Bullseye: 7 Tips for Improving Your Archery Practice

As far as practical life skills go, few are as fun and challenging as archery. Target practice will improve your skills and help you hit that clean bullseye consistently. Practice can also build strength, coordination, self-confidence and overall feelings of badassery (archers know what we’re talking about).

If you’re looking for a great way to improve archery practice, reference this guide from Pelican. You can trust us to help you find the right bow case to keep your gear safe and protected at all times.

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1. Perfect Your Stance

Like any sport, perfecting your archery stance is crucial to getting consistently positive results. A proper stance improves your rotation, alignment and power. Be sure to stand up straight with your feet shoulder-distance apart and a slight bend in your knees. Always keep your arm straight to prevent your muscles from tiring. If you have to pull the bow upwards while shooting, it may be too heavy for you.

2. Aim for Repeatable Practices

Repeatability is an essential piece of developing a strong practice. Consistency is crucial to ensure that you perform well no matter where you’re shooting, what you’re shooting or how much pressure you’re under. Even the tiniest little detail — from your grip to the arrows you use — should be the same for each practice session. There are a couple of exceptions to the rule, like distance and targets, which you should occasionally vary to strengthen your skills. More on these below.

3. Increase Aim Tim

One of the most common mistakes novice archers make is rushing the process. But treating your arrow like it’s the only one you’ve got and spending plenty of time making sure it’s pointed at the target can help drastically improve your results. To start, follow the 10-second rule and count to 10 before you release the bow. Slow and steady wins the shot.

4. Adjust Your Draw Length

The correct draw length — how far you pull back on the bow before you feel resistance — is important to prevent you from overextending your elbow or missing your anchor points. Make sure you’re shooting at the right length (use the calculation below), and, if necessary, adjust your stance to compensate. For example, a closed stance with slightly staggered feet can help you get a bit more draw length when needed.

Here’s how to measure yourself for the proper draw length. Stand straight up against a wall with your arms sticking straight out at your sides, like a letter T. Have someone measure the distance between the ends of your middle fingers. Take this measurement minus 15 and divide by two. You can also use your wingspan and this draw length calculator to find your draw length.

5. Back it Up

As important as repeatability is in your practice, you do want to practice at varying distances to improve accuracy. As a good rule of thumb, routinely practice at 20 yards farther away than your goal length to help illustrate any of the small errors in your shooting stance. Once you perfect your long-distance shot, your accuracy at shorter distances will have improved tenfold.

6. Relax Your Bow Grip Hand

It’s so common for beginner archers to tense up, so don’t stress if this seemingly simple thing is holding you back. Just try your best to grip your bow with a relaxed, closed hand. Tight grips can severely compromise accuracy. Consider using a wrist sling with an open bow hand to help you completely relax your hand.

7. Try Different Targets

There are many archery targets out there, all of which will probably help you improve your practice in one way or another. We recommend occasionally switching from bags to blocks to 3D targets, especially if you intend to move from target to field at any point. Visit various archery ranges to continue to challenge yourself. Just make sure to keep your gear protected with the right compound bow case for your equipment.

The Pelican Air 1745 Bow Case is a lightweight option that will keep your gear safe in transport and storage.

Archery is a sport of consistency. The more comfortable you get with the sport and your gear, the better your accuracy will be. Remember to relax and have fun while you’re shooting, because ultimately that’s what it’s all about!