Vital advice. "Do as I say, not as I do" isn't a statement of hypocrisy, it's a reflection of the understanding and experience an archer has when giving advice to others. For the same reason, simply copying an experienced or professional archer is a breeding ground for bad habits, unless they used critically and adapted for the right reasons.
nu, thanks to your videos I no longer hit the broad side of my barn anymore. hit the target every time! much thanks. now I already find my way to this guys channel see if I can learn to put out candles :)
Been shooting only 3 months, started out with a re-curve, but after 2 months, decided to buy a traditional flatbow. Thats when I discovered you Jeff. Wow! thanks to your vids (and a lot of practice!) I feel so comfortable with the Flatbow -my re-curve is almost redundant, plus, thanks to your vids, I am now able to hit between 3 and 5 golds consistantly with every 6 arrows (wooden arrows too). Cant thank you enough for such clear, helpful advice. Old dog-new tricks? well Im 69 and you sure taught me! .Please keep making videos, they are great! Steve Baker U.K.
I love how your break it down for us so that we not only understand what to do, but also why we do it. This allows us to share the knowledge that you have passed down to our fellow traditional archers. Thank you.
Jeff, I absolutely love your videos and his simple you explain shooting the bow. always look forward to them. Great job once again! And I can relate to shooting way back when.
Thank you very much, Mr. Kavanaugh, for taking the time to post all of your informative and helpful videos. I got my longbow for Christmas and ended up buying a recurve three weeks ago. You might say I've been bitten pretty hard by the archery bug. If it weren't for you and Wolfie it would have been a giant exercise in frustration. As it turns out, I plan on trying my hand at a local 3-D shoot next weekend. Thanks so much for all of your pointers and keep up the great work!
+Mike Boyce That is great stuff. I am so glad these are helping. Good luck and have fun in your tournament. Wolfie is a really nice guy and a friend and he really knows his stuff too.
+Jeff Kavanagh unfortunatly not able to shoot last week, also not this week, but next week.. i gotta try out so many things you said the past couple of videos .. wheww they really helping ALLOT!
+Jeff Kavanagh little update, i just came back from the club, thaaaaank you so much, for the first time ever i finally found my back tension, i tried the "tennis ball between shoulder blades" etc etc.. nothing worked, ... turns out.. i just had to draw slowley to find it.. things you have helped me with : back tension, sideway accuracy, shooting frame, - i am still working on the release using the second anchor point, it is hard to get rid of the static release, today i did find improvement thanks to the found back tension, i noticed when it released perfectly i couldnt hear the arrow leave the bow.
Thanks Jeff. After putting away the right handed compound (having discovered I am left eye dominant) and purchasing a traditional left handed bow, I get to learn all over again. Your many videos I have watched. I am cramming for when my new bow arrives. And now, having written this, I will subscribe to your channel.
thank you for this video, I just recently had a similar event happened to me in the form of cancer, my entire right side being paralyzed and extreme weight loss, I am a self-taught Archer as well and I've been shooting for about 15 years but I have been having quite a bit of difficulty getting back into it. I guess I've always known in the back of my mind that I needed to slow stuff down and get back to the Basics but this video really made me see it, honestly I'm not looking forward to starting all over again but I love archery and want to get back into it. so thank you, hope to see you start posting again soon
Hi Jeff, thanks for the advice. I tried to shoot as quick as you or Howard Hill but this ruined my form as you mentioned. It also lead to a target panic. Then I reduced the draw weight and worked on every part of my form. It took about 1 year, but now my groups are much better. Your video is a very good advice. One little other thing.... Think about buying a new shooting glove ;-)
major health issues force us into just that, having to relearn everything. the driving force is knowing what we once could do even though we may never be able to shoot as heavy of a bow again. Now it becomes focus on what you can do and not on what you can't do. even at an older age, we can still shoot and enjoy it and hunting, just at lighter poundage but it can be done. yeah, it can be rather frustrating but you take your victories as you can get them
Thanks again Jeff. I'd just like to support what you say, especially for anyone just starting. 30 years or so ago when I started, shooting longbow (the English sort), I thought as you said - instinctive, so shoot quickly. The result, or course, was poor form and. eventually, target panic - where I either could not get to anchor before releasing or, if I forced myself to anchor, the bow hand flinched off aim. So, a couple of times since then, it's been so bad I've had to take a good long break, and come back and slow it all down. I have managed I suppose, I've a box of medals from field shoots, but it's never wholly gone away. The fast shooting is particularly tempting for some now maybe, with speed-shooting all over the internet, beware, as Jeff so wisely and engagingly says.
