Good video. I’ve always heard……an archer wants to see how far away he can hit the target…..a bow hunter wants to see how close he can get to the target..👍🏻
Great info Robert. There's no telling how many people this would help If they could watch this video. I'm glade I stumbled across your channel Robert. Your just a down to earth person that enjoys a stick bow. Well I do too.
I had a bow a few years back and was made to feel gap shooting was a sin. I shot all over the place. I hope to have a bow again soon and will try this method. Thanks!
Great video Sir. I’ve been shooting instinctively for almost 50 years and I shoot pretty good but I may have to try that sometime. Thanks for taking the time to help folks out. Nothing better than a day out shooting a bow and a good dog on your heels! You are truly blessed.
I've tried them all in the past 45 years .. Now I'm shooting instinctive, but after watching you shoot like that, I'm going to try it out again to compare how I make out !
Nice shooting and great video, thanks. I shot split finger and instinctive for 25 years and was doing well at close range on deer. Do to many circumstances I am only 3-d shooting now. Shooting instinctively I was hot and cold sometimes doing no wrong and other times doing no right. I made myself switch to 3- under and use a split vision method and feather to the nose to combat target panic. It has helped me tremendously with consistency.
Nice video. Enjoyed your idea of effective range. I know there are a lot of traditional archers that can shoot well much farther. I am not one of them! Lol But that’s ok. The thing I enjoy about traditional archery is getting in close. I don’t shoot many deer but enjoy my close encounters! Keep after it, you look to be enjoying yourself greatly!
Nice video. Thanks. Myself, I actually look down the shaft of the arrow and protect its path in my mind and point the arrow towards the spot I want to hit. I'm not sure what to call that, but it works pretty good.
Solid performance and explanation RC. I’ve never messed with Gap myself but lots of my friends have. No doubt good for hitting game. My eyes have gone downhill quite a bit these last ten years. Luckily I shoot just point and shoot and looking back I can see it took 3 decades to get extremely accurate. Probably would have benefited from this instruction in 1970 lol. Now I’m 65 and hesitant to change anything. Good Hunting
Excellent video, excellent teaching and explanation! Even as a fulltime instinctive shooter I still use the gap method sometimes when im practicing to make sure everything is in order and inline. all aiming styles should learn and understand what the gap is for thier bow and arrow combo.
Your right, best way to do it. Been doing it for 50 some years, it will work out to 25 or so but like you said 15 is most probably about it in a hunting situation.
Thanks Robert! Very informative! I just started shooting a recurve and not very consistent but not too bad. I've seen a few gap videos and it just didn't click. The way you put it as having a reference point did, so thank you.
I shot my first arrow in 1963 at 13 years old. A Bear recurve as I remember? Some arrows from K-Mart. Like 25-30 years later me and my son got into shooting 3-d a lot. From 5 to 30? yards. My style was really more instinctive than true gap shooting. IMO, gap shooting requires a conscious effort to see where the arrow point is in relation to what you’re wanting to hit. Instinctive is just looking at a spot, drawing annd releasing the string. It was a reactive subconscious act like throwing a baseball. I believe this type shooting developed because we shot a swinging tennis balls, swinging old pieces of foam 3-d targets hanging on like a ten foot long rope. Various sized balls rolling on the ground. We shot literally thousands of arrows for years. To me gap shooting requires a few extra seconds to sight in that distance and set the arrow point where it needs to be. All I know is if a target like a deer or pig gave us an opening of like 4-5? second’s at most it got stuck. It was a totally reactive movement- no thinking, just look and shoot. It’s good you are passing your experience along to people. 👍👍🏹🦌🐗
You sir, have got one of the best channels on RUclips. I look forward to watching everything that you put on here. I was hoping that maybe you you could lead me to somebody that could make me a good shooting long bow for hunting. I would be greatful for any help in finding one. I'm an old timer that loves to shoot a bow from the south like you do Robert. If you can help lead me in the right direction, or give any tips as to anybody that you know I would like to talk to you about it. Thanks Robert for any advice at all. Greg Edwards
@@robertcarte95 I appreciate the advice very much. I've always shot recurves and compound bows since the early 1980s. Did it take a long time for you to switch over from that style to long bows shooting off of the shelf of the bow?
