Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer Bow Talk Target Panic

I’ve been dealing with target panic for about 5 years now and can’t seem to break out of it, no matter what I try. It’s cost me several good deer over the past couple of seasons, and I’m finally at the point where I’m willing to change whatever I need to in order to fix it.

Right now I’m shooting a Mathews V3X 29 with a standard wrist strap release and a 3-pin sight. I’ve noticed the multiple pins almost make the panic worse. As soon as my pin gets close to the target, I lock up, freeze low, or punch the trigger. I’ve thought about switching to a single-pin and changing releases, but I’m not sure if that alone will fix it or just mask the issue.

If anybody here has dealt with target panic long-term and actually got past it, I’d really appreciate any real tips or steps that helped you. I’m ready to put in the work — I just need a direction to start in so I can get back to shooting the way I used to.

I’ve had it some in the past- I was punching my thumb button. Things have gotten better with a hinge release. I’ve thought about doing Joel Turner’s Shot IQ program but I haven’t yet. People who have used it say it’s awesome. Good luck

The problem is between your ears, not with your setup. Stop thinking about it and just shoot. It’s really that easy. Anything else is a gimmick and not needed. It’s all in your mind.

You got buck fever.

Yes, it’s all mental, but it can be very hard to fix. Watch the attached video. Before you try it, spend some time drawing, aiming at a dot at 3 to 5 yards and letting the bow down. You’ve got to reprogram your brain to show it that it’s ok to put the pin on the dot. You also have to accept that you cannot hold the pin perfectly still. Spend a few days doing this before you move on to what the video shows. It’s going to take some time to correct it. There are no magic solutions or quick fixes. See how this goes. If this doesn’t help, you may need to seek help from a professional coach. There’s hundreds of methods out there. A lot of them are just bullshit and bandaids. An interesting fact, people with OCD tendencies are the ones that are most likely to develop target panic. You will have to learn to relax and not put so much pressure on yourself.

Yea sounds like buck fever unless you have problems target shooting too. I get target panic every year when I haven't shot my bow in a while. Force your self to draw and aim and let down. Do it several times, then draw and hold for a minute or so and breathe. Slow your shot rotation and think of watching yourself shoot. If it's buck fever, it's even harder to get over. You're gonna have to shoot a few does to get your confidence first. If you hunt out of a ground blind it helps, because you can relax knowing they can't really see you. Good luck

I don’t. If you’re thinking about your shot when the time comes, you haven’t prepared enough. It should be automatic when that buck presents a shot.

What the OP is describing is textbook target panic.

Thanks, this is exactly the type of response I was hoping to get. What I’m dealing with matches what you described. It’s definitely target panic, not buck fever. It happens even in the yard at 10–20 yards with zero pressure, and I lock up as soon as the pin gets close to the spot.

I’m going to try the drills you suggested. I watched the video you posted and I’m going to follow the steps exactly the way he breaks it down, instead of trying to shortcut it like I’ve done in the past. I know it’s going to take some time to undo what I’ve built up over the last few years. Just hate that it cost me a deer of a lifetime this year to finally make me want to 100% break this but it’s probably a blessing in disguise.

And honestly, what you said about people with OCD tendencies being more likely to develop target panic makes a lot of sense. I definitely lean that way with certain things, and it explains a lot about why this has gotten worse for me.

What Shaw said is some good advice on "accept that you cannot hold the pin perfectly still"

Focus on the dot/hair on the deer all the way through the release. Trust your brain and body to get the pin on the dot at the moment of releasing.
You'll never get the pins to quit moving.

Once you beat the mind game of holding on/near a dot, don't think it will automatically solve aiming on a live animal. Knowing that an animal can step, jump, turn at any second, can also play in the mind of your release process. I had the same issue with target panic. Back tension, and a Carters hand-held thumb trigger release helped me alot. This may sound stupid, but I would draw back on squirrels, and hold my pin on them without releasing an arrow. There was still some tension to release the arrow (fight or flight?) even though I had no intention of wasting an arrow on it.

