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archery lessons?

3K views 8 replies 9 participants last post by  Ultramag 
#1 ·
i was woundering if anyone knew of a place or a persons that give lessons in basic archery? (form, holding the bow correctly, setting up the bow shooting tips.. etc) this is my first year shooting and i dont want to be cought up in bad habits for years to come if i dont have to. so let me know u guys...
 
#3 ·
There are lots of books and articles on shooting a bow. Just Google "Learning to Bowhunt" or "Shooting a Compound Bow."

The best way to learn is to shoot and shoot until your arms and shoulders just start to hurt then stop. Wait 2 days and shoot again until you start to ache. Keep repeating until you can shoot 50 arrows in one shooting period and still feel good. If you can shoot 50 arrows without any aches you may want to go up in poundage. The more power you shoot, the more accurate you will be.

Now once your shooting muscles are in good shape you will probably be pretty darn good at figuring out the rest of it.

When first starting to learn to shoot it is an exercise in frustration to even try to fine tune your sights. Once you get a repeatable, strong draw and release then you can start to tune your sights in. All in all, I would say that shooting a compound bow accurately is one of the easiest things to accomplish if you spend a lot of time doing it.

The most important thing you need to learn after you get the simple stuff out of the way is how to best guess your yardage. Challenge yourself during the regular day to guess distances. Then pace them off to see if you are right. Challenge your buddies out of the blue to a distance guessing contest. You would be surprised once you get your range finder in your brain calibrated how accurate you will eventually be.

The final test for me every year is to only count the very first shot of a target session as the most important shot of the day. In the woods the only shot that counts is your first one. Just make it a life or death situation for you everytime you pull your bow out to target shoot that the #1 shot is your grading point for how much you have improved.

Good luck and happy hunting.

AFTER EDIT: Great link for explaining the ABC's of your bow. http://www.huntersfriend.com/bowselection.htm
 
#4 ·
it is kinda of a drive, but I would second what Big County said about Adams Archery and Four Seasons Archery. Both high class shops, ranges and people at each.

Maybe call some of the shops out your way and see if they can point you to somewhere closer. Maybe try some of the Sportsman or Conversation type clubs for advice too.

Hope this helps,
J-
 
#5 ·
the cheapest way might be too look for an archery class at a local community college

..the wrong way to go it is ,, with out a doubt to go out and shoot not knowing anything at all you will train yourself to shoot with mistakes and poor form more then likely...\\

50lbs will kill a deer just as easy as 75lbs...accuracy and draw weight are not conected in any way

i took a college archery class after shooting for 15 years and it did help ...

perfect practice makes perfect....and you seem to have that figured out allready good luck
 
#6 ·
your wise to think of lessons. its the best money you can spend.
do not learn from a book, or a buddy.
a good instructor can watch your form and release and see things you don't even know your doing.
 
#8 ·
I know a old timer at Shupbac's in Jackson coached a team for a while and prolly still does.

He'll admit his forte is in guiding finger shooters but his knowledge is expansive and I've had first hand expereince with him.

I bought a bow there years ago during the off season on a Tuesday morning. Shop was pretty slow and after we got it setup he gave me about 2 hrs of guidance upstairs at the range getting it dialed in.

This was 2001 or so and I was probably 6 months into shooting and while I wasn't great I could hit what I aimed at pretty well. In that time though he gave me simple shooting techniques, advice and ideas that I still use to this day. If I had to quantify it I'd say I was twice the archer when I left. He had a huge impact on my shooting.

Funny thing is it was nothing to him...I saw him at the Reinhart shoot last year and we started to chat and he had absolutley no recollection of ever helping me and had no idea the impact he had. Of course I thanked him and reminded him and in his normal manner he said "Bah...doesn't mean nuthin if ya can't shoot....Howd ya do?".....I beat him by 2 points;)
 
#9 ·
John Eberhart has a DVD out that has shooting instruction from the guys a Shupbachs. I have it and found it very helpful in correcting a couple of my problems.
 
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