Realistic Summer Bow Practice

A 95 degree day, dogs barking through the neighborhood fences, cicadas supplying an intense background noise, and a sweaty grip on your bow release…sound familiar? This is an all too familiar chain of events to most bow hunters during summer bow practice. The hot, humid, and repetitive shooting in the backyard can get boring. Even more, it can prove pointless if it achieves this level of boredom. Yes, it is good to fling a few arrows every afternoon, but you should set some goals to accomplish and challenge yourself with realistic scenarios. This will build confidence in your abilities, provide relief from the boredom, and take your mind off of being in your backyard and not in the stand.

Practice at Longer Distances

One of the most obvious boredom busters for summer bow practice is chancing longer distance shots. Sure as an ethical bow hunter you should have limitations as to how far you would shoot at a deer. A lot of different factors go into play here. How far you can effectively shoot on the range, how the deer is acting or whether or not they will jump the string, and open vs. tight terrain/habitat is just some things that should be considered when taking a shot.

When on the range or in the backyard it is great to practice at distances you feel comfortable shooting a deer at and closer. But, you should also be proficient at shooting at longer distances even if you would not shoot at a deer at that distance. Besides that, it’s rewarding to hit that 1 inch square from 70+ yards…

For example, if you would never shoot at a deer past 30 yards, get to where you can consistently hit the target out to 50 or 60 yards, or more. The reason for this is it is a great confidence builder. If you can hit your target at 55-yards, you won’t even feel the pressure at 30.

Another reason to shoot at longer distances is to criticize your shooting ability. If there is anything about your form or follow-through that is off, you will notice it at 60 yards. When you are able to notice something you are able to fix it.

PHOTO | Flatline Whitetails

Realistic Practice Sessions

Summer bow practice attire is usually shorts, flip flops, and a white tee-shirt. This is not challenging or realistic…it’s boring! Try being realistic with your shooting! At the very least you should have on pants, long sleeve shirt, and maybe gloves and a face mask. As the season progresses the more clothing you will have on to stay warm and often times this clothing is very bulky.

Once you are confident in your abilities to hit your target in your summer outfit, try doing it in the actual clothing you will be wearing while hunting. It might be a little hot to be in these clothes but you are likely to notice some differences while shooting in your hunting gear.

You might find it is more difficult to pull your bow back with a lot of clothing on, you might not have the same line of sight or your string could rub against your clothing. Now is the time to be certain that you are just as proficient at shooting with your hunting gear on as you are in your summer wear. If you realize changes need to be made it is better to do them now rather than when a monster buck is just mere yards away.

PHOTO | Reagan Bryan

Realistic Shots and Angles

Just because you are hitting the bullseye from the ground consistently doesn’t mean that everything will be the same when you are shooting at a downward angle from a treestand or sitting within a ground blind. Do you know how to handle a 90 degree angle shot?

Some of your practice should be from realistic hunting scenarios. If you do not have an archery range with an elevated platform, consider hanging a tree stand and shooting from the elevated position. Doing this a few times throughout the summer and consistently hitting the target will build confidence in your shooting and when the moment of truth arrives this fall you will feel comfortable in your abilities to hit your target. Practice shooting from the sitting position, standing, twisting and so on. If you can imagine it happening while hunting, practice it now.

PHOTO | The Virtue TV

The same holds true if you hunt out of a ground blind. Set up the same ground blind that you hunt out of and practice. Shooting while sitting down might make you realize some changes need to be made as to how your body is angled.

Better Archery Targets

The best practice for a bowhunter is shooting on a 3-D course, not to mention it is much more enjoyable than backyard practice. Today’s 3-D targets and courses are lifelike and provide realistic practice sessions.Distances vary from very close to uncomfortably far. The terrain is also challenging and often similar to hunting.

Concentrate on Just Making a Few Good Shots

It might sound as if in order to be a proficient shooter that you need to shoot a lot of arrows every day. That is not true. You are better off going out and shooting just a few arrows every day if possible and concentrating on your form and making the best shot possible. This puts pressure on you for each shot, and shortens your practice session.

Long practice sessions tend to tire out the hunter and before you know it your shots are getting sloppy and you are wanting to make changes to your setup because your groupings are not as good as you would like. By shooting just a few arrows and putting everything you have into those few shots you will be better for it. And, always quit on a good shot so you are not second-guessing yourself and thinking of changes that you need to make. Everybody makes a bad shot from time to time.

Conclusion

Getting bored from summer bow practice? Becoming more involved in practicing realistic scenarios, shots, distances, and even shooting at more realistic targets can all bust the boredom!