@@robertcarte95 Thanks again for the help. I'll give him a call tomorrow. I went to his website to see what he had in stock. Unfortunately it looks like he is slam out of everything. Maybe he won't be too backed up after the first of the year. Have a blessed Christmas sir. And thank you again.
This vid musta been back when you were tending to "snap" shoot. ;-) Good illustration of gap shooting's great application to the hunting scenario using trad equipment. AT TRAD SHOOTING DISTANCE OF LESS THAN 15-17 YDS YOUR GAP CAN BE A SINGLE GAP. And, so long as ya learn what 15-17 yards looks like, you can have confidence in lethality of shot. So THEN, ya can focus practice sessions on your shot process and get that nailed down. And THEN focus practice on creating high-stress scenarios to mimic how you're going to feel while taking that hunting shot.
Another great video . I have just started messing with this style of shooting a little . My question is do you do this in the tree stand also and if so is it the same process or a little different. Thank you Robert for all the knowledge and God bless you and your family.
Hi. Not sure if I ever could switch from Instinctive after 20+ years. (normal spit 3 fingers). But I would like to try maybe. For fun. Thanks for the video. Practicing inside tonight!
"Instinctive" shooting is nothing but muscle memory, it isn't that the "instinctive" guys have some mystical powers of concentration and form, it's the memorizing of what the peripheral sight picture looks like at distances you shoot a lot. If you take those guys to ranges they don't shoot all the time they will almost always struggle, if you can achieve "instinctive" level of shooting it probably means you practice and hunt at consistent distances regularly, which is a great thing.
Yeah, it's a misnomer as it the opposite of instinctive, it's learned, over 1000s of arrows, intuitive shooting would be a better name, the more you practice the sharper your intuition
Mr Carter I've been shooting a bow now some 50 something years run the full gamut started with a recurve back in the early seventies wasn't that good of an instinct computer missed a few deer with it the local archery shop told me you need to put aside on it said you wouldn't go in the woods with your rifle without a site so you put me aside on there and oh my goodness what a difference it made only one long after that I got into the compounds I've had a beer made of compound called The Polar too got one of them put the sights on it and away we went over the years at 3 or 4 different bows few years ago I decided I wanted to go back to my roots got me a recurve got a bear super Kodiak 46 lb struggled and struggled trying to shoot instinctive with it ended up I put a site back on it you know one pin 15 yards that's good enough well I saw your video first thing I did after I watched it the next day I took my side off and I'm like damn it man where is this been all my life I wanted to say thank you sir hopefully this is going to work for me now and I will continue and practice and practice until I get it perfect thank you sir
I Shoot more an instinctive gap method or Howard Hill method using both a spot on the target and the arrow in sight on a single eye. A very helpful book I have to get even closer is Howard Hills Method of shooting the bow and Arrow by Jerry Hill, with parts from Hunting the Hard Way by Howard Hill in it. I have it and wrote in the back tips for what I do minorly different from the book but still similar. John Lee he also has a movie on RUclips of the Howard Hill method he and his kids do but watch the full single video old VHS not the two-part VHS as the intro music was inserted overtop the voice in the two parts and is very hard to listen to.
Robert, I'm right handed and right eye dominant but lost my vision in my right eye 3 years ago. My recurves are right hand bows. I've always shot 3 fingers under and instinctive. But now my left eye is the defacto dominant eye so my picture is different but I still shoot right handed. How should I employ this method? Shooting instinctively now is more difficult and I don't have the same confidence as i once had.
@@Wyatt_Holiday Howard Hill shot rt handed and was left eye dominate. He shot split vision sorta like I do here. He simply trained himself to be on target with his point to the side.
Robert, do you think keeping arrows full length for gap shooting is a good idea? I have about a 28 inch draw and have been tuning my arrows with spine and tip weight and leaving them full length. Is there an advantage to tuning arrows by cutting them down? I was concerned about my gaps getting bigger by cutting the arrows. Thank you for the great content!