Great video! Just subscribed. Your advice is good beyond archery I think. I'm a cancer survivor.(and a fortunate individual) :) The whole experience got me to slow down, well forced me to slow down. That said, in many ways it was a blessing. I started with the Fred Bear book too. When I was 15 I bought a Damon Howatt recurve with paper route money. The bow is still going strong. Just starting to pick it up again after several years of not shooting. Thanks for the super videos! Keep it up please.
I stress this with new shooters I shoot with. I have been shooting for over 35 years, and my shot sequence is fluid through repetition. I liken it to pro golfers. Their swing looks easy and effortless. It has taken hundreds of thousands of swings for them to get where they are. Quick is not the goal. Accuracy is the goal.
What part of Ontario are you in Jeff. I am just outside London, Ontario. I'm just getting back into archery since moving here form Scotland. I used to shoot when I was younger in a club, but gave that up when I got married and kids came along. Now i'm 50 and loving the opportunity to go hunting here. Loving your videos. Gordon
+Food For Thought Hi Gordon. I live just outside of Owen Sound which is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours north of you. One of my best friends, Ian, lives in the London area. We are really looking forward to the turkey season this year.
Hi Jeff. Thanks for all the amazing videos! They are greatly appreciated, even here in Denmark. I picked up archery about 9 months ago. At the moment I'm shooting a competition style recurve bow even though I shoot instinctively. I like the bow a lot, but I feel like it's too modern and has too many gadgets for my taste. Therefore I've been thinking about buying a traditional recurve bow from Bear. What would you recommend me buying? My goal is to start hunting with it at some point.
+maharaja90 Bear makes a lot of nice bows and likely has something for everyone. Still I'd also check out Henry Bodnik's bows over at Bear Paw as well. They will likely be a lot easier to get over where you are.
many thanks for all your tips .they certainly have helped me.can I ask ,have you ever shot with an english long bow? if you have, have you any tips on this style of bow.
In most cases self tought is a great thing. My dad started me shoot a BB gun at age 8. As time went on i watched other's shoot. Over time you learn more & more later on in life i joined the Detroit Police Department made the pistol team. Over time Bow or a Firearm bye the way i cousin in Kentucky taught me with a compound bow and I got good enough just looking down the arrow that I was able to name my spot where they're all would hit now my new thing is I want to get in to traditional archery with a recurve like you shoot I've never done that one yet.
I always shoot better after watching one of your lessons. Thanks for sharing some of your personal life. Weight training,ju jutsu and archery and good manners, all things lm interested in. Bear bows too, I have a super grizzly, super Kodiak and a Cheyenne, and use them often.Hoping all is well with you and your's.. regards
I tried a new thing last week in my archery work out.I turn my back to the target then I spin rapidly 180 degs and shoot in to the target.Its a great drill to practice rapid instinctive practice .Ive had great gains in a short amount of time.
I've been a long time compound guy, but recently got into tradition instinctive shooting. I love the challenge! All your videos are awesome!What quiver is your daughter using? It looks well made. Look forward to seeing new stuff!
Hi again Jeff. Thanks for helping me out earlier! I followed your advise and looked up Bodnik's bows. They really are beautiful. However, a good friend of mine just came back from the states and surprised me with a souvenir - a 45# Bear Super Kodiak in black phenolic! It would be bad manners if I refused such a nice gift :-D On a different topic, I was wondering if you would be so kind to make a video about what happens with the bow-arm after the release; specifically about the fingers of the bow-arm. I noticed in some of your videos that you tilt the top of your bow a bit forward after the release. Does that have something to do with the fingers gripping tighter to avoid the bow falling out of your hand or is it something entirely different? Again thanks for helping me out and thanks for all the great videos.
