After last weekend's shoot, I was beyond irritated. Although I hadn't had any time behind my bow outside, the results of my performance were far less than acceptable. That's why I headed to John Vozzy's on Monday night. I decided I would try the high letoff module and see if that would solve my problem with the unsteady sight picture.
The next night, I made a handful of trips from my yard to the bow press while trying to get the draw length right. When I thought I had it where it needed to be, I began adding and subtracting weight to make sure the bow was going to be good to go. After getting to the spot I thought I needed it, I headed to my dad's place to shoot a few 3D targets that he had set up. After shooting at three of them, I realized the bow just wasn't holding well enough for me to be confident with it, especially going to the Massachusetts IBO state championship, where the terrain would not help anyone who was having a hard time holding the bow on flat ground. On my drive home, I bitched and swore a little bit and decided I just couldn't bring myself to shoot the bow on Saturday. I decided to take the sight off it and put it on one of my bows hanging on the rack. I simply had enough for this week. Sometimes changes are good, and sometimes you pay the price. I figured things definitely couldn't get much worse on the 3D range after last weekend's dumpster fire.
The bow change brought me into Wednesday not knowing what to expect. The forecast looked to be good for shooting on Wednesday and Thursday, so I hoped I could get my marks and shoot enough arrows to feel comfortable behind the string before heading out before daybreak on Saturday morning.
When I walked outside to get my marks on Wednesday after getting out of work, I started close to the bale. After hitting full draw with the first arrow, the bow lurched forward. The arrow skipped off the top of the target and found a home in the neighbor's yard. In my head, I said, "Oh, this is just elfin great. I'm going to the shoot with this bow and just misfired and arrow with it, the first arrow out of it since last summer."
The cam had an entirely different feel that the cams I've been shooting, which caused the bow to jump forward when I slammed into the wall. The quick motion caused my finger to trip the trigger and send the arrow through the woods and into the neighbor's yard. It didn't do a lot for confidence building and made me very hesitant every time I drew the bow.
A few hours later when I came into the house, I had regained my confidence and knew that I had made the right choice for the weekend. While the bow felt a little long at full draw, I decided to leave it there. The pin was holding good in the white on a 5-spot target at 40 and 45 yards, and I was staying in the white with my groups of five arrows. The groups weren't as tight as I would have liked, but they were consistent. I knew I would be able to get some more arrows in on Thursday after work, before the rain came on Friday.
Thursday afternoon greeted me with a mess. A water pipe exploded in the house, and I had to deal with ankle deep water in my basement. As you an imagine, I wasn't able to shoot my bow. With the rain in forecast for Friday, I knew I would have to go to the shoot with less than a couple of hours of practice with the new rig. I felt confident because I had shot this bow last summer.
Friday afternoon when I got out of work, the rain was lightly falling from the sky. I wanted to shoot a few more arrows, so I went outside and gave it a whirl In the process, I changed released and released the length of the strap on one of them made me hold steadier. The pin didn't float at all. Unfortunately, my shot timing was affected, and I had a hard time getting the shot to break consistently. I didn't pay much attention to it, figuring that my shoulders and back hurt from all of the work I had done in the basemen the day before while trying to take care of the water issues.
Saturday Morning, Massachusetts IBO State Championship
The drive over from New York was an adventure. I miss the exit and had to take an alternate route to get to the tournament. We drove through rain the entire way and expected that we would probably be shooting in rain for the day. I guess the time we spent lost worked in our favor. By the time we pulled into the parking lot, the rain had stopped, most people were already on the course, and the parking lot was full of trucks and cars.
I can usually get a good feel for how my day is going to do when I step to the line at the target butt. When I pulled up for my first few arrows and the pin didn't move, I knew the bow was going to hold steady for the day, which gave me a lot of confidence. Normally, I start at 20 yards and shoot a bunch of arrows from that distance. I usually don't shoot any arrows at other distances because I just work on feeling my shot, and it is easy to feel things at 20 without worrying about aiming or where the arrows are hitting. However, since the 20 and 30-yard bales were crowded, I shot at the 50-yard bale. My first four arrows hit behind the pin. The trend continued when I moved to 40, 30 and finished at 20. I was definitely ready to roll.
When My Group Got Called to Start
There were a lot of people around when I was getting ready to start. When my group was called to go out, I felt fortunate to see that Scott Tozier was in my group. I usually shoot well when I shoot with Scott, and I enjoy shooting with him. Ted Butler, a guy who used to always be in the top peer group of the Northeast Triple Crown in the early '90s, was also in our group, along with my dad. I knew it would be a good day. Ted is just finding his way back to 3D archery after about a 25-year hiatus.
The Shoot Begins
It was a long walk to the first target. We started at the top of the hill with the range that had the Big 10 buck on it. When Ted shot under the target and Dad hit it in the belly, I figured they both were having a rough time gauging distance since they hadn't done any estimating recently.