I leave mine long for mass weight and to close the gap. I could shoot a lesser spine and cut them down but would lose both ways. I am old school. I like heavy arrows on critters.
I was shooting 3 under for this video. I shoot split finger but have switched back and forth due to finger problems. I prefer and shoot better split finger. My gap is wider but is what I have most brain trained on.lol
Good conversation for everyone. For me I have bounced between starting with gap and now back to just instinctive. Neither was ever any better than the other - again for me. AND when shooting 15-20 yards. Anything further and it is not hunting range. I killed as many as deer/pig with both. I prefer instinctive, but not saying it is better. For neophyte... listen to Mr. Carter.
Howard Hill shot accurately out to 80 yards so the answer is as far as you know how , with a recurve or longbow, in the middle ages people were killed at 100 yards or more , a lot farther than your compound sight pins are set at. My longest shot is 75 yards on a 20 inch target and I'm not the greatest shot in the world
I've killed a deer at 67 yards with a compound before range finders and a lot of hogs over 30 with a longbow. I have also tracked on my hands and knees more times than I want to remember. Long shots can be made if you are willing to live with the bad shots on game that will be made. I'm not willing.
We don’t live in the Middle Ages and very few of us are as capable as Howard Hill. If you enjoy tracking wounded animals go for it. At least I hope you track your wounded animal.
Get your wad of black material cramming a hole, some old black denim jeans would work great every time I Target's wore out like that I crammed some cloth down in it and them old bag targets they're full of old rags and stuff, my first Target bag Target that is had scrap nylon screen
Sir. I need you to do me a favor. I am the son of one of your Christian brother hunting friends Dovefart. He has verified yall hunted with each other at Hourse Creek. And he made pork chops and pork and beans that where nothing but ashes in the Dutch oven.So we ate nothing. Traditional bowhunter of Georgia is where we met. Hope you still don't hate the guy from Canada. Jesus loves you.
Good video. I’ve always heard……an archer wants to see how far away he can hit the target…..a bow hunter wants to see how close he can get to the target..👍🏻
Truer words were never spoken! That’s why we bow hunt,at least that’s why I bow hunt. The closer the better!👍😊🏹🎯🦌😁
1000 views in 12 hours! Well done! Your video quality and your teaching style is spot on. Keep up the great work!
Thank you! Finally, someone that actually explains gap sighting. Using the decoys to do so helped greatly in explaining the method.
Great video...thank you. New subscriber now.
Thanks for sharing that!
Thank you for your willingness to share your head knowledge of the traditional bow hunt, and heart knowledge of the One who makes all things possible.
Feel like a beginner after 20 years once in awhile
Another great video and instruction!
👍🦌
Awesome way to start the day!!!
I liked that fainting cameraman lol thank you for the explanation! I bought a handmade longbow but couldn't get consistent. This helped a lot
Great info Robert. There's no telling how many people this would help If they could watch this video. I'm glade I stumbled across your channel Robert. Your just a down to earth person that enjoys a stick bow. Well I do too.
I had a bow a few years back and was made to feel gap shooting was a sin. I shot all over the place. I hope to have a bow again soon and will try this method. Thanks!
First long bow video I watched your quick at shooting good groups your good I never could shoot long bow but will do it soon thanks
This video was very helpful for a new traditional bow hunter like myself thanks
Very good advice🏹
Thanks, helped me rethink my shooting. Improving
Thank you for another fine video.
Great video Sir. I’ve been shooting instinctively for almost 50 years and I shoot pretty good but I may have to try that sometime. Thanks for taking the time to help folks out. Nothing better than a day out shooting a bow and a good dog on your heels! You are truly blessed.
Morning RC! Great Video.Just had My Left Shoulder replaced on November 16th. Can't shoot my Bows for a while yet.
Great video I’m wanting to get into traditional archery so this really helped
Awesome aim👍👍👍
Nice split-vision shooting technique ! exacty how I do it too. Greetings from Switzerland ! 🎯
I've tried them all in the past 45 years .. Now I'm shooting instinctive, but after watching you shoot like that, I'm going to try it out again to compare how I make out !
