Man, I'm not a tournament shooter, or a hunter, but this video really hit close to home. I shoot at my local range just for fun, but after I got rather good groupings consistently, I was startled when some days I would just be completely off, sometimes so badly I would get demoralized and leave. Every shot would be a desperate attempt to correct my groupings. Ironically my focus on the target got me to lose focus on what made the sport fun for me. I've been following your videos for a while now, and your cup shooting video gave me the courage to begin instinctive archery. Your videos such as your archery gathering with people from all around the world as well as this remind me of the joy I got when I first loosed an arrow.
Thats excatly what it is for me. On some days I have a fear and a shame when I miss and I beat myself up for it. That fear gets even worse when I am in a competition. One time in a indoor shooting tournament it got so bad that I could not even hit a 60cm target from 10m anymore. With me the fear shows in that I release WAY to early, drawing up to 2 inches short of my normal draw lenght and loosing so much power in my bow and at the same time mess up my release completely because my hand is floating in the air. After that particular indoor tournament, I set up my shooting bag and shot arrow after arrow into it, concentrating on drawing and getting to anchor but my precision just did not come back, something felt completely off, there was no flow, no "state of shooting". I noticed that i was extremely frustrated and grim to get my shooting right again, so I tried to relax, telling myself "it does not matter if you hit or not" and i sort of got back into that shooting state, that flow. Within minutes i was hitting the spot again and putting arrows so close together that I busted 3 nocks within 10 minutes. Guys it is like Jim says: Don't be afraid to miss, It does not matter if you miss, it doesn't suck, it is not bad luck, it just happened like the most normal things. Go out, shoot at targets that are near impossible to hit, targets that you will hit only once out of maybe 10 times. MAKE IT NORMAL TO MISS! Train your brain to not get upset when you miss. That is what helps me with my fear of missing, my form of target panic.
We need more videos! on here and your archery adventure account!. Your videos bring the joy and excitement into archery, sharing your thoughts and knowledge; helping the new-bies and also the more advanced archer learn new tricks and ways of progressing into a better archer and keeping the tradition going!.
Its good to know that im not the only one out there that has this problem archery its more then a passion its a life style in my book and it takes alot of dedtication to be all u can be with a bow and this video really helped
I'm actually quite glad I looked at this today, about an hour before I go to have an assessment for joining my local archery club, I feel a lot calmer now :)
I had only heard of target panic in hunting situations. Interesting to hear of yourself and others experiencing this condition in target shooting. Glad you got your head around it. Jeff K knows how to have fun with a bow. You did well to take his advice.
Thank God for this video... this morning I mess up my last 15 arrows (out of 60) and only get 3 arrows right where I wanted them to be while the rest of the twelve were scattered all over the place... and I experienced this target panic, I had to abort my shooting 3 times before I shoot my last arrow, and still manage to missed the spot quite significantly. Thanks for this video Jim... I'm excited for my next morning archery session. Please take care, God Bless you.
When I started shooting trad about a year ago, I was somehow fortunate enough to find you, Jeff, and Chris. I owe you guys a great debt. It's a debt I can never repay., except by shooting.. Thank you!
I haven't been performing well under pressure and I'm shooting longbow at BUCS indoor championships next weekend. I've been a bit worried as I'm not as prepared as I would like to be so 'll try to keep some of this in mind.
wait, now I know what took the pleasure out of archery for me, it was target panic all along. Glad I know this now because I'm gonna start practicing again this summer for a larp :)
I took up archery at 65, and have done a couple of competitions, I suppose it's a competing streak that can ruin it, although it doesn't really matter and at 65 you're not going to set the world alight, you can still get pissed off because you want to improve. You need to evaluate what you need from archery and take the joy of it
The consequences of missing depend on what you are aiming for, in certain instances you can cause a whole lot more hurt than just your personal pride if you miss.