On deer, don't shoot until after the excitement fades. Let the deer go if you don't calm down in time.

On targets, make a mental checklist of each detail of form, release and follow through. Do it very slowly ensuring each detail is accounted for before slowing squeezing off. Let the bullseye or point or whatever go if it isn't right before you get wobbly or whatever.

Get yourself a routine going. Once I come to full draw, I count 1, 2, 3 pull. Just find a cadence or routine that works for you. It’s almost impossible to keep your pins perfectly still.

The few people who can hold something perfectly still will tell you that your heartbeat will still move you left and right in a figure eight.

Had target panic and this is what worked for me: switched to thumb release and instead of pins, I use the EZ-V sights. I thought it was a gimmick at first until I tried it,my grouping has never been tighter

I panic when i aint got no raynch for my nuggets

Yep.

To the original poster, I’m going to give you some advice that should work. Practice the same way you hunt. If you hunt from a climber, practice from a climber. If you hunt from a saddle, practice from a saddle. Do not shoot dozens of times per session. Shoot ONCE. Go back inside and do your daily routine. Treat every shot like it’s the only one you have. You’ll start dropping that panic. Develop muscle memory on the steps you’re taking every single shot, once a day. Then go to the woods and shoot every doe you can until you’ve killed 5 without losing one. The ONLY thing that’s going to break this mental hurdle is KILLING deer.

I've done the one shot thing for years.To the point if I hit full draw, or I feel my cam roll. My mind says, you done messed up now!!!

Same thing Shaw said kind of. Shoot at 10 till you drill hole at that range without thinking about for a week. Move to 20 a week, same thing if you can't, move back till 10 is on again. Repeat the process to
till forty. Week a time at each 10yrd incriminates. Then go backwards to back to ten, will feel like chip shots.

Explaining this to someone on the ASA site years ago when they asked about "holding steady" at 50 yards is how I got my screen name. I told them the pin floated and my mind waited for it to drive by the spot, therefore I was a "driveby shooter". The nickname was given and it has stuck all this time.

Pulling with your shoulder will keep you from punching the trigger if using a wrist worn release.

I had it with a rifle. I practice monthly shooting at targets. My problem - i realized i was pulling trigger really long way which amplified the panic. Took to gunsmith had 8 pound trigger. Put it at 2 pounds - no panic since

Lot of it is between ears - practice - try to get to happy place in mind - dont hav no long trigger pull and try not to be negative or put pressure on self
Did i say practice

I will catch flack for this but it’s 100% the truth.
I have fought bow hunting target panic most of my hunting life. It has caused me to miss or make bad shots on some of the biggest bucks I’ve ever seen. I’m fine until I go to aim then I have opposite of tunnel vision, I have wide angle vision. I just can’t get the pin where it needs to be then I panic and rush the shot. I can shoot fine in front of a crowd of people but at a deer I blow up. What I noticed was shooting a rifle with a scope I was calm. So I bought a crossbow and tried it. Something about aiming with a scope calms me down and I make good shots. Havent lost a buck in 3 years now. I’m still the same hunter getting within 40 yds no matter bow or crossbow but I owed it to the deer to make a clean ethical shot and the crossbow did just that. I’m not ashamed or embarrassed.

^^

And u should not be ashamed! Its your hunt! I hav had adult's tell me they just cant gun hunt anymore and they can not hunt these small bama deer anymore. I am nice to them - but i really want to say - and nobody is really impressed 🤣🤣🤣

But seriously - just kill the dang 5 year old or older. I hav never been one - oh he killed with a bow over a gun. I use to hunt w a bow then i got old. Who freakin cares but a egomaniac

I do me!!

And i hope i lov shooting one w my gun - muzzy or crossbow until the day i die

or you could have put the work in to beat it and it is alot of work.
the crossbow is the easy button.

I’ve only put in 40 years of work and can’t beat it for some reason.
Vertical bow doesn’t make you a better hunter.
I don’t have an ego or image to “live” up to so you do you and I will do me.

