'm not good enough to hit a tennis ball!

The rule at my house is if the arrow bounces back to you you get to shoot again. It rubs it in a little with the people your shooting with when they have to wait for you to shoot a second (or third) time because their arrow didn't bounce back.

 

[Fireguy4]

So I just started shooting traditional a few months ago because of some guys on here and this little target had made my practice a ton more fun. Enjoy throwing it around the yard and in the back 40 way more than a 3d deer over and over.

 

[gcr0003]

Wondering what or if others do for practice, besides shooting at a target or 3D deer at known distances.
The other night my son and I grabbed a tennis ball and just tossed it at random distances out on the grass, try to hit it.
Got me thinking, going to order a bunch of multi-colored ping-ponk balls, randomly lay them out all over anywhere from 5 -25 yards, start shooting.
what do you all do, any cool new ideas?

Shoot your 3D target at UN-known distances. I like to shoot my target down and up from a hill, In a saddle hanging at the ground, and in a saddle from normal hunting height. If you’re kids are old enough close your eyes and have them place the bag or 3D target out in front of you somewhere then open and shoot. Some guys are big stump shooters but I am not doing that lol

I think the key is to never shoot a known distance. Start at a few paces and work your way up. I usually just walk out into the yard and start shooting. I feel like Your minds eye will aim the bow for you (up and down) after enough shots so that youre focusing on the target instead of trying to gauge distance. This is just the way I feel.

I’ve only been shooting for a year but I shoot well and I’m confident in my shots enough that I’ll take my bow to the woods this year.

 

[JC3]

If you are near any 3-D shoots, they are great practice.
Different distances, animal types, and the shadowing at the target are all variables that will test your abilities.
Better shoots will also have elevated shots to help replicate trees stand shots.

 

[Razorbak66]

I throw dz golf bows in various spots and try to hit them from various angles. I used to stump shoot a lot I pick leaves instead of stumps wether on ground or hanging close to ground. Used a judo or blunt for those

 

[Allegheny Tom]

I throw dz golf bows in various spots and try to hit them from various angles. I used to stump shoot a lot I pick leaves instead of stumps wether on ground or hanging close to ground. Used a judo or blunt for those

We call it stump shooting but it should be called rotten stump shooting. I seldom shoot at an actual "stump" because a solid stump is pretty hard on arrows. a clump of leaves or end of a stick is a safer target.

Black walnuts make a nice target (if you can actually spot them). They are roughly the size of golf balls or a little smaller than tennis balls.

 

[BTaylor]

Dirt clods in a plowed filed makes for all the shooting anyone could ever want at any distance you want to attempt. All of the above are great fun and great practice too. If anyone finds a population of feral chickens, I would like to get in on that shoot.

 

[WECoyote]

Lots of good suggestions here. Groundhogs are great, small targets at unknown distances and they'll put your stalking to the test.
FWIW, a judo will get full penetration on basketball......... I'm sorry I know that. ;-)
You can use 38 / 357 brass as a substitution for blunts and if you drill a couple holes in them you can run wire and make your own judo points.

If you like flying targets, fletch some arrows with full length feathers, run a couple circles of wire through your points and you have bird arrows. We used to use corn cobs with about 3 chicken feathers stuck in the back end of them to use as thrown targets. The slow down after about 20 yards and spiral to the ground to use again. Lots of fun.

Sean