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

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.