BOWHUNTING TIPS: PUSHING AND PULLING Skip to main content

BOWHUNTING TIPS: PUSHING AND PULLING

Levi Morgan | BowLife.com 
Bowhunter Mossy Oak
We all realize that to shoot a bow some form of pushing and pulling has to take place – but probably not as much as you’ve been told. My entire life, I was preached to on how I needed to push my bow arm at the target and pull on my release arm firing the shot using my back muscles. I quickly realized that doing that the same way each time was next to impossible. Archery, like I’ve always said, is a game of repetition, and trying to rip the bow in half just wasn’t something I could repeat. One day I’d do great, the next I’d be pulling harder and hit to the right or pushing shots out to the left. The inconsistency was really frustrating.
Now, a lot of my struggles were from the equipment I was using combined with this push/pull method. But mainly, it was because this entire method is flawed, in my opinion. Back when this “back tension” method was introduced, bows had hardly any letoff and spongy back walls. Pushing and pulling really hard probably was the most consistent way to shoot that setup. These days, however, bows are built with solid back walls and high letoff, and when you start pushing and pulling on something that doesn’t give, it just doesn’t work. Think about it; you’re shooting a bow with a solid wall, and when you pull, something has to give. In this case, that would be your bow arm. And when you push and the bow can’t give, then the movement is transferred to your release arm. I truly believe this is the reason so many people struggle with this technique. It’s not that they’re doing it wrong. It’s that the entire process is no longer necessary.
I understand that to keep the bow at full draw, some form of “back tension,” or pushing and pulling, has to take place. I also believe that’s about all you need, just enough to keep the bow at full draw. You have to look at your cam system, holding weight, bow weight and type of draw stop to come up with a consistent push/pull method that suits you. However, if you’re shooting a bow made in the last decade, more pushing and pulling probably isn’t the answer to making you a better shot.
If you are struggling with aiming or consistent groups and you have been taught to push and pull on the bow, let’s try a different approach. Try to relax a little more in your shot. Pull just hard enough to keep the string against the stop and let the bow do the rest. After a while, you should find a really comfortable, less stressful way to fire the shot. This will be way more repeatable for you, and you will be engaging fewer muscles than before. Yes, the fewer muscles during the shot the better. When you’re nervous,  that’s what causes tension and shaking, and that’s what gets us tired. So, the fewer muscles used the better. The days of ripping the bow apart are over. It’s time to relax and let these bows shoot themselves.
Nhãn:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WHAT BIG TEETH YOU HAVE: TIPS FOR PREDATOR MANAGEMENT

Austin Delano | Originally published in  GameKeepers: Farming for Wildlife Magazine It is beneficial to have a few coyotes in the area to help take care of lesser predator numbers. However, throughout much of the coyotes’ range there is an imbalance of too many coyotes.  With all the time and effort that we as gamekeepers put into conserving and protecting the game animals we love to hunt, we hate to see predators have a big influence on their population. Predators play an important role in the food chain and are needed for balance, but left unchecked they can have a significant negative impact on deer, elk, turkey and many other game animals we love to pursue. The re-introduction and protection of wolves in parts of the north is a good example of a significant impact on large game numbers, and it’s still a growing problem in areas. While the average guy may not have to deal with a predator as large as wolves, almost all of us have smaller predators we should try to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

4 EASY WAYS TO AVOID TICKS

Tracy Schmidt Ticks seem to be everywhere when I go hunting. I encounter them in the woods, bushes, high grasses and leaf debris. They need heat and moisture to survive and can sense heat and carbon dioxide from a nearby host animal. There are 80 species of ticks in the United States, but only about a dozen are considered a health threat to humans.  The ticks I encounter the most are the deer tick and the wood tick. The deer tick is the only one of the two that can transmit Lyme disease. The wood tick can transfer Rocky Mountain spotted fever in some areas of North America and is the most commonly found tick in the United States. These ticks hatch from eggs in spring and become nymphs during their first year of life. Blacklegged ticks (commonly called deer ticks) are the only ticks that carry Lyme disease. And not all of these ticks carry the disease. The tick larva are the most likely to transfer Lyme disease during the late spring and summer, if they become infected with...
Post a Comment
Read more

FEEDING WORKING DOGS: THE IMPORTANCE OF GREAT NUTRITION

Just as athletes need the right fuel to stay in great shape, so do working dogs need the right food to make sure their performance is top-notch all season long. If you’re wondering what to feed your working dog, you’ve come to the right place. Just follow these nine steps to give your canines the right dog nutrition. Make sure your dog is actually working. Not all working dog breeds actually burn enough energy to justify a working dog diet. If you have a boxer or a mastiff who spends their days sleeping, feeding them like a working dog will just make them fatter and lazier.  Working dogs  are very active and perform tasks such as hunting, herding, farming, sledding, and even law enforcement. Dogs that compete in high-activity performance shows such as racing and agility competitions also burn enough calories to be considered working dogs. (If your dogs only fit this definition part of the year, don’t worry—we’ll get more in depth on seasonal dog nutrition later on.) Don...
Post a Comment
Read more