just curios how many of you have shot this tournament .

Here

shaw, i knew you had. what was your best performance and what all did you do to prepare for this shoot?

2007 was my best year. We shot the world in Greensboro, North Carolina that year. After the top 16 shot I was sitting in 4th place going in to the top 8. That's when the head to head competition started. I had to shoot against Justin Martin who was in 5th. He put me out and I wound up finishing 7th.

That was the year the Outdoor Channel was filming the shoot for an hour long show. I dropped 3 targets in round one and was sitting in 16th. When I went out to watch the rest of round one after I shot, I could see that I was going to have to gap shoot a lot of the targets. We had shot the qualifier in Birmingham the weekend before. I moved most of my pins from my Birmingham settings because the range in Greensboro was about 6 yards shorter. I knew I was in trouble, so I moved all of my pins back to my Birmingham settings in the hotel room that night.

The next morning I met up with several of my buddies and shot about 50 arrows to make sure everything was where I wanted them. My buddies thought I was crazy for moving everything. I shot round 2 about 11:30 that morning and cleaned it. That moved me up 10 places in the standings. I didn't clean another round, but I never dropped any more than 2 targets in any of the other rounds. I hit all of the runners except for the long one in my last round against Justin. If I would've hit that one I would have beat him.

I didn't shoot it last year and don't plan on shooting it this year either. I might get back into it next year. There's about 10 of us from my area that shoot it. Rickey Pearson and I always set up ranges at our houses to start practicing about 6 weeks before the shoot. Most of our targets are bag targets with black squares the same size as the scoring pads painted on them. We'll normally have 3 3D deer targets set out. 2 of them will be for the longer shots and the third will be set up on our running target. Those runners are very important because they're worth so many points. If you can't consistently hit them, you won't make it far.

We start out with dots painted in the center of the black squares and take our time to make sure we have our pins set exactly where we want them. Normally about 2 weeks before the shoot we'll black the squares in. We'll number all of the targets and start practicing actual 10 arrow rounds. Only one of us will be shooting at a time and another will call out targets numbers for the shooter. While that person is shooting we'll heckle them, play the stereo loud and do everything humanly possible (short of actually touching them) to break their concentration. Sounds crazy, but it works. Climbing up in that stand and shooting in front of that crowd will be one of the most nerve racking experiences you'll ever endure. Throw in some tv cameras and it gets worse. My knees have actually been shaking as I've shot before.

The biggest mistake most of the new shooters make is rushing their shots. It's fast paced. The quicker you get reloaded, the more time you have to locate your targets. This gives you more time to concentrate and aim at the targets. No matter how many times you shoot it there will be times when you get behind or let a target drop before getting a shot off. All you can do is forget it and move on to the next target.

this will be my third year. first year i had a bow manfunction that caused me to shoot a low score on round 2 so i didnt qualify. last year i stayed in the top 8 in the pool. joseph goza shot a clean round with the red dot to put me out of the pool championship. we started out with 27 in the overall counting previous winner with their buy ins. after the first round i was in a three way tie for 4th. second round i dropped to 7th . larry goza beat me by 10pts in the head to head. i missed the last chance target. i think i could have beat henry bass if i could have gotten past goza. randy hendrick 8th knocked colin booth out of 1st which bumped me from 7 th to 8th.
your right about the nerves and the crowd.my bow hand had sweat dripping off of it. but to me it is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

I shot it for several years. I never won one but always finished well. I would practice with Clyde Huckeba, dale Pitts, bobby Hubbard and s few others. We would practice a lot on just dots. Then the last week or so go to black pads smaller than what we shot in the tournent. Like shaw said you never felt nerves like you will when you climb in that stand and bigg mike says SHOOT AS TARGETS APPEAR. But also by a loooong shot the most fun. Pm me if I can help you.

ive already started shooting my bag targets with the black squares. i built a runner with my 3d target using the garage door opener. my wife doesnt like having to open the door by hand but with $15,000 on the line she'll have to get over it.

Colin got put out by the #8 guy the year I finished 7th. That cost me at least 6th place. Jamie Patterson won it that year. I know who you are now Sluggun.

I had back surgery in July of 2012 and shot the world in August. I didn't expect to do very well, but did better than I thought. I've shot two 3D tournaments since then. I can't hold out to practice very much anymore. I know I've got to swap over to something besides the Conquest 4's. If I shoot it 10 times I'm sore for several days.

Okfuski off here works on the range during the shoot. In round 2 in 2007 a bunch of folks were shooting low scores. When I went out to shoot my round there was a folding chair sitting in the stand. I asked "What the hell? We gotta shoot this one sitting down?" Okfuski said "Naw, we got that there for you to stand on so you can see all the targets". I told him to kiss my arse then cleaned the round.

i shot it with a triumph last year but it was just to slow shooting 262fps. gonna try a monster this year shooting 295fps. i hope the extra speed helps out with my yardage judging. i would like to atleast clean one round. something i havent been able to do so far.

I wanted to shoot it last year but that entry fee is a little more than this poor white boy can come up with.

there is nowhere else that you have a 1 in 70 chance of turning $450 into $15,000.

I know the odds are pretty good of it, but when you think about the competition, it feels like the odds are against you.

Don't think about them. There's not a single one of them that can't be beat. It's true the pros are good shooters but nerves and fast pace shooting can cause them to have a bad round too. I'm just your average bowhunter and I made it to the top 8.

I'd like to try it. I may do it this year. I live right down the road from Goza you think he'll give me lessons?

I'm sure he will if the price is right.

I know he would be glad to help you. Those guys are good people.

I've met him a times. I've shot with his father in law several times at BHA shoots. He's always been real nice to me.

if you can get 70 people to give $450 to shoot Cullman county bow hunters will hold a shoot for you!