When I drew the bow, settled into anchor and transferred my shot into my back, I had a few of the first-target jitters show up in my sight picture. Although it wasn't moving all over the place like it sometimes does, it was definitely a little jittery, and I had no problems seeing it. The best thing about it was that although things were moving around, the pin stayed solidly in the 10-ring. When the shot finally broke, I expected to see my nock show up in the 10-ring. Unfortunately, the arrow landed squarely between the 10 and the 8 at 6 o'clock.........perfect line. I was happy with the line but really disappointed with the bad number.
I quickly put the shot behind me and moved along to the next target, a large black bear down a hill and in a dark, swampy area. It was a great set, and I felt really confident with my number. With a good marker in the target, I executed a perfect shot and the arrow hit behind the pin -- a solid 11. That shot was one of my best shots of the day. I can still feel it as I sit here and tell you about it. Always cherish those good shots and give them the praise they deserve. They can get you through some rough patches when you need to find something positive to look back on while you're on a course.
When I walked up to the next stake and glanced up the hill, I saw a coyote looking down at me. If this were a national event, this is one of the shots that is put on the course to separate the field. If you get it, you probably gain a few points on the field. If you miss it, you start digging a hole that might bury you. I knew I had already missed one that shouldn't have been missed, so I knew I needed this one. That's not a good place to be in when you've only shot two targets, but I alway approach these shoots like I'm at a national. It allows me to have the same mindset when I'm at the big show. The number stood out to me when I looked at the target, and I executed another good shot. I hit it a touch over the 11, but it had a perfect line. Here's that shot, thanks to Scott's photography.
As we progressed through the course, my shots remained clean, but I struggled to get them off. I was battling a problem I didn't have last weekend. The pin locked on the target and barely moved. I had minimal to no pin movement on most targets, which slowed things down and made me admire the pin. I had a bear of a time getting the release to fire, but it wasn't beating me up. Unlike the days when that happens with a handheld release and tension builds within my body, I didn't have any tension and didn't feel it in my hands, forearms, neck and shoulders. The release wasn't firing because I wasn't applying enough pressure on the trigger when I started my shot. Instead, I barely laid my finger on the trigger and didn't pay attention to putting solid pressure on it. Thinking about when I decided on that release, I knew I had a hard time getting it to fire consistently. The same thing was showing up on the range. It might just be because I didn't have any time behind this particular release and was uncomfortable with it. I picked my way through the first 10 targets and felt good about my numbers and my shot, even though my shot was sometimes taking me to the maximum number of letdowns. Although I got there a few times during the day, I always managed to get the shot off fairly easily when I had to. By the time I got to the last target on the loop, I knew that I had made up the 8 that I had shot on the first target. Here's the caribou, the last target of the loop. I scored a solid 11 on this shot.
Going into the second leg of targets, I felt confident. My numbers seemed to be coming to be without much effort, and the pin was sitting steadier than I ever could have asked for. I've always shot an 18-inch or a 24-inch bar outside, but after talking to Jacob at the indoor state shoot, he told me he was going to try a 27' bar outside this year, so I decided I would give it a whirl too. I've never shot a lot of weight on my bows, so I decided to go with a 27' front bar with 4 ounces on it and a 15 inch back bar with 16 ounces on it -- light according to what most people use these days.
The first target on the next loop was a strutting turkey on an uphill grade. Turkeys are always tough, but this one was even tougher with the uphill grade added into the mix. I had a fairly good aiming spot to guide me, so I used it and secured a 10 to start the loop. I was satisfied with that. I picked my way through the course and did well with it. As we neared the end of the course, a few things distracted me and I began thinking about the difficult footing. I missed the gator high, hitting the 8 line, luckily avoiding a 5. The next target was the big muley, and I couldn't get good enough footing to make any type of good shot. I did the best I could with it and took what it gave me, which was an 8 the landed an inch left of the 10-ring. I've never been a fan of having shots that are based on luck. Lets' face it, this is target archery, and we never see purposely made bad footing at national events. If you do see bad footing, it's because they stake could not possibly go anywhere else. When luck comes into play on a shot, I believe the stake has not been properly set. Nobody in my group could hold the bow steady. We all went from the back to the belly and from the front to the back. Everyone gasped when their shot went off, and everyone expected the worse due to the nature of the hold. Some of us got "lucky" and some of us didn't. Nothing should really come down to luck in my eyes. I could be wrong, but after shooting for 30 years on the national scene, I've never seen much of that unless there is absolutely no other option. It's just food for thought and a little constructive criticism. Other than that one shot, I thought everything else was stellar.
After getting those two 8s out of the way and heading to the final loop of targets, I was spent. Mentally, I checked out and didn't feel like shooting the rest of the tournament. When we got to the first target of the last loop, there were three groups waiting to start.
When I finally got to the stake, I had totally lost my flow and focus -- it was totally gone. It took me a little bit to get going, as I just couldn't get focused again. I tried to regain my good mental state after botching the second 8, which was the only shot of the day that I would like back. Unlike the past, of the 30 shots I executed, that one 8 on the gray ram was the only one that I felt any type of tension. I had a lot of tension, and I could see it in my sight picture. I couldn't get the pin to sit down at all. I missed the target out the top, but I knew I was going to hit there before I shot the arrow. After doing this, I quickly jumped back onto the train that was cruising in the zone, not in the chaos of distractions.
After making the adjustment, I put my nose to the grind and kept plowing ahead. My numbers remained good and so did my shot. Near the end of the round, I executed a perfect shot on a black panther and a white standing bear. I believe this is the shot on the black panther, if not it might have been the target out by the solar panels. Either way, I got both of those targets and made great shots.
When I shot the last target of the day, a bedded buck, I knew something wasn't quite right. I knew I had the right number, and the arrow landed at the bottom of the 10-ring, cutting the line in half. When the shot broke, I was almost certain I was going to 11 it. I didn't pay much attention to it until I shot my bow this afternoon. My first three shots all landed at the bottom of the blue on a 5-spot target at 40 yards. Looking at the bow, the draw stop had loosened up and was sliding around in the groove. This is the first time that has ever happened to me. So the moral of the story is to pay attention to the little things.
My Take on the Day
Flat out -- this was a tough shoot. Looking back at the day, I think the club did a great job with the blue and green stakes. I think they probably averaged close to the same distance for total yards and they made both groups of shooters really work to get their numbers. I thought this was fantastically done to keep both groups of shooters on their toes. Whoever did that deserves a hats off.
If someone watched me from a distance, he probably would have thought I struggled like crazy today because of the number of times I let down. I think I can just attribute that to the release that I hadn't shot at all. Although I have two of them, I hadn't shot this one at all before the few times I shot it the previous night. Like I said earlier, normally I would be exhausted after a shoot like that, but the letting down didn't affect me because it wasn't related to any type of tension. It was just because I was too unfamiliar with the trigger on it.
My pin sat down better than it has in a long time. It's amazing how the pin didn't sit down at all last week. Sometimes little changes -- or big changes -- can lead to a better result. The secret is to try things without overdoing it. Some people like to change things every week, and I don't believe that's a good thing. If you can get confidence in your equipment and run with it without changing things, the confidence will continue to grow.
I talked with my buddy Sean Roberts today, and we joked about how I have to shoot with someone other than him to shoot well. It's kind of funny, but I've never shot well with Sean, except one time when Jacob and I shot against him and Binger at Shawn Couture's shoot. Over the years, I've realized that the people we shoot with sometimes affect the outcome, even if we don't know why. I'm not really sure whey I haven't shot well with Sean, and it might just be pure coincidence. I know I've always shot well with Scott over the years. I know that I've always been at my best in peer groups or in groups of people in which I don't know anyone in the group. I'd suggest that a lot of you up and comers should seek out people who you admire and try to shoot with him. If you shoot with people who are better than you, you will probably improve. You can always learn things, and it will make you work harder to keep up with them. Also, try shooting with people who you don't know at all. Experience things a little and see what you learn about yourself and your shooting.
I almost forget to write this, but I can't because over the years, I've watched a lot of shooters shoot their bows. I've always been fascinated with the shots of a few different people. I got to shoot behind Pete Swanney for a loop of 10 targets. I haven't shot with Pete since the early 2000s in Roanoke, VA, at one of the ASA Pro-Ams when we were shooting in the Semi-pro Class. I think that was the year I had the arrow explode upon release after it had gotten dinged on the previous shot. I always wished I could shoot a shot like he can. Watching him shoot on Saturday was no different than it used to be. He makes shooting look so incredibly easy. I envy people like that. One of these days, I'll figure it out. I'm not sure whose shot I like better, Jason Kennedy's or Pete's. They both look great. If anyone wants to model himself after someone watch those two guys shoot an arrow. It's like poetry in motion.
It was also nice to meet and chat with Pat Hlavana this weekend when I was done shooting. I hope we didn't slow you down, Pat. We got out money's worth for the day. Wade and Jeff told me you were a good guy, and now I can say that that definitely told me the truth. Keep shooting and keep having fun.
Congratulations to all of the guys and girls that went out, competed and had fun. I did notice that a lot of Mark Myers' students did really well. Mark helped Gary Jones to a podium finish, and he helped me, Barry Gates, Mark Smith, Chuck Weeden, Bob Bain, George Connors, Tim Schlegel, John Vozzy and Gary Wood to work on different things to improve our game. Great job, Mark. Keep up the good work. Everyone appreciates your sacrifices to help them improve. I'm not reading any of this before posting, so I apologize for the errors.
Oh, and here's my day at my camp today. Living in upstate NY sucks.
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