A Trip To The Bow Doctor

While I try to shoot my bow on a regular basis, I sometimes get busy with life, especially during the summer. Cookouts, birthday parties and tons of yard work seem to always get in the way. So what generally happens is I try to cram in a lot of practice about this time of the year, and hope I haven't lost my touch. Well, this year it didn't exactly work out like I had planned.

I had shot last at the archery shoot we held at the TalkHunting campout in Kentucky back in May. I shot OK but not like I thought I should have. I just figured I needed some practice so I made a promise to myself to go back to shooting at least every other day.

2 months later, I pick the bow up again, so much for self made promises, and shoot even worse. Now I am getting a bit worried so I start shooting every day only to end frustrated and confused. How could I go from a decent archer to an absolutely horrible one so fast? Was it lack of practice? Was it equipment problems? Had my form slipped? I was feeling a bit confused and really beginning to doubt myself. Because I am still fairly new to archery, my confidence level is not real high when it comes to trouble shooting problems.

I was shooting well at 10 yards. I was shooting well at 15 yards. I was really starting to lose my grouping at 20 yards and everyone and every animal on my place was in danger when I moved to 25 yards or more. Arrows were going in every direction and I wasn't able to figure out why. Had I completely forgotten how to shoot a bow or was my BowTech 82 Airborn sick and in need of a doctor?

With the Southern TalkHunting Anniversary Party just around the corner, I really wanted to get this issue resolved before the archery shoot there. So, I did what I now recommend anyone to do under these circumstances, I waved the white flag of surrender and headed, bow in hand, to the archery Pro Shop.

For me, this is a place called Archery Unlimited, in Prattville Alabama, about an hour drive north of my house. They have some great techs there and really do an amazing amount of work, considering there is a Bass Pro Shop less than 2 miles from their location. I have always been treated well there and their prices are awesome.

When I walked in and placed my bow on the counter, one of the bow technicians could instantly tell by my facial expressions that I was in dire need. I told him my whole story, every embarrassing miss, and begged him for help. I was seriously hoping it was an equipment problem so that I could at least retain some pride. I was a broken archer looking for redemption...

He placed an arrow on the string and immediately told me I had rest problems. I had been using a Whisker Biscuit for about a year and he said it had gotten misaligned. He also took the time to talk to me about some other rest options and after looking and learning about several different ones, I settled on replacing my Biscuit with a QAD Ultra Rest. The technician installed it for me and his first shot through paper was perfect! I was very impressed. He also made some adjustments to my draw length and explained how that was going to feel awkward for a while but would really make a difference in the long run. We added a few more pounds of pull to the draw and shot it through the crono. It did feel a little different but not as bad as I had feared. I still need to shoot it and adjust the sight but I already feel better about the whole situation.

I always try to come out of any problematic situation with something learned and this one was no exception. So, what did I learn? I learned that I am no expert. Even if you have been doing this for 20 years, there will always be people who will know more than you and should be consulted if a problem arises that you cannot resolve. I wasted 2 weeks worth of practice because I wanted to figure the problem out myself. Now, after only a little money spent and some very good advice on how to get my game back, I am excited about getting back out there and shooting instead of dreading it as I have been over the last few weeks. When things are going bad, step back and decide what to do. Should I just take a break, can I fix this or do I need to go to the experts? The next time this happens to me, the decision to go to the experts will probably be the first thing I do.

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