When I began bowhunting, there were a few things that took me by surprise. The first was the learning curve; but after the initial nerves of holding on to what is essentially a controlled explosion, I quickly gained a lot of confidence.

The “Dunning-Kruger Effect” describes it as “Mt Stupid” – the initial peak where individuals with low competence in a subject possess high confidence because they lack the knowledge to recognise their own ignorance. I call it knowing enough to be dangerous. The actual act of shooting a bow is pretty simple: pull it back, put the sight on the target, and let her rip, tater chip.

What most of us don’t realise is how efficient our brain is and its ability to fast-track things we do repeatedly into an open-loop circuit, meaning it’ll recognise the pattern of shooting a bow and begin to take shortcuts to streamline the process – which is the complete opposite of what you want to happen. That same open-loop process will generally cause you to flinch, as your brain has become so familiar with the process, it knows when the bow is going to go off and will brace for the explosion.

All this is just to explain how bowhunting is hard – even your brain is working against you! It’s a sport that to do well in  requires a hell of a lot of discipline, practice, consistency and patience; and even after all  that, you still have to contend with the fact it’s hunting … and things just don’t always go your way.

I may not be selling it just yet, but trust me, if you decide to dip your toes in and can summit “Mt Stupid” and come out on the other side still keen, you have a very fun and exciting journey ahead. And the best part: you never stop learning.

I’m by no means an expert, but here are a few of the things that helped me gain some traction along my journey so far.

1. Find some mentors

This was by far the best decision I made when I began getting into archery. I bought a compound bow secondhand through a mutual friend, purely because it seemed like a good deal. But once I picked it up, I quickly realised I had no clue how to use it properly! So, I posted on NZ Bowhunters’ Facebook group asking if there was anyone locally who could help me get set up. Within hours, a handful of people reached out to me offering help.

I was put in contact with Jason Thomas, a bowhunter from the West Coast. Through a series of corresponding videos and messages, he helped me get started shooting my new bow, and over the last 2½ years, has been my main source of advice with anything archery related.

Early on, he built all my arrows for me and then went on to teach me how to do it myself. He’s lent me equipment to try out to see if it helped my shooting, he’s invited me on trips, and he’s listened to a lot of shitty excuses on my behalf about failed stalks, etc.

Since starting out, I’ve had nothing but great support and advice from the NZ bowhunting and archery community. I’ve also made some good friends through it, so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there when you’re getting started.

2. Getting set up

One of the tricks with bowhunting is consistency, particularly in your shot. Your process needs to be repeatable both in practice and in the moment of truth. One of the best ways to achieve consistency is to have your bow set up correctly. You should be setting the bow’s poundage to something you can comfortably draw and hold, getting your peep height set comfortably for you, and lastly, your draw length needs to be set correctly.

Having a bow that’s not set up specifically for you is like putting a screen door on a submarine – it’s bloody useless. That’s not to say there’s a firm right or wrong way to shoot your bow; there are a lot of professionals who shoot with what people would consider unorthodox set-ups. However, begin by going to your local club, or meeting with someone who knows what they’re doing, and get help setting the bow to your specs. As you learn and gain confidence working on your own equipment, you can tinker and see if other settings work for you.

There’s a lot more to getting a bow set up than the three things I mentioned above, but in my opinion, with these three things set correctly, you can become reasonably proficient.

Most regions will have an archery club or a shop that can offer you some guidance with getting started. If you’re lucky – like we are here in Wanaka with Alpine Archery right on our doorstep and being run by Mark, an absolute good bugger who’s happy to help wherever possible – you’ll find someone who’ll help you learn and gain confidence fairly quickly, especially if you have access to a range.

3. Practise for the real thing

I’m sure everyone has heard the term ‘practice makes perfect’, and it’s true for the most part. But in reality, practising shooting on flat ground at 20 metres doesn’t help a whole lot when you’re drawing back on an animal that’s fifty yards below you on a steep angle and you have terrible footing. ‘Perfect practice makes perfect.’ You need to practise in the type of situations you’re likely to find yourself in while out hunting. For example: steep angles (both up and down), in the wind, kneeling, with your heart rate up, and through tight shooting lanes.

