My name is Ethan Page. I’m a bowhunter and this is how I operate. The focus of this channel is knowledge transfer. Everything from traditional archery to primitive skills, I will do my best to impart my years of hunting experience and guide you to excellence.
This is how the deer are behind my house. I got permission to hunt the 5 acres of land from the landowner. I went to go hunting, and there were tree stands already on the property. I found out my other nighbors have been hunting the land all their lives without even asking, and they didn't want me up there. That was a major letdown because you could be 10 yards away from them, and they won't run off.
@@EthanPageHunter wind here been circular and i mean minute by minute, set up winds good , minute later back your neck , cant get it rt unless u can hunt 360 then get blown off when thermals change
I got to thinking about something you either said in a video or a comment to me. About shooting left wing because that was the natural rotation of your bare shaft. So, being that I am about to make up a dozen arrows, I thought let me check rotation on a bare shaft. Turns out for me it spins CW or right. I thought maybe it is a 3 under thing. So, I did the test again 3 under and I thought bingo. Turns out it was still CW. It just spun way more. I had to move to almost point blank range to determine it. So, at least for my bow. I am good right wing. The rotation is so minimal for my Mediterranean release that it probably wouldn't matter. But, when I shot 3 under it made about a 2/3 rotation at 3 or 4 yards. So, in my case if I shot left wing 3 under there would be a substantial torque to overcome to get her back to spinning right. Now I am wondering if this might vary from bow to bow. I only have one bow with me today but, I will try it in 5 or 6 other bows and report back to you.
You know it might not have been you that even told me that. It was one of you young guys. Heck Ethan, at my age I ain't sufferin' from memory loss....I'm actually enjoyin' it😂
@@EthanPageHunter Yeah I thought so😄. Before I was into hunting I was hiking alone and accidentally went of the trail. Turned around in the same direction I came and had two young does just staring at me for 10 seconds. Even had time to take video of them, only a few meters away. But when I took another step they jumped in the bushes. It was hilarious since I had to walk right next to them and was pretending I can't see them😄.
It’s also good to shoot a lot of bows and find a bow that naturally shoots close to where your eyes see. I bought a green KMag at a 3d shoot and within 5 shots it just hits where I look. My other bows take a little more concentration.
The disadvantages of instinctive shooting are rarely pointed out. Here are two 1) it's like high level guitar playing - you must be almost daily dedicated 2) best to stick to one bow and one type of arrow set up vs. having multiple bows, set ups, etc.
This is great. I've been slowly coming to this realization after about a year of shooting. I think the visualization process also connects with the drawing process - when I visualize my arrow flight, I am also aware of the force vector that is drawn between by draw hand and my bow hand and where that force vector is pointing.
Finally someone explained it! I started shooting traditional back in june and the way you described it is spot on to what I do. I couldn’t explain it to others when asked if I was instinctive or gap shooting. My response was always “ more or less instinctive.” Thank you for the videos! God bless!
That way of thinking about the shot is a way of thinking I have used over the years for many different tasks. It works. Called the power of positive thinking back in the day before your time. Great video. Thanks for bringing it into the trad side of archery. God bless.
Awesome video!! Thank you for all the great information 🙏 I hunt public land and in order to get deep into the property, the less gear I have to carry the further I can walk and get away from everyone else. I'm going to try your advice for a while and see what happens. PS this is only my first year hunting so I have a lot to learn.
And by the way guru Howard Hill set records that will never be touched he shot the longest arrows ever with the longbow with his feet and hand and he killed an elk 185 steps away with the longbow fact and no one shot heavier balls and Howard Hill he shot from 90 to 125 lb longbows and he could string them sitting in his recliner
Paul Shafer was a great hunter, I almost bought one of his bows after he passed a 85 lb longbow with a dozen arrows that he killed his last ram with if I'm not mistaken, but he couldn't hold a candle to Howard Hill by any stretch of the imagination, Howard Hill won a 196 field tournaments in a row, he killed over 2000 pieces of game, over 430 big game, first white man to kill an elephant with a longbow 115 lb with a 1700 Grain 😮41 inch arrow, Howard Hill didn't stand like a block on the wall when he was shooting when the arrow reached his face it was released at 250 ft per second, end of story you're out of your flipping gourd!
Byron Ferguson wrote the book “Become the Arrow “ I recommend it highly. You can’t make long shots, past 20-25 yards instinctively. Every situation is different. Howard Hill used what he called split vision shooting. He tells of shooting an elk at a great distance, missing the first time but compensating with the second arrow and taking the elk. You can read more about it in “Hunting the Hard Way “.
I spoke with Paul back in the late 80's and he recommended stump shooting with broadheads (if possible) at all ranges to learn the trajectory of the arrow. I have a book by Jay Kidwell that mentions how important it is to watch the flight of the arrow so your brain can learn faster what the arrow does at various ranges. Our brain is a powerful computer and it learns. Your video points out how important this advice is to bowhunting. Thanks for sharing!
@@donaldbuckner2935 you said something important when you said various ranges. The notion of paying no attention to range is ludicrous. There has to be an estimation of range or distance to target. Thanks for sharing.