+maharaja90 I am constantly pushing my bow hand, a specific point where my hand is on the grip toward the target all of the way through the follow through until after the arrow hits its mark. Gripping the bow with your fingers is not a good thing as it can really torque the bow. I have a video specifically on "Gripping the bow". That tilt of the top portion of the bow moving forward is just Newton's law, every action has......
Hi Jeff! Thanks again for this video, great insight. I have developed a bad habit since about 6 months. I release too quick. While my draw is pretty slow and controlled, once i reach my anchor, i struggle with holding it longer than a split second. That causes different problems for me, from not getting proper back tension for every shot to drawing the bow short and shooting too low. Do you have any tipps how i can overcome that? A few months back i always anchored for a second or longer, now its not even half a second anymore. Oddly enough, my scores at the moment are better than ever...
+LongbowArchery what weight are you shooting? Also I would recommend some blind bale shooting for that because there is "no target" so to speak, so it will help you in working on that part of your shot sequence. By not shooting at anything there is also no worries of something like target panic. It is important that you get this under control or it could cause some real headaches in the future. You always want to control the bow and never have the bow control you. :D
Hi Jeff! Another GREAT video! Just this past weekend one of the coaches at my club was saying that EXACT SAME THING! SLOW DOWN! In target archery, which I shoot, you have 2 minutes to shoot 3 arrows. I continually shoot quick. One after the other and I developed some bad habits. Rushing the shot, no aim or correct draw. To name a few. Thanks again for your videos and the lectures you post. Side note...find any sheds? Have a WONDERFUL week!
+Michael Kramer thanks. No I didn't find any sheds but i saw approx. 60 deer in total though. I should really get some trail cameras. They are making trails to my clover field and corn stubble like cattle right now. lol
Very good video... draw slow. I've tried the korean draw, i had back pains for abt 2 days.. :) what i try to say is, yes, draw slow and let unused mussels be used. Totalt right. Thanks for a short but good video.
Words to describe Mr Kavanagh: sympathetic, humble, decent and honest.
Greetings from Germany.
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Train slow and let the smoothness turn into speed
Vital advice. "Do as I say, not as I do" isn't a statement of hypocrisy, it's a reflection of the understanding and experience an archer has when giving advice to others. For the same reason, simply copying an experienced or professional archer is a breeding ground for bad habits, unless they used critically and adapted for the right reasons.
nu, thanks to your videos I no longer hit the broad side of my barn anymore. hit the target every time! much thanks.
now I already find my way to this guys channel see if I can learn to put out candles :)
Nu, you’re the best archery teacher of all time. I love you and your videos.
Rewatching this 4 yrs later ! Love Jeff’s channel even though I m not sure he’s doing it anymore .
Been shooting only 3 months, started out with a re-curve, but after 2 months, decided to buy a traditional flatbow. Thats when I discovered you Jeff. Wow! thanks to your vids (and a lot of practice!) I feel so comfortable with the Flatbow -my re-curve is almost redundant, plus, thanks to your vids, I am now able to hit between 3 and 5 golds consistantly with every 6 arrows (wooden arrows too). Cant thank you enough for such clear, helpful advice. Old dog-new tricks? well Im 69 and you sure taught me! .Please keep making videos, they are great! Steve Baker U.K.
You were blessed with your recovery from your illness, we are blessed with your great teaching ability, thanks for the videos.
+danny ratliff Thank-you.
Another vital piece of the puzzle, thank you for the advice I will keep that in mind.
Never ever have I seen any bad advice from Jeffer!! Thanks as always!!
Thanks for your great explanations. Greetings from Italy.
Thx for sharing so open heartly!
Thank you for being such a great mentor to all of us amateur archers
I love how your break it down for us so that we not only understand what to do, but also why we do it. This allows us to share the knowledge that you have passed down to our fellow traditional archers. Thank you.