Nice shooting and great video, thanks. I shot split finger and instinctive for 25 years and was doing well at close range on deer. Do to many circumstances I am only 3-d shooting now. Shooting instinctively I was hot and cold sometimes doing no wrong and other times doing no right. I made myself switch to 3- under and use a split vision method and feather to the nose to combat target panic. It has helped me tremendously with consistency.
Awesome, instructional video
Good info thanks for sharing
Great video
Great video RC.
Great info and shooting! Good luck! Deer season is winding down fast!
I reaally need this one. Thank you
Nice video. Enjoyed your idea of effective range. I know there are a lot of traditional archers that can shoot well much farther. I am not one of them! Lol
But that’s ok. The thing I enjoy about traditional archery is getting in close. I don’t shoot many deer but enjoy my close encounters!
Keep after it, you look to be enjoying yourself greatly!
Great upload here.
Great tutorial Mr. Carter! Thank you for the thorough explanations and examples!
Nice video. Thanks. Myself, I actually look down the shaft of the arrow and protect its path in my mind and point the arrow towards the spot I want to hit. I'm not sure what to call that, but it works pretty good.
Solid performance and explanation RC. I’ve never messed with Gap myself but lots of my friends have. No doubt good for hitting game. My eyes have gone downhill quite a bit these last ten years. Luckily I shoot just point and shoot and looking back I can see it took 3 decades to get extremely accurate. Probably would have benefited from this instruction in 1970 lol. Now I’m 65 and hesitant to change anything. Good Hunting
Great video, thanks for sharing!!
Excellent video, excellent teaching and explanation! Even as a fulltime instinctive shooter I still use the gap method sometimes when im practicing to make sure everything is in order and inline. all aiming styles should learn and understand what the gap is for thier bow and arrow combo.
That's awesome
Good job
Great video.... ty MH
Great video, thank you.
Another good video Mr. Robert. It would be interesting to see how the gap works from a tree stand.
Your right, best way to do it. Been doing it for 50 some years, it will work out to 25 or so but like you said 15 is most probably about it in a hunting situation.
Thanks Robert! Very informative! I just started shooting a recurve and not very consistent but not too bad. I've seen a few gap videos and it just didn't click. The way you put it as having a reference point did, so thank you.
Excellent!
I shot my first arrow in 1963 at 13 years old. A Bear recurve as I remember? Some arrows from K-Mart. Like 25-30 years later me and my son got into shooting 3-d a lot. From 5 to 30? yards. My style was really more instinctive than true gap shooting. IMO, gap shooting requires a conscious effort to see where the arrow point is in relation to what you’re wanting to hit. Instinctive is just looking at a spot, drawing annd releasing the string. It was a reactive subconscious act like throwing a baseball. I believe this type shooting developed because we shot a swinging tennis balls, swinging old pieces of foam 3-d targets hanging on like a ten foot long rope. Various sized balls rolling on the ground. We shot literally thousands of arrows for years. To me gap shooting requires a few extra seconds to sight in that distance and set the arrow point where it needs to be. All I know is if a target like a deer or pig gave us an opening of like 4-5? second’s at most it got stuck. It was a totally reactive movement- no thinking, just look and shoot. It’s good you are passing your experience along to people. 👍👍🏹🦌🐗
thank you!! great explanation!!!
Glad you liked it!!
Dang, you're a good shot!
Thanks Mr Robert
You sir, have got one of the best channels on RUclips. I look forward to watching everything that you put on here. I was hoping that maybe you you could lead me to somebody that could make me a good shooting long bow for hunting. I would be greatful for any help in finding one. I'm an old timer that loves to shoot a bow from the south like you do Robert. If you can help lead me in the right direction, or give any tips as to anybody that you know I would like to talk to you about it. Thanks Robert for any advice at all. Greg Edwards
Steve Turray builds one of the best longbows I've shot. Northern Mist longbows.
@@robertcarte95 I appreciate the advice very much. I've always shot recurves and compound bows since the early 1980s. Did it take a long time for you to switch over from that style to long bows shooting off of the shelf of the bow?
