Gap vs instictive in woods

T

Tobacco_Spit

Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
215
A buddy of mine gap shoots his bows, I shoot instinctively. I say instinctive snap shooting is a better style for hunting since the shot sequence is much quicker than gap where it seems that it takes much longer for him to set up his shot while he is trying to aim. Just more time efficient to get the shot off permitted you could master the technique. However, when he is dialed in he can be very deadly on the range.

TS
 
I tried using sights back when they first became the rage. I tried adapting to a wheel bow too. But I am back with my recurves and instinctive shooting. It works for me. It is how I learned to shoot back when Papa Fred was teaching, and I see no need to change. I listen to the rhetoric about speed, power, pass-thru shots but my style works for me and is accurate under field conditions when it counts.

Codger
 
I shoot very similar to Papa Fred Codger, look, draw, hit anchor and snap goes the shot. I find it remarkable how such an uncomplicated method, drawn from somewhere perhaps deep in the mind can bring that arrow in the zone, with no sighting.

TS
 
As a kid I was deadly with a thrown rock. It had no sights either. I generally do worse on target practice than when hunting. I tend to concentrate on the target too hard and adjust my aim. When hunting, draw and release are one motion without stopping to aim.

I also use bare fingers rather than a release, glove or tab. And feathers rather than plastic vanes on my arrows whether wood or aluminum (the one concession to modern innovation besides steel broadheads and a synthetic string). I use old Pearson and Bear laminated recurves from the '60's repaired/reclaimed with un-twisted limbs and felted shelves.

And again, there are no deep, grand and glorious reasons for my choices except that it is what works for me.

Codger
 
"The best" is what works best for you, or what allows you to hit your target EVERY time. For me, I am much more consistent when I take my time. I can pile arrows on top of each other if I slow it down and breathe. My groups open up some if I snap shoot. The questions that still need to be asked, though, are what are you hunting and where are you hunting? I can see where small game hunting could require fast shots. However, I hunt exclusively deer with my bow and have never had an instance where snap shooting was preferable to taking my time. I only draw on animals that are calm and unaware that I am present. If you snap shoot and miss your target on a squirrel, you have to go dig your arrow out of a tree and find another squirrel to shoot at. If you snap shoot and miss your target on a deer, you most likely have to go find a gut shot deer. My preference is to make the first shot a kill shot, and that is why I take my time.

If your buddy is deadly on the range, you can bet that he'll be deadly in the field.

If instinctive shooting works best for you, then that is what is best... for you. There is no correct answer to what is best for everyone.
 
No doubt to continue what you are doing if it does work for you, I am a big advocate of that. I just think that if you could put the shot sequence through much faster, go for it, if and only if you are accurate.

TS
 
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