So glad to see you are better now. I have learned so much from your videos. Keep up the good work.
Excellent points from years of experience. Thanks.
Jeff, I absolutely love your videos and his simple you explain shooting the bow. always look forward to them. Great job once again! And I can relate to shooting way back when.
You're obviously a good teacher because Lucy shoots like a pro 😁
Thank you for the videos and knowledge.
Thank you, Jeff! I am learning from your advice. Good health!
Thank you very much, Mr. Kavanaugh, for taking the time to post all of your informative and helpful videos. I got my longbow for Christmas and ended up buying a recurve three weeks ago. You might say I've been bitten pretty hard by the archery bug. If it weren't for you and Wolfie it would have been a giant exercise in frustration. As it turns out, I plan on trying my hand at a local 3-D shoot next weekend. Thanks so much for all of your pointers and keep up the great work!
+Mike Boyce That is great stuff. I am so glad these are helping. Good luck and have fun in your tournament. Wolfie is a really nice guy and a friend and he really knows his stuff too.
+Jeff Kavanagh unfortunatly not able to shoot last week, also not this week, but next week.. i gotta try out so many things you said the past couple of videos .. wheww they really helping ALLOT!
+Eagles_Eye I am very please to hear it's helping you out.
+Jeff Kavanagh little update, i just came back from the club, thaaaaank you so much, for the first time ever i finally found my back tension, i tried the "tennis ball between shoulder blades" etc etc.. nothing worked, ... turns out.. i just had to draw slowley to find it.. things you have helped me with : back tension, sideway accuracy, shooting frame, - i am still working on the release using the second anchor point, it is hard to get rid of the static release, today i did find improvement thanks to the found back tension, i noticed when it released perfectly i couldnt hear the arrow leave the bow.
+Eagles_Eye Nice!
Cheers from another Ontario archer👍😎🇨🇦🏹
Thanks Jeff. After putting away the right handed compound (having discovered I am left eye dominant) and purchasing a traditional left handed bow, I get to learn all over again. Your many videos I have watched. I am cramming for when my new bow arrives. And now, having written this, I will subscribe to your channel.
Great info. Thanks for sharing.
thank you for this video, I just recently had a similar event happened to me in the form of cancer, my entire right side being paralyzed and extreme weight loss, I am a self-taught Archer as well and I've been shooting for about 15 years but I have been having quite a bit of difficulty getting back into it.
I guess I've always known in the back of my mind that I needed to slow stuff down and get back to the Basics but this video really made me see it, honestly I'm not looking forward to starting all over again but I love archery and want to get back into it.
so thank you, hope to see you start posting again soon
Great advice. Thank you for sharing.
From Ontario as well own Kawartha Traditional Archery Center for last ten years. Been shooting for as long as you have. Great solid videos. Jeff.
Another great video. Definitely going to try this. Hopefully it will bring my groups tighter. Thnx as always.
Man, you are just the best. I always benefit from your vids!
I am hoping to buy one in the near future .I will let you know how i get on.Iam a young 78 years old and want to do these thing before i get too old.
glad you beat it brother! thanks for sharing!
The best way to learn anything, slow down.
Hi Jeff, thanks for the advice. I tried to shoot as quick as you or Howard Hill but this ruined my form as you mentioned. It also lead to a target panic. Then I reduced the draw weight and worked on every part of my form. It took about 1 year, but now my groups are much better. Your video is a very good advice.
One little other thing.... Think about buying a new shooting glove ;-)
+Duro Archer good work on getting that done. Haha, yes I need a new glove but it's worked in just perfectly now and I hate to give it up.
Good man with a big heart. Stem Cell Research. Gods Grace, at the bow, with a straight arrow. Living proof. Nuff said.
glad you're still above ground Jeff, I've learned a lot from you. best to you and yours
major health issues force us into just that, having to relearn everything. the driving force is knowing what we once could do even though we may never be able to shoot as heavy of a bow again. Now it becomes focus on what you can do and not on what you can't do. even at an older age, we can still shoot and enjoy it and hunting, just at lighter poundage but it can be done. yeah, it can be rather frustrating but you take your victories as you can get them
Informative as always Mr Kavanagh. I know I tend to rush my shots sometimes and more often than not, they turn out terrible.
