40 Archery Magazine February / March 2008
Story and photos by John Dudley • www.dudleyarchery.info
Back Strap Target
THE COMMON PROBLEM Since I started shooting competitive target archery there has been a common problem among us archers. Target panic is a evil monster that has made many archers unsuccessful and been the reason behind many people stepping away from archery altogether. Most archers have a “don’t want to miss” attitude, so we get anxious with the trigger as the sight is coming into the scoring area of our target. This anxious feeling or anxiety is the root of all forms of target panic that may arise including, punching the trigger, flinching, collapsing, freezing beneath the target or in extreme cases not being able to put the pin near the target at all. When all this is happening it may seem next to impossible to put the finger on the trigger and slowly squeeze until the release fires. The reality is that if you want to progress to a high level of accuracy you will need to have the same discipline as a competitive rifle shooter and learn to make a surprise shot. The caliper style release aid is among the most popular for beginning archers. I believe it is because a caliper release is easily associated with all the toy guns we used as kids. I started with a caliper release when I was ten years old. I enjoyed the comfort and feel of my wrist strap release but eventually had to get away from it because of a severe case of target panic. I realized that if I wanted to achieve goals as a highly competitive archer I wouldn’t be able to do it punching my release. I went through countless days of trying to overcome target panic and eventually did so with
a handheld hinge style release aid. Usually all the new style releases are made in hand held models and not in wrist straps. Last year I wrote an article about the Carter Evolution release aid that activated by increased pressure from pulling. That hand held release went on to become one of the best selling target releases in history. The reason is because it made the shooter execute a shot and not just “fire” a shot. This year Carter has made a new version of that product designed solely around the wrist strap shooter. After working with wrist strap shooters all over the World for the past 4 months I am excited to write this article about how the Back Strap has helped them overcome target panic without changing their style of shooting. There are so many of you out there that love a caliper style release and really enjoy shooting them yet you are unable to do it with discipline. I believe wrist straps notably have less torque on the string than hand held release and can be more accurate than a handheld back tension release as long as it is activated properly giving the shooter a surprise shot. THE SURPRISE SHOT It has been my experience as a competitor and coach that the one thing that separates the average Joe from all the great archers is that some have figured out how overcome those anxieties to have a surprise shot and others have not. I believe the surprise shot is the one thing that every archer should invest in long before anything else. I am here to tell you that if you learn to make a surprise shot and learn proper form that your accuracy and tournament performance will simply amaze you. I know I have amazed myself with mine and likewise, I have had other pros amaze me. The common denominator to all of this though is having a surprise shot. When we look at the Worlds best archers we find that 90% of them have this surprise shot. They have found a way to overcome target panic and can consistently go through the same motions without this anxiety or fear. Some may argue that a few great archers shot good scores without a surprise shot. I won’t argue with that! There are some great shooters that were punchers and battling target panic. However, there are only continued on page 42
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