Taking Notes, More Than a Decade of Inefficiency

Draw, anchor, float, release, repeat. I empty the quiver, analyze the spread of my arrows across the face of the target, pull them, and once again repeat the process. I take mental note of the overall distribution, maybe how I pulled a shot, where the group of well executed shots are tending to pile up, and once again repeat. I repeat this process for who knows how many times, maybe for a half hour or so, and am done. This process has been repeated week after week, month after month, year after year since I started shooting archery over 10 years ago. Do I shoot well? I would argue yes. Do I shoot as well as I possibly could, almost certainly not. 

Last year I had no success in finding any of the deer I shot. One I hit somewhat high without getting a complete pass through. It was early in the season and still warm. Roughly 15-20 minutes after I shot the doe a pop-up storm rolled through absolutely drenching the woods for a good hour. I grid searched that evening and the next morning but never found her. Later in the year I shot another doe that was pretty close to me, ~10 yards or so. The shot angle was a tough one. I pumped one through her and let her run off. This time I wasn't losing her. I checked the weather, it was good. So, I waited a few hours and took a dog this time. The lab mix led me straight to her. But she was still alive. When the dog found her, we could see her, and she was nearly on top of the doe by the time the doe bust up from her bed and took off. She stumbled through the woods, running into trees and barely able to hold herself up. When inspecting her bed, just a massive amount of blood. I knew she was dead, no question. A cold night was coming, slightly above freezing, so I decided to come back the next morning. Unfortunately, the coyotes did not go hungry that night. 

This year when I was building my concept arrow for this hunting season, there was a lot on my mind regarding my personal world of hunting. The lack of ability to successfully retrieve the deer I shot being at the forefront. A few years back I went through an entire summer of R&D with the main goal of ensuring I always have complete pass throughs. That is a personal priority of mine with my arrow set ups. Since then I have tweaked this here, and that there, making many small changes along the way. With the first deer I shot last year, I find myself sitting at my work bench looking at all the components of this new arrow I had yet to build, wondering. What all had changed? That was the first incomplete pass through I have had since prioritizing pass throughs, with great success up until then, years back. Unfortunately, I couldn't answer that question. I had plenty of pictures of the arrows I had used, but I don’t remember how heavy they were. I don’t remember if I used nock collars, had insert weights, what the FOC was, the exact arrow spine (I know the range it had to have been in). Staring at this arrow I just built, this year not only was I going to know, but I was also going to have it written down for future reference. 

In the past I had written this information down, but it would be on post-it notes and scraps of paper. Just for short term reference. I had a few notebooks laying around so I grab one and journal the process. I write down all my considerations; arrow length changes, changing and moving weight from the front to back and vice versa, lighted nocks, etc. The list goes on. I pull up a few websites and run some FOC and KE numbers, note those down. I analyze all my options; one clearly stands out. I draw a big circle around that set up and get building. Once done I still had arrows from last year, and they still shoot just fine. While the glue is drying, I decide I’ll put a few reps in. I grab my 3 arrows, walk outside, and as always draw, anchor, float, release, repeat. When walking to the target I’m replaying in my head how my back felt, did my anchor point feel secure, and so on. I stopped and thought, I need to write this down. 

I retrieve my shooting journal from my work bench and bring it out with me. I ignore that first set being that I didn’t have the same mentality that I have now. I repeat the process again, but this time paying much more detail to every aspect of the shot. From the draw, to my shoulders, where I feel the pressure in my palm, my breathing, where the arrows hit, EVERYTHING. I take notes of all of that for every shot and for every group. After about a half hour of shooting I look at my notes and I have 5 shooting groups of 3. It only takes, at most maybe a minute, 2 at most, to shoot 3 arrows. Previously this would have a mindless shooting session of probably 50+ shots with the only analysis existing between each individual grouping. Now. I have a page full of notes and 15 shots where I know exactly what was going on with each and every one of them. The time used is used much more efficiently, from which I can continue forward with my next session. It has almost taken away the compartmentalized feeling of shooting. It has transitioned from these individual sessions to a process that has no real end goal. There is no end point or finish line. It's just a continuation, building off everything before.

No one has static skill or capability in whatever they do. Even the best athletes in the world waiver from quarter to quarter, game to game. I argue you can look at your capability or skill level as like a wave. The peaks being when everything just feels right. It's all in line and you almost feel as if you can't make a mistake. With the throughs being the opposite. You know you are skilled and able, but for some reason you just can’t seem to hit the mark that you know you can perform at. We also have our own biases. With that being said, though this is the first year that I have incorporated full journaling in my archery shooting, I do honestly believe that it is helping tremendously. Maybe it's merely the fact of paying closer attention to things. Or possibly the journaling requiring me to slow down is the true underlying causality. In the end, even in this short time I have been doing this I feel as though it has been cause for two results. One - I feel as though the volatility, the difference in my best shooting and worst shooting, has greatly decreased. Two - I feel as though my overall average level of performance has increased. 

In the past when I have shot a lot, I could get very good over a summer. But previously it seemed as though every time I would go to practice I would start at the same starting line and see if I could make it further than I did before. Journaling instead feels more like a paused video game. I am just continuing on from where I left off.  I am very excited to see how this will continue to play out in other aspects of hunting. I am not stopping simply at shooting. I will be journaling my scouting, trail cam set ups, my sits, and my shots on deer. Deciding to journal has opened up a new excitement for hunting for me that I never even knew was there. That's not to say I was getting bored with it by any means. I still get “buck fever” when I sit in the stand and watch a 1 ½ year old basket rack 6 point that I am not going to shoot walk by. Journaling has shifted my perspective and opened up a new way that I can continue to enjoy hunting.