“Each morning I shoot one arrow which tells me if I’m ready for opening day,” said Rick Wilson, Maryland State Archery champion and whitetail bowhunting mechanic. “With opening day about a week away, I start each morning with a single shot, one and only one.” Wilson was an archery mentor of mine many years ago, and I thought his practice technique was strange —until I tried it.
One and Only One
As bowhunting season grows near, you should have your shooting muscles in top form and your groups tight at various yards. If you are gearing up for elk season, you should be practicing at yardages beyond your expected range. If you can become proficient at 50 yards, a 25-yard shot can be taken with the utmost confidence. The one-shot method is to finish your readiness and play with your mind just a bit. Have a target set at a range you are most likely to shoot, and keep your bow or crossbow organized with easy access. Before going to work, take one shot on your range. If you can bust a bull in successive days, your confidence will soar. However, if you miss, you will think about the miss the entire day. You can practice later, but begin your day with only one shot taken as realistically as possible.
Crossbows Too
Just as the release of a compound bow is critical to accuracy, so too is the trigger pull of a crossbow. Triggers on TenPoint bows are two-stage, which means you close the slack in the trigger and then squeeze off the shot. The Barnett Wildcat CRX that I have been testing has no slack at all. You don’t want to jerk the trigger, but you want to be able to shoot with a consistent pull just as if a deer were pausing for a second or two. The one-shot practice method will tell you if you are ready for that instant of opportunity.
Mind Game Mentality
Most archery practice sessions end with satisfaction because you have warmed up, shot repeatedly, and if you get a flier, it’s no big deal. The one-shot method trains your mind as much as your shooting memory muscle. If your first shot is off the mark, I promise you, temptation will be to shoot again, knowing that you can be more accurate. However, an elk or deer will rarely give you a second chance. You need to be ready and exactly on target with the first arrow, and this is precisely the reason the one-shot practice is so important. It only takes a few minutes, but it will pay huge dividends at the moment of truth.