"Target panic is nothing more than fear of missing ...." ---> Well, there is another theory as well. It's called Classical Conditioning (have you heard about Ivan Pavlov and his dogs?). So, I suggest u to read Ph.D. Jay Kidwell's "Instinctive Archery Insights". Great reading to cure target panic.
just want to say how much I enjoy your vids. And if it helps don't worry about what we think of your shooting . I'm more interested in your reviews anyway. Before I bought my bow I watched a lot of reviews before I decided on a bow. Unfortunately my pocket bow made the decision for me. But thru your reviews I have a list of bows I want to look at and try. Keep up the good work and keep the vids coming
I’ve never shot for scores or to impress anyone, for me archery should be fun, if I miss what the hell, I shoot longbow and Sioux selfbow so you can imagine I miss more than I hit, there’s always another arrow. Thanks for your info Jim.
Just started watching your stuff Jim, you're great ambassador for archery! If you could find some time, a review of the Bear Montana Longbow would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!
In order to be of further help with this condition I would like to draw attention to two books I know of that deal with it. One is 'Instinctive Archery Insights' by Jay Kidwell. This devotes quite a lot of pages to psychology of the condition and its manifestations as well as giving suggestions for prevention and cure. The other book is 'Principles of Traditional Archery' by Thomas Grissom. This book deals largely with the technical aspects of bow and arrow design and performance relevant to all 'traditional' bows including freestyle recurve. It also has chapters on shooting including one devoted to target panic and its cure.
For me I just can't get myself to draw all the way back to anchor when I'm preparing to shoot at the target. When I shoot blind it's perfectly fine, and also when I just pick a random spot to shoot on the hill I set my target up in front of I can hit my anchor point nearly every time. It sucks and I've been trying all sorts of different mind games with myself to try and fix it. So far what I've found to be most successful is drawing to my anchor point with my eyes closed, and then opening my eyes and focusing on the spot I want to hit.
Thanks for uploading this video. I've only been shooting for a year or so and yesterday I competed in my 2nd archery competition and one of the big problems that I have is premature release and I thought it was just me who had this. Also I had made the mistake of checking my scoring half way through yesterdays competition and got a little too hard on myself and started to play "catch up" on my previous competition score, constantly scolding myself, focusing on the scores rather than having fun and at the end... I didn't do well as I had hoped (I never bothered checking my scoring until the very end of my 1st competition and basically went along with it for the fun...but it all worked out well at the end) Has anyone done that or was it just me?
Target panic (or shyness as it was once called) takes different forms. Mine as a junior back in the 1970’s was loosing before completing the aim with the sight pin on the gold. I instantly cured mine by using a clicker. There needed to be something else to trigger the shot other than the sight window or aim. The metal turmoil of what point in the aim to trigger the shot (that leads to freezing or premature release) vanished when the loose is signalled by something other than the aim. Coming back to archery after many decades break I now shoot ‘instinctive’ so don’t have the benefit of a clicker as a crutch and have found the problem harder to control. I try settling on the aim just short of final anchor point then pull that fraction of an inch and loose on hitting it.
Rhys Jackson Yes that is exactly what I have had. There are many tricks recommend as a way of limiting or curing it.What style do you shoot (Recurve Freestyle,Compound, Barebow etc)?
Rhys Jackson Yes, you should try a clicker. Hopefully someone at your club can help you with correct positioning so to allow you to settle sight on the gold at virtual full draw before pulling the arrow the final fraction through it and allowing the click to trigger the release (your arrows will need to be the correct length to allow this). That final pull should be done by squeezing the back muscles. You may find yourself shooting through it once or twice (and striping a fletching) before getting the hang of it. Also see my other comment on this thread that recommends the Thomas Grisson book which deals with this.
I'm an instinctive archer that has had target panic for years now... I haven't shot further distances than 18 meters in 3 years because of it. It really is a horrible condition. Btw. for me it is the fear of missing the target entirely and the arrow in an uncontrolled ammer going just SOMEwhere, potentially damaging stuff.