@@EthanPageHunter Deer have a layer in the back of their eye that acts as a mirror. Any light that is not absorbed when it first enters the eye is reflected back across the rods. This allows deer to use the same light twice, while humans only get to use it once. But the shape and location of this reflective layer is adapted to use light coming from the horizon, which is strongest at dawn and dusk. Deer are not nocturnal. They are best adapted to be “crepuscular,” active around dawn and dusk. They see about 18 times better at twilight than we do.
@@EthanPageHunter that's from the university of Georgia deer research department. So can you confidently say that they don't again? Can you see at night like a deer? Exactly... Plus I can test it when the deer walk up on my porch at 5am and they see me move in my house with all the lights off.
@@darkcitadel0833 at twilight yes. There is lots of research to support that. But we have much sharper focus and visual acuity in general. We share strengths and weaknesses alike. We see more color, we still have sensitivity to movement. But as a rule, during shooting hours (which is the entire topic) human shave the advantage on focus and visual acuity.
@@darkcitadel0833 I am well informed on U of G studies and many other studies over the years. Including 20 years of hunting them. I have said nothing in the video or likewise that contradicts their claims. I find it very unlikely you have the experience nor the research and study into the topic that I have accumulated. Thanks for watching the video 👍🏼
Cool to see you get into muzzleloading as well! If you feel you get that down then you can migrate to a flintlock for a whole other venture! Definitely go real black powder when you can. So much better, just going to have to buy in bulk. Goex is back in business luckily too! When you get the chance check out “duelist1954” on RU-vid, he has numerous flintlock and cap lock videos and how to’s. Just his tips alone in not using a petroleum base oil and switching to Balistol for oiling, and Balistol/water mixture for neutralizing the black powder after shooting and cleaning, completely changed my game. I’ve learned so much from Mike, his channel is gold. I harvested my first deer ever with my flintlock Hawken and love that I can load 50 grains of powder in it and squirrel hunt or 110 grains and go elk hunting. So versatile. My dad gifted me his Thompson Center Renegade .54 and I love that too. If switching to round ball try a .490 and a .15 patch. That combo works great in mine however you will have to find what works best in yours. Little helpful tip I learned a while back is on those cap locks to use a pipe cleaner for cleaning out the nipple channel into the barrel, they will gum up over time and a pipe cleaner works great. Would love to see more muzzleloader vids on the channel. Super cool.
It's called knowing your D.O.P.E. Data of previous engagement. It's really no different than hold overs when using fixed optics on a rifle. That said anyone shooting 80 yards at a whitetail with any bow has wounded a butt load more thar they recovered.
I'm my experience the only difference between "instinctive" and "gap" shooting is division of consciousness. When shooting instinctively the archer is performing the exact same steps as the gap shooter, but with less, or different, conscious effort. Though he may not be actively aware of it, he is drawing back and lining up with consistent form, he's registering the gap between arrow and target while focusing on the latter, and releasing with consistent form until his arrow either hits the target or flies over/under it so he can self-diagnose. To drastically paraphrase G. Fred Asbell in TBB Vol. 2: any old bent stick will fling an arrow, but only as consistently as the arrows and the archer are to begin with.
@@EthanPageHunter Thanks! I like the way you look at things, too, brother. Either you're a natural, or you have training/experience as a teacher, and I appreciate that you utilize it the way you do.
I tell everyone that repetition leads to your mind building its “instinctive” range finder. I believe our minds map out that trajectory when we shoot day after day from different distances. I can’t understand why people discount or argue that instinctive shooting isn’t real, our minds are powerful tools, just have to train it for the task
No doubt Paul was a beast. Instinctive is hard to describe because at least part of it is subconscious. For me it is shooting to a distance that my bow will shoot relatively flat. Once you get beyond 25 for me, I am paying a bit more attention to a point in space above the victim. Right now I am on a Roll. Last 4 hunts 3 shots. I big boar, a fat doe and a big sow, currently roommates in my freezer. Going out today to hopefully bring in a buck or 2. Good luck Ethan.
This is a great way of describing it! I’ve always had a hard time explaining it to people. Willing the arrow to the spot and visualizing the arrow in the spot it should go has always been the best I could explain it.
@@EthanPageHunter for me everything else but the point of impact falls out of focus but is still there. I let my subconscious have the details and concentrate on where I want the shot to land I guess. Good video! We need more folks getting back to the basics f archery! God bless
I've been shooting Traditional for 40 plus years, and I tell folks I shoot Gapstinctive.I am aware of my arrow but not focused on it. I know where it is in relation to where I want to hit. I know what my arrow will do out to 40 plus yards. I know what my sight picture should be, and I hold until it looks right. That could be 2-5 seconds or longer if need be. Do I shoot perfect scores all the time...well, no. But, I do hit what I want to 80-90% of the time. The key is learning your bows trajectory, and that comes by shooting the bow hundreds, even thousands of shots.
Sat in a tree stand a handful of times in 30 years. Have had a lot of success and plenty of bow success too. Bow hunting on the ground is the ultimate whitetail challenge.
Yeah man, I shoot a stick bow too and your right you really have to think about that! Last year 12 yards forshur shot missed because of exactly what you where explaining... Good luck this year!
