I can honestly say that how I practice is directly responsible for at least one of the elk I’ve successfully harvested. Want to be as ready as possible for this season? Here’s how I do it.
Archery practice for most people involves indoor ranges at 20 yards. There’s nothing wrong with that if you intend to hunt elk on level ground, at defined distances, and with your gym shorts on. I’ve never heard of an elk successfully being shot that way, but who knows, maybe you could be first?
Jokes aside, I strongly believe you should practice the same way you plan to hunt (same as how I do physical training). Of course, it took me several years before I experienced the full range of elk hunting situations that I practice for (and I’m still learning). This article will let you jump to the end of my learning curve so you’re prepared for most shots. I’ll go over the importance of your shot sequence, why you should intentionally make bad shots, and finish with ways to practice realistic elk hunting scenarios.
But first, let’s talk about how my practice regimen saved me last year.
When practice paid off: My 2019 elk
Lots of things go “snap” in the woods. Chipmunks drop pine cones, rocks fall off cliffs, and I’ve even seen trees drop in big windstorms. However, the reason my spoon stopped halfway to my mouth was the particular tone of the “snap” that floated above the chuckle of the creek near my feet. Something deep in my brain had heard that noise before: a heavy animal was walking through the woods, and close.
It took about half a second before the first elk blasted through the timber to my right and I scrabbled for the bow that, fortunately, was on the ground next to me. My wife locked eyes with me mid-bite as the cow trotted a few yards behind her and stared. After a tense standoff, the cow whirled away and my brain went into autopilot: arrow out of quiver, nocked right side up, rest raised, release aid extended, and rangefinder into hand. I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing with the bow, but I was definitely watching the bull that had stopped behind the screen of trees 34 yards away.
Unfortunately I was still sitting on my butt and any movement was going to make that tiny 4” inch gap between the trees disappear. Again, autopilot: rangefinder up, range acquired, release clipped onto string, draw slowly across chest, and then shot sequence (anchor point align, drop shoulder, loosen grip, nose to string, align sight housing, level bubble, pull hard into the wall, 30 yard pin floating tight above the hole).
All the while, my brain is pondering other things: do I really want to tag out night one? (hell yes: let’s use the rest of the week to get my wife her first elk) Can I really see if the shot is in the right place? (yeah, most of his body is hidden, but it’s at least midway up the ribs and he’s quartering away, so it’ll work) Is he about to bolt? (Yep, you’ve got about two seconds, he’s doing the scared neck swivel). I was almost surprised to see the arrow streak out of the bow and disappear in that tiny square of brown.
A few minutes later I noticed my hands were still shaking as I slowly close the eyes of a beautiful raghorn bull.
Why shot sequence is everything: muscle memory
If there is one thing that jumps out about that story, it’s the sheer amount of things you need to do to shoot an elk with a bow. Add in a compressed timeline, a heart rate of 210, a few other critical decisions, and you’re left with a recipe for failure. You simply don’t have the time to think about each individual step instead of doing it by habit.
It’s fascinating, but your brain actually uses a separate memory system to develop what we call “muscle memory”. Getting your shot sequence to the point that it’s unconscious thought is critical so your brain still has the horsepower to process the important stuff in a stressful situation. The only way to do that is to practice your shot sequence exactly the same way you’ll hunt, every time. Here are some pointers to make that happen:
- Do things in the same order every time
- If you don’t do things in the same order, your brain has to consciously think about what you’ve done and what you haven’t done. That’s bad.
- Nock your arrow + set your rest first and use your rangefinder last. You might have to reposition and get another range right before the shot.
- Always wear your rangefinder and bino harness
- Getting the right range is the most critical part of any shot. If your rangefinder is in a different location when you practice vs when you hunt, you’ve broken your sequence.
- Think, repeat, stop thinking
- You’ll have to use your conscious mind to think hard about the right order of things to do at first. Don’t worry, as you repeat it your brain will make it a habit.
- Remember that slider (if you have one)…
- I lost a few arrows until I made checking the sight tape on my bow sight a part of my sequence. I know a guy who missed an elk because he forgot to reset his slider sight after practice. That hurts.