What’s weird is I’m just the opposite. Standing in front of a crowd I may shoot 2 feet over a target and a deer not faze me. Same rifle hunting, if it’s a good deer I take my off the scope take a breath and focus. Now when the hammer has dropped and the deer is down now or rifle that’s when I will have some trembling

Good for you, LIOJeff. Hunt the way that helps you be happy and successful.

im sorry I should have worded that better please forgive me.

it can be beat i beat it and I had target panic worse than anyone in the history of archery.
I have 200 to 250 people per year come to my shop and 99 percent have target panic.
most dont know they have it but they do.

my brother used to shoot tournaments with me and was a outstanding shooter
he developed target panic at a asa shoot in metropolis illinois one year and went from a 20 up shooter to shooting 45 down.
I told him we can fix it he said I know but I saw what you went thru with over one hundred arrows per day for 2 straight years
and he was not willing to do what it took to beat it.
so I got him a crossbow so he could keep hunting with me up north.
he will squeeze a trigger on a crossbow but if he puts a vertical bow in his hands he will punch that trigger everytime.

he has killed some great bucks with the crossbow but he tells me its not the same and doesn't get the satisfaction out of it like he did with a compound.

it is a whole lot of work to beat took me 2 years and thousands upon thousands of arrows.
missing a 200 plus inch buck at 35 yards in illinois was motivation enough for me to hire a coach and put in the work.

if that same deer walked by me today he would be hanging on my wall.

No problem.
Yes it is a battle

I have bad target panic. My solution is to practice like I hunt. I swing the pin through the target and yank the trigger. I've done this for years and years.

I would like to hear someone smarter than ourselves explain why the same brain allows one to squeeze a trigger on a crossbow without issue. Yet that same trigger on a release turns their world upside down. Crazy how the brain works.

You target panic boys- which is honestly everyone at some point or another look into the Shot IQ System. It worked for me for archery and also folds over into handgun and rifle.

The short and sweet of it is part of the problem is you’re trying to aim and execute a trigger squeeze/ release at the same time when your brain can only do one thing at a time. The solution is to separate the stages. Aim well (or decent) get used to the idea your pin/ crosshair/ dot is going to float or wobble and then start the release or trigger press, mentally focusing on the release or press and ignoring your point of aim. You can still stop it if it goes way bad but generally speaking wherever your sight wanders to it will return to center during the process.

It worked for me. Read up on it and I think there are a bunch of YouTube videos and podcasts.

[quote=JSOG47]You target panic boys- which is honestly everyone at some point or another look into the Shot IQ System. It worked for me for archery and also folds over into handgun and rifle.

The short and sweet of it is part of the problem is you’re trying to aim and execute a trigger squeeze/ release at the same time when your brain can only do one thing at a time. The solution is to separate the stages. Aim well (or decent) get used to the idea your pin/ crosshair/ dot is going to float or wobble and then start the release or trigger press, mentally focusing on the release or press and ignoring your point of aim. You can still stop it if it goes way bad but generally speaking wherever your sight wanders to it will return to center during the process.

It worked for me. Read up on it and I think there are a bunch of YouTube videos and

right..target panic is when u try to aim and shoot with the conscious mind.
the conscious mind can only run one program at a time.
you can do multiple things at the same time subconsciously.

there were two main schools of thought taught by 2 master coaches years ago.
one taught conscious shot execution subconsous aiming.
the other taught conscious aiming subconsous shot execution.
joel Turner teaches conscious shot execution subconsous aiming.

i was taught conscious aiming subconsous shot execution.

either one works and they are both pragmatic.

when the shot becomes subconsous it becomes like walking swimming or riding a bike.
once your body learns how to ride a bike it knows how to ride a bike even if u haven't rode a bike in 10 yrs you can jump
on it and ride it because your subconsous has taken over.

shooting a bow is like riding a bike to me I dont think about it
the only thing I think about is aiming.

if you can separate the conscious from the subconsous you have beat target panic.

