Practice Makes Better
by: Tom Sorenson
The saying is that practice makes perfect – well, I’m not so sure about that, but I’ll admit that practice does make one better. The weather has been nicer lately, so my wife and I took our bows out behind the house for a little target practice. I couldn’t believe how rusty I’d become until I remembered it had been seven months since I’d shot. SEVEN MONTHS! Man, we can’t let that happen again. There is just no excuse.
Anyways, as I was saying, I am rusty. You can see from the photos that my form is needing some serious attention – I’m kicked the hip out, which is a problem I’ve been harping on my wife about – and then we took pictures the other day while we were shooting, and I was shocked to see I had let the same problem creep into my shooting! We shoot back of the house and it is on a pretty nice hill, which makes for an awkward feel for shooting for the first time in seven months, and I’m hoping that was the problem. I want to get back indoors on flat ground and see if I can correct that before getting back on the hillside again. There is a 3D shoot coming up in a week or so that I was planning on hitting, but now, I’m not so sure I want to embarrass myself that badly!
The good news is that I was already feeling better by the end of the session. I know the importance of shooting every day, and hopefully I’ve learned my lesson. It just seems that with the hard winter, it got easy to neglect my bow. I need to make sure I’m getting out there every day from here on out – bow season is less than five months away!
My wife, Shanna, ready to fire.
 Shanna about to stick a nice foam target buck at 10 yards.
 I always use the sleeve guard on my first time out after the winter. After regaining confidence, I’ll quit using it to protect my arm!
Yours truly. The form is really bad on this one – note the hip thrown way out. Ugly!  I’m so ashamed.
6 Responses to “Practice Makes Better”
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I wish we had a place to shoot here at the house – we don’t, so I’m sorely out of practice!
A mentor of mine liked to say, “…practice does not make perfect, prctice makes permanent.” This is a good reminder, and, in Minnesota, we are less than four months away from bear opener. Also, I have a stand in my backyard, so I can remember to practice factoring in the down angle on that pesky foam target!
Being the non-hunter I can only say I like the pink arrows your wife has.
Ha. Yeah, she likes her pink arrows, too!
@ Wayne – that is sound wisdom…I’ve heard that saying from my grandpa, too. I actually am in the middle of Spring bear right now but decided to pick up the rifle for that. I was planning on taking the bow, but then decided I’d hate to have a bear at seventy yards and not be able to do anything about it. Besides, I feel more comfortable hunting bears with my rifle since I’ll be on the ground with them!
Regardless of form Tom, the first step is getting out there and slinging arrows! Looks like you got a start on that.
You are lucky that your wife enjoys shooting as well. it sure helps to have someone to shoot with to make it enjoyable. Sometimes the added competitive spirit is enough to make me pay attention to form that much more.
Good luck at your next shoot.
Finally made around to visit your blog. Great job you did with it too.
Yep looks like you need to work on that form a bit. Continued practice is very important to keep in shooting form. I am sure in a day or two you will have remedied that slight flaw.
-ov-