It’s always a bit of a melancholy time of year for me when the weather turns too cold to shoot outside. I’ve had folks ask what I do differently, if anything, when moving to indoor shooting from outdoor shooting. The short answer is nothing.
A little more nuanced look at the move will show most of us tend to slow our shot down because the target is smaller. This is a mistake and one I am often prone to making. The sight picture should be acquired just as rapidly and the shot timing should remain the same. I challenge you to make an on time shot versus one that is perfectly aimed and compare your results. You will be pleasantly surprised that the shot executed on time will almost always produce a better result than the shot which was held longer, ‘because I wanted the aim to be perfect’.
Another oft asked question is, are you shooting the same equipment indoors and outdoors? I have gone both ways. Last year my best scores, including a national record, were shot with my outdoor rig. Most of the indoor season I shot a dedicated indoor bow with larger diameter arrows. In fact, I have vacillated on this point for many years. The empirical evidence shows results which are better with my outdoor bow.
The big differentiation is the arrow used indoors. Many will try to use a larger diameter arrow to catch a higher scoring line. The maximum shaft size allowed by World Archery is 23/64″. In theory this sounds like an excellent idea. What do you give up by using a large diameter arrow? Speed. A slower arrow will magnify your mistakes down range. Flub a release? A small diameter, lighter arrow, may catch the nine ring, where as a large diameter, heavy arrow, may end up in the eight, or seven ring. The conclusion is, errors in form have a greater impact on a slower arrow.
Manufacturers are now producing some lighter, large diameter arrows. it will be interesting to test and compare scores with some of these offerings.
Soooooo, what’s an archer to do? For me it is pretty cut and dried. I will use a dedicated indoor bow and experiment like crazy for the 1st half of the indoor season. It is fun and keeps me thinking. When the important indoor events come around on the calendar, I then evaluate my two rigs, indoor and outdoor and determine which set up produces the most consistent results. Last year I shot Vegas with my indoor rig. I shot a pretty pedestrian score. I then went to Indoor Nationals with my outdoor rig and shot well. Was it the particular set up? In this case, the answer was yes. There was a ridged area on the point of my indoor arrow tip. It caused the clicker to bump every now and then, causing me to either shoot through the clicker, or flinch. Apparently I wasn’t aware enough to have caught this ahead of Vegas. Sigh.
Anyway, you should be able to shoot quite effectively with your outdoor bow, indoors. Depending on the time and expertise you have, it may or may not be worth your while to have a dedicated indoor bow. It’s something you should have a chat about with your coach!
Oh, and by the way, to all of you inveterate tinkerers out there, make sure you can find your way back to square one if you are pulling things apart! Again, something you should talk about with your coach.