Kinetic Energy of Arrows

Lighted Nocks | Practice with Them for Better Bow Hunting

Feature: Flatline Whitetails

Practice makes perfect, right? Isn’t that how the saying goes? Unfortunately, it’s only true to a certain extent. If you practice your archery hunting skills with sloppy form and different hunting gear than you’ll use in the field, you’re really just setting yourself up for failure. But you’ve no doubt heard the adapted version of this phrase too: perfect practice makes perfect. The better and more realistic you are in practice, the better you should be at the real thing. This is why you should be using lighted nocks on your arrows as you practice this spring and summer. But let’s back up a little bit first.

Using the right hunting gear helps ensure that you’re ready for the real field conditions you’ll face. One, it simulates bow hunting on a very real level so you can get in the right mindset from the get-go. The more you get used to this simulation and the conditions, the more comfortable you’ll be in the field. Two, it helps develop muscle memory so that you will be freed up to think about the situation itself, and not worry about the shot mechanics. To that point, you’ll gain confidence in your hunting gear that you could only get from repeated usage of it. Different arrow nocks produce slightly different shots, so it makes sense that using a consistent nock will produce a more consistent and accurate flight path. If you use them from day one of practice, you shouldn’t have to adjust anything later. And finally, using lighted nocks for arrows in the preseason months helps you identify any form or gear issues before it can become a problem. If you start now, you literally have several months to tweak your gear or perfect your form. That’s much better than realizing it the week before opening day, isn’t it?

Why Should You Use Lighted Nocks?

If you don’t already use lighted nocks, you won’t believe what a game changer they are for hunting scenarios. Think about it – some of the best deer hunting action we face takes place in low light conditions (e.g., dawn, dusk, shaded woodlands, foggy/cloudy/rainy days, etc.). But knowing exactly where your arrow hits a deer in these low light hunting conditions is difficult to impossible. Will your knowledge of where it hit the deer in any way change the shot once you’ve released the arrow? Of course not. But it will really help you to know how to proceed from that point. For example, taking up the blood trail within 10 minutes in the case of a true heart or lung shot is fine, but it would be foolish in the case of a known gut shot. Illuminated nocks really help you weigh your options better to ensure you recover your deer.

The Nock Out® lighted nocks come in a few different options and are excellent additions to your archery supplies. The 3 pack is a great deal, as you’ll definitely want more than just one. Everyone has their own best lighted nock color that they prefer, but these ones come in green, yellow, or red colors. They all stand out extremely well when being fired on the back of an arrow through these low light conditions. If you’re not familiar with how they work, the sudden force of the bow string against the lighted nock when it is fired basically switches the powerful LED light on. To turn the light back off, simply pull the nock straight back until it clicks and the light goes off. They are built with bushings to fit the five most common carbon arrow shafts.

How Do Lighted Nocks Help in Practice?

Of course, practicing with these nocks in the preseason does help your archery form in a few ways too.

Taking time now to practice with lighted nocks on your arrows will help you get more confident in your archery equipment. As we said, practicing with the same gear you would use on a hunt helps you to be consistent over time. You can use these lighted nocks on your arrows during practice sessions by simply switching it to practice mode. This specific mode deactivates the LED light to save on battery life, and is turned on by rotating the activation collar. During most of the preseason and for daytime practice sessions, you have no real need to use the nock light. Therefore, you can easily switch to using this practice mode at these times. Though you’d be amazed how much they look like a rocket flying through the air even in daylight!

But once in a while, it helps to turn the practice mode off. Turn the light back on and take a few shots in low light conditions to get the real feel for it. You’ll be amazed at how well the arrow stands out after it’s released from your bow. It practically paints a line of light through the air on its way to the target. On spring and summer evenings, try setting a 3D deer archery target up at various distances in your yard, and dress up in your hunting clothing (yes, even if it’s 80 degrees out). The idea is to make your practice session feel as realistic and true to a hunt as possible. Raise, draw, and fire your bow as quietly, slowly, and stealthily as you can, just like you were in a tree stand or sitting in a ground blind. Then observe your arrow’s flight path, made easy by the bright LED light. Make any adjustments to your bow that you need to based on the first few practice sessions. Once it’s dialed in, continue with at least a weekly habit of dressing in your full hunting gear to repeat these realistic low-light shots. Come next fall, you’ll be amazed at how natural it feels to make them in a pinch.

BEST
LIGHTED NOCK
COLORS

If you’re not already using light up nocks, you really should be for the reasons listed above. Give them a try and see how it affects your hunting down the road.

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Summer Practice Boredom Busters | Add Realism to Your Sessions