Editor’s Note: Mark Jackson from Sequim, Washington, is on the Mossy Oak Pro Staff and loves to bowhunt and shoot targets.
Here’s another tip to help you to become a better bowhunter and a more-accurate shot. When you’re ready to take the shot, push the bow away from you. Let that forward motion of the bow cause the trigger on your mechanical release to fire the bow for you. Pushing the bow away from you to fire the bow produces a much-more-consistent shot than pulling the trigger of your mechanical release. This action produces more-accurate shooting and more-consistent accuracy, because when you use this technique, you keep the same sight picture all the way through the shot. If you are squeezing the trigger on your release instead of pushing the bow away from you causing the bow to fire, there are many variables that can cause you not to shoot accurately. As you squeeze the trigger, you can push the release off to one side of the string, which twists the string slightly and torques it. This little bit of movement that you make when you squeeze the trigger can cause your arrow to shoot more to the left or more to the right of the spot at which you’re aiming. I learned this technique of how to fire the bow by talking with other Mossy Oak Pro Staffers and tournament archers. Next, I tested this shooting strategy for myself.
We often think of tournament archery as stepping up to the line, drawing your bow, aiming and shooting at a target. However, tournament archery is a place to meet other people who will help you learn techniques for being a better shooter at targets and also when bowhunting. I view archery tournaments as a college for bowhunters, because there is so-much information available at each tournament, and so-many people willing to help you learn to shoot better, farther and more accurately. This is the reason I compete in about 12 tournaments per year. I have learned that I really love to shoot the bow whether I am bowhunting, practicing in the backyard or shooting in archery tournaments. The more practice time you put in, and the more competitions you compete in, then the better prepared you are to take an animal with your bow during bow season.
Day 3: To Be a Better Bowhunter and Take More Game Shoot Target Archery
Tomorrow: Being a Mossy Oak Pro Isn’t Just About Hunting and Shooting