Not at all. They shoot good.
@@robertcarte95 Thanks again for the help. I'll give him a call tomorrow. I went to his website to see what he had in stock. Unfortunately it looks like he is slam out of everything. Maybe he won't be too backed up after the first of the year. Have a blessed Christmas sir. And thank you again.
This vid musta been back when you were tending to "snap" shoot. ;-) Good illustration of gap shooting's great application to the hunting scenario using trad equipment. AT TRAD SHOOTING DISTANCE OF LESS THAN 15-17 YDS YOUR GAP CAN BE A SINGLE GAP. And, so long as ya learn what 15-17 yards looks like, you can have confidence in lethality of shot. So THEN, ya can focus practice sessions on your shot process and get that nailed down. And THEN focus practice on creating high-stress scenarios to mimic how you're going to feel while taking that hunting shot.
Good shooting Robert
Hey Robert what is the length on your bows.?
66" long on most.
Thanks 👍👍
Another great video . I have just started messing with this style of shooting a little . My question is do you do this in the tree stand also and if so is it the same process or a little different. Thank you Robert for all the knowledge and God bless you and your family.
I shoot the same from a tree. You just need to practice a bit.
Mr. Robert who makes that camo jaclket Love that old school look.
I actually bought it at the dollar store over 10 years ago. Cheap!! It is my lucky jacket.
Hi. Not sure if I ever could switch from Instinctive after 20+ years. (normal spit 3 fingers). But I would like to try maybe. For fun. Thanks for the video. Practicing inside tonight!
Interesting process. I've always shot truly instinctive. I guess my mind does that gap assessment on its own without me thinking about it. 🤔
Very helpful and I enjoyed watching. I think you killed all those targets.😊
They were easy to sneak up on!
"Instinctive" shooting is nothing but muscle memory, it isn't that the "instinctive" guys have some mystical powers of concentration and form, it's the memorizing of what the peripheral sight picture looks like at distances you shoot a lot. If you take those guys to ranges they don't shoot all the time they will almost always struggle, if you can achieve "instinctive" level of shooting it probably means you practice and hunt at consistent distances regularly, which is a great thing.
Yeah, it's a misnomer as it the opposite of instinctive, it's learned, over 1000s of arrows, intuitive shooting would be a better name, the more you practice the sharper your intuition
I’m gonna use gap to get to instinctive keeping gap in peripheral vision. Do you have to can’t a longbow to get better arrow line up to eye??
I do shoot with a can't. Seems more relaxed to me.
Great Presentation and Just Wondered if You have ever used a Traditional English Longbow Made of Yew from Centurys ago?
Thanks. I have not used an English longbow but have wanted to try one. I think Yew is a beautiful bow wood.
Mr Carter I've been shooting a bow now some 50 something years run the full gamut started with a recurve back in the early seventies wasn't that good of an instinct computer missed a few deer with it the local archery shop told me you need to put aside on it said you wouldn't go in the woods with your rifle without a site so you put me aside on there and oh my goodness what a difference it made only one long after that I got into the compounds I've had a beer made of compound called The Polar too got one of them put the sights on it and away we went over the years at 3 or 4 different bows few years ago I decided I wanted to go back to my roots got me a recurve got a bear super Kodiak 46 lb struggled and struggled trying to shoot instinctive with it ended up I put a site back on it you know one pin 15 yards that's good enough well I saw your video first thing I did after I watched it the next day I took my side off and I'm like damn it man where is this been all my life I wanted to say thank you sir hopefully this is going to work for me now and I will continue and practice and practice until I get it perfect thank you sir
Good Luck and Happy New Year!
Mr. Robert I noticed you don't hold at full drawn . Are you aiming down the arrow while you're drawing the hold time ? Thank you
I look at the spot I want to hit and see the arrow as a blur. When I hit anchor the arrow is at the gap and I shoot.
The gap is aka Kentucky windage 👍🏼
I Shoot more an instinctive gap method or Howard Hill method using both a spot on the target and the arrow in sight on a single eye. A very helpful book I have to get even closer is Howard Hills Method of shooting the bow and Arrow by Jerry Hill, with parts from Hunting the Hard Way by Howard Hill in it. I have it and wrote in the back tips for what I do minorly different from the book but still similar.
