So, Ive battled target panic since I picked up a recurve. On targets, Im usually not too bad but it is a constant battle to keep things in my head working correctly. In hunting situations, it is sometimes completely crippling. Im never going to give up traditional archery but Im exhausted by the struggle. Ive taken Joel Turner's online course and did benefit from it but Im a hunter first and the psychotrigger stuff just isnt realistic to the way I shoot.
I can see how a release could change all this because unless your finger is on the trigger, you cant prematurely release. Beyond that, the squeezing of the trigger is basically a psychotrigger. Has anybody else used this to work out their tp? My buddy Jerry went this route with great success but just wanted to hear from others. Everyone's brain is different.
I shoot split finger purely instinctive. It seems that attaching the release directly under the arrow would give me the same eye line as middle finger to corner of mouth. Thoughts?
Have you tried shooting left hand (if your a right hand shooter). I have two friends that had/have TP and did gust that and it worked for them.
Sean, this my take on TP. TP is not caused by what type of release you are using - either fingers or mechanical. It doesn't start at the string, it starts at the other end - in your brain. I haven't ever had it real bad but the absolute worst was when I was shooting a release with a trigger. Eventually I went to a back tension cam release but even with that I could very easily punch it when my TP flared up. I have always been a huge proponent of having a "personal shot sequence" and that has been the ticket to practically eliminating TP since returning to trad in 2009.
Try a mechanical if you like but if it helps IMO it will likely be temporary until you retrain your brain to slow down. Take another look at Joel's training and see if you can figure out how to incorporate it into your shot sequence every time and not just at targets.
Good luck
I got it when I was in my late teens or early 20's. I'm now 47. I gave up several times but just enjoyed the stickbow to much not to go back. I've tried clickers and everything else known to man. I can shoot my compound fine but soon as I grab my stickbow it's like I'm a different person. Here's what has helped me the most. Get 8 or 10 feet from your target. Get comfortable and pick your spot. Start your drawing process slowly. If you feel the urge to shoot or if anything heppens where you aren't in total control, let down. Take a deep breath and start over. Keep doing this until you get to full draw and anchor. Get your sight picture right. Settle in just like your gonna shoot. Hold on the target for at least 5 seconds. Then let down. Repeat and repeat and repeat. Under no circumstances do you shoot an arrow. You do this for as long as it takes until your mind understands that you don't have to shoot just because you draw. I spent most of the summer doing this. I went months without shooting. I'm at so much of a better place with my shooting now than I have ever been. Hope it works as well for you. Good luck.
I developed tp a few years ago. It was so bad it seemed like I couldn't come to full draw or hardly aim without jerking/flinching during my release. I tried all kinds of shooting variations to get back on track-clickers, shooting at blank bales, shooting at very close distances, just drawing my bow and holding on target. For myself nothing worked. I bought a release after someone else had mentioned that it helped them. For about 3 months I shot only with a release. With my finger off the trigger I was finally able to settled down and concentrate on drawing, holding, and taking deliberate aim before I shot. After several months I started to slowly to integrate my glove/tab back into shooting. All I can say is that shooting with the release helped me tremendously. I still occasionally use the release to keep me on track. My thought is that by being able to slow down the shooting process with the release, your brain starts to 'relearn' what the process should be like. When switching back to your glove or tab, the relearned processed has been reinforced and is easier to perform. Like I said, it worked for me, give it a try.
I had target panic for quite a few years. Bad on targets and worse on live game. I think it's like alcoholism in that you never completely get rid of it, you learn to control it.
I tried a few things and finally beat it through sheer stubbornness. I would draw to anchor and the first few times of involuntarily releasing, I just held on. I flinched like hell but it didn't take too long to not release immediately. From there I went on to learning to control other parts of my shot and aiming sequence. I will admit I still have some form issues but at least I can now shoot under control most of the time.
A release is not going to help unless you use a maybe strictly tension style release but this is for compounds. I'm an archery instructor and have seen lots shoot in my classes. There is no easy cure imo.
You need to reprogram your brain. I'd use just form practice(string bow) to accomplish this. Leave the real bow aside.
With no arrow there is no pressure so no flinching, pushing, plucking, etc. if we were talking compound no more punching the trigger. Compounds have dif methods used too but we're traditional so I'll address that.
The reason many guys fail is kinda complex.
They have uncle John show them how to shoot and he has issues or can't foresee future problems.
Then we practice this bad form til the issue gets extreme. Want it fixed by taking a pill or some instant fix. There is none.
Put the bow aside, practice on a string bow than start up real close, still practicing a string bow.
Use long range, slow cures that have a chance at working. Very often an archer sees improvement and wants to just shoot again. It Starts all over. What's the options here?
Take time to reprogram? Continue with these issues until you quit? Keep chasin your tail or help yourself. This never starts instant, not gonna fix instant either. If you want help or are unfamiliar w a string bow feel free to ask
I am no help when it comes to releases. I took one shot with one and knew it wasn't for me.
The TP I had in the mid 80's came from shooting competively with a compound. The "strive for excellence/fear of failure" can be a crippling thing for an archer.
When I started shooting traditional bows it all went away. Shooting for fun and random roving cured me. I never keep score. No stress, no TP.
Good luck!
Yeesh. Just tried it. That definitely wont help. Guess it's back to the constant battle. It's getting harder and harder to remember when archery was fun instead of work.
Have you tried starting with a lighter bow and concentrate on each aspect of your draw, anchor and release?