Thanks for the video.
Thanks again Jeff. I'd just like to support what you say, especially for anyone just starting. 30 years or so ago when I started, shooting longbow (the English sort), I thought as you said - instinctive, so shoot quickly. The result, or course, was poor form and. eventually, target panic - where I either could not get to anchor before releasing or, if I forced myself to anchor, the bow hand flinched off aim. So, a couple of times since then, it's been so bad I've had to take a good long break, and come back and slow it all down. I have managed I suppose, I've a box of medals from field shoots, but it's never wholly gone away.
The fast shooting is particularly tempting for some now maybe, with speed-shooting all over the internet, beware, as Jeff so wisely and engagingly says.
Great video! Just subscribed. Your advice is good beyond archery I think. I'm a cancer survivor.(and a fortunate individual) :) The whole experience got me to slow down, well forced me to slow down. That said, in many ways it was a blessing. I started with the Fred Bear book too. When I was 15 I bought a Damon Howatt recurve with paper route money. The bow is still going strong. Just starting to pick it up again after several years of not shooting. Thanks for the super videos! Keep it up please.
I still read Fred Bear’s book on archery. Advice is as good today as it was when he wrote the book. 👍
I stress this with new shooters I shoot with. I have been shooting for over 35 years, and my shot sequence is fluid through repetition. I liken it to pro golfers. Their swing looks easy and effortless. It has taken hundreds of thousands of swings for them to get where they are. Quick is not the goal. Accuracy is the goal.
Congrats on 100k views
goooooood point thanks
What part of Ontario are you in Jeff. I am just outside London, Ontario. I'm just getting back into archery since moving here form Scotland. I used to shoot when I was younger in a club, but gave that up when I got married and kids came along. Now i'm 50 and loving the opportunity to go hunting here. Loving your videos. Gordon
+Food For Thought Hi Gordon. I live just outside of Owen Sound which is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours north of you. One of my best friends, Ian, lives in the London area. We are really looking forward to the turkey season this year.
So am I if I can get somewhere to hunt. Thats the only issue round here.
Food For Thought
thank you jeff !!
greatings from south france !!
+jim moi Greetings! I love the way the internet helps make our world smaller. :D
Hi Jeff. Thanks for all the amazing videos! They are greatly appreciated, even here in Denmark. I picked up archery about 9 months ago. At the moment I'm shooting a competition style recurve bow even though I shoot instinctively. I like the bow a lot, but I feel like it's too modern and has too many gadgets for my taste. Therefore I've been thinking about buying a traditional recurve bow from Bear. What would you recommend me buying? My goal is to start hunting with it at some point.
+maharaja90 Bear makes a lot of nice bows and likely has something for everyone. Still I'd also check out Henry Bodnik's bows over at Bear Paw as well. They will likely be a lot easier to get over where you are.
THANKYOU ! THANKYOU !
many thanks for all your tips .they certainly have helped me.can I ask ,have you ever shot with an english long bow? if you have, have you any tips on this style of bow.
+Anthony Bawden no I have never had an opportunity to try an English longbow out. I'd like to.
In most cases self tought is a great thing. My dad started me shoot a BB gun at age 8. As time went on i watched other's shoot. Over time you learn more & more later on in life i joined the Detroit Police Department made the pistol team. Over time Bow or a Firearm bye the way i cousin in Kentucky taught me with a compound bow and I got good enough just looking down the arrow that I was able to name my spot where they're all would hit now my new thing is I want to get in to traditional archery with a recurve like you shoot I've never done that one yet.
I always shoot better after watching one of your lessons. Thanks for sharing some of your personal life. Weight training,ju jutsu and archery and good manners, all things lm interested in. Bear bows too, I have a super grizzly, super Kodiak and a Cheyenne, and use them often.Hoping all is well with you and your's.. regards
always great vids ☺ps looks like u have way more snow the Nova Scotia...we had enough last year. Cheers
Thanks Jeff, from Indonesia.