In late 2012 early 2013 this happened to me, made me stop archery completely but i miss it so damn much, i'v decided to get myself a new longbow and get through this. What happened, happened over a little time and i can't actually recall what tricked it, afterwards i couldn't draw the bow more than 15-20 cm with an arrow on before i let go. i even tried holding the string with my hand like i would a grocery bag, then i just couldn't get it past that point. now if there wasn't an arrow on the rest i can draw the bow full length. Some points from what i'v gathered when i'v been thinking about it has been what if i hit someone (unlikely but somehow that keeps popping up in my head) and the other also what if, but that's based on the arrow springing out of the rest right before i let go. I'm really not sure how to go about getting over this, i don't use tricker release just my glove. (Only longbow for me)
For me it's drawing the bow and stopping half way and not anchoring I can draw my bow back to full draw but when I'm aim at a target I freeze can't draw anymore
Jim- does target panic include just wanting to get the shot off? I sometimes get to anchor, drop the bow down so the pin is near gold and as soon as it gets to gold i release the string. It used to be because my bow poundage was too high for me and so I wanted to release the string as soon as possible. Does anyone know if this is target panic?!
This sounds pretty much like stage fright or being a bit of a perfectionist too. It's like how I completely stopped drumming (now over a year and a half) because I messed up on a few songs during a performance and I got all angry about it... This is the way I'm understanding "target panic" at least. Things like this really are pretty nasty.
For anyone who wants the simplest possible explanation of how to get over target panic, I have the best way to tell how. Just do it. Target panic is when you know you can hit the target, and you put pressure on yourself to perform. It's a form of analytical paralysis! How I got over my target panic is before I drew my bow is I repeated to myself over and over: "I know I can do it, so I need to just do it.". It's not about knowing you can do it, or believing in yourself, because that creates pressure. *It's about shutting up and doing it!* If you used to get 1" groups at 50 yards, and suddenly you can't anymore because of target panic? Stop telling yourself "I know I can do this...", smile and imagine Shia Lebeouf is screaming in your ear to make your dreams come true. *JUST. DO IT!* Trust me. I deal with target panic all the time because I'm shooting instinctive in a crowded suburb in my backyard. Missing my target means an arrow going through a fence, there's a LOT of pressure, so I don't focus on hitting my target. I just do it.
Le Thanh Minh It worked for me, and it worked for a few kids at my local archery club. I hope it works for you. Also applies to any kind of precision sport apparently. Airgunning, Shooting, Darts, you name it.
I am on the schools archery team, I have bad target panic, when I pull my bow up and pull my string back, I pull back halfway and my brain tells me to let go, making me miss the target.
Something that happened to me: we were shooting at small chicken targets, and we had a little bit of a competition for who could nail an arrow the closest to its eye. I shot a couple of rounds, every shot went to high, I wanted to do something about it and just started missing. There were other chickens spread around out field, so I decided to take a shot at the very back one. I didn't intend actually hitting well, but just concentrated on shooting. Next thing I know it's half a cm from the eye. I win :D
I Jim Can you help me i realease before i hit my ancor point and i dont know how to get rid of it becores at the same time my coach tell me that i shall realease as soon as i hit my ancor point please help me i dont know what to do
Hey! I've done archery for about 6 months and for the last 2 weeks instinctive archery with a bow with no shelf. For some reason I developed a vague anchor during those 6 months and felt like I could reduce my inaccuracy by taking a specific anchor point. Simple right? I was quite accurate with my vague, old anchoring. I could hit my targets rather well from 30 metres or more, but now I get the same inaccuracies from around 10 metres with my new anchor. Should I just persevere and stick with the new anchor (middle finger to lip) and wait for the hopefully increase in my accuracy?
When I draw my bow I release almost immediatly (snapshooting), and I can't hold it long at my anchor. When someone's counting out loud for me I can easily hold it there for a few seconds and I also noticed my shot's are way better. Do you now how I can get that away?
I started archery long time ago. And wanna start it over again. I had a target panic and I am counting like you and failed, but it is already cured, my only advice is use a lighter bow, use a clicker, and focus on back tension for release.
Man, I'm not a tournament shooter, or a hunter, but this video really hit close to home. I shoot at my local range just for fun, but after I got rather good groupings consistently, I was startled when some days I would just be completely off, sometimes so badly I would get demoralized and leave. Every shot would be a desperate attempt to correct my groupings. Ironically my focus on the target got me to lose focus on what made the sport fun for me. I've been following your videos for a while now, and your cup shooting video gave me the courage to begin instinctive archery. Your videos such as your archery gathering with people from all around the world as well as this remind me of the joy I got when I first loosed an arrow.