As an example, I had to stand up and go through the motions of shooting my bow to remember my shot sequence for this article. There’s zero chance I can remember the 18+ steps of my sequence but my brain just does them now when I shoot a bow.
Intentionally make bad shots
Most people practice the same way: they try to make the best shot they can and “fix” bad shots when they pop up. Most of the time they’re not even sure what caused that arrow to impact to the side (or hit low). Sound familiar? That’s how I used to practice too.
The only way to know what actually changes your accuracy is to do something “wrong” on purpose and compare the results to a “good” shot. That does a few things for you: first, it shows you what matters and what doesn’t. For example, mis-aligning my peep only changes my impact point by an inch or so at 40 yards but twisting the grip really is a problem (4”+ inches). Second, it makes you more aware of how bad things “feel” when you’re doing them, so they’re easier to avoid later on. Finally, it helps you “call shots”, or to know roughly where they’re going to hit right after you shoot. That’s really important for hunting since you often don’t see impacts.
The only way to determine what’s important for your individual setup is to test it out yourself. Here’s a list of things to test:
- Change your grip
- Relocate the grip in your palm or mimic torquing (twisting) the grip
- High or low wrist pressure
- Vary the vertical pressure in different places on your grip
- Misalign your peep
- Move your sight housing slightly outside your peep and see what happens
- Cant (lean) your bow
- See what happens when the bubble indicator isn’t aligned
- Nock your arrow the wrong way
- Nock your arrow upside down. Does it still fly fine?
- Back wall pressure
- Pull hard into the wall and shoot. Creep into the valley and shoot.
- Change your anchor point slightly
- Shoot from several different locations to see what changes
- Raise or lower your shoulder
- This makes a bigger difference than you think
I could go on and on here… really there is no shortage of things to test (just make sure to start at 20 yards). Finally, once you find the things that matter, make sure to integrate them into your shot sequence! If you make them subconscious, your odds of making a good shot are much higher.
Elk hunting situations to practice
After several elk on the ground and plenty of shot opportunities that didn’t happen, I’m convinced there are very few “normal” elk shots. Here are some things that really pay off when you practice them before the season starts:
- Try out your gear
- I’ve had bowstrings catch on jackets and backpacks mid shot. Make sure to shoot in the exact gear you’ll be using at least once to make sure it doesn’t mess with your setup (or accuracy).
- Shoot through trees and over/under obstacles
- Elk are masters at hiding behind trees. Maintaining good form while you move around to find a “hole” in the branches can be hard to do. Even the tiniest branch will deflect an arrow (there’s only one way to find out…).
- There is an art to using shorter range pins to be sure an arrow will clear an object as it arcs. Hint: your 20 yard pin shows where your arrow will be at that range, even if you’re shooting at 40 yards.
- Standing, crouching, sitting
- Like above, shots (and holes) often present themselves only in one position. I was sure glad I practiced kneeling last year… also, make sure you can draw your bow in these positions or your poundage is too high.
- Steep up and down hills
- Steep shots are almost a guarantee. Practice hinging from your hips to maintain form– this is also a good way to check your 3rd axis adjustments.
- Let down silently
- This one seems obvious but I’m surprised by how many guys can’t let down their bow without noise and motion. If that’s the case, definitely lower your draw weight until you can.
- Hold it for a minute (or three)
- Stay at full draw until you absolutely can’t anymore and see how accurate you are. It will help you know when you should let down silently vs gritting it out.
- Move at full draw
- Careful here! It’s really common to take a few steps at full draw to make shots happen, so try it out in a controlled environment.
Again, there are many other things you could practice here. If you’re looking for inspiration, watch a few amateur elk hunting videos on youtube and recreate the shots (or misses). You might be practicing the exact shot you’ll take on an elk this fall!
Summary
You’ll be amazed how fast you will progress as an archer if you spend time perfecting your shot sequence, intentionally making bad shots, and practicing realistic elk hunting scenarios. I’m 100% confident this regimen is responsible for at least one of my elk and I hope it helps you too. If nothing else, it will give you the confidence you need to perform when it matters most.