See, I told you not to rush around the 3d range. LOL...Just kidding...
Do EXACTLY what Sugar said.
I've also done some extensive write ups about target panic but if I read them today, I may have a slightly differing opinion on how to fix it.
See, I had TP so bad many years ago that I almost quit shooting a bow all together. I was seriously ready to give up shooting and bowhunting. It was that bad!
After a lot of training and understanding how to shoot properly, now I'm awesome!!!
Well, ok, maybe not awesome, but I'm certainly no "slouch" when it comes to shooting.
The only thing I do disagree with Sugar on is...the eyes closed. There is a purpose to the eyes closed. It helps you to "feel" your form. It's a lot easier to focus on how everything feels when your eyes are closed. Don't ask me why, I guess just cutting off one of your senses allows you to focus more greatly on the others.
For the first couple days you can shoot close up with the eyes closed just to really FEEL what your form feels like. This way your subconscious knows exactly how it feels and if something is off when you draw back, it can trigger that little voice inside your head that says, "Something doesn't feel right"....thats when you should draw down.
Next, you do have to learn to focus on targets. The eyes closed really does nothing to help overcome the target panic, it moreso gives you that ability to recognize form subconsciously and trains the inner voice on when to speak up. Which in turn does give you more confidence, which will help you put all of your focus on aiming.
Without getting into a huge shpeel....you should only have one thought on your mind once you have decided to shoot. And that is the middle of the center of the center of whatever you're aiming at. Nothing else.
Since I assume you're shooting a compound with pins, this is basically how it should go once you've reached full draw, anchored and the little voice inside your head says everything is correct:
-"anchor" pin on center of center.
-start back tension. this is something you shouldn't have to think about. once you commit to shoot, this should be like an operating system on your computer that just runs itself.
-now forget about the pin...forget about your backtension, your trigger, the bees, the leaves, forget about everything in the entire world except that little spot you're focusing on. (dont worry, you anchored the pin and if you keep your focus on the center, it's going to continue to float around there)
When the bow goes off, that arrow will go EXACTLY where you were focused.
It takes a while to learn how to actually shoot like this, and you may need help from someone that actually knows what they're doing, but once you learn to shoot like that, it's hard to miss.
Good luck with it!!!
