Bridging the gap
By Larry Yien
When I chose the road of "Gap Shooting", I thought
I was condemned for eternity to walk the path of yardage estimation,
slow shots, and cryptic details . This method of aiming the
arrow isn't well suited to hunting, where distances are unknown
and the tempo of the shot is sometimes varied by the critters
walking, running or freezing. Fundamentally, shooting gap correlates
a known distance with a known gap between the spot on the target
and the arrow point. I have shot the gap method of aiming for
some time now and have appreciated the strengths and weaknesses
of the system. As I have progressed along the road of the "gap
shooting" I have found that the distances and gaps fade
to the periphery, to a point where the conscious mind doesn¹t
even figure them. Simply by feel and muscle memory, the shot
and sight picture are right.
We as hunting archers like to hone our skills and simplify
our wares as we bring them into the forest to take down prey.
Granted gap shooting is a cumbersome system to bring into the
forest. I propose that gap shooting is a learning tool to teach
us to see. Picking a spot is primary. Having a periphery to
give reference to the target is secondary. That periphery is
the animal, trees, rocks, arrow shaft, bow, whatever is processed
by the brain. As we practice gap shooting, it does not shackle
us to the chores of calculating and measuring the shot. As a
beginner we use our guides and parameters much like we used our
fingers to add 3+5=8. As we advance by repetition it becomes
an automatic thought similar to knowing that 3 and 5 are 8.
Using the "gap" method at 20 yards the gap between
the arrow may be 2 inches, yet we can progress to a state of
focusing on the spot seeing the periphery and putting the arrow
in the kill. No figuring of yardage and gap are required at
a conscious level. The mental ruler falls away from the aiming
process. What's left is an archer raising his bow by feel and
delivering a shot into the vitals.
Can a gap shooter become an instinctive shot? I think so,
if that archer is ready to molt his shrouds and fly into that
free spirited shot which ebbs and flows as the water moves through
a creek. It may look like instinct that enabled the shooter
to place his arrow. But the path will tell that the shot was
a result of the years of practice and calculation. Thousands
of arrows had been shot as the archer learned, honed and simplified
the shot.
