Today is Monday, but not just any old Monday.  This is the last Monday before the opening day of the archery deer hunt here in Utah.  I have a lot of things to get done this week and on Friday morning, Weasel and I are going to be hooking up and heading off into the mountains.  With all of that in the wind, I have been shooting my bow every day and have suddenly realized I have a problem…one coined as “Target Panic”.  I have only self diagnosed myself to have this condition and it really showed up yesterday morning at my practice.  I was missing the bale…totally missing the bale during my practice.

Wikipedia has this to say about it:

Target panic affects both competitive and recreational archers. It is a psychological—and perhaps neurological—^[1]condition. It was originally called “gold panic” because an archer would experience symptoms (panic) when the arrow was brought onto the bullseye (gold circle). The name later evolved into target panic because it was discovered that the symptoms could be experienced when aiming at any target.

There are three primary symptoms of target panic.^[2] An archer suffering from target panic may experience a premature anchor, where the bow appears to become very heavy and it is difficult for the shooter to come to a full anchor position. A second symptom is referred to as a premature hold, where an archer “locks up” or “hits a wall” that they are unable to move past as they try to align their arrow with the target. The third symptom is referred to as a premature release and is characterized by an inability to come to full anchor without releasing the arrow.

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I suppose this is the same thing as “Buck Fever”, only with a bow instead of a rifle.  AND as Dr. Wayne Dyer has repeatedly said, “What you think about expands”, and I’ve been thinking about target panic for some time now.  If this happens to me when I draw on a buck or a cow elk, I will be beside myself.  I only expect to get one chance at either one and I sure don’t want to miss.  At any rate, this is my last week to practice before the big season begins.

I have found a simple drill to get rid of target panic and maybe, just maybe I will take my practice sessions for this week by following this guys advise…all week long!

It takes him most of the video to finally come to the technique he is advising so you might want to scroll through the first half quickly.  In the end, he is saying to nock an arrow, draw back to full draw, but know up front that you are NOT going to release the arrow.  Nock, Draw to full draw, Anchor, Aim at the target and let the arrow down without shooting.  He explains that what the exercise is doing is conditioning the brain to know that not all full drawn arrows are going to be released.  So, who knows what will happen in reality with my practice sessions this week, maybe the next time I actually release an arrow will be at a buck or cow elk.

Monday August 15, 2016

Bears Butt