Intricate Shooting

    One of the best lessons given by Schulz during his Bowhunter Class was the segment on intricate shooting.  Not so much that he had me shooting at small targets, but the style of targets they were and how they relate to hunting shots in the field.

    I firmly believe that Schulz taught lessons in a similar fashion to the way he learned from his mentor Howard Hill.  When Hill asked John and his brother Dan if they wanted to hunt, or shoot target, their response led to specific shooting lessons and the approach of shooting a bow for procuring game animals.  I can imagine Hill using what was around the campsite, or on the grounds of his estate in the way of target material.  Shooting lessons that took place in a relaxed, casual setting.  That's the feel that Schulz tried to promote at his Bowhunter Class.  Relaxed, casual, subtly intense lessons.

     After shooting form was evaluated and discussed, the wand shooting over and prior to shooting moving targets, the intricate shooting took center stage.  Target number one was a suspended stick, about the same diameter of an arrow, perched upon two forked sticks above the ground a little bit.  This was to teach dialing in of the focus and form to a target with very little room for vertical error.  Immediately following was shooting at a vertical stick, same diameter, stuck in the ground.  This time the emphasis was on not missing horizontally.  What's so great about those targets?  Archers shoot at targets all the time that are similar in size and perhaps they even shoot at vertical and horizontal lines on a target face.  But that's the problem.  The target face...or backstop rather.  The nice safe place for all the arrows to group around the chosen spot.  The nice place where misses can be evaluated as to how far off line they were shot but there's no real risk of damaging or losing an errant arrow.  That's a target shooting lesson that is hard to transfer to real life for "all" hunting shot situations.  How many animals can be shot at in the field, that are safely nestled in front of an arrow grabbing backstop?  Very few actually.  

     What sets these lessons apart is that while shooting at the sticks, you are concentrating on a target that is floating in front of a mixed background.  It changes the way we perceive the target due to depth perception.  The target is the end of the arrow path only if the target is hit.  All misses cause the arrow to skitter away, possibly to loss or destruction.  That is a subtle psychological influence to cause us to panic; and Schulz said about target panic...it's the fear of missing.  If we fear losing an arrow, or fear arrow breakage, suddenly the shot becomes a little harder.  Our form, if not totally ingrained and trusted to work via muscle memory and hand/eye coordination, will suffer.  We will miss. Here again, total concentration on the target is paramount.  

     I took these lessons as intrinsic to shooting game in the field, especially small game because of the varied backgrounds and situations that activity presents.  A squirrel perched at the end of a limb is surrounded by air and sky.  A flying bird has no backstop.  The rabbit or grouse on the top of a stump does not ensure a safe landing for an errant arrow .  Each scenario presents a target that is not plastered to the face of a nice backstop.   To really practice for these kinds of realistic hunting shots, one should practice such... and get over the mental hurdle they present to the concentration required.  

     I've said that there are quite a few archers who can shoot 3" groups in the backyard at 15 yards on a nice target face.  Put a 3" tennis ball on the end of a stick and hang it out over blue sky, or in front of a concrete wall backdrop and suddenly the ability to keep arrows in a 3" circle disappears.  It amazing the distraction to our concentration that happens in these scenarios yet it's what we face when hunting game with longbows and arrows.  A deer is nothing more than a larger target perched on 4 pegs in front of brush or trees, or maybe nothing at all but empty air.  Our concentration on that small spot, blocking out everything else, is the only way to hit these kinds of real life hunting shots.  We have to see a spot to hit, on a target that itself may seem to be a spot against something bigger.  Sure sounds like it can mess with our minds, huh?  Yep, and I think it's exactly the reason that Schulz incorporated this kind of practice. 

     Since those lessons from Schulz were impressed upon me, I now incorporate into my roving/stumpshooting practice, shooting at tree branches angling off a tree at all sorts of directions.  I shoot at pine cones hanging out at the end of a branch.  I shoot at a pine cone or branch stub sitting on the top of an old fence post or stump. Shots at grouse sitting on limbs or rabbits sitting on rock cliffs have become much easier since I've gotten used to the concentration on the spot to hit and black out all the danger surrounding the target.  Schulz said it was no good betting against Hill shooting the head off a camp jay or bowling over a bunny.  I think it's practice like this that made Hill and his student Schulz so good at hunting shots.  After this kind of intricate shooting and concentration on the spot, shooting a larger animal like a hog or deer or elk seems like a much easier proposition. Right?

     Try this kind of practice for yourself.  Get away from the practice butts and shoot those intricate targets, and remember to

     Shoot straight.