Letting Go...Trust's final act in shooting

      I've mentioned Trust many times in these Blog posts, and learning your shooting form at the close bales until it's ingrained into your subconscious and can be performed without consciously thinking through each step.  Trusting your form to perform while you have total concentration on the spot you want the arrow to go through.

      Letting the shot go, and allowing it to be what it is, is extremely hard for a lot of archers to process.  We've been conditioned to control everything we can in our lives.  Where we live, what we eat, what we believe, how we protect our children...all kinds of things in our daily lives we try to control to the point of micromanaging everything about us.

      We have to learn, through practice, that when we draw a bow to shoot an arrow, that released arrow is never to be taken back.  We can't undo the shot; therefore the tendency is to not shoot until everything is as perfect as it can be before we take the shot.  We wait until the animal is in the perfect position, we go through the mental shot process, analyzing everything we can in a very short time, and release the arrow while all this external stimulation is running through our minds.  And we expect to be able to concentrate on the spot with total concentration? Hmm.

    I think all this is too much for us to ask of ourselves at the stressful moment of knowing we are attempting to take another being's life. When faced with this stress, we collapse. Our concentration suffers because we aren't doing just that.  We are worried we may miss the spot, we may miss and injure or cause suffering. We get paralyzed by the fear of the what-ifs. We actually contribute to the problem and the end result is often the exact thing we are fearing would happen.

     Once we realize that we have put the time in at the blank form bale, ingraining our form, and that we can trust the shot to accurately happen without going through each step, we have to Trust that we can perform the shot, and then let it go.  Let the arrow go with zero hesitation, or remorse.  The arrow flight and all it's impending consequences are now out of our hands. And we have to be fine with that.  Some people can shoot animals just fine, some cannot...or at least cannot without some fear of missing the spot and what it may portend.

       An arrow shot is never to be rerun.  It is out of our control once out of the bow, whether it's shot at 20 feet for form, or 20 yards at an animal.  Once the arrow leaves the bow, we take responsibility for our action.  So we practice and practice shooting until we are confident we can do this, and once we see the animal getting into position, all confidence flies away on the wind. And yet somehow we expect to be able to shoot an arrow accurately under these circumstances.

       At some point in our learning to shoot the longbow in the Hill style, we have to get to the point that Hill was when he practiced.  He was asked one time how he shot those circle paper targets so good.  He said he imagined animals of various sizes on the targets at different distances, and "I kill it".  He was practicing to kill an animal so that when he got in the woods, it would not be a foreign idea.  Nowadays we have 3d targets to practice on, very realistic practice at that. However, it would seem that we don't practice killing them.  Instead we practice target archery on them. I believe this is a problem and a hinderance to good shooting in the Hill style.

      As a society we have become indoctrinated into thinking that animals have human characteristics, that all animals are pets, or that animals of various species are not meant for consumption.  We look at deer as cute pet-like beings and not food for the table...and there are many other similar scenarios like this.  But when we go to the woods to hunt in the Hill style, we have to have a different attitude, we have to know we have the intention to put an efficient arrow into the vitals of the animals we are pursuing.  We don't have to group arrows into the 10 ring of that inanimate 3d deer at 20 yards.  We do have to believe in our heart and mind that we can put a single arrow into the chest area of that slowly walking, breathing, seeing, very alert, and very alive deer.  I believe that this takes as much practice doing, as shooting arrows to ingrain our form.  We have to ingrain in our psyche that we can shoot an arrow at that animal, release and let it go, and be ok if it hits exactly where we are looking... and also be ok if that arrow does not go exactly where we are looking.

      It's the fear of missing the spot, and therefore missing or injuring the animal, that hinders our progression of a Hill style hunting archer.  There is a multitude of factors that can affect where the arrow goes once we release it. Our good shooting form or lack thereof is just one of these factors.  Live animals can move in various ways which affects arrow placement, and unseen tree branches and/or brush can deflect arrows to areas we don't want the arrow to go.  A wounding shot is possible every time we shoot an arrow at a live animal.  And we have to understand and be ok with that.  

      We don't shoot to intentionally wound, ever.  But it can happen. I believe the very best way to reduce our chances of wounding is to be supremely confident we can place an arrow exactly where we are concentrating, right now, right here.  Do we get to this place by being able to group arrows in a target face? Maybe...but probably not.  We do have to practice killing shots.  That one arrow that we know we can shoot, because we done it before. Because we've done it before, we have to believe we can do it again, right here and now.  We have to Trust.  Trust our form to be ingrained, trust the subconscious to shoot the arrow as we've practiced thousands of times, and then let the arrow go without reservation. We may not hit the exact spot because of various outside influences, but I believe that the more we can relegate the shot process to our subconscious and muscle memory, the better the shot will be under all circumstances.  Like the analogy of driving a car. At some point we have to trust that we know how to do it, and then we just do it...we drive that car across the intersection, or we drive that car on the highway at high speed in heavy traffic; and while driving in those conditions we do not think about our driving skills.  We let go and do it. 

      So, learn to let it go. Practice that one shot, whether at a 3d target or that bush out roving.  Shoot that one arrow that you are concentrating on so intently, believing in your mind that you are killing an animal with that arrow, like Hill seeing the rabbit or deer on the target face.  Visualize that arrow as being a decisive killing arrow at whatever range you are shooting. Learn to push the limit.  And above all, do not think about any aspect of shooting form while you make the shot.  Only concentration and trust.  And if the arrow misses a bit, just go get it and shoot it again, with concentration and trust.  Never doubt or fear, ever.

       Trust that the hours of practice will pay off, trust the fluid form that allows you to smile and shoot in a relaxed and stress-free way.  Let the shot go and learn to deal with the consequences. If you wound, unintentionally, which will happen sometimes, remember nothing... nothing is wasted in Nature.  If you don't eat it, something else will and life will be sustained in some fashion. 

      Let it go.  The arrow and the fear.  Trust you will shoot straight, and you will...

      Shoot Straight.