I shoot instinctively also with split fingers. I haven't(fortunately) experienced the problem with target panic but I have dealt with short drawing. Normally when I hit anchor I release. If I start to short draw I will hold for a second or two to be sure I hit anchor and after a short while I'm back to shooting normally. Sometimes it just takes a little change of pace to fix these common problems.
Try a clicker. I used one for a month and it worked well. I took it off, and have shot well without it. But, I would not hesitate to put it back on if things start to "go south".
Alright, here's my take on TP. Yes I've dealt with it, and I beat it. I don't think it will come back. Here's the thing, Joel Turner's class, and psychotrigger method does something exceptionally well. It instills mental discipline. If you don't like the psychotriggers, fine. You still need to develop discipline more than anything else.
At the end of the day, you have a choice. You can be in control, or you cannot. My TP started because I was over bowed. Someone mentioned this to me at an evening shoot, and the light went on. I wasn't putting myself in a position to succeed! I didn't have money to buy a new bow, and I'm stubborn anyways, so I started treating it like exercise. Long holds at full draw, form work, and yes, developing a mantra.
I think we do ourselves a disservice if we continue to act like TP is a monster that cannot be beaten. It is absolutely beatable, and you can crush it to dust. But you need to start with that belief, then set about solving the puzzle of what process works best for you. I think Joel's method provides a great platform to start from. If the psychotrigger is your only hangup, then you should go back and find a way around that particular issue. I don't want to get more wordy, but PM me if you want to know what I use.
Using a psychotrigger is not a problem on game. I have been very successful using a clicker. Joel has killed a ton of critters using one. The first deer I killed using a clicker after I learned how to use it was the most memorable one yet. I was calm, of clear mind. I can remember every detail of the shot. It wasn't rushed. In the past I sometimes wouldn't remember what happened. I missed a lot of animals I would probably have taken had I been shooting a clicker.
If you want to beat TP follow Joel's course and commit to it a full year before giving up. A couple of days or a week or two isn't going to cut it. Good luck, hope you find a way to make shooting fun again.
The big positive of a clicker to me, was that it slows you down. Gives you the chance to sort through the process during the entire shot. I don't see how a release will help with that.
Years back I got hit with TP so bad that I could not draw a bow and hit anchor. The years when the over draw compounds were what they big shots used at 3d events. Two them, cheating on nearly every target, took issue with me and my family and started harassing us, I think because we saw them cheating. Was mad as hell, but Idid not want my kids to get in the middle of what I wanted to do. After a while I could shoot. A couple years later I got even with that cheating sob in a heavy bow pulling situation. I won he ripped, it sounded awful, but it was music to my ears. My TP ended when a college archery coach gave me some tips to prove I could draw without losing control. Then he pointed to a long target and said, "It is just a target, it does not care if you miss and neither do you." Bingo.
When I hurt one of my draw fingers, shooting a 96 pound bow, I bought a release. A wrist strap thing with little jaws. It did not shoot anything like my fingers. I went left handed, no dominant eye, fairly ambidextrous any way, the transition for shooting was nothing. Learning how to walk through the woods with a left handed back quiver was something, I had to learn how be left footed as well. My finger has healed somewhat over the years and now I go back and forth all the time and I am shooting dual shooter bows. I have a couple of dandies for that. I borrowed my release to someone that had TP. He did not want my help. The first time he latched that little machine on his bow string it was absolutely amazing. He took a deep breath, he stood up straight, stuck the bow out and pulled it almost all of the way back and then he almost shot his entire drawing arm at the target. His draw switched off and the bow fired with him mechanically attached to it. A month later he came back, he had learned to hit the trigger before reaching anchor. He said, "This thing doesn't work right, help me." I traded his recurve for a Hill longbow that did not fit me or my arrows, but it was a perfect match for him. I made him a dozen net length target arrows. He no longer had his prized 30" draw, it was 27.5", which fit his 6'1" frame just right. We watched the Schulz video over and over. Then the Hill videos over and over. Finishing with John Schulz where he just shot a quiver load for form. I told him to keep that visual in his head. Then for a month, starting with what the college coach did for me years earlier and then just shooting for form and rhythm according to Schulz, at close range. That was a few years ago and a number of deer and small game since. When the TP tickles, he goes back to the initial ritual and it goes away. When compound shooters tell him that he is doing it all wrong and that he should get a compound, (the same thing happens to me), he does what I do, which is similar to what Hill did concerning recurves, "I am not good enough to shoot a compound accurately."
OK, I know that target panic is something tangible that comes out of nowhere. I am also a strong, strong believer that target panic is a mindset first that eventually manifests isself through behaviors. If behaviors follow cognitive processes, why is the first line cure directed at the effect and not the cause?
I know target panic, I was one of the unable to look at the target and draw panicers. Light bow, heavy bow, blind bale, it didn't matter; my string arm locked up. This was strinkingly simliar to Conversion Disorder. Treat target panic like a mental disorder and not a bad habit and results may be more positive. Better yet, put the bow down for a month or so and come back with a better attitude. No outside force is at work, target panic is created by the archer and only said archer can stop it.
I first experienced TP with a compound & release. I was hoping the release would help (was shooting fingers before) but it made it worse. I put a number of pock-marks in the stucco wall outside my house, mushrooming a bunch of aluminum arrows after getting that thing (my target backstop was against the house).
Like others, I don't think it will "cure" anything. When you stop using the release, it will still be there.