You also need to learn the capabilities of your arrow. E.g., how much does it drop at different distances? If you range an animal, and as you draw back, it takes a few steps away from you, how much higher do you need to aim to compensate?

Because shooting your bow is a physical movement – unlike shooting a rifle where you can get a rest on the front and rear of the stock – your form will often determine how stable a shot will feel. When you begin altering your footing – maybe you’re kneeling to take the shot, or you’re shooting uphill – it’ll affect your form and subsequently your steadiness and point of impact. It’s important to practise in these situations as often as possible so it doesn’t feel so foreign when you’re in the heat of the moment.

A few ways I like to practise

When I’m setting up a bow or sighting it in, I’ll first shoot on flat ground, allowing for the most consistency possible to determine my sight is well set up. Once I’m happy with that, I try and spend most of my time shooting in realistic scenarios. I usually begin a session by shooting dots at only a few metres, focusing on my form and my pin float; you’ll never get your pin to stay in one place, so get used to it moving in and out of the target while you go through your shot process.

Next, I’ll try and shoot on one foot, because this imitates the shakiness you often feel when shooting at an animal. Alternatively, you can do some sprints or press-ups to help get your heart rate up. I’ll usually finish by shooting on my knees and stretching the range, shooting out as far as I possibly can; shooting a long way off is hard and often helps me feel a lot more confident when shooting at closer ranges.

Lastly, when I can, I take my target out somewhere really steep and practise shooting at it from all different angles, on the sides of hills, kneeling and sometimes sitting (you never know what position you’ll find yourself in while hunting). I usually start close, shooting my arrows uphill at the target. I then pull them out and walk above to shoot down at the target, slowly increasing the range as I progress.

Another handy way to practise real-life situations is to carry a small game head or blunt tip with you when you’re out, and on your walk back to your vehicle, practise by shooting at clumps of grass or stumps, etc. This is a great way to shoot in the exact same situation you would if you were hunting: with your pack and boots on, in similar conditions.

4. Keep a log book

This may seem a little overkill, but keeping a record is a great way to recognise patterns and to begin to pinpoint what might be the causes of your mistakes and successes. It doesn’t need to be super detailed; I usually put the date, label what particular situation I was in, what happened, and finish with a conclusion on what I think I could’ve done differently.

For me, a lot of my failures or times I’ve wounded animals have come from rushing the shot; looking back over two years of logging each stalk, I was able to recognise this pattern and focus my training more on controlling myself when I’m shooting. Again, ‘perfect practice makes perfect’.

I also began to notice I’d often impact higher when shooting downhill shots, so I was able to work on that and compensate.

This step isn’t as critical as the previous ones, but it’s definitely a good way to be honest with yourself and build a bit of a database of your successes and failures.

5. Adapting the way you hunt

I love chasing deer, chamois and tahr out on the open tops, with miles of country to glass over to break up the day. But it quickly became apparent to me that this style of hunting is not always conducive to bowhunting, at least in the beginning. It took me a few failed stalks before I began considering that maybe I needed to change up my tactics.

In the past, I never really considered the wind direction; with the rifle, it never bothered me too much. I’d often decide where I wanted to go, get there and glass, and if I didn’t see an animal, it was because there were none around.

It wasn’t until I began bowhunting and realising how important a part the wind plays at these close ranges that I began planning my approaches and stalks based on the wind direction.

Nowadays, when I decide where I’m hunting, I’ll get to where I’m going, check the wind and plan a more detailed stalk based upon that. If I can’t go where I want to go because of the wind, I’ll save it for another day or later in the evening as the thermals shift.