I started Bow Hunting in the 70’s. When I was in my 30's, I just primarily Bow hunted.

Many years into it, for some reason I developed Target Panic. Read a great article by Randy Ulmer on the subject. He kept it simple, and basically said, go back to shooting close to the Target. Once you've lost the Target panic, then back up 5 yards and continue.

It worked great for me.

I'm not really sure what "target panic" is. I feel like yall aren't talking about Buck Fever... Are yall talking about just the fear of missing the shot?

I know this tho. Like said above, get CLOSE to the target. Hunt in places you can't see but 20-25 yards with your most probably shot at 15 yards - thats ideal. But practice at 35 yards and in and if they are further you left them walk and fix your setup. And shoot an axe head on rebar that will shoot smooth thru a scapula - you know this will work and there is no fear but on the hardest of shot angles (facing).

And go shoot a LOT of critters with the bow. Build confidence in yourself and your equipment. Yes of course I get amped when I see a critter I want to kill coming in and live for that "this is about to happen" feeling. That is really the coolest part of the hunt beyond putting your hands on the animal to me.
I am nervous as they come in and peak nervous drawing back (oh pleaseeee don't screw up this opportunity)... then - calmness....
The sketchy part is over, I GOT YOU NOW. WHENEVER I AM READY. GAME OVER< I WIN.

Go into subconscious killing sequence - trace leg up, float pin for opposite leg behind the shoulder exit, follow thru follow thru follow thru follow thru and I subconsciously pull the trigger somewhere in the middle of that continuous follow thru sequence. Bow or gun.

I appreciate your advice, I think a lot of it is very good but target panic is not buck fever. These are not the same although they might have a similar presentation. Just like a rifle/ pistol shooter constantly hitting low left will not benefit from mag dumping a chert pit shooting a lot with target panic without diagnosing the problem and consistently correcting it will not help the shooter.

Missing the target in general comes from one of two failures, assuming the shooter understands sight picture sight alignment. 1- afraid of recoil or 2- “anticipation” which is basically being subconsciously excited about a perfect shot. Someone with bad target panic can’t take most of your advice because simply drawing and trying to aim at a critter with a bow leads to a total collapse of form, since your neurons will associate your perfect aim with the loss of tension from completing the shot. I’ve been a shooter my whole life, killed piles of critters with bow and gun and shoot in very competitive conditions with rifles and pistols, am a certified and practicing instructor, and target panic is one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen and ever felt. It’s also not at all buck fever.

Edited to say- when I was afflicted with archery target panic the one time I didn’t get it was when I was shooting live game

huh - i read a little about target panic online then re-read these posts.. don't really know what to say; seems like some sort of mental phenomena and sounds like it can be tough to get past.

I'm not too proud to admit I'm no precision archer nor am I a long-range archer.
I'm only interested in letting the air out of critters 35 yards and in.
I shoot an old slow bow (Mathews Outback 60#) with heavy arrows, no peep and big pins.
I have only ever shot a wrist release; I like using my trigger finger like a gun. I like that its attached to my wrist, its one less thing I have to worry about dropping out the tree.
I don't know nuthin about a thumb release or "back tension" but sometimes my back hurts

That said.

Maybe people with target panic are setting too high of expectations for themselves target shooting and forgetting... to have fun with it!
Plus - a fist size group will do! Even an open hand size group will do... If I can go around the bag target and stick one in every little 3-4" circle plus one in the middle circle that's a great shot group for what I'm trying to do. No need to put pressure on yourself unduly if your just a bowhunter. The dot of bullseye is nice - but not necessary to accomplish the mission.

Good luck getting past it to those affected.

If shooting with a release, MAKE yourself count 1000-1 - 10002 - 1000-3 as you squeeze, not really aiming at a target kinda like shooters do when blind baling. It'll become habit if practiced enough, at least it did for me.
That mess hit me once and took me a couple years to win the battle and worked after I did that. People saying it's not real are simply wrong.