Thats excatly what it is for me. On some days I have a fear and a shame when I miss and I beat myself up for it.
That fear gets even worse when I am in a competition. One time in a indoor shooting tournament it got so bad that I could not even hit a 60cm target from 10m anymore. With me the fear shows in that I release WAY to early, drawing up to 2 inches short of my normal draw lenght and loosing so much power in my bow and at the same time mess up my release completely because my hand is floating in the air.
After that particular indoor tournament, I set up my shooting bag and shot arrow after arrow into it, concentrating on drawing and getting to anchor but my precision just did not come back, something felt completely off, there was no flow, no "state of shooting". I noticed that i was extremely frustrated and grim to get my shooting right again, so I tried to relax, telling myself "it does not matter if you hit or not" and i sort of got back into that shooting state, that flow. Within minutes i was hitting the spot again and putting arrows so close together that I busted 3 nocks within 10 minutes.
Guys it is like Jim says: Don't be afraid to miss, It does not matter if you miss, it doesn't suck, it is not bad luck, it just happened like the most normal things. Go out, shoot at targets that are near impossible to hit, targets that you will hit only once out of maybe 10 times. MAKE IT NORMAL TO MISS! Train your brain to not get upset when you miss. That is what helps me with my fear of missing, my form of target panic.
We need more videos! on here and your archery adventure account!. Your videos bring the joy and excitement into archery, sharing your thoughts and knowledge; helping the new-bies and also the more advanced archer learn new tricks and ways of progressing into a better archer and keeping the tradition going!.
Its good to know that im not the only one out there that has this problem archery its more then a passion its a life style in my book and it takes alot of dedtication to be all u can be with a bow and this video really helped
Thanks for the video Jim, keep them coming. Glad you're enjoying shooting again.
I'm actually quite glad I looked at this today, about an hour before I go to have an assessment for joining my local archery club, I feel a lot calmer now :)
I had only heard of target panic in hunting situations. Interesting to hear of yourself and others experiencing this condition in target shooting. Glad you got your head around it. Jeff K knows how to have fun with a bow. You did well to take his advice.
Thank God for this video... this morning I mess up my last 15 arrows (out of 60) and only get 3 arrows right where I wanted them to be while the rest of the twelve were scattered all over the place... and I experienced this target panic, I had to abort my shooting 3 times before I shoot my last arrow, and still manage to missed the spot quite significantly.
Thanks for this video Jim... I'm excited for my next morning archery session.
Please take care,
God Bless you.
When I started shooting trad about a year ago, I was somehow fortunate enough to find you, Jeff, and Chris. I owe you guys a great debt. It's a debt I can never repay., except by shooting.. Thank you!
I now understand what my problem is , your so right Jim cheers .
I haven't been performing well under pressure and I'm shooting longbow at BUCS indoor championships next weekend. I've been a bit worried as I'm not as prepared as I would like to be so 'll try to keep some of this in mind.
wait, now I know what took the pleasure out of archery for me, it was target panic all along. Glad I know this now because I'm gonna start practicing again this summer for a larp :)
I took up archery at 65, and have done a couple of competitions, I suppose it's a competing streak that can ruin it, although it doesn't really matter and at 65 you're not going to set the world alight, you can still get pissed off because you want to improve. You need to evaluate what you need from archery and take the joy of it
The consequences of missing depend on what you are aiming for, in certain instances you can cause a whole lot more hurt than just your personal pride if you miss.
"Target panic is nothing more than fear of missing ...."
---> Well, there is another theory as well. It's called Classical Conditioning (have you heard about Ivan Pavlov and his dogs?). So, I suggest u to read Ph.D. Jay Kidwell's "Instinctive Archery Insights". Great reading to cure target panic.
Great video. Spot on and thank you.
just want to say how much I enjoy your vids. And if it helps don't worry about what we think of your shooting . I'm more interested in your reviews anyway. Before I bought my bow I watched a lot of reviews before I decided on a bow. Unfortunately my pocket bow made the decision for me. But thru your reviews I have a list of bows I want to look at and try. Keep up the good work and keep the vids coming
I’ve never shot for scores or to impress anyone, for me archery should be fun, if I miss what the hell, I shoot longbow and Sioux selfbow so you can imagine I miss more than I hit, there’s always another arrow. Thanks for your info Jim.
