Let me make one thing clear out of the gate. I’m loving my traditional archery journey. I love the nostalgia, challenge, and people who embrace the way it used to be. Saying that, as an admitted perfectionist it sometimes frustrates the hell out of me.
I’ve been shooting pretty steadily since early this year when there was still snow on the ground. I’m certainly light years ahead of where I was. Thinking back, I kind of scoffed at all the warnings from experienced trad archers about how long it takes to build consistent form thinking I could be really good at it in just a few months. The fact is, I’m not bad. The fact also is, I may not be good enough to hunt with my longbow or recurve this fall. My latest 3D shoot experience probably didn’t help me answer that question.
I went to Keystone Sportsman’s Club to shoot their course during the annual Hunt of a Lifetime fundraising weekend. The weather was beautiful and the shooter traffic wasn’t too bad since it was early on Sunday morning. Right out of the gate I sensed there was an issue with my longbow. It was loud and the last thing a longbow should be is loud. I made the mistake of not checking my brace height before I left and I also didn’t take along my bow stringer or T square to adjust it. More on that later. As I typically do, I started out rough and it didn’t help that I lost an arrow on the second target.
One thing about this course is it seems like they’re trying to save a few bucks by putting out several smallish targets. That’s fine if you have a compound with sights, but with a trad bow it can be terrifying. I fell victim to that early and that only increased my anxiety. I did improve as I went along but was unhappy with my consistency. Because there was no hurry, I shot a few arrows at each target and I couldn’t seem to put three in a row in the kill zone. I also missed a few times, although it was always when shooting at a small target like a groundhog or armadillo.
My performance had me questioning whether I would be able to hunt with a traditional bow this fall. The season is only a couple weeks away now and my confidence isn’t high. When I got home, I immediately checked my brace height and it was 1/2” too short. I put a couple twists in the string to get it back to where it needed to be. I then went out and shot and walla! Not only did it quiet the bow down, but my consistency was far better. For good measure, I shot a few shots with my Bear Grizzly and was also consistent with it out to 18 yards.
So what did I learn? Brace height is very important and you can’t take shortcuts, ever. I have to check it every time and I need to be able to change it on the course if necessary. That little mistake cost me some fun on the course and also shook my confidence. Now I’m still not totally sure I’m ready, but I feel a bit better. All I can do is shoot as much as possible between now and opening day before making a decision.
I need to remember that this is just year one of my traditional archery journey so I have to be realistic about expectations. I still have a lot of work to do to build my form, and I still need to take bow and arrow tuning seriously. If I’m going to hunt, I need to opt for short range setups and be willing to pass on shots that would be easy for my compound. I need to embrace the challenge and not be frustrated when I’m not perfect.
The journey continues.