I’ll compare it to baseball pitching. When you start aiming you start missing location

huh? I dont know anything about baseball but my son in law is a pitcher for the marlins.
ill ask him about that

I bet he's probably talking about conscious vs sub-conscious like you did.

I do think its part mental - it was in my head and i had fear. I explained earlier what worked for me which included practice amd what Quailman said sounds smart. But a lot of it got in my head and i got panic or fear like i was ready for mistake to happen. That for me is kind of like golf - if i only see the trouble - guess where i am hitting it? To the trouble every time!! A lot of that is part mental! Much rather believe i am hitting than - well - here comes the miss. Practice helps me hav more positive view. Repeat what i did and the lighter trigger poundage did not hurt to much - shot goes off before i can get nervous/panic🤣🤣

I kinda have the same issue with a rifle. I can shoot fine at the range or target practice. It took me a long time to figure why iwas boogering up so many deer. Everyone i talked to said it was buck fever. I knew it wasnt but couldnt explain it. It turns out after a lot of misery, i look up above the scope, right as a squeeze the teigger. What i think i was trying to do, is see where the deer was running to make it easier to find. It was a habit and it was mental. Always hitting low and to the right. I caught myself doing it once, and now i have to mentally focus on keeping my eye through the scope, through the shot. If i do it, im good, if i dont , im not. Funny thing is, for some reason i just started doing it out of the blue. Its tuff to fix these thing and really hard to diagnose sometimes. With a bow i haven't had that issue, but i shoot a bow more like driveby

Well target panic has basically cause me to not want to bowhunt anymore. All the time, effort, money etc to just go blow the shot, especially when it s a “chip” shot.

Don't have it on deer or a bullseye target but I get it sometimes on a black 3d target. Can't tell you why that is may have something to do with it looking like a blob and not being able to pick a spot. Years ago If my pin ever got below the target I couldn't get my pin back up to the target. It was like my bow weighed 1000lbs

Lot of it gets mental Backwards cowboy

For me (as a young hunter) I would focus too much on the whole deer, then get nervous, then jerk and shoot high.
Now I start my pin low on the deers front leg, ease back behind the knuckle and release. I also started taking at least two seconds to pull the release. I start putting pressure on the release and it usually takes me 2 seconds to go off. I do that even if I’m target shooting.
Doesn’t hurt to count in your head, start pressure, one thousand, two thousand and it goes off.
I HATE when I punch the trigger. I’ve done it a lot over the years.
Good luck!

A lot of people call that a slow punch.

Do some research on neuropathy and how those paths are created and reinforced. It really is eye opening and you can literally change your life once you somewhat understand how it works.

I developed a case of “pin freeze” or “target freeze” type of target panic. It got to where I couldn’t get the pin to go on target. I would try to move it up or down but it either wouldn’t go or it would go to fast to the target and pass right by it.

What I came to understand was that my brain had put 2 and 2 together without checking with me. My brain knew that when the pin was on target, I would shoot the arrow and get a small flood of adrenaline and cortisol. It knew that I would get a quick burst of sensory data as well. Loud noise, vibration down the arm, emotion pressure of hitting the shot. All this put my brain in protection mode and wouldn’t let my muscles put the pin on target. My muscles would tense up. My vision would go to tunnel like blurry vision.

What I had to do was draw a bunch and let down. I would draw 10 times and only release 1. Over and over again. It took awhile to break the neuropathic connection but it eventually worked.

What was said earlier about shooting mechanics/process vs aiming and keeping those separate by forcing one to be subconsciously done is exactly how you prevent yourself from ever letting it return.

Mind is a hard thing to control in shooting - in golf - in lot of things. If i think bad over a golf shot - the result will be bad garanteed

Read most of these posts - it screams mental!!😀

Early in my bow hunting I found myself having a few bad shots. After checking my setup every time I knew it wasn't the bow. I found the culprit ... In my excitement I was torquing the bow with my non release hand. In other words I was tight gripping it. Once I figured that out it was gravy.