I tried a new thing last week in my archery work out.I turn my back to the target then I spin rapidly 180 degs and shoot in to the target.Its a great drill to practice rapid instinctive practice .Ive had great gains in a short amount of time.
+Matt Harris I have a video on that topic. "Practice for target acquisition in archery" in my tutorial section
+Jeff Kavanagh ,oddly enough I've gotten as good with my back facing the target as when I shoot normally lol
+Matt Harris I don't think that is odd at all. Good stuff!
I've been a long time compound guy, but recently got into tradition instinctive shooting. I love the challenge! All your videos are awesome!What quiver is your daughter using? It looks well made. Look forward to seeing new stuff!
I got the quiver from Big Jim's Bow Shop.
Hi again Jeff. Thanks for helping me out earlier! I followed your advise and looked up Bodnik's bows. They really are beautiful. However, a good friend of mine just came back from the states and surprised me with a souvenir - a 45# Bear Super Kodiak in black phenolic! It would be bad manners if I refused such a nice gift :-D
On a different topic, I was wondering if you would be so kind to make a video about what happens with the bow-arm after the release; specifically about the fingers of the bow-arm. I noticed in some of your videos that you tilt the top of your bow a bit forward after the release. Does that have something to do with the fingers gripping tighter to avoid the bow falling out of your hand or is it something entirely different?
Again thanks for helping me out and thanks for all the great videos.
+maharaja90 I am constantly pushing my bow hand, a specific point where my hand is on the grip toward the target all of the way through the follow through until after the arrow hits its mark. Gripping the bow with your fingers is not a good thing as it can really torque the bow. I have a video specifically on "Gripping the bow". That tilt of the top portion of the bow moving forward is just Newton's law, every action has......
good stuff Jeff, thanks
Thanks for this good video
Hi Jeff! Thanks again for this video, great insight. I have developed a bad habit since about 6 months. I release too quick. While my draw is pretty slow and controlled, once i reach my anchor, i struggle with holding it longer than a split second. That causes different problems for me, from not getting proper back tension for every shot to drawing the bow short and shooting too low. Do you have any tipps how i can overcome that? A few months back i always anchored for a second or longer, now its not even half a second anymore. Oddly enough, my scores at the moment are better than ever...
+LongbowArchery what weight are you shooting? Also I would recommend some blind bale shooting for that because there is "no target" so to speak, so it will help you in working on that part of your shot sequence. By not shooting at anything there is also no worries of something like target panic. It is important that you get this under control or it could cause some real headaches in the future. You always want to control the bow and never have the bow control you. :D
+Jeff Kavanagh thx for the answer. i will try some blind shooting and see if it helps. i shoot 40# bows, mostly longbows and selfbows.
Cheers Jeff
Good vid Jeff.
~ Bo Webb
Hi Jeff! Another GREAT video! Just this past weekend one of the coaches at my club was saying that EXACT SAME THING! SLOW DOWN! In target archery, which I shoot, you have 2 minutes to shoot 3 arrows. I continually shoot quick. One after the other and I developed some bad habits. Rushing the shot, no aim or correct draw. To name a few. Thanks again for your videos and the lectures you post. Side note...find any sheds? Have a WONDERFUL week!
+Michael Kramer thanks. No I didn't find any sheds but i saw approx. 60 deer in total though. I should really get some trail cameras. They are making trails to my clover field and corn stubble like cattle right now. lol
Hey Jeff if you would make a dvd of your knowledge and skills along with Lucy...I for one would only be too happy to pay for it!
Learned about you from Clay Hayes.
Very good video... draw slow. I've tried the korean draw, i had back pains for abt 2 days.. :) what i try to say is, yes, draw slow and let unused mussels be used. Totalt right. Thanks for a short but good video.
Jó videó én is gyorsan lövök lóhátról.
I use to ride a lot years ago but have never put archery and riding together.
Egyszer kikénepróbálnod sokat segitt az ijászatban.
Don't see how this gets down-voted. Boggles my mind.