It took quite a while for me to be consistently accurate with my compound bow.
I would have a couple of good shot’s and then half a dozen not so good through to absolutely terrible.
To me, the process of shooting a bow (in my view) is like performing a martial art. Everything has to be just right to make a great shot.
The more you practice, the better your body and brain work together to flow through the process without thinking of every little aspect.
‘Bow Fitness’ is a real thing. People tire very quickly when starting archery. Muscles for archery are not consistently stressed in our daily movements. It’s important to start with a few shots everyday to build Bow Fitness.
This can be done at a short distance, with a target propped up so it’s pretty much level with the arrow on the bow. It’s all about repetitions, to gain consistency and confidence.
Join a club or group of archer’s that get together for the sport and learn from them or get some coaching from an expert if available to you.
After building my accuracy and consistency, I wandered off around our property to find a bunny. Two shots and two misses. What am I doing wrong??? Focusing too much on the rabbit.
And not enough on the shot process. Basically, I was rushing the shot.
Off again to sneak up on another bunny. Target animal spotted at 20 metres, sitting broadside, perfect, take your time, draw smoothly, settle the sight pin on the rabbit, release your grip in your front hand so not to torque the bow sideways, pressure on the release aid until it fires.
Twang… SMOKED it, what a buzz, I actually got a bunny with a bow, never thought I could. Talk about a stunned mullet, I couldn’t believe what I had just done!!
Smiling from ear to ear I walked back to the house to show off my first harvest with the bow, then happily butchered the bunny to feed the little Lion.
That all started in 2019. Since then, I’ve shot hundreds of bunnies. Lost lots of arrows, lost lots of bunnies with my arrows through them. Lost lots of bunnies in the thick stuff or down their burrows after the arrow has passed through them. That adrenalin is a powerful drug. It’s amazing how far a rabbit can run after being shot and then collapse dead.
Now it was time to start thinking about chasing the goats that live close by in the neighbouring pines and scrub. That requires a different tip for the arrows. A broadhead with sharp cutting blades to cause as much damage as possible for a quick ethical death.
Well didn’t that open up a new can of worms. Field tip or target arrows are guided by the fletches at the rear or back of the arrow, broadheads guide or steer the arrow from the front, or tip of the arrow.
This can mean, the two different tipped arrows may hit the target at different spots. Which is usually corrected by moving the rest that the arrow sits on minute amounts sideways or up and down until they group together.
But this is a rabbit hole for another day.
Walking from our house to our workshop, I get a view of the hills behind us about a kilometre away. It’s always the white goats I spot first.
My first goat hunt had the goats at the edge of the pine block at the back of the neighbours farm. Lots of pampas and privet grow along the edge of the pines against the farm fence. Great food and cover for the goats and for me to use to sneak up on them.
It’s hard to count goats when they are feeding, they never stand still. It looked like 12-14 goats, half of them in the pampas and privet, the rest were on the paddock side grazing the grass. It’s amazing how a goat can slide through a seven wire fence without any noise.
This group were in a good spot for me to stalk in on, as they were 70m from a bend in the fence line. So there’s my target spot, get to the corner post and wait as they were feeding down to the corner. Perfect cross wind as I snuck along the fence. A massive pampas bush spilled over the corner post and gave me plenty of cover as I peered through the edge of the leaves to spot the goats. There were a couple of goats at about 40m up the fence line, but I could hear quiet bleating and footsteps closer than that.
Maybe I should move back from the corner a bit. Before I answered that in my head, a black and white nanny slipped out from under the back of the pampas and stood broadside at 3m with her head behind another pampas bush.
WOW, no need to range this one.
Twang, the arrow was gone. Through the heart and into the ground behind her.
She jumped and bleated at the impact and quickly walked off. She fell over 6m away, dead. The undergrowth exploded as the other goats ran from the unseen danger.
Not the shot I expected, but I’ll take it, and the lean organic meat.
Nanny burgers for dinner.
