INSTINCTS OF THE TRADITIONAL ARCHER

The Eyes of A Hitter and A Shooter

EDITOR'S NOTE: As a big 8-point whitetail moved into bow range, Travis Fryman of Cantonment, Florida, stood in his tree stand and waited for the shot. Fryman, the former shortstop and third baseman for the Detroit Tigers, who now plays for the Cleveland Indians, recalled later that as soon as he saw the buck, his heart seemed to jump up in his throat. "My adrenaline was pumping, and I could hardly swallow I was so excited. To get off the shot, I knew I'd have to collect myself and calm down." To prepare for the shot, Fryman, who had a .275 batting average in the majors, went through the same mental processes he always had gone through before he stepped to the plate to take a pitch that could win the game for his major-league baseball team.

To determine which way the threads on a baseball turn when the ball speeds toward home plate at more than 90 mph, you need the same skills you do to see a deer's ear twitch at 30 to 50 yards from your tree stand. To calculate distance, trajectory and speed of flight to accurately place the arrow when a buck appears requires the same skills for fielding a ball hit between second and third base and making a quick throw at an unknown distance to get a runner out at first. The ability to quickly identify what you see may mean the difference in getting a shot off at a buck 15 yards from your tree stand or hitting a baseball as it streaks across the plate. Your ability to concentrate, whether at the plate or in your tree stand, directly relates to how quickly you see the ball or how soon you detect deer movement. When you lose your concentration or begin to daydream, you won't see as many deer as you will if you remain totally focused on looking for deer.

"If you'll stand in the batter's box in a major-league park as a pitcher throws a fastball across the plate, more than likely all you'll see is a white blur," Fryman comments. "However, the more times you stand in the batter's box, the faster your eyes will adjust to the speed of the ball and the sooner you'll be able to see the ball as it comes to the plate. I've found the same to be true of hunting deer traditionally. The more time you spend in the woods, the quicker and easier your eyes will pick up movement like the twitching of a deer's ear. Once your eyes detect the movement, then you can see the deer accurately. I look for any part of the deer I can spot."

THE FORM OF A HITTER OR A SHOOTER

Once Fryman identifies movement as a deer, he goes through the same procedure he uses to hit the ball. He properly aligns his body in good shooting form to make an accurate shot just as he gets into the proper hitting stance to hit the ball. "Executing good shooting form before you draw the bow is as important to the traditional archer's making an accurate shot as a major-league hitter's taking the proper batting stance to stroke the ball as it comes across the plate," Fryman emphasizes. "If your body isn't in a good shooting position, you can't make an accurate shot with a longbow or a recurve."

Fryman also has adopted the idea from playing baseball to shooting a traditional bow that he catches the ball with his feet. As Fryman explains, "In baseball if you aren't in the proper position with your feet planted squarely and your body aligned properly, regardless of where you put your glove, you probably won't catch the ball. To be successful shooting traditional archery, you must do the same."

TOMORROW: THE TRAINING