Target Panic

jolemons

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I stitched to a Carter release with a very light trigger this year. I was getting progressively worse about punching ther thumb trigger. Today I experienced what I would call a type of target panic that really freaked me out. As soon as my pin got on target I had an impulse to punch the release. If I kept my thumb off the trigger, as soon as I would bring it forward, I would punch the release. I decided to call it quits before it got worse. My plan is to do a lot of blank bale and 15 yard close range shooting tomorrow and maybe go back to my old release. Anyone have any thoughts?

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wapitibob

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Blank bale doesn’t do a thing for Target panic. Close your eyes and shoot a cpl shots to see what I mean. The visual aspect is the thing you need to overcome; learning that pin movement in the dot is ok while you execute.
Slow your button down, get close, like 10 feet and start aiming drills at a large target. Stay at that distance till you can execute then slowly work back. Most wont take the time and move back too soon.
 
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Turkeygetpwnd38

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Tons of info out there. Think Dudley had a few dedicated podcasts and videos to this as well. I have struggled with it a bit, I know it sounds crazy but I just tell myself to stop. Just really stop and actively think you are controlling it, you are pressing the trigger, disassociate pressing the release with where the pin is and concentrating on they are separate things usually does it for me. Might not do anything for you but thought I’d offer it up. Good luck.
 
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Get a tension activated release. It's the only thing that fixed mine. I had the exact same thing. When/if you use a trigger, use a super stiff one, not a light one, to force yourself to work through the shot activation.

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Also, I would highly recommend Joel Turners iron mind course/info. Understanding what's going on in your mind during open loop vs closed loop movements is HUGE. Understanding what's going on is absolutely key to controlling it

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jolemons

jolemons

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I'm interested in the psychology of it. I've read about and listened to others discuss target panic, but it's never affected me for decades. Now, boom, in one day. Very weird

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I'm interested in the psychology of it. I've read about and listened to others discuss target panic, but it's never affected me for decades. Now, boom, in one day. Very weird

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Joel is your guy. His way of explaining the brain stuff is pretty amazing.

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5MilesBack

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I've read about and listened to others discuss target panic, but it's never affected me for decades. Now, boom, in one day. Very weird

If that were me.......I'd definitely go back to what I was doing and using before. I've never had any issues and I've always been a "command" shooter with a caliper trigger release. I'd hate to try anything else for fear of getting TP. It works perfectly fine the way it is.
 

Beendare

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I'm interested in the psychology of it. I've read about and listened to others discuss target panic, but it's never affected me for decades. Now, boom, in one day. Very weird

Shoot a bow long enough....and it gets everyone.

My one buddy has it...and refuses to admit it....he just keeps punching....when it gets really bad he puts his bow away for long stretches.

...
 

wapitibob

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I'm interested in the psychology of it. I've read about and listened to others discuss target panic, but it's never affected me for decades. Now, boom, in one day. Very weird

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What I have seen over the years is it generally starts the first time someone picks up a bow. They grab a bow, put a sight on it, and go back to 20 and start shooting. Not many can hold in a dot at 20 when starting, and when the object is to hit the dot, they "shoot" when the pin crosses into the dot. A few days of that and they've trained themselves to "command" shoot. That works for a lot of people but as the distance increases or the target changes or the pin moves around more than usual, the brain says "i'm not ready yet". Now you get into the wait wait wait NOW phase and it just gets worse over time.
Griv starts his students at 10 yards and work their way back after attaining pre set goals.

Griv talks about it in this seminar:
 
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jolemons

jolemons

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Update, made trigger much heavier and did some no-fire aiming drills. Corrected problem, I believe it was an anticipation issue.

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Update, made trigger much heavier and did some no-fire aiming drills. Corrected problem, I believe it was an anticipation issue.

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You'll know it's bad when you can't not shoot, so you're doing alright lol. It can get so bad you won't even be able to aim before you're hammering that trigger.

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Marble

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Some of Turner's thoughts and things to consider....

Can you stop mid shot and let down? With any release?

Concentrate on your shot process and make a choice to use the process each time. If you want the best accuracy with archery, the shot needs to be a surprise.

You should be saying something to yourself at the moment you are shooting. It keeps your brain in the shot process and and distracts it from being worried about hitting your target.
 
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Some of Turner's thoughts and things to consider....

Can you stop mid shot and let down? With any release?

Concentrate on your shot process and make a choice to use the process each time. If you want the best accuracy with archery, the shot needs to be a surprise.

You should be saying something to yourself at the moment you are shooting. It keeps your brain in the shot process and and distracts it from being worried about hitting your target.
Good stuff.

Basically you need to not be "aiming" you need to be working through a shot process.

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Remps17

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I stitched to a Carter release with a very light trigger this year. I was getting progressively worse about punching ther thumb trigger. Today I experienced what I would call a type of target panic that really freaked me out. As soon as my pin got on target I had an impulse to punch the release. If I kept my thumb off the trigger, as soon as I would bring it forward, I would punch the release. I decided to call it quits before it got worse. My plan is to do a lot of blank bale and 15 yard close range shooting tomorrow and maybe go back to my old release. Anyone have any thoughts?

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Not sure if it was mentioned or not but levi Morgan talks about spendings a few weeks holding on the target and not shooting at all. I didn’t do this for two weeks but did it for a few days a couple times a day at 60 yards and this cleared up all my panic issues I had. I went from 10 inch group at 60 and cut that in half After a couple days.

 
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