John Lee he also has a movie on RUclips of the Howard Hill method he and his kids do but watch the full single video old VHS not the two-part VHS as the intro music was inserted overtop the voice in the two parts and is very hard to listen to.
Robert, I'm right handed and right eye dominant but lost my vision in my right eye 3 years ago. My recurves are right hand bows. I've always shot 3 fingers under and instinctive. But now my left eye is the defacto dominant eye so my picture is different but I still shoot right handed. How should I employ this method? Shooting instinctively now is more difficult and I don't have the same confidence as i once had.
@@Wyatt_Holiday Howard Hill shot rt handed and was left eye dominate. He shot split vision sorta like I do here. He simply trained himself to be on target with his point to the side.
@robertcarte95 thanks for the suggestion. And thanks for the quick response. I'm going to have to try that. Keep making your videos.
Robert, do you think keeping arrows full length for gap shooting is a good idea? I have about a 28 inch draw and have been tuning my arrows with spine and tip weight and leaving them full length. Is there an advantage to tuning arrows by cutting them down? I was concerned about my gaps getting bigger by cutting the arrows. Thank you for the great content!
I leave mine long for mass weight and to close the gap. I could shoot a lesser spine and cut them down but would lose both ways. I am old school. I like heavy arrows on critters.
Thanks Robert!
Robert where can I get a shirt like that one ?
Bought it at the dollar store years ago.
I don't think I've ever heard you talk about fixed crawl. What are your thoughts? I've been trying it recently
I cant my bow and put more focus on my spot than the arrow. I want to have my arrow under the target so it never covers my spot
@@robertcarte95 makes sense. Thanks for that
Great video I assume with that gap u are shooting 3 under?
I was shooting 3 under for this video. I shoot split finger but have switched back and forth due to finger problems. I prefer and shoot better split finger. My gap is wider but is what I have most brain trained on.lol
Good conversation for everyone.
For me I have bounced between starting with gap and now back to just instinctive. Neither was ever any better than the other - again for me. AND when shooting 15-20 yards. Anything further and it is not hunting range. I killed as many as deer/pig with both. I prefer instinctive, but not saying it is better. For neophyte... listen to Mr. Carter.
What arm guard is that sir?
I bought that from 3 Rivers a few years ago. I think it was about 25 bucks.
@@robertcarte95 thank you sir for all you do!
I shoot gap and split vision.
Howard Hill shot accurately out to 80 yards so the answer is as far as you know how , with a recurve or longbow, in the middle ages people were killed at 100 yards or more , a lot farther than your compound sight pins are set at. My longest shot is 75 yards on a 20 inch target and I'm not the greatest shot in the world
I've killed a deer at 67 yards with a compound before range finders and a lot of hogs over 30 with a longbow. I have also tracked on my hands and knees more times than I want to remember. Long shots can be made if you are willing to live with the bad shots on game that will be made. I'm not willing.
We don’t live in the Middle Ages and very few of us are as capable as Howard Hill. If you enjoy tracking wounded animals go for it. At least I hope you track your wounded animal.
Get your wad of black material cramming a hole, some old black denim jeans would work great every time I Target's wore out like that I crammed some cloth down in it and them old bag targets they're full of old rags and stuff, my first Target bag Target that is had scrap nylon screen
Sir. I need you to do me a favor. I am the son of one of your Christian brother hunting friends Dovefart. He has verified yall hunted with each other at Hourse Creek. And he made pork chops and pork and beans that where nothing but ashes in the Dutch oven.So we ate nothing. Traditional bowhunter of Georgia is where we met. Hope you still don't hate the guy from Canada. Jesus loves you.
I don't hate anyone and I love Jesus.
Howard Hill was a gap shooter.
Practice PRACTICE and then PRACTICE some more
Did you have to kill your buddy Chris Spikes. Or he having problems He endorsed you.. He hasn't done much lately.
I think he has taken 8 deer this year. I'm sure he is working a bunch right now.
Thank you