No Pain, No Gain
I archery hunt and generally practice shooting my bow a little bit almost every everning. These past couple of weeks I have upped the anti and have been putting a lot of time and energy into target shooting in preperation for the hunting seanson that is coming up at the end of this week and goes on the next few weeks.
I am shooting pretty consistently and hittung bullseye on my target about 50% of the time now. The other 50% is usually just outside it. Although this is a great achievement and I am proud of my progress in this new skill - it is important to recognise the time and efforts invested to get to this stage.
There are lots of factors to consider - money to purchase equipment (so much equipment), having the space to practice and putting time into practicing new skills.
I use a compact bow, and being a petite build, I had to start on a very low weight (22lb) and develop muscle memory day-by-day. The first time I shot a bow, I was exhausted after a few attempts. This is just how it is. You can only do a few each day, then rest and come at it again the next day, slowly building up your strength.
When you can shoot consistently at your current weight, you gradually increase the poundage and then perfect your shot at this new weight. You keep repeating this process until you get to the weight you need it to be at. In AZ you need to be at 30lb to shoot nearly all big game and 40 lb to shoot buffalo.
I am just over 30lb at the moment but do want to go buffalo hunting in the future so I am going to keep working on this. It is also beneficial to be at a heavier weight becuase your accuracy is better at further distances.
I had many hick-ups on this road too. The first few months I barely made any progress and I was rarely even hitting the target. Finally, I managed to make slight imporvements so I went to get my bow adjusted and a new expert said that I had been measured wrong and that my bow arm was an inch and a half longer than what my bow had been adjusted to.
Adjustments were made to my bow and I had to get some new arrows made up. I took my first shot and my cable hit my arm (see above blog image). Ouch. Not only had I been shooting a badly adjusted bow, but I had been holding it wrong to compensate for this.
It wasn't massively painful, but it looked awful and that picture didnt capture it very well. This photo was taken when it was fresh and it looked a lot worse a day or so later.
Anyway, getting back on track... I immediately knew that something was wrong. I got some expert advice and was given the appropriate guidance before practicing my newly learnt technique. Without this process, success would not have been possible.
I think this story highlights some important factors of success that can be related to almost all learning, whether it be archery hunting or creating a successful online business:
- Choosing a skill to learn / picking a niche
- Time, energy and resources invested
- Hick-ups along the road
- Getting hurt
- Seeking professional advice
- Practicing the new technique
- Being determined to succeed
It is also important to say that hitting bullseye 50% doesn't guarentee my success on the hunt in the field. This is whole new experience and this weekend will be my first ever try, so the chances of me being successful are well, practically zero!!
I have accompanied other people on hunts, tracked animals and put other people onto their kills but this will be my first ever tag. Although I have been told I am a natural, there is always more to learn and I am at the beginning.
Id imagine this can relate to having an online business aswell; once your site is successful, you need to keep working at it.
All the best and thank you for reading. If you liked it, please give me a thumbs up and leave any comments or questions you may have below and I will get back to you asap.
Recent Comments
20
Hey Catherine,
That's a great analogy!! Bow hunting and WA/online business.
Tried and True
Elaine
Wonderful analogy! I have bow hunted (never got anything) and rifle hunted (got one doe and one spike) and then was disabled and couldn’t do it any longer. I cried after each kill even though I love to eat venison, so it was probably meant to be!
Thanks and good luck with your hunt.
Kyle Ann
I am delighted that you enjoyed it and equally delighted to know that we share yet another passion.
I am not sure I completely agree with you on what you say about it being for the best. I think that in order to eat meat people should have to be able to kill the animal - which you did, regardless of whether you got upset or not.
There are many people who can't do this.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!
Thanks! My husband still hunts and I still enjoy the venison. My favorite is the jerky he makes in several different flavors.
Something new for you to try if you haven’t already.
Best of luck!
Kyle Ann
Mmmm venison Jerky. I recently purchased one of those dehydrating things and made beef jerky. It was awesome but that sounds incredible. Such a shame those thinks are so hard to clean though. It kinda put me off ding it again.
Really? I found that once everything was all dried out a good wipe with disinfectant wipes was all it needed. Sorry to hear you found that was a problem...give it another go. The longer you marinate the raw meat in seasoning the less time it takes to dehydrate. Good luck!
Maybe that is where I went wrong. It was so yummy just took ages to clean. I ended up hosing it down in the yard and scrubbing it down. I will give it another try as its a great snack when you have been out all morning hiking around the woods hunting. Thank you.
What a great story and great analogy. If we can all adopt this style of thinking in all we do we would get very very far.
All the best with your shooting dear :)
Hopefully I will be able to keep it in mind myself Thabo. It is easy to get knocked down and get up again to do something fun like archery, its much harder to return to the pc and type all day!!
Thank you, it will be a miracle if I get something on my first tag.
All the best and have a great day.
Thank you. I should also add that this is my shot at 20 yards, 30 and 40 yards need a lot of work! have a great day Mike
My horse and I have attended a couple of horseback archery clinics, I love it, unfortunately horse doesn’t lol.
I’ve got a bow and all the gear but it sits in my office. Really should make the time to get it out again.
Wow Heidi, this sounds like a proper blast!!
Yes, you definitely should get it out. Keeping it somewhere different might encourage you to get it out more too? I know what I have done helped me.
I have my bow hung up somewhere very visible (centre piece) in my home so that I have to look at it every day. I also have a bright yellow target outside that I can see from my couch through the glass dooe. Ha ha... no getting around it.
I think this has really helped me to stay focussed. It also means I can grab it and be set up quickly instead of digging around in a closet or something.
I would really like to hear more about this horse back archery hunting!!
All the best and thank you for reading and sharing.
See more comments
No matter what the focus is, target shooting, bow hunting, or building an online business, it requires a lot of time, effort, practice, and trial and error to achieve success. Good luck on your hunt!
thank you!