3D Shooting
View from behind the string

April 2, 2002 — Spring is here, get out your bows, tune your equipment and start shooting! There are 3D shooting events all over the country — so start enjoying them! What you shoot does not matter. Recurves, longbows or the hottest new compounds.  Just shoot!

I had a great time at the last shoot. Shooting at 3D hogs, deer, bear, elk, fox, rabbits and numerous other 3D targets gets your heart pumping for hunting season and helps you determine and sharpen your hunting skills.

One-way to do it is this: Guess your range to the animal and shoot, as most archers do, but then watch where your arrow hits. Now when you walk to the target pace off the distance.  If the arrow hits high or low you will see why because the range you aimed at will be off but by pacing to the target you will have a better perspective to the range that the target was away. After a few targets you will see that your score probably will improve. This also will make you a better hunter.

Another factor is the size of the 3D target. A large animal in the open field will look closer then it actually is and the tendency is to shoot over it. I was shooting fine at small animals in the woods. Rabbits, woodchucks, and raccoons I shot really well. The Elk, some of the larger bucks and moose I over shot simply because they were larger causing them to look closer than they really were. My 45 lb recurve though did fairly well and I was about third or fourth in the traditional class.

The most important factor is fun. If range shooting is stressful and not fun, then take-up another sport. On the range I have seen archers throw bows and even refuse to shoot if they can not keep their scores up with the elite — do not do that.  Relax, have a good time, enjoy the scenery, breathe in the fresh air, what there is left of it, and enjoy the people around you and the camaraderie of the event. Enjoy the day there will never be another one just like it.  Sharpen up your form, improve your range guessing and become one with the world for it will make you a better person, hunter and archer for the rest of your life. Also, bring someone with you, be a mentor, and a friend, help to keep our sport alive and growing.

Back to arrow speed.

Sure a faster arrow will get you through tight spots to get through to the 10-ring.  If that is what you want, go for it!  That is what archery is all about. 

Do you know who shot the first ever indoor perfect score and with what bow?  Terry Ragsdale with a PSE compound that had wide nylon wheels, no cable guard and was not cut past center.  Someone told me, "Well that was then and this is now."  A perfect score is a perfect score no matter when, and I will bet Terry Ragsdale didn’t know how fast his arrows were going.

To sum it up, fast arrows are fine for 3-D shooting.  If you do not have perfect shooting form or your bow is not tuned properly, all shots will be off.  Shooting light arrows for more speed will just make everything worse.

An old adage that applies; I think goes this way, "To get something you have to give up something."  That is how I see it from behind the string.