Pre-Season Practice & Training

August 19, 2024

by Craig Temple

There’s never been a time when hunting season rolled around and I wished that I had spent less time preparing and training for the few short months that were ahead of me. Every season can be a whirlwind and you never really know what scenarios will unfold and what conditions or pressure you’ll need to make a shot in. With that in mind, I’m going to share a few nuggets of information on simple and effective ways to practice and train in the offseason.

Close your Eyes

If you tell someone to close their eyes when they’re shooting, it’s a guarantee that you’ll raise some concerns… Now that I have your attention, I encourage you to spend some time shooting in the offseason with your eyes closed. You’ll want to setup a target on a picnic table or workbench and stand about 3 feet from the target. Draw back, anchor, close your eyes and focus solely on your shot execution. You should be able to shoot arrow after arrow without punching the trigger. Focus on the movement you need to do to make a surprise release. For a hinge, you’ll want to smoothly pull and rotate the release until it fires. For a button, slowly add pulling pressure and let the release pull through your thumb until it fires. This is a great year-round exercise that helps to reinforce what a good shot should feel like and to help train your brain not to forget about the importance of shot execution.

Long Bombs

When you shoot at close and comfortable distances, it’s easy to lose some of the importance of consistency with anchor point, shot execution, follow through, leveling and aiming. Adding distance to your practice sessions will begin to magnify flaws in your form or process. Once you identify any issues, it’s time to address them and work through them. Some of the most common flaws that will affect groupings at the longer distances are inconsistencies in form, pressure and follow through. Form includes things such as posture, anchor point, grip consistency, centering the scope housing in your peep and holding your bow level. String pressure on your face or nose makes a big impact downrange as well as varying grip torque and excessive D-loop rotation from your release.

Follow through is often overlooked as we tend to drop our bow arm or flinch when we release because we’re too eager to see where the arrow hit on our target. Slow it down and focus on the shot while you let the bow and the arrow do it’s job of hitting the center.

Arrows, Arrows, Arrows

Practice makes perfect. That’s why you should practice and work toward becoming as perfect as possible. I find that if I shoot enough arrows in a year, then shooting becomes second nature and many aspects of my shot routine happen without me having to focus on them. This, in turn, allows me to focus on the things that matter in the moment. If you don’t live close to a range or can’t shoot in your yard, there’s no reason why you can’t still get practicing. Setup a target in your home and practice at close distances. Any arrows are better than no arrows and working on your shot will pay dividends when you hit the range or when a good buck is in front of you.

Run your Hunting Setup

I’m a firm believer in practicing how you play and that’s why I run a setup in the offseason that’s as close to my final hunting setup as possible. Shoot in the months leading up to season with your quiver on your bow. Start running the same pin cartridge that you’re going to be hunting with. Spending time familiarizing yourself with the sight picture you’ll see when hunting will help you naturally start aiming with the right fiber rather than having to think about it each time. Your bow should be an extension of yourself, so take the time to get used to the sights and feel of your bow well before the season starts.

Threading the Needle

One of my favorite strategies in the offseason is to setup a target with brush, trees and other obstacles around it and practice shooting through small shooting windows and from uncomfortable positions. Learn the trajectory of your arrow and learn your limits for spaces you can thread the needle through. Walk around to different angles from the target and practice realistic shots while you learn where to aim on a quartering target to penetrate through the vitals. The offseason is a great time to shoot from your knees, awkward stances and from a seated position.

3D Shoots

I would argue to say that 3D shoots are some of the most realistic scenarios that you can put yourself into when it comes to hunting preparation. Many targets are realistic species, terrain is often similar to what you’ll be hunting in and you’ll get some extra understanding of your bow’s trajectory.

While most 3D shooters participate for fun, there’s still an added element of pressure when you’re on the line and a handful of people are watching you shoot. The pressure of your buddy watching where you hit with his binos and another buddy watching to see if you rip into the trigger will add pressure on your nerves. Learning to control the pressure and focus on your shot process in moments like these will help you hold it together and work through your shot when an animal is in front of you.

Some 3D shoots are held in nasty and uneven terrain. This will help you with shooting from uncomfortable and uneven footing and uphill and downhill shots. You’ll need to trust your sight level and learn to pivot at your hips for incline and decline shots.

While you’re going to be shooting for scores at these shoots, it’s always a great practice to have conversations at targets about where you’d aim on a live animal, especially on quartering shots. If you’re shooting with an experienced hunter, listen close to his advice on where to aim and ask questions. You might just learn something.

Getting in Position

There are many hunting styles out there but spot and stalk, treestands/saddles and blinds are the most common. You’re either standing, kneeling, sitting or leaning when you shoot and it’s key to practice in the positions you expect to take shots this year.

I’m a spot and stalk, treestand and saddle hunter so I spend a lot of time in the offseason shooting from my knees, shooting out of a treestand in my yard and getting used to the feeling of leaning back in a saddle and shooting around the tree. I specifically remember the first shots I took out of a saddle a few years ago. I struggled to stay balanced when I drew my bow and when I shot, I felt like I was going to fall out of the tree. Since then, I’ve shot a lot of arrows out of the saddle to get comfortable with the balance and feel.

If you put yourself in a position to take a shot that you’ve never been in before, there’s a good chance that you’ll mess it up. Prepare yourself for any situation from any position and you’ll be comfortable when it’s time to take the shot when out hunting.

While there are many ways to train and prepare in the offseason, it’s key to put in the time and actually do the work. Success is sweetest when it’s been prepared for and luck only goes so far. You’ll get out what you put in and I hope that some of the strategies that I’ve shared with you help you to fill your freezer this fall.