When hunting with the rifle, I’d usually find a glassing point with a commanding view of the surrounding country, and I’d sit there and pick it apart. Then I’d plan any potential stalks based around my position. This tactic still works well with bowhunting, especially if you’re above the animals and planning to stalk down on to them. However, with the nature of open country, thermal winds at different times of day and the handicap of having to get within 60 metres as opposed to 300 metres, sometimes it’s just not ideal. Instead, I find myself watching animals longer – especially ones that are known to be patternable – and planning a more detailed stalk around the wind and where I believe the animal will end up. This’ll usually give a higher percentage stalk and comes with a lot of satisfaction when you begin learning a particular animal’s habits and using them to your advantage.

An example

I can think of one occasion when I was tahr hunting on the east coast with a mate Dayl. We hadn’t seen a single tahr all day, despite being in some incredible country and having some knowledge of there being plenty of tahr in the area, when right on the last hour of light, they began popping up on the face opposite us – with six or seven bulls dotted around the place too. We just sat and watched them all evening – despite having time to make a play. We thought if we took our time planning a stalk for the next day, we’d have plenty of time to get into a position that’d be good for the bow.

Sure enough, we left camp the next morning and snuck down the face we were on, across the creek and climbed up a steep chute onto the edge of the face the bulls were last seen on. Having arrived there much quicker than anticipated, we now had a bit of time to kill …

A few dry yarns later, paired with a game of chess or two, the sun began to get low in the sky. As it ducked out of sight behind the hills, we knew we were getting on to prime time; the wind shifted, and so we began our stalk.

We instantly sighted a bull at 200 metres; as he had one horn busted off, he was safe from us. We snuck along the face to where we knew a bull had been feeding, and as we crested the little dip we’d seen him feed into, there he was, eyes locked with mine at 10 metres! He ended up bolting before I could get my bow ready, so I gave the range to Dyl, and he ended up taking his first bull tahr with the rifle.

All told, we sat in position for about 11 hrs knowing that when it got to that last hour of light, these bulls would feed down to us, and we’d have the wind in our favour. The stalk with the bow didn’t quite go to plan, but spending the evening before learning these bulls’ patterns definitely gave us the edge we needed to plan a successful stalk for the next day. In hindsight, we could’ve had a sleep-in and made our way to that spot a little later in the day; but hey, no harm in being early!

6. Goats

Goats are a beginner’s best friend; they’re an extremely undervalued game animal in my opinion. You can find them almost anywhere, and they’re usually in groups, so you can get multiple shots for each stalk; they’re quite frail compared to the likes of red deer and tahr, meaning even with lighter poundage or young kids, an ethical kill is more likely. And most of all, they can often be a bit easier to stalk.

If I don’t have a lot of time on my hands but want to stay sharp and practise in real-life situations, I’ll go out after work and chase goats for a few hours. It gives me the practice I need stalking an animal using the wind and surroundings as well as exercise climbing the hills to get close to them. It also gives me the critical practice of shooting under pressure in a real-life scenario. The bonus of finding them almost anywhere is that if I know I’m going hunting somewhere in the bush, I’ll head down into the creeks and stalk goats in the thick stuff, or if I’m planning a trip into the tops, I’ll stalk goats up in the bluffs, using them as a way to train for more specific situations. They also taste bloody good; if you take a young nanny or kid, don’t be afraid to harvest some meat from them.

Conclusion

Archery, like any other sport, can be as enjoyable or challenging as you decide you want it to be. You don’t have to take it to the extremes – you can shoot in your backyard for fun, at the range with your mates with a bit of banter, or maybe just dabble with it when the freezers are full to add some challenge to your hunting. But if you find yourself in the same position as I was a couple of years ago – absolutely obsessed with shooting my bow but being bloody hopeless stalking with it, looking for a way to hunt more successfully and achieve more ethical kills – then the few nuggets of advice above should help you gain some confidence and learn a bit more about how you and your equipment can function out on the hill.

I’ll finish by saying that advice is as consistent as snowflakes, so what works for me may not work as well for you. Be open-minded and creative with your training, and find ways to practise in situations you’ll encounter while you’re hunting. And lastly, shoot your bow … LOTS!