A clear mind = good arrow flight

      So many times as archers we get caught up with the nuances of shooting. The details. Micro-managing our approach to making the arrow fly straight and true. It's a common theme among the target-shooting instructors that to get good arrow flight we must concentrate on a myriad of factors. 

     The Hill style hunting approach to shooting a longbow is one of easy, relaxed fluid form and also a relaxed mindset. The shooting we do, whether in a backyard, target range, or the woods and fields should be as easy on the mind as possible. 

     This isn't to say without concentration on the target. Rather, our concentration should be on the exact place we want the arrow to go and then we just shoot.  That's it.  Form work needs to be done at a real close range on a target-less backstop so we can think of form aspects only.  But we need our times away from the mental stress of thinking through all the aspects of good shooting form.  We need to just shoot and let the arrow go. 

     It's very difficult for some archers to "let it go".  We've been taught that every shot needs to go where we're aiming, and that's so true. However, when the arrow doesn't go where we're aiming (by concentrated looking) we want to make all kinds of adjustments and then we're sliding back down the slippery slope to a static shooting style.  Sometimes though, the arrow doesn't go where we're looking because arrow flight is poor. 

     Since we're starting conversation about making good arrows, we need to understand that our form has to do with good arrow flight. But with the Hill style we don't need to get more technical. We can leave that at the close blank bale where arrow flight isn't too important. We need to get away from that blank bale and just shoot in a relaxed, almost mindless manner.  We need to enjoy the flight of an arrow arching across the way. Getting caught up in the minutiae can really have an effect on our arrow flight and we end up chasing our tail, searching for an answer to make our arrows fly straight and true. We try this and that, a myriad of formulas or equipment changes, or worse, getting more and more static in our entire approach. 

      Sometimes that approach even leads to target panic in various ways. Horrors...

      I discussed this with John Schulz when we got around to talking about target panic.  He said he'd experienced it like most archers have.  "What was your fix?" I asked him.  "I got away from the bales and just went to the woods and shot" was his simple answer.  That was it. As far from technical as could be. It got me thinking about all the arrow-wagging tail-chasing I'd done myself. This was a great reminder to just let things go sometimes. 

      We need the mental break where we just go shoot and enjoy the shot. A smile on the face and a quick stare at the place where we want that arrow to go, whether near or far....and just shoot.  Almost mindlessly. Our lives are stressful enough without making a relaxing sport something akin to work. 

       It's always amazed me how well my arrows fly, with all sorts of spines, when I'm just shooting for sheer joy at a mark out there across the meadow or pasture.  That mark that I don't have any hope of hitting suddenly frees me up in my mind... I shoot a bit more fluid and free and the concentration seems less concentrated but somehow the arrow hits amazingly close to the exact place I want it to go.  We have probably all experienced something similar. 

     How did we do that? We let it go and allowed our subconscious mind to control the shot better than we could consciously do. And arrow flight became superb because of it.

     So, like I mentioned awhile ago about shooting your longbow until you get the feel of it before trying to find an arrow match...do this.   Get out there with some arrows that may or may not be a good match and shoot with a relaxed mind and trust your form. Keep it simple and stress free. Get used to that bow. Feel the bow and feel the shot and have fun launching arrows at that far mark.  As you do, you'll casually notice the arrows fly amazingly well for being possibly mismatched, and your release may not be perfect either... But for some reason it doesn't seem to matter too much. 

      This is part of the simplicity of the Hill style that appeals to so many. How we get such good arrow flight and good accuracy out of such a simple approach is due to the forgiveness of the bow itself when shot in a fluid, relaxed manner; and this whole style, if we can allow ourselves to let it go once in awhile and relax, will result in perfect arrow flight and that in turn allows us to... 

      Shoot straight.