First Day-Refreshing the Basics

I finally shot my bow today. I lost 1 of my arrows in my woods but I can find it later with my kids ;) I bought a cheap Vista armguard from a local range but they were out of lefty finger tabs. Buying a finger tab is a must for me this weekend. I can't shoot again without my fingers protesting the draw weight of the string.

I'm working on my form-feet comfortable shoulder width apart, standing straight, sucking in my navel to spine, tilting my pelvis under. I watched a video with Jake Kaminski explaining how to draw the bow. Basically use body mechanics as if you were starting a lawn mower. So I'm trying to use my full body strength to pull the string back-saves me a lot of stress and fatigue on my upper body. I also have to remember even with an arm guard to rotate my right elbow (my bow arm) down. Otherwise my bow string wants to slap it and if I didn't have several layers on I would have had a huge welt there. Yup I am in basic, basic, basic mode but that's the only place to start so I don't hurt myself. I also need to work on follow through with my left hand and get a finger tab-did I mention that?-so I can concentrate more on aim and less on how much the string hurts my fingers even with a glove on and a makeshift finger tab.

Sight! I need a sight-badly! I am aiming way.too.high. Even when My arrow looks like it's pointed at the ground. About half of my arrows hit the top of my target but the rest fly into the woods. Speaking of arrows I am using Gold Tip, 28". I have only 3-need more!

The weather is pretty overcast today with the occasional rain misting and upper 50 degree temps so it was actually very pleasant. I could feel my heart rate dropping as my body relaxed and tried to achieve the form I had down so well 6 years ago in class. Then when I hit the target the first time, albeit nowhere near the bulls eye ;), I could feel the excitement shooting through my body.

Once I get that darn finger tab and more arrows, and ideally a quiver, I can make a resolution to start shooting for an hour a day. Then when I am snowed in I can shoot in my basement.