One of our greatly respected county coaches is always getting on my case when he visits out small club for not having a consistent anchor point. He always twists about my 'floating' anchor and tries all ways to get me to change my shooting style. Every time I do, it all goes to hell
I decided a long time ago that technically I may be a bad shot but in terms of putting supper on the table (which is my own benchmark for success) I'm pretty handy, so...
I have been lucky enough to have bowhunted a lot in Canada and North America and my rubbish technique has still enjoyed its share of success in the field. I also practice mainly at under 20 yards, because that is my self-imposed limit for bowhunting. I can take longer shots, but the hunt is all about the stalk and I would rather pass a 25 yard shot up or blow it trying to get closer. Trophy hunters won't understand that mentality.
A few observations, purely from my own somewhat weird perspective:
1. Size is everything :yikes: - put me in front of a straw boss and my arrows go all over the place. Hang a tennis ball 20 yards away (set it swinging if you like) or roll one down a gentle incline and stand back and watch the fun
For me, a small target encourages success, but clubs are (understandably) geared to teaching using a competition target archery mentality, which is fine as it stands - it just doesn't suit everybody.
2. Recognise and work within your limitations - straying beyond your own natural limitations is going to consistently introduce failure and sooner or later that is going to screw your head into greater failure, and so continues a downward spiral where it is easy to get despondent at repeated poor results.
3. Strive to push the boundaries of your limitations - while accepting your own personal limitations (which may be very different to your shooting partner(s)) you should still put some effort into pushing the envelope to increase your skills, but this needs to be done in a disciplined and controlled fashion and mixed with the reassuring success of working within your limitations.
4. Concentrate on the successes and learn to ignore the failures - the biggest influencing factor that guarantees failure in any sport is letting your last screw-up spoil your next attempt. Learning to 'let it all go' (very Luke Skywalker) is a lot harder than it sounds but it is essential to success. Everyone can and will screw up handsomely but more fool you if you allow that to stuff your next shot - each shot offers its own opportunities for success so allowing it to be spoiled unnecessarily is something we all have to learn how to overcome.
5. Accept constructive criticism, but don't feel obliged to bow to it (no matter where it comes from) - I always listen to constructive criticism but I also reserve the right to ignore it
6. Don't be afraid to think outside the box
That last point is something I am very passionate about. I saw a documentary years ago on the Kalahari bushmen where their kids were out with small bows and arrows looking for any suitable game. This was how they learned to shoot and hunt, and any success represented a valuable addition to the communal food pot and the only consistent thing about their shooting was how inconsistent it was !
They used floating anchor, string walking from shot to shot where the grip of the bow hand moved up or down the bow or the arrow may have been nocked at a different position, and yet they were shooting small birds after stalking them which is something many technically gifted archers I know would struggle to do.
That probably just goes to show something, if you think about it a little...
Another aspect where alternative thinking can reap rewards is in terms of your kit.
There is an interesting comment above from bbdave:
I used a 65lb Border recurve and an 80lb english long bow the poundage being high to keep arrow tradjectory as flat as possible
That is a commonly adopted method of shooting longbow and all too often ends up in the archer struggling by being overbowed. I am not saying that bbdave is overbowed, but a lot of archers end up that way when they take the higher draw weight to (hopefully) gain a flatter trajectory.
Over the last few years and after a lot of surgeries I started re-examining my shooting at every level and my kit came under serious scrutiny. I used to shoot heavy longbows (I mean
really heavy) but there is a cut-off point where higher draw weight fails to introduce significant performance differences.
My solution to the problem, given that I could still shoot heavier bows, but not as comfortably, was to drop my draw weight to 50 - 60 lb max and build much, much faster bows. As a direct result I can shoot for hours on end without any overbowing and even my 50 lb longbows are shooting far faster and flatter than most 80 lb plus bows could ever dream of. I can more or less point blank out to 50 yards or so and my low-mass longbows shoot so fast that most people who try them go wayyyyyyyyy over the target when they use the same elevation they normally would on a standard bow
Gains can also be made by changing your string - a 'skinny' low strand count Spectra string on its own can bump your arrow speed by up to 10 - 15 fps.
Shifting the balance point of your arrows can also work wonders, as can any one of a number of other little tweaks.
And let's not forget that straight longbows shoot more efficiently (for the most part) with heavier arrows, so off the peg Spruce or Cedar shafts may not offer the best performance from you bow to begin with.
I have a 90 lb bamboo backed Osage straight longbow (of the English type (mostly)
) that had unpleasant hand shock on loose and was a difficult bow to control. I changed the arrows from Spruce to much heavier shafting (around 900 grains total weight) and it is an incredibly polite, sedate and easy bow to shoot as a result. I still shoot it once in a while when I am in the mood for a tussle
I think clubs have their place in giving people a basic grounding but there is not nearly enough field/instinctive/primitive archery experience out there to effectively guide anyone going down that road, so it is hardly surprising that so many of us go through very frustrating periods where we try to find our respective level.
A couple of tennis balls or those hard dog balls you can buy are great for just lobbing out in front of you and taking pot shots at when roving. They are especially good is you have running water where you can shoot, since a tennis ball bobbing down a stream makes a seriously challenging target.
Push your boundaries some of the time, and capitalise on your strengths the rest of the time. Don't be afraid to completely re-examine your kit and how it works and once you learn how to use it you can smugly shut any naysayers up by plopping your arrows into the mark with seemingly little effort
Just some random ramblings from a lifelong instinctive longbow archer and bowyer and, as usual, you can feel free to disagree with any of the above - it might suit me but that's not to say it will also suit you