Getting that adrenaline rush and a fun workout in the crisp, clean air of the woods – what’s not to love about hunting? If you enjoy the great outdoors and the satisfaction of bringing home some prime venison, invest in your bowhunting skills every year.
If you are still a beginner at bow shooting, don’t have anyone to guide you, or want to touch upon the basics, we are here with some terrific tips. These eight tips will help bring home that prized buck, but if you’re going to dive deeper, you can check out thebodytraining.com.
#8 Make Sure Your Form and Stance is Solid
It would be a shame if you were determined to spend your vacation hunting, but not in a consistent form! You should consider talking with a professional if you are entirely new to this game.
Bow shoulder should be relaxed and low. The bow arm should be almost straight with a small bend. When the bow arm is excessively bent, muscles are used to maintain it in place. At full draw, you want the bones in your arm to support the weight, not your muscles.
If you already know what a good form feels and looks like, you can ask a friend or a family member to film you while shooting. You can then find out where you’re making mistakes.
You should also ensure your bow is in alignment with your arrow! Simple tutorials are available online, and you can also visit your local bow shop.
#7 Learn to Shoot Long Ranges
You need to master long-range shots because close-range will naturally become more effortless once you practice that. Always practice at 50-60 yards if you plan to shoot at 40 in real life. That way, it will seem like a piece of cake on an opening day. This is one of the most important skills you can build as a bowhunter. However, don’t start obsessing over it if you are beginning.
#6 Spend Time Shooting from Elevated Platforms
One of the critical bowhunting skills is shooting from an elevation. You’re lucky if your public range has a tower. If not, you need to create a practice range with that downward angle for shooting. For example, you could stand on your deck or hang a ladder stand in your yard or any place you practice. If you are unsure of the best bowhunting platform for your area, check out the Deerhunting Guide for the best ladder stand.
Train yourself in the various positions that you plan to shoot. For example, when shooting at lower angles, bend at your waist, locate your anchor point and maintain a steady grip on your bow.
For spotting and stalking or ground blind hunting, shoot from the chair you will be hunting from. You could even shoot from the blind spot. Stand on irregular plains when training for spotting and stalking and shoot from your knees.
There are many scenarios you can encounter in the wilderness; however, to maximize your chance of making a kill and doing it according to law, please familiarize yourself with Michigan’s deer hunting season.
#5 Improve bowhunting Skills – Mix Up the Stances you Practice
You are most likely comfortable in the age-old form of feet shoulder wide and hip towards your prey. However, in real-life situations, this is not always possible.
You need to rotate your torso in a particular direction to get a good look at a walking deer if you are a tree stand hunter. Without any practice, it may feel awkward in the field while you’re trying to maintain a steady anchor point.
This is one of the bowhunting skills that does not apply to you if you still have not acquired a basic form. Once you have developed a consistent form of your own, you could practice that position. Line up your feet at an angle that is not directly at your target while keeping your feet in place, rotate your upper body towards the target and take a shot.
#4 Don’t Practice at Perfect Intervals
It is doubtful that a local deer will be walking precisely 20 yards away from your spot. Therefore you should customize your training sessions accordingly. For example, if you’re using pins to practice shooting, you should try learning to shoot between the pins.
You can actively recall this skill if you use a slider to practice. This will prepare your brain for the final shooting when the deer walks at an odd distance.
#3 Don’t Restrict Your Practice to Daylight Hours
Fine-tune your bowhunting skills by practicing at dawn and dusk. A few sessions in the dark can benefit you hugely. The best conditions would be a realistic hunting range with a 3D deer. This is because you will only see the outline of the deer’s body and not its details. Due to this, choosing a spot on your target will be even more difficult.
This replicates the scenario if you’re hunting at dusk or dawn. But, again, you will become confident with squeezing the shot by trusting the pin floating over the deer’s vitals.
#2 High Heart Rate Practice is Essential
You will have very few hunting experiences in your life when your heart does not want to leap out of your chest. Your brain will react a lot better if you train your body to act with a high adrenaline rush. You could do this by running just before a practice session.
You could take part in local 3D tournaments. You could also take a friend to the shooting range and get some money involved. You could also set up multiple shooting stations at different yardages. That would let you jog from one session to another, increasing your heart rate.
#1 Train Yourself to Hold at Full Draw
This will prevent you from feeling anxious and jittery when you have to hold your bow at full draw waiting for your target. If your arms start to shake, and you begin to worry about shooting a deer, it will not make your job very easy.
After being done with your training session for the day, draw your bow and hold it until you’re tired and shaky. You don’t have to focus on the pin until you get the hang of holding the bow for a while. The main goal here is to strengthen your muscles and train your mind so that it gets used to having the bow before making a shot.
Final Words on Bowhunting Skills
This sport is both extraordinarily unpredictable and fun-inducing. If you can implement all the tips listed above, you will make it in a plethora of different shooting scenarios. Good luck with your next hunting adventure!
