The leap from flinging arrows into a flat backstop to launching the same through the woods at a live animal is one bowhunters bridge every fall through the use of 3-D target shooting.
Better at simulating real hunting scenarios than their two-dimensional counterparts, life-sized foam targets addressed from a variety of angles and varied distances help train the archer’s eye and steady his or her hand by building confidence along with muscle memory.
Shooting well in a real-life bowhunting situation requires experience, the more the better, and the best way to get it is through practicing with 3-D targets. Bowhunting is about working the animal and waiting for the perfect shot, and 3-D shooting teaches shooters how to make the shots they’ll need to make.
All bowhunting is more about how close than how far, but knowing to within a step or two how far any animal is you’re planning to shoot is critical. Judging those distances and practicing those angles is what 3-D archery is all about.
“So many hunters go out and miss the first deer of the year and wish they had shot more,” Brian Ellis said. He’s a lifelong bowhunter and dedicated archer, both in the field and on the 3-D practice range. “What they should have also done was shoot differently. People practice at 20 yards, at 30 yards, at 40 yards, but they don’t practice nine yards, 14 yards, 26 yards and so on. Regularly shooting a 3-D course gives you practical time shooting all sorts of distances.”
The life-sized targets also help build a great variety of skills. Learning to concentrate on hitting the animal’s vital area with the shot, getting a feel for where to aim on an animal quartering away and generally attaching to archery’s muscle memory a visual image of what a buck at 18 yards or 32 yards looks like builds a tremendous amount of confidence in each shooter.
“Hunting is a head game,” Ellis said. “You’re not going to kill anything if you’re not confident.”
Bowhunting’s challenges and rewards go hand in hand. The excitement of finding an area huntable deer are using, hanging a stand in the perfect spot, approaching it carefully and hunting it when the wind is right, making an undetected draw and placing an accurate shot define hunting itself for those devoted to the stick and string. Shooting 3-D is as close to reality as practice can get.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
