This spring my compound bow and I have not posed much of a threat to the turkey population. Last spring it was a different story. The first arrow I ever released at a turkey found its mark. The Jake flew about 30 yards, flopped a time or two, and then expired.
Must have been beginner’s luck.
How the worm has turned! Opening day I completely missed a Jake at 12 yards. Another Jake the next morning taunted me not 10 yards from my ground blind. He walked away mostly unscathed as my Slicktrick broadhead trimmed a couple of his feathers. Later  in the month, while hunting with New Brunswick friends Darren Hasson and Diane Lesard, my arrow trimmed a feather off a big long-bearded Tom from about 18 yards.
Without a doubt, shooting arrows at wild game is — like golf — a mental game. After missing three birds, and with my confidence at a low ebb, my practice sessions with the bow out back have been more frequent. Funny thing. I’m shooting well with a target in front of me instead of a turkey. At 20 yards, five arrows all wind up in the 4 inch bull. We know what’s going on don’t we?
Composure.
The mental game. I should have known after all these years.  In sports, composure has always been my nemesis. As a young fellow, I always did well in baseball, until my girlfriend showed up to watch. And in golf, I play much better alone, nice light grip on the club, eyes stay down after the shot. Get me in a foursome, though, and I get a death grip on the driver and look up on the swing. No follow through.
One of my many archery mentors, Darren , a competitive archer and accomplished hunter, thinks that my poor performance in the field is attributable to one of two mistakes. One, at the shot I’m gripping the bow to tightly and “torquing” the arrow as it leaves the string. Second, I’m sneaking a peek at the shot and not following through smoothly as the arrow leaves the bow.
In either case, I know better. Under pressure, though, knowing and doing can be two different dimensions.
As in golf, constant practice drawing and releasing the bow string at  a target can help some with muscle memory, but ultimately, the mental game is everpresent. Competitive shooter Tom Hanrahan says that sports psychologist Bob Rotella, who has examined the mental aspect of solo sport, theorizes that performance under pressure — composure — is a byproduct of trust. The pro golfer does well under pressure because he TRUSTS himself and his abilities.
Depending upon one’s psyche and temperament, some of us do better with the mental game than others.
A couple of years ago, I introduced Darren — a skilled archer then — to his first turkey in the field. When the big Tom strutted before him, Darren lost it. The day before he put five arrows in the bull at 50 yards!
Displeased with himself, he confessed that the first-ever view of a big wild turkey at 12 yards spooked him like no New Brunswick whitetail had ever done. Later that same hunt week, however, Darren nailed it. He arrowed two turkeys in one day!
As a bow-wielding turkey hunter, Darren has matriculated at warp speed. Compared with his profile on the learning curve, I am a tortoise.
There is hope, though. An avid deer hunter since my youth, I used to get buck fever, which no longer plagues me. I never conquered the adrenaline issue, but I learned over the years to control it enough to make good shots and make correct decisions most of the time.
The unanswered question in all of this is: Why does a turkey in front of my bow sight push my adrenaline level higher that a deer in the scope?
One of these days I’ll answer this question. As a turkey hunter, the answer may help me get a grip and to compose myself in the turkey blind.
The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WQVM-FM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected] and his new book is “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook.”