I could always count on Mr. Owen.

After a summer of watching me, his pre-teen neighbor, fling arrows in groups that resembled a pattern of bird shot, he pulled himself away from building lure molds to give some much-needed advice to this fledgling archer.

“Son,” he said, “practice smaller and you’re gonna miss smaller.”

The 12-inch paper plate came down and the bottom of a to-go cup took its place. Increased focus, tighter arrow grouping, and confidence on the firing line grew daily. My stock at the range rose all the way to “he ain’t awful” in just a few weeks.

Try to implement Mr. Owen’s sage advice into your TOC practice regimen to increase its effectiveness. Pitching a jig to a willow leaf or shooting dandelion blooms with your air rifle will force you to pay strict attention to all the influences on accuracy. Wind, yardage, and angle will all become second nature after having to spot judge these factors in practice.

I once heard Brian Hanford, a fellow TOC staffer, give some great advice to a disappointed competitor that blends perfectly with the practice small, miss small theory.

“Visualize that whatever you used as a practice target is floating in the middle of the center ring,” he said. “You look at those big outside rings, and you’re setting yourself up to miss in those rings.”

—John

My career choice (“professional redneck,” according to my beautiful bride, JaNan) has led me to a life of running in a circle of pretty outdoorsy folks. Most of my free time includes: (A) Hunting something, (B) Catching something, or (C) “Hey y’all, watch this” moments involving motorized vehicles equipped with winches. (Combine these hobbies, and you are qualified for the position of Total Outdoorsman Challenge Competitions Manager. That is, if you’re in the market for a career change with the financial crisis and all.)

Every good craftsman utilizes the tools available to them, and these guys are definitely tools, which I use for new competition ideas. By that I mean they mess up my wife’s furniture while critiquing last year’s show as I take notes of their astute analysis between tending to the grill and the den’s refrigerator. Usually several disastrous schemes fly—sometimes followed by a few decent innovations. But the one thing I can count on is that every single one will say, and I quote, “Come on John, I can [choose any discipline] better than that guy did.”

Yeah, good luck with that, Sparky.

Let’s roll through the odds—just the odds, not factors like talent, nerve, and intelligence. Here are the challenges you face to just make the TOC Championships. This year, the 48 Qualifiers will be held for two days apiece. That’s 98 separate days to qualify. Say on the low end that 20 competitors show up each day. That’s just shy of 2,000 running through the course.

Factor in that there are only 200 combined slots in the four Regionals, you have to finish in the top 10 percent of the Qualifiers just to advance. To say it another way, you have to better than nine out of every 10 competitors who are confident enough in their skills to try and qualify. More than just a little talent is required before you make a reservation at the Bass Mahal for September.

If you survive through the crowds to separate yourself into a more elite status, things get raelly tough. Add another skill set (three disciplines in Qualifiers, four in Regionals) and move on to compete with 49 others who were also in the 90th percentile for one of three bids to the National finals. That’s a whopping 6 percent of 50 competitors who were good enough to better 90 percent of 2,000 competitors.

Feeling good about beating those odds yet?