Archery Checklist

Develope an Mental Checklist to Arrow More Deer.

Any experienced archer, and especially those who are deer hunters, will tell you that beyond having a dependable, sensible setup, focus and consistency are the most important aspects of making an arrow go where you want it to.  Many hunters can hit a bulls-eye with no problem, but putting a clean kill shot on a deer, especially a trophy, oftentimes proves to be much more difficult.  This is why it is important to develop good form through muscle memory, so you do not have to think so much when the biggest deer you’ve ever seen is 20 yards in front of you.  Of course, little things like having unscented bug spray in the early season and shooting gloves during late season help too.

When you do have that golden opportunity, it is usually accompanied by a large amount of adrenaline that can make you behave in unpredictable ways, one of the most common being letting an arrow fly as soon as you have a pin over the deer’s vitals.  Unfortunately, your arrow won’t follow the pin if everything else isn’t in line like it was when you were practicing. 

Because of this, it is good to develop a system that makes putting your pin on the target or deer the last thing you do.  If your anchor point is off a little bit, or your eye isn’t directly behind the peep, your arrow won’t go where you want it to. 

One system that works for many archers is to have a sort of informal checklist that you go through before shooting.  Try starting with each thing you must do right to shoot accurately, ending with pin placement.  For example, as soon as you draw, find your anchor point right away.  After that, make sure you are holding your bow like you usually do, and that what you see through your peep, but not the pins, is the same as it is when you practiced.  Many hunters put their pin in the center of their sight picture, but it is tough to tell if it is centered when the adrenaline is flowing, especially if you have a peep with a wide aperture for shooting at dusk.  If this resembles your setup, you might try lining your sight bracket up with one of the edges of your peep sight.  This will ensure that everything is consistent. 

All of this should only take a second, and once it is done, your arrow should go where you want it to.  Although this is simple to do, it might make the difference between a massive fifty yard blood trail and looking desperately for one more drop of blood in the autumn leaves.