Useful thoughts,thanks for sharing ;-) Rock on and all the best, Falko
Just started watching your stuff Jim, you're great ambassador for archery! If you could find some time, a review of the Bear Montana Longbow would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!
Thank you very much! You know i love the Bears... i'll see what i can do Colin Nickel
Just had some Bear Montanas in, review comming soon
MerlinArchery Cheers Jim! You're a legend.
In order to be of further help with this condition I would like to draw attention to two books I know of that deal with it. One is 'Instinctive Archery Insights' by Jay Kidwell. This devotes quite a lot of pages to psychology of the condition and its manifestations as well as giving suggestions for prevention and cure. The other book is 'Principles of Traditional Archery' by Thomas Grissom. This book deals largely with the technical aspects of bow and arrow design and performance relevant to all 'traditional' bows including freestyle recurve. It also has chapters on shooting including one devoted to target panic and its cure.
For me I just can't get myself to draw all the way back to anchor when I'm preparing to shoot at the target. When I shoot blind it's perfectly fine, and also when I just pick a random spot to shoot on the hill I set my target up in front of I can hit my anchor point nearly every time. It sucks and I've been trying all sorts of different mind games with myself to try and fix it. So far what I've found to be most successful is drawing to my anchor point with my eyes closed, and then opening my eyes and focusing on the spot I want to hit.
Thanks. A lot of great information.
Thanks for uploading this video. I've only been shooting for a year or so and yesterday I competed in my 2nd archery competition and one of the big problems that I have is premature release and I thought it was just me who had this.
Also I had made the mistake of checking my scoring half way through yesterdays competition and got a little too hard on myself and started to play "catch up" on my previous competition score, constantly scolding myself, focusing on the scores rather than having fun and at the end... I didn't do well as I had hoped (I never bothered checking my scoring until the very end of my 1st competition and basically went along with it for the fun...but it all worked out well at the end)
Has anyone done that or was it just me?
Target panic (or shyness as it was once called) takes different forms. Mine as a junior back in the 1970’s was loosing before completing the aim with the sight pin on the gold. I instantly cured mine by using a clicker. There needed to be something else to trigger the shot other than the sight window or aim. The metal turmoil of what point in the aim to trigger the shot (that leads to freezing or premature release) vanished when the loose is signalled by something other than the aim. Coming back to archery after many decades break I now shoot ‘instinctive’ so don’t have the benefit of a clicker as a crutch and have found the problem harder to control. I try settling on the aim just short of final anchor point then pull that fraction of an inch and loose on hitting it.
Howard Hawksley Don't suppose you could check my comment above? I think I have the same thing as you!
Rhys Jackson Yes that is exactly what I have had. There are many tricks recommend as a way of limiting or curing it.What style do you shoot (Recurve Freestyle,Compound, Barebow etc)?
Olympic Recurve- what about a clicker?
Rhys Jackson Yes, you should try a clicker. Hopefully someone at your club can help you with correct positioning so to allow you to settle sight on the gold at virtual full draw before pulling the arrow the final fraction through it and allowing the click to trigger the release (your arrows will need to be the correct length to allow this). That final pull should be done by squeezing the back muscles. You may find yourself shooting through it once or twice (and striping a fletching) before getting the hang of it. Also see my other comment on this thread that recommends the Thomas Grisson book which deals with this.
Howard Hawksley Cheers!
Having fun is what it's all about:-)
I'm an instinctive archer that has had target panic for years now... I haven't shot further distances than 18 meters in 3 years because of it. It really is a horrible condition.
Btw. for me it is the fear of missing the target entirely and the arrow in an uncontrolled ammer going just SOMEwhere, potentially damaging stuff.
In late 2012 early 2013 this happened to me, made me stop archery completely but i miss it so damn much, i'v decided to get myself a new longbow and get through this. What happened, happened over a little time and i can't actually recall what tricked it, afterwards i couldn't draw the bow more than 15-20 cm with an arrow on before i let go. i even tried holding the string with my hand like i would a grocery bag, then i just couldn't get it past that point. now if there wasn't an arrow on the rest i can draw the bow full length. Some points from what i'v gathered when i'v been thinking about it has been what if i hit someone (unlikely but somehow that keeps popping up in my head) and the other also what if, but that's based on the arrow springing out of the rest right before i let go. I'm really not sure how to go about getting over this, i don't use tricker release just my glove. (Only longbow for me)
Im my experience, Its only a big deal if you let it be... Just try and have fun with it. I recommend shooting tin cans and tree stumps ;)
For me it's drawing the bow and stopping half way and not anchoring I can draw my bow back to full draw but when I'm aim at a target I freeze can't draw anymore
Jim- does target panic include just wanting to get the shot off? I sometimes get to anchor, drop the bow down so the pin is near gold and as soon as it gets to gold i release the string. It used to be because my bow poundage was too high for me and so I wanted to release the string as soon as possible. Does anyone know if this is target panic?!
This sounds pretty much like stage fright or being a bit of a perfectionist too. It's like how I completely stopped drumming (now over a year and a half) because I messed up on a few songs during a performance and I got all angry about it... This is the way I'm understanding "target panic" at least. Things like this really are pretty nasty.
For anyone who wants the simplest possible explanation of how to get over target panic, I have the best way to tell how. Just do it.
Target panic is when you know you can hit the target, and you put pressure on yourself to perform. It's a form of analytical paralysis! How I got over my target panic is before I drew my bow is I repeated to myself over and over: "I know I can do it, so I need to just do it.". It's not about knowing you can do it, or believing in yourself, because that creates pressure. *It's about shutting up and doing it!* If you used to get 1" groups at 50 yards, and suddenly you can't anymore because of target panic? Stop telling yourself "I know I can do this...", smile and imagine Shia Lebeouf is screaming in your ear to make your dreams come true. *JUST. DO IT!*
Trust me. I deal with target panic all the time because I'm shooting instinctive in a crowded suburb in my backyard. Missing my target means an arrow going through a fence, there's a LOT of pressure, so I don't focus on hitting my target. I just do it.
I'll try that :)
Le Thanh Minh
It worked for me, and it worked for a few kids at my local archery club. I hope it works for you. Also applies to any kind of precision sport apparently. Airgunning, Shooting, Darts, you name it.
I am on the schools archery team, I have bad target panic, when I pull my bow up and pull my string back, I pull back halfway and my brain tells me to let go, making me miss the target.
Something that happened to me: we were shooting at small chicken targets, and we had a little bit of a competition for who could nail an arrow the closest to its eye. I shot a couple of rounds, every shot went to high, I wanted to do something about it and just started missing. There were other chickens spread around out field, so I decided to take a shot at the very back one. I didn't intend actually hitting well, but just concentrated on shooting. Next thing I know it's half a cm from the eye. I win :D
I Jim Can you help me i realease before i hit my ancor point and i dont know how to get rid of it becores at the same time my coach tell me that i shall realease as soon as i hit my ancor point please help me i dont know what to do
Hey!
I've done archery for about 6 months and for the last 2 weeks instinctive archery with a bow with no shelf.
For some reason I developed a vague anchor during those 6 months and felt like I could reduce my inaccuracy by taking a specific anchor point. Simple right?
I was quite accurate with my vague, old anchoring. I could hit my targets rather well from 30 metres or more, but now I get the same inaccuracies from around 10 metres with my new anchor. Should I just persevere and stick with the new anchor (middle finger to lip) and wait for the hopefully increase in my accuracy?
Thanks!!
When I draw my bow I release almost immediatly (snapshooting), and I can't hold it long at my anchor. When someone's counting out loud for me I can easily hold it there for a few seconds and I also noticed my shot's are way better.
Do you now how I can get that away?
I started archery long time ago. And wanna start it over again. I had a target panic and I am counting like you and failed, but it is already cured, my only advice is use a lighter bow, use a clicker, and focus on back tension for release.
You might like the book, Zen and the Art of Archery
I shoot target recurve. Im sorry to say that I'm all about the numbers.
